<p>I'm a student seeking transfer and I have been accepted to Cornell and Duke. I've been wait listed to Barnard and Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Those are the facts. Now to my question: Which would be best for a student heavily interested in nearly all aspects of theatre, writing, psychology, and other liberal arts? </p>
<p>I think my parents are rooting for Duke, the issue is that Duke is a lot like the university I'm fleeing from (UMiami). Now, I'm not leaving because of the focus on athletics (I really don't care for or about athletics) but I didn't like UMiami's near apathy for the arts and total apathy for anybody not in their BFA program. </p>
<p>Please, I need some advice. I'm stumped. I'm planning on staying on both wait lists as well, so please I'd like your opinions on those too.</p>
<p>in ranking</p>
<ol>
<li>barnard</li>
<li>cornell</li>
<li>swarthmore</li>
<li>duke</li>
</ol>
<p>although duke wouldn’t be as “artsy” as the rest, it would be alot more artsy than Umiami</p>
<p>I disagree with the above ranking. Barnard is certainly the artsiest, but Cornell, Duke, and Swarthmore follow in no particular order.</p>
<p>
Duke is relatively weak in the visual arts, but the performing arts are quite strong. Documentary studies and film production have long been popular, and Duke’s dance program (particularly ballet) is one of the best anywhere and annually home to the American Dance Festival. </p>
<p>Theatre is also very strong. I was associated with musical theatre at Duke, and performances are nearly always completely sold out. I just saw Duke’s performance of Rent and was completely blown away - it was virtually professional in quality. Hoof ‘n’ Horn, the musical theatre group on campus, is about 75 years old and nearly as old as the university itself (it’s the second oldest such group in the country). On the academic side of things, I had multiple theatre major friends (one of whom is now studying dramaturgy at Harvard) who raved about the department. </p>
<p>There are numerous clubs and organizations devoted to the arts, and things like salsa on the steps [of the chapel], the annual step show, the Pitchforks (<em>great</em> a cappella group), Awaaz, etc. get A LOT of attention on campus (they seemingly took up about 1/5 of my yearbook). </p>
<p>Duke’s English program is top-notch, and the concentration in creative writing within the major is extremely strong. It also benefits from cross-registration with UNC, which has one of the very best programs in the country. Neither Duke nor UNC offers a MFA in writing, so both universities have put their considerable resources into the undergraduate programs.</p>
<p>Glance over this website if you haven’t already. It includes things I’ve probably neglected to mention.</p>
<p>[Home</a> | Duke University Arts](<a href=“http://arts.duke.edu/]Home”>http://arts.duke.edu/)</p>
<p>Here’s some info on some of Cornell’s relevant programs:</p>
<p>[Creative</a> Writing Program honored](<a href=“Home | Cornell Chronicle”>Home | Cornell Chronicle)
[Cornell</a> Writers | Entire List](<a href=“http://www.writers.cornell.edu/entirelist/]Cornell”>http://www.writers.cornell.edu/entirelist/)</p>
<p>This thread, esp #7 (&3):
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/43729-cornell-theater.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/43729-cornell-theater.html</a>
Theater director:
[David</a> Feldshuh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Feldshuh]David”>David Feldshuh - Wikipedia)
Programs:
[Theatre</a>, Film and Dance Department - Cornell University](<a href=“http://www.arts.cornell.edu/theatrearts/CTA/archive/]Theatre”>http://www.arts.cornell.edu/theatrearts/CTA/archive/)</p>
<p>clubs/activities
[Cornell</a> Student Activities Office - Browse Student Organizations](<a href=“http://sao.cornell.edu/SO/browse]Cornell”>http://sao.cornell.edu/SO/browse)</p>
<p>Also you might check out the student bloggers from the admissions website, I think there may be a couple pursuing some of these interests.</p>
<p>You can look up NRC rankings of particular grad programs here, FWIW:
[NRC</a> Rankings in Each of 41 Areas](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html]NRC”>NRC Rankings in Each of 41 Areas)
<a href=“NRC Rankings”>NRC Rankings;
<p>Regarding psychology, in addition to the offerings in Arts & sciences you should check out the additional relevant programs/courses offered in Hum Ec( HDFS).</p>
<p>Brought to mind, on another thread a current prospective transfer student was inquiring about living in Risley Hall, you might be interested in that too if you come:
[Risley</a> Residential College - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risley_Residential_College]Risley”>Risley Residential College - Wikipedia)
[Risley</a> Theatre | Welcome!](<a href=“http://www.risleytheatre.org/]Risley”>http://www.risleytheatre.org/)</p>
<ol>
<li>Swarthmore</li>
<li>Barnard</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Duke</li>
</ol>
<p>Ok well since you are waitlisted at Barnard and Swarthmore, lets just look at Duke and Cornell first. Out of those two, I would say Cornell > Duke. So if you had to make your decision today and you were still not in at Barnard and Swarthmore, I would pick Cornell.</p>
<p>However, if you get into Barnard and Swarthmore, personally I would go to those two over Cornell if you can get into them. I would go to Barnard (because NYC is amazing and Barnard is a great small liberal arts college) but Swarthmore isn’t that far behind Barnard either.</p>
<p>Just my opinion. Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the replies thus far; I certainly need to do a LOT of research. </p>
<p>Hopefully somebody can answer this question too: does anybody know how either Swarthmore or Barnard gives out aid money to people on the transfer wait list? And is there a non-gauche way of asking this to the admissions departments?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>