Someone above mentioned Drew in NJ, and I would second a closer look there.
Great BA Theater programs with a London semester, in addition to proximity to NYC.
Other strong majors as well.
Blossom, your description of Clark student body of holds true for son is EXACTLY the situation he is looking for! We are definitely visiting in two weeks we will be in “the Woo” .
To the contributor who mentioned Holy Cross, we may take a look just to see that gorgeous campus. It certainly does have a wonderful reputation . Son’s stats of 3.5 and 1370 put him only above 31 percent of admitted applicants so maybe that is why no one is talking about it. Also I heard it is rather exclusively preppy and I mentioned that my son is looking for diversity . Still we will be staying over night and taking WPI son out to dinner . I personally would like to see HC while we are there and you just never know, but my instincts tell me that it is doubtful that HC would be a match for this one .
To the Drew suggestion. On paper and the web this DID look like possibly the perfect spot for him including for merit scholarship. However when we visited we had an odd day. Odd enough that he doesn’t want to go back. Admissions officer was great . Some interesting programs were described . The campus was almost empty due to our timing right after spring semester . There was construction . I really always hesitate to say this as she is just a hardworking student , but our guide was an odd combination of enthusiastic , sweet and distractingly annoying at the same time. Ended up just underlining the strangeness if our day. . Pretty campus, but the inside of most of the buildings we saw were run down. The freshman dorm seemed prison like and the windows tilted in in such a way that you could not even put in a big window fan …and no AC . You ARE among several that suggest Drew including a teacher of son’s so maybe our timing just didn’t give it a fair shot . Son thought the situation with the seminary family housing on campus was odd too. Liked the town of Madison though.
So no Drew on this mini road trip. Perhaps we will revisit at some point to evaluate when it is in full swing .
SUNY Purchase?
NJWrestlingmom, thank for the reminder re SUNY schools. I don’t know much about them. I’ll look up Puchase. I did hear a bit about Geneseo, as a friend mentioned its size was what S was looking for but that would not be logistically convenient for this trip. I’ll look up Purchase. Maybe? Certainly more economical!
Have a call in to a public school teacher college friend of mine, and mom of 4 who have all graduated from college , to get her take on SUNY system schools, before deciding to include any. Reviews seem to point out substandard housing, food and student engagement at Purchase to a degree that makes the complaints seem to be valid. New Paltz sounded like it might have more to offer. Maybe Geneseo? Buffalo and and Binghamton have some great reviews, but I know he is looking for a smaller environment.
My guy DOES love performing ( and actually lighting, production, set too, all of it) in theater productions and friend’s and his own HS short films,etc. AND he likes sports too…intramurals playing wise… more for fun, but he also follows and attends his school games. He likes back packing/camping some rock climbing, kayaking, sailing , biking too. Whatever schools he ends up applying to will likely be balanced in terms of student interests and ECs, with some school spirit. Also he is undecided about actually MAJORING in Theater arts and has lots of other genuine interests. So schools with core requirements that introduce the students to several fields of study freshman year would be better suited to him.
My brother in NY with a D21 also has heard great things about Geneseo - but that doesn’t work for this trip. The SUNYs are known for bigger class sizes. Purchase is the artsy SUNY, which is why I thought of it.
I grew up in NY, went to Purchase for about 3 weeks. Definitely NOT my scene! Beautiful campus, great location, but it was way too progressive for my 18 year old self! New Paltz is another in a beautiful location - and probably a smaller size than Bing.
Holy Cross, better academically than many schools mentioned though I have no idea about the theater program.
NJWrestlingmom, i thought the artsy vibe was why you mentioned Purchase. My son is a tough fit, as he really is not a stereotypical “artsy” kid. He is very well rounded, and more main stream, but not stereoptypically preppy, or sporty either…a real mix who manages to fit in pretty well with everyone ( he is on the ballot for homecoming king this year) who just happens to really like performing, (is a decent HS actor and performed the male lead in Arsenic and Old Lace very well for a HS performance for instance) and the comeraderie of bringing a project like a play together. He performs in musicals but prefers to act in non musicals. When friends of ours first meet him they tend to assume his is a jock (fit and usually in sport attire, and among close friends is a varsity basketball player and another who is a wrestler among others…a sporty looking group that supports all the school teams and activities) They are always surprised to see his theater, choir, sometimes drummer in another friend’s garage band interests) He doesn’t know if he’d like to truly make a go of acting, but knows he’d like to always keep it in his life in some form, at least as an EC in college and community theater after, simply because he enjoys it so much. He really does not know at 17, like most, exactly what he wants to study, or what he’d like to do, just that he wants to get these applications done, figure out where to send them and enjoy the rest of his senior year, lol!
