<p>the schools i'm considering right now include
brown, wesleyan, vassar, case western, university of rochester, tufts, oberlin, college of wooster, johns hopkins, george washington, clark, northwestern, northeastern, uni. chicago, boston university, and brandeis</p>
<p>sorry that's a long list, but i'm trying to narrow it down. anyway, i am interested in history, english/writing, music (instrumental), and languages (especially german - as electives). basically, i would love to take classes over the humanities spectrum. are there any schools on this list that you would not recommend for one of my main interests? and why? also are there any schools that you would highly recommend for my interests? thanks!</p>
<p>Might want to check on the availability of classes in instrumental music at some of your choices if that is very important to you. Your list includes very different types of schools with very different campus "feels" to them. They will all provide history, english and foreign language classes so choosinng between them may come down to some different criteria on which to judge them. Perhpas you will get more feedback if you can share why you have thought about these schools as possible picks for you.</p>
<p>well i've gone with most of these schools because of a more urban/suburban location, a fairly liberal student body, a small-middle sized student body. i do have some favorites, though it's hard to explain why. if you want to know more how i chose these schools to begin with see this post <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=54667%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=54667</a>. however, what i want to know now is if any of them have, for example, a fairly poor history department or a really strong history department. also, i guess i'm interested in schools that have a fairly flexible schedule system so actually if there are any schools with rigid cores could someone name those too?</p>
<p>How important is study abroad? </p>
<p>Northeastern has the 5-year programme with the co-ops in the middle. Unless that really appeals, take it off your list. Unless I'm mistaken, I think that tuition is pretty much the same for each year there as for other undergrad schools - so you end up paying roughly 25% more. Perhaps a Northeastern grad could shed light on this?</p>
<p>Tufts does have a lot of cores - lot of language (but you'll take that anyway), 2 math, some science, two intro English, and fine arts. You'll end up taking a lot of humanities/social science courses to fulfill the cores, but it sounds like you want that anyway. Not sure about how strong the German programme is. Study abroad is huge there - 55% of students go for a semester or a summer. </p>
<p>Organize into reach, match, and safety. Define "match" as a school where your stats are right around the 75th percentile. That will help you trim down your list (no one needs 5 safeties; alternatively, applying to 7 reaches might be excessive if you are trying to reduce the number of schools). </p>
<p>Northeastern, Tufts, Clark, Wesleyan, Brown, Brandeis, and BU are all pretty close together - if you are in the area (living or going on tours), try to sit in on classes and talk to the history department professors. Find out the requirements for a major; see their course listing; and find out what research opporutunities they have, etc. On an intuitive level, those schools all seem to have the same "feel:" the smallish schools (except for a few) which are well-known to those who know schools, have a reputation for academic rigor but aren't cutthroat, and have a liberal slant.</p>
<p>The schools you have listed all seem good but with your interests in History, Creative Writing and German, you may also want to consider Princeton. Its History and German departments are among the world's best and the Creative Writing dept has many luminaries including Joyce Carol Oates and Toni Morrison. Looking at your old post, I think you'd probably like Princeton. Its a green/gothic campus and although its not urban, its pretty close to NYC and Philly. The shops around Princeton are kind of on the expensive side but the train to NYC actually stops on campus. There isn't much of a Greek scene at Princeton although there are a few small, but active, frats and sororities. Contrary to popular belief, Princeton has a diverse student body but just like most good universities, it has its share of students that come from extremely privileged households. I happen to mention Princeton, not only because I attended the school, but because your interests really seem to match it well. The German study abroad program is quite popular (its part of an accelerated language sequence) and as for music, you can get discount music lessons and there are practice rooms available in the Woolworth building near the middle of campus. Some dorm buildings also have practice rooms in the basement. Additionally, while Princeton has no merit aid it has arguably the best financial aid policy of any university.
Best of luck in your search!</p>
<p>ok thanks for all the responses! i will have to look at princeton some more i guess, it seems interesting.</p>
<p>Rochester is really similar with a great free curriculum program, with great creative writing and eastman's music, so you could get some great flexibility with that.</p>
<p>Northwestern all the way!</p>
<p>If you are visiting Princeton you might as well stop by Penn too as it's in the same neighborhood...</p>