I think your daughter would really love Pomona/Scripps/Pitzer. They each have good investment in the arts and the career opportunities are amazing from proximity to LA, unlike other LACs which tend to be quite rural and rely on one art museum for students. Pomona’s art studio is fantastic and gorgeous (seriously, its gorgeous- A Vibrant New Center for Studio Art | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College ). Rural schools like Bowdoin are great, but the amount of art activity in Maine pails in comparison to New York, Los Angeles, or even Philly. If she likes the North, she might also enjoy Haverford, Swarthmore, Barnard, Sarah Lawrence (really good at the arts!!!), and Occidental. These colleges are all quite small but have access to a thriving art scene.
Rural schools like Bowdoin are great, but the amount of art activity in Maine pails in comparison to New York, Los Angeles, or even Philly.
Completely true if you are talking about museums with large collections or galleries. But over the years, many artists have chosen to do their work in Maine, the Hudson Valley, etc., and for many reasons, those places have been artist havens. This really depends on what the OP is looking for.
Colby, for example has its own art museum. No competition for the Barnes of MoMa, though!
With Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum and Yale’s art museums short drives away, Wesleyan has this point covered. Not to mention New York an easy weekend trip away.
I re-ran the NPC and added Hamilton to the list. Its art department seems fantastic, dad likes their reputation for writing (important in any career path), and their study-abroad programs are great. It seems somehow a little more isolated than the Williamses and Dartmouths. It’s a concern, not a dealbreaker though.
I also eliminated Rice and Colby, whose respective NPCs inexplicably jumped to the far end of or beyond their earlier EFC estimates.
Pomona is on our long list, but it may be the single-most competitive LAC admissions-wise. Scripps is on our short-list and seems like a reasonable target school.
Sarah Lawrence is on our long list and we’re aware of its strong reputation in fine art. But I think it might not otherwise be a great fit. My kid really likes her high school and is super involved (and not in a resume-stuffing way). I get the sense that SLC isn’t particularly high on school spirit or community, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
Swarthmore, BMC, and Haverford are obviously fabulous schools, but I’m not sure any of them is particularly strong in art or otherwise a great fit for my kid.
Incidentally, we’re planning a New England road trip this August in which we’ll visit Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Williams, Skidmore, Smith, and Wesleyan. I know summer isn’t the best time to visit, but she’ll already be in Boston and it’s the only time reasonably available to us.
Haverford has really upped its offerings in studio art. I recommend looking at these Instagram accounts
Haverford Haverford College Exhibits (@hcexhibits) • Instagram photos and videos
VCAM at Haverford College (@haverfordvcam) • Instagram photos and videos
That said, my Williams student loves her studio art classes as well as the way that the studio and art history faculty are under one Art department. Students can major in fine art, art history, or a third track that requires work in both fine art and art history. Having the Williams College Musem of Art, the Clark, and Mass MoCA within 15 minutes of campus make for a vibrant art scene.
Will have another look at Haverford.
I’ll defer of course to my kid, but Williams my personal dream school for her. It’s really just an amazing school with a top-notch art program and tremendous financial aid. We’ll apply and her stats/ECs will likely be in the general ballpark, but it seems like she’ll still need to win the figurative lottery to actually receive an admission offer.
I’ve also been increasingly impressed with Skidmore for studio art. It checks a lot of boxes and the NPC is shockingly good. (Somehow, it’s much lower than a lot of prestigious schools with endowment-per-students in the seven figures.) The fact that students can minor in Art Administration is pretty cool too. I haven’t seen this option often.
I’m a fan of Skidmore, too, and Saratoga Springs is such a great town (and easier to get to than Williams).
My daughter had strong grades, rec, rigor, etc., but I think submitting an art portfolio made a difference in her results since she had no hooks and was applying from an overrepresented area.
Good luck!
With respect to Haverford, it’s unclear exactly how many students chose studio art as a “first major” in a recent year, but the figure seems to be no greater than 4:
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Haverford&s=all&id=212911#programs
As bases for comparison, Kenyon reported 12 recent graduates in studio arts and Smith shows 16:
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Kenyon&s=all&id=203535#programs
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Smith&s=all&id=167835#programs
Also, in your Williams supplement, would try to show creativity, and how your daughter can thrive in multidisciplinary environment, if you can show both math and art skills, that would be a plus.
Re your comment on Hamilton:
We had the same impression.
