Going from a list of 29 schools to a list of 16 sounds like good progress to me! Also, I appreciate the education about Lin-Manuel Miranda. Didn’t have a clue about any of his university connections!
6 Likes
Poster was joking (I assume) about Hamilton (and I assume Carleton). If there is another school that can credibly claim a connection it’s Vassar, because it was at a Vassar theater summer intensive that part of Hamilton was developed by LMM and Thomas Kail, his Wesleyan classmate.
6 Likes
I associate the revival of Alexander Hamilton’s image primarily with Ron Chernow.
4 Likes
If they still do, @BentWookie and family should look into it, and seek advice about how best to utilize any such opportunity. For example, research faculty and get to know their artistic interests if possible. Express any interest D might share with one or more faculty. That kind of thing. If it’s really a focus school, it makes sense to expend some resources maximizing exposure to where demonstrated interest is keenly valued.
2 Likes
Now that you mention it, it seems all of the former soccer, track and crew moms and dads in my social circle, as well as my professional colleagues, tend to cite Chernow for their newfound interest in Hamilton. Some might have heard of the musical, but I assume most are more familiar with Chernow’s writing.
As would Lin-Manuel Miranda. But perhaps this discussion would be best served by moving it here:
NESCAC Spoken Here (Part Two) - Colleges and Universities A-Z / Wesleyan University - College Confidential Forums
5 Likes
I sure hope demonstrated interest is the key. FWIW, we’ve signed up to do an in-person info session, general tour, and arts tour at Skidmore in August. Given that we live nearly 3,000 miles away, I’d hope that counts for something. And we’ll try to do interviews at any of the colleges to which she applies.
5 Likes
For what it’s worth, in CDS, demonstrated interest is ‘important.’ Usually at those who track it it’s considered. How different a distinction it is I don’t know but if you trust the list, DI is more critical than test scores, ethnicity, geography and the interview. And equal to GPA. So don’t just visit but if you love it, do all the things you need to have them know they are top of mind. It’s a full time job.
Or ED but that doesn’t sound like it’s what you want. That’s likely what they really mean by rating it so high.
4 Likes
Thanks BentWookie! They’re pretty amazing, and I don’t know that I can claim credit for all of it.
Your list is very similar to ours, cost-wise. However, CMU, Hamilton, Colby, and Bates came in okay for us. Maybe a little $$ but not enough to deter.
I also like Pomona and the other Claremont Colleges and they are nice targets. I just don’t know if she would like the weather. (I know that sounds crazy. We’re near Chicago, but PNW weather suits her.)
A surprise for us cost- and offerings-wise, was St. Olaf. Both for her art interests and other majors she’d like to explore.
Finally, Williams for the win according to NPC. If it’s accurate she’d only pay a little over $2k a year. I suspect that’s correct because her brother attends for dirt cheap as well. They have such a huge endowment. She is applying for the Windows on Williams fly-in program, so we’ll see if she’s accepted for that.
I’m pulling for Williams, but I know she may not want to go to the same place as her brother even though they’ll only overlap for one year. We shall see.
Good luck, and let us know how the visits go - can’t wait to hear!
3 Likes
The variance of financial aid is wild. When I ran estimated costs on MyIntuition last fall, Colby and Rice appeared very generous. But when I did an NPCs at both school after my tax returns this year, each school’s estimate had more than doubled. Meanwhile, the NPC estimates for Williams and Smith and other colleges went down. But that’s fine. We don’t want/can’t afford to apply to 15+ schools, so it’s easy enough to remove colleges.
I’ll check out St. Olaf, which I’ve heard good things about. The underlining question is always whether a particular school at a particular cost is preferable to Nevada for free. Fun fact: I associate St. Olaf with my childhood in the 80’s because it or a town with its name was the subject of many Betty White jokes on The Golden Girls: Every St. Olaf Story 🤣 Golden Girls - YouTube.
Have you looked into Vassar? It’s supposed to be great for studio art and generous with aid. For whatever reason, Vassar’s NPC is dramatically higher for us though.
Williams seems to be best in class for financial aid (and many other things). It really seems like a homerun. It’s my kid’s call, but I’m kind of hoping that she applies there ED. That said, admissions are so tough at Williams and other schools of its ilk. So many uber-qualified kids are turned away.
Vassar turned out ok when I ran the NPC, but not outstanding. I’m sure we’ll still look at it since it has a higher acceptance rate than Williams, et al.
Ultimately it’s up to her - I just wish she’d move a little faster on at least getting some ideas of where she’d like to visit. I showed her the NPC numbers, so I think that might get her going. I was happy to see she was going through the schools and looking at course listings for the art dept to get a better idea of the offerings.
I hope your kid gives the Williams app a shot - I believe in hoping for the best!
4 Likes
Thanks for the memory! So true!
5 Likes
Our experience - forget about NPC. They are all wrong. Apply widely. Also note, that there are schools that ask only for FAFSA and the ones that ask for CSS profile. If I remember correctly you do not report 401k on FAFSA.
Consider schools that give merit (Art) scholarships.
3 Likes
How about Case? It is very interesting in terms of Artistic location and has a lot of different majors.
1 Like
Gotta love the never-ending uncertainty of applying selective schools: No idea what schools one’s kid will get admitted to and no idea what it’ll cost. 
FWIW, we have a very safe and affordable safety that my kid would be happy-ish to attend, so we’re likely to apply to 10-12 colleges that will be roughly a combination of reaches and targets.
Case = Case Western? Haven’t heard it mentioned for art before, but I’ll look into it.
5 Likes
Case Western came off our long list for some reason. Could have been price - that is most likely.
My daughter finally did her application to the Williams fly-in program … on the deadline. Decisions happen at the end of July, so I’m just going to forget about it for the time being and see what happens.
8 Likes
Awesome! That sounds like such a cool program.
1 Like
Case Western has very interesting location. It is in neighborhood (walikng distance) of 3 museums, Cleveland Orchestra etc. Many students have second major/minor in art. My artsy older kid almost committed there.
She got significant scholarship there. BTW schools has a great size. Not too small and not too big. (There are many grad students. )
3 Likes
Regarding Case Western Reserve, it does not appear to offer a major in studio art:
1 Like