Hi!
I’m a high school student going into my senior year. I have very high test scores, (I’m a National Merit Scholar) and a high GPA. However, I’m looking for a school with a great dance program. I’ve been dancing my entire life and I really want a challenging, technique-based program. Most dance programs at the liberal arts schools I have been looking at have some sort of casual, modern dance program that seems to be a bit less serious than what I am looking for. I’m trained in classical ballet, and I’m looking for a place where I can minor in dance and continue to learn and grow. If anyone knows of a school with high academics and an impressive dance program, please let me know. Thank you so much. 
Look into Barnard.
Barnard-Columbia is an excellent suggestion, as you would have the opportunity to take classes at Julliard. Also, see if Connecticut College comes close to what you are looking for.
If you’re looking for a near full ride safety school, consider the University of Oklahoma. Supposedly the BFA program is quite good.
I’ve heard that Harvard had introduced a Dance major, and wanted to attract more dancers. I don’t know how much they offer in the way of classical ballet, but they must have some. Classical ballet isn’t as strong as Modern at most colleges simply because fewer ballet dancers obtain the graduate degrees required to join most elite faculties. Since most undergraduate dance majors and MFA programs are modern-focused, most university faculty members are, also, but many will have classical training in their backgrounds. At Barnard or Columbia, you can always sneak downtown (if finances allow) for a high-level ballet class on a Saturday morning or an occasional free weekday evening.
OU’s dance program is quite good though I’m not sure how much they emphasize ballet vs. other types. Their voice program never impressed me much. Oklahoma City U also has a good dance program (definitely some ballet) but I don’t think their academics would be as good as OU.
IU (Indiana) Jacobs School of Music has an extraordinary ballet program. Admission is highly competitive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7Qa_FzdQ70
However, I am not sure that you can minor in dance or participate in ensembles unless you are a major. You might check into it.
USC[ southern calif] has the well known Glorya Kaufman School of Dance
- and USC offers NMFs 1/2 off tuition!
http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/firstyear/prospective/scholarships.html
Barnard has a very strong ballet & modern dance program, and your dance background is probably something of a tip factor to get in. As far as I remember there were 6 levels of ballet including pointe classes.
If you have been in a pre-professional studio program, you will probably find that Barnard’s classes are less challenging than what you have been used to, but that will be the case in any non-BFA program.
However there are many opportunities to supplement Barnard dance classes at local studios-- so pretty much ideal for the non-dance major who wants to continue with ballet in college. I really think that Barnard has the strongest dance program of any of the elite schools, especially if you want ballet – the other programs tend to be built more around the modern dance programs. Anyway, definitely worth adding to your list.
(My daughter is Barnard grad … she is still in NY. She no longer dances but she called me today on her way to the ballet at ABT … she has tickets for three performances this month)
My niece is an exceptional ballet dancer who ended up at Columbia. She also looked very closely at Duke. I don’t personally know anything about their programs but I know she was focusing on schools where she could continue to participate in Ballet. Butler is known for their ballet program but don’t know if it has what you want academically. Schools that have strong music schools like IU as suggested above may also have ballet, but you have to look closely at participation opportunities for non majors.
I was going to trot out my post on this topic from 2007, but it is subsumed into this more recent thread (#3 there), where you may find some additional tidbits as well.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/dance-major/877560-college-dance-programs-p1.html
Good luck !
I am good friends with a lot of kids at Walnut Hill, a very prestigious, all-arts private high school in MA. The dance “majors” I’m friends with in this year’s graduating class are headed to:
-Barnard (for the dual program with Juilliard)
-Duke
-Butler (though this isn’t as strong as the others academically)
-USC
My friend who is a very talented ballerina is headed to Mount Holyoke, which I hear has a good dance program.
Thank you so much everyone for all of the very helpful information!
Some more that have not been mentioned above:
New York University (arguably the best Dance program in the nation)
Smith College
University of California-Berkeley
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
I’m a big fan of UNC Chapel Hill, but it is not noteworthy for the arts; UNCSA fills that role in the UNC system. UNC students have access to Duke’s excellent dance/ballet offerings through cross-registration, of course.
@the8rchic You’ve gotten some good suggestions so far. I’d add Emory, Wash U, and Johns Hopkins (cross-registration with Goucher).
Not sure about the strength of the dance program but I know a strong dancer who just graduated from Yale with a different major. Smith emphasized their dance program when D2 toured there a few years back.
I know a recent St. Olaf grad who was heavily into dance in high school. She minored in dance and loved their program. And she’s headed off to Harvard grad school in her major, but has already found her new dance studio.
Our D is in a similar situation. A strong student who has danced since she was 4 and is currently dancing in the first company of her pre professional dance school. The challenge we have found with minors is the level of dance courses they require her to take. They tend to be far behind the level of dance she is used to. She is not looking at first tier schools, however, some of the schools she is looking at have their own dance companies that do not require you to be a major or a minor. A couple she has looked are Miami of Ohio and the University of Pittsburgh.
Duke, Wake Forest, Yale and Columbia are great for high stat students that want dance as a minor. My D wanted to dance minor and she also applied and was accepted to Union and Conn College.(Could be nice safeties for you) . There were other schools that had dance minor programs but she scratched them before she applied for other reasons , they were : Providence College and Franklin Marshal come to mind. We had a tough time finding good dance minor programs, especially since she wanted a very specific type of Engineering. Very few schools she applied to had both but all the schools had a dance team or company. Shewww glad that is over with.