<p>I have pretty specific interests - I want to go to a college where I can study creative writing, art, and Russian - yet I hate the idea of an enormous university where I'll get lost in the crowd. Small classes and close relationships with professors are important to me. Maybe I'd have access to higher-caliber programs in all three subject areas at a big school, but on the other hand, I think I'd have success with attention from my teachers, mentoring, that sort of thing. I'm a good student with unique interests and ec's, so I've got a lot of options to choose from regarding higher ed (probably not the Ivies, but I'm not so into that anyway). Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I have no idea about the art department, but Middlebury is excellent in languages and writing. Might want to give them a look.</p>
<p>Look at the strong LACs (amherst, Williams, Swat, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Haverford, Wesleyan,etc).</p>
<p>Macalester - has all three areas (see the English major for the "Creative Writing Emphasis" + a big international focus.</p>
<p>No, not Macalester: there's been talk of eliminating the Russian department at Macalester in recent years; they now offer a Russian studies major but no Russian language major; they only offer 2 years of Russian language instruction; and they only they only have one tenured Russian language prof. So not a good bet for studying Russian. (Unfortunately several major colleges and universities have eliminated Russian in recent years, so you have to be careful if you are seriously interested in studying the language).</p>
<p>russiasaurus, are you male or female? My daughter is at Barnard which gives her access to the full Russian-language resources of Columbia, but the more LAC-like atmosphere of Barnard if she chooses. Introductory Russian language classes are all taught at Columbia, with class size limited to 15. The Barnard & Columbia Russian departments are coordinated for all courses. Barnard is also an excellent place to study writing. However, I don't know anything about the quality of art classes (just isn't an area of interest for my d, so I never checked it out).</p>
<p>Some academically rigorous LACs with excellent studio art, excellent English (and good creative writing) that also offer Russian are: Wesleyan, Vassar, Williams, Kenyon and if you are female, Smith. </p>
<p>Hamilton definitely for art and writing, I'm not sure about the Russion. </p>
<p>Skidmore is one of the best for art studio and creative writing. They list Russian, but designate as "self study" whatever that means.</p>
<p>All of these would offer "small classes and close relationships with professors."</p>
<p>I have to chime in for Duke here--they have a strong Russian program and it has all the characteristics you're looking for. It's not an LAC but it offers small classes, seminars, and discussion courses for freshmen (FOCUS and seminars) and the class sizes aren't large. I've heard good things about professor relationships as well. It's worth looking into.</p>
<p>Hamilton offers a concentration in Russian studies. I don't know about its reputation though.</p>
<p>I would say writing and Russian is solid at Colgate. In my six Russian language courses, the class size ranged from 5-12 people, except for one when I studied abroad where the school arranged an honorarium in which I had a private Russian tutor as one of my classes. Colgate also had a joint study abroad program in Moscow where they partnered with Cornell, although got the impression more people on the trip were from Colgate. I don't really know anything about art at Colgate to be able to comment.</p>
<p>Look at University of Chicago.</p>
<p>Duke,Georgetown, W&M, Rice, Tufts, Colgate, Wake Forest are all middle size schools that arent too big but are big enough for a wide array of academic choices.</p>
<p>connecticut college has a good russian/slavic studies department (tons of internship connections in russia), reputable art department and solid english/creative writing.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone! I'm a girl, so a women's school would be an option for me. I'll definitely look into some of these.</p>
<p>Take a look at University of Rochester. They have a studio art major, an English major or minor with emphasis in creative writing, and a Russian Language and Studies program. Russian Studies includes beginning through advanced Russian language.(<a href="http://www.rochester.edu/College/MLC/ug_russian.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.rochester.edu/College/MLC/ug_russian.html</a>)</p>
<p>It's also a small university (4,000 undergrads) so you won't feel lost.</p>
<p>Barnard has strong art history and creative writing and turns out many successful writers (currently Jhumpa Lahiri THE NAMESAKE for example). Its Slavic languages dept. is also very strong -- coadministered with Columbia.</p>
<p>Oberlin would probably be a strong choice for this particular combination.</p>
<p>Tufts would work...</p>
<p>Some suggestions of schools which offer both creative writing and Russian as majors and have a student-teacher ratio under 15:1... Bard College (NY), Beloit College (WI), Brandeis University (MA), Bucknell University (PA), Colby College (NY), Columbia University (NY), Emory University (GA), Hamilton College (NY), Loyola University New Orleans (LA), Oberlin College (OH), Pitzer College (CA), Pomona College (CA), Reed College (OR)</p>
<p>Vassar, Bard, Skidmore...Those are all smaller LACs with strong english and art programs (Vassar especially for the art bit.) Vassar also offers an array of foreign language offerings, including Russian.</p>