<p>I am helping my niece look for colleges. She is a top student, active in drama and chorus. She is interested in pursuing Drama, Judaic studies and Early Childhood. What would be some good schools in California, Washington and Oregon? She is " crunchy granola" type and would probably not like a preppy school. A more artsy liberal arts school would be better. She is also a vegetarian. She is not interested in any of the UCs for whatever reason. This could be a challenge.</p>
<p>Evergreen and Reed obviously would be good choices. She should also look at Fairhaven College, it’s a crunchy, granola LAC that is part of the larger but overall pretty crunchy Western Washington U. </p>
<p>I’m not 100% sure, but I’m fairly certain she could cross register for the good early childhood education classes at WWU while still enjoying the small character of Fairhaven (also, WWU = cheaper than most of the small college on the West Coast).</p>
<p>Lewis and Clarke, Reed, Evergreen (maybe, it takes a very unique person to succeed there), Whitman, Any Claremont College (Pomona, Claremont Mckenna, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, Pitzer), Occidental, Williamette.</p>
<p>Look at Claremont colleges.</p>
<p>Claremont colleges: Pitzer fits the “crunchy granola” req., but CMC and HM - not so much. Occidental and Lewis and Clark Colleges might fit her bill.</p>
<p>Some of the above schools are conservatories…so make that would be a factor…Does she want a conservatory? Or a school where she can participate regardless of major?</p>
<p>I’m not terribly familiar with the Western Schools but a few crunchy granola vegan artsy smart kids in our little midwestern town headed for Humbolt State. Not sure if she only looked at the UC or looked at the entire Cal State system. I don’t know how competitive Humbolt is either.</p>
<p>to my knowledge neither Reed nor Evergreen have Judaic studies, ( nor early childhood), and taking drama at Evergreen would be limited to which programs are offered that term.</p>
<p>You can major in religion at Reed however, and I expect that some of the programs offered at Evergreen may have a study of religion topic from time to time.
I would also look at Mills-in Ca and Pacific University in Or</p>
<p>“Early childhood” is an education category. The only places you are going to find “early childhood” majors is in teacher training programs, which is not what people have been directing the OP to. However, all the LACs mentioned have psychology majors where one can learn a lot about child development if one wants (and most probably have some kind of teaching program as well).</p>
<p>Another set of schools to look at would be the Catholic universities, which are generally smaller than the UCs or CSUs, and probably offer education tracks. E.g., Santa Clara University, Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga.</p>
<p>University of Denver has about 5000 undergrads; about 20% are Jewish. There are both an active, brand new Hillel on campus and an active Chabad as well. The school has a decent, although small, Jewish studies department.</p>
<p>^^Excellent suggestion!</p>
<p>Yes and DU also has a really excellent music school, as well, if she wants to keep singing.</p>
<p>No Judaic Studies to my knowledge, but a small college that offers Child Development and crunchy granola in Oregon is Western Oregon University:</p>
<p>[WOU:</a> academic programs](<a href=“http://www.wou.edu/user_groups/academics.php]WOU:”>http://www.wou.edu/user_groups/academics.php)</p>
<p>Poetgirl, which of the colleges do you think are conservatories? None of them listed above your post are conservatories–just small LACs. Most of these probably don’t have Judaic studies, BUT all probably do have religion majors. Willamette, University of Puget Sound, Lewis & Clark, University of Portland, Gonzaga all have nice music departments.</p>
<p>For drama Willamette is…I know b/c D wanted to go out west but did not want a conservatory. FWIW.</p>
<p>ON the crunchy granola, vegetarian vibe, my DD was at undergrad in SoCal and never happy, she did a masters at WWU and channeled her inner hippie; it seems like a great place for a crunchy granola kid and it was a great experience, much better than expected for a small public. DD went to a top 50 USNWR UG school, but the fit was lacking, WWU is not in that national ranking, but they have some very caring staff, none of whom seem to be ESL which is a difficulty in some of the universities with big PhD internationals teaching courses.</p>
<p>Check the WICHE program to see if she would be eligible for reduced tuition.</p>
<p>Be careful…I have a friend with a son at Evergreen. He wants to leave, but based on the way they offer classes he has found it almost impossible to transfer without losing credits.</p>
<p>I believe Lamont at the University of Denver is a conservatory? My middle son is a junior there (currently semester abroad) and one of his fraternity brothers is a jazz musician studying at Lamont. </p>
<p>Lamont has amazing facilities! All of the practice rooms are on the top floor with windows facing the mountain views to inspire the students. They also having amazing acoustics in the practice rooms–students can set the controls to different settings, such as concert hall vs. auditorium etc.</p>
<p>my D is at WWU- I don’t know if she loves it ( this is her first year), but she just got into an Arabic class which made her fairly happy- ( she says she is going to be a spy- right - a tall gorgeous blonde woman is going to blend into the background in Egypt)</p>
<p>However, I like the size better than a tiny LAC and the price is right.</p>
<p>thanks for all the re[lies. I don’t know if there is a perfect fit for her on the West coast. So far the top choices are Brandeis and Oberlin, neither of which is on the West coast of course…</p>