I wonder about SUNY New Paltz for your son. I think he may like it. It’s got a good theater program and, importantly, the theater productions and events there are open to people who aren’t theater majors. This is something you’ll want to check into at the schools he looks at, as at some, it could be an issue.
SUNY New Paltz is the right size, right academics, quirky student body with people from all sorts of backgrounds, good theater program, and plenty of other majors should he change his mind. It’s public, but it’s a LAC that also offers business and engineering. Cool college town.
If he likes the idea of Jesuit, I’d ask him to look at Holy Cross, and that’s an easy visit while you’re in Worcester. And of course, you mentioned Clark.
SUNY Purchase, which others mentioned, is an elite level theater program. The campus is horribly ugly (and that’s not just me saying that), but the students I know who’ve gone there did like it. I took some classes there and found there was a really nice environment on campus, in terms of students and etc. But wow, the buildings are not attractive. :lol:
Okay. We truly appreciate everyone’s suggestions. We are going up to Worcester to visit son1 next weekend. Son2 is registered for a Clark tour, lunch with a Clarkie and an interview on Monday. It turns out that there is an open house at Holy Cross on Sunday too, so I registered him. I am just not even sure that we should bother though. Certainly HC is lovely, solid reputation , etc. However, it is very selective and as I mentioned in the OP, while son2’s Sats are 1370 and in the ball park, his unweighted GPA is 3.1 . He has always had all honors and AP,making his weighted GPA a 3.5 and some change. I am confident that he is capable and prepared to handle rigorous academics at college, but I am not so sure that he will be able to convince HC, or Skidmore, Bard, CT college, or the like with that 3.1 unweighted GPA. Perhaps he could point out his upward trajectory and help his case in an admissions interview?
Would we be spending our time more wisely at Hofstra, Adelphi, maybe New Paltz,or Wheaton? Maybe Marist although I do not like that it looks like they use a lot of adjunct professors and I am not sure how active their theater arts and associated clubs are. He does strongly prefers smaller schools ( under 5000) but in asking him exactly why, it is primarily because he would like relationships with his professors and smaller classes because he feels he is more engaged and accountable in that type of environment. But maybe he could also find that in slightly larger schools?
So my question is are we wasting our time if we go to HC open house, or is it a long but potentially feasible shot? And we would still like to fit in one more on our travels. Thanks.
No Purchase as per son.
Hobart William Smith in Geneva? A little north, but Bennington?
He could be a student at UMass, which is a little bigger than what he wants, but he could then take many classes at Smith or Mt Holyoke and be involved in those theater programs too.
Hobart and William is on the radar but not for this trip .
U mass is much bigger than he prefers but we might go up from Worcester to show him anyway as Amherst is such a nice town. I forgot about the consortium and yes maybe he could also be a part of mount Holyoke and Smith plays. Growing up he has occasionally played in local all girls Catholic school plays . Male actors are in demand!! It will be up to him. If he grulybis dead set against larger schools , we won’t go.
We have an appointment at Clark for Monday, and he went on line to check out those mentioned on this thread on their web sites as well as his Naviance program through school… The result is that in addition to Clark, he’d like to see Bard and Connecticut College . If it is nice weather , we are going all the way to Newport and see Salve Regina too as he read that they had a “ surprisingly good / active theater program . We have a friend from scouts that was in the historic renovation program there ( makes sense to have it there!) and has a lot of good things to say about it so who knows? Selfishly I love the Ct RI coast … Newport is only an hour and a half from WPI . Then Bard on our way home . Maybe Marist .
To those that recommended Drew . Not on this trip , but son IS going to give it a second look. A teacher, his advisor , a friend, and a couple here ALL have recommended it to us . And my non CC recommenders all had personal experience with the school . So maybe we just had a bad day . It WAS between spring semester ending and summer beginning and construction was going on so we will give it another look.
Thanks!
My S goes to Wheaton of Ma and I would recommend you guys look there. Very good merit possibility, in his wheel house academically and a mix of students that is just right. Short train ride to Boston and 20 min car ride to Providence. S has been to both for class trips and for fun during the school year. S is very social and loves it.
All have been mentioned above, but it sounds to me like Clark, Drew, Wheaton and Sarah Lawrence (in that order) would all be good bets. I would worry about the $$ being full pay at HolyX and ConnCollege. I have a student very similar on paper to yours and the first 4 are ??