The absence of an easily walkable town (or village) wouldn’t have been deal breaker for my son as access to Nature with a capital N was a greater priority. Hopefully you can add Hamilton to your August visit list and see for yourselves.
Regarding Williams selectivity: your daughter seems to offer the profile that Williams favors — a balance of academics, arts and outdoorsy or sporty activity.
She should focus her application (essays, resume, recommendations) to feature the synergy among her interests and how her continued participation will contribute to the campus community.
Regarding Hamilton, the quaint village of Clinton (1.1 miles from campus) adds a lot to the ambience of the area. However, Hamilton’s access to nearby suburban amenities and a small city is probably what most sets its location apart from those of colleges in more rural areas. For easy transportation, Hamilton provides hourly shuttle service. As an especially notable attribute, Hamilton’s surrounding town of ~10,000 residents is free of serious crime (with a violent crime rate of literally zero in a recent year).
I’m responding to an old post, but thought I’d chime in as I have a son at Williams. He applied ED, and is not an athlete. We do have the advantage of being low-income and first gen, which Williams seems to give priority to as well. He was accepted and given a whopping aid package. (And now that they have adopted their no-loan policy, even better.)
All to say, if Williams is anyone’s absolute first choice, give ED a go. I think something like 50% of their incoming class (2021) was accepted ED.
How is the summer going so far? Have any schools been eliminated (or added) to your list?
Not a whole lot of movement. I’d say the current iteration of our list looks like this . . .
Reaches with great financial aid:
- Williams
- Pomona
- Bowdoin
- Dartmouth
- Swarthmore
BFA reaches that I probably can’t afford:
- Cornell
- CMU
Reachy targets associated with Lin Manual Miranda that I probably can’t afford (also Carleton):
- Wesleyan
- Hamilton
- Carleton
The unicorn target with great financial aid and the possibility of merit aid:
- Smith
The target with great financial aid but a reputation for rejecting kids who need financial aid and don’t apply ED:
- Skidmore
Targets with decent financial aid but require additional merit aid:
- Scripps
- Kenyon
- Macalester
- Oberlin
The full-ride local flagship/safety:
- Nevada
Can’t afford: Vassar, Brown, BU, WashU, Yale, Columbia, Colby, Rice, all UCs, VCU, Michigan, Tufts, NYU, Bates, Barnard, and more.
My kid will spend the next four weeks at BU, and we’ll be visiting Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Williams, Skidmore, and Smith in August. I suspect she’ll have stronger opinions afterward.
FWIW, an oft-cited (on CC) source, College Transitions/Dataverse, lists these five LACs for studio art: Bard, Bryn Mawr, Skidmore, Vassar and Williams.
My guess is that Skidmore is going to pull forward in the race for your D’s affections after a few days in Saratoga Springs. It’s a huge asset for Skidmore.
I know little to nothing about studio art, and I may be about to prove it by linking this article. But on the off chance it’s relevant, Wes has made a couple of property purchases around campus (they’ve been active in doing so the last few years), one of which involves reclaiming an old building from its past and building an addition to create more space that may be relevant to studio art. Looks like a cool plan, which will free up space at the Center for the Arts:
@gotham_mom seems to be the voice to which I’d most pay attention on this topic given her D’s pursuit of studio art and attendance at Williams.
I’ve always felt that Hamilton College owes Lin-Manuel Miranda (Wesleyan University Class of 2002) a vote of thanks.
Good lord, my spelling of Lin-Manuel Miranda.
M_Fun: Congrats on raising such high-achieving kids! Somewhere above in this windy thread, there’s discussion of the advantages of applying ED to Williams.
cquin85: Skidmore checks a lot of boxes and looks great. I also like that they offer a minor in Art Administration (more of a dad interest than a daughter interest), which not many other LACs do. But I do have a concern about Skidmore’s reputation for rejecting kids who need financial aid in RD regardless of stats and demonstrated interest. It’s anecdotal and we’ll probably apply anyway, but it may be more reachy than it seems under the circumstances.
Not an expert by any means, but what I’ve heard repeatedly is that demonstrated interest is key. They don’t have the big endowment that it takes for “financial aid for everyone”, but if they want a kid they will admit them and support them. Skid, I think, draws plenty of full pay, so they fund who they want to fund.
How you present demonstrated interest, I don’t know. Faculty reach-out … connecting in some way with someone on campus. Multiple visits. E-mail the dep’t chair. Other people on CC will have better ideas than I. But it’s crucial at Skid based on what I’ve been told.
At least as of a few years ago, Skidmore does evaluative interviews.