Top New England Schools in Science & Good Fine Arts

Parents Forum
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<p>It’s a good 5-6 hour drive from Boston to Philadelphia–depending on traffic. You have to go around NYC (Tappen Zee or GW Bridge) and the traffic can slow you down considerably. Seems to me you’d need a few extra days if you added Swarthmore or Haverford. My younger D graduated from Bryn Mawr in May. She took many courses at Haverford and Swarthmore. The tri-co system allows students from the three schools to take courses at any of the others. Some majors are centered in one of the schools, e.g., geology majors all end up at Bryn Mawr. Fine Arts is primarily at Haverford (music and art) and Bryn Mawr (theater). However, Swarthmore has a theater department too–my D took several dance/movement courses there and had a friend at Haverford who majored in theater at Swarthmore rather than Bryn Mawr. Tons of options for students. Plus, the tri-co students can also take courses that aren’t available at one of the three colleges at UPenn. Scheduling can be an issue. Bryn Mawr and Haverford are 1 mile apart–Swarthmore is about 20 minutes away. There’s a regular shuttle bus that goes between all three schools. It’s like many things in life–you have to plan if you decide to take a course at a campus that is farther away–nothing is perfect and you have to make choices.</p>

<p>Someone posted a comment about the honor code at Bryn Mawr and Haverford–it’s certainly something that’s mentioned often during the tours, but (and this is only what I’ve learned from my D and her friends) it’s something that’s just accepted on campus and once students are there, they don’t go around congratulating themselves for following the honor code. It just part of the accepted behavior. I believe that both campuses (at least according to the public safety people) have a very low theft rate. My D had excellent interactions with professors at all three colleges. She’s involved in an post-grad arts program that was started by a prof at Swarthmore and is renting a house from a Haverford prof who is on sabbatical. Lots of student involvement with faculty at all three colleges, if students want it.</p>

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<p>Helpful comments. </p>

<p>Blossom, good advice re not getting caught up in particular teaching styles. </p>

<p>Appreciate fenrock’s thoughts on how the Wellesley students develop friendships with guys, & the cross-registering idea gets at the issue, too. </p>

<p>WESLEYAN: 1012mom, We’ve put Wesleyan on our list & will visit it. Both science & art sound excellent. And even though she isn’t quirky, she loves spending time with her theater friends. At first I thought that Oberlin & Wesleyan might be too quirky & artsy for her, but as I’ve thought about it, she does lean toward creative people who enjoy non-traditional plays & musicals.</p>

<p>VASSAR: Anybody know anything about Vassar? I’ve looked online & will continue reading, but I wondered about your gut feelings & thoughts about Vassar’s science, studio art, & whether it’s a supportive, nurturing community.</p>

<p>CMU: I looked at a map & everybody is right—it’s too much to drive all the way down from Boston to Pittsburgh & Philly on this trip. I’d like my kid to have housing on campus the first year, but agree with RacinReaver that there are decided advantages to be off-campus after one’s 1st year. Will visit CMU in the spring.</p>

<p>Thanks for all of this incredible help. I hope to return the favor once we’re further along this journey.</p>

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<p>Re: Vassar. Posted earlier but for some reason didn’t show up.</p>

<p>S is a senior majoring in Biochem. Classes have been small, intense and class participation is a required part of the equation. He has had many opportunities for research both through the school and via the alumni network, which is very strong. He is very pleased with the classes and with his major.</p>

<p>The House system ensures that every resident has numerous opportunities to become part of the community. House pride is very strong. Faculty student interaction is strongly encouraged and profs are always available to students and seem happy to be so. The tradition of offering tea in the Rose Parlor each weekday continues and students and faculty meet to chat.</p>

<p>The Art program is very strong. The art history class is legendary and almost everyone, regardless of major, takes it at some point. The studio art program is also very strong, although S has no personal experience there. Several of his friends rave about it.</p>

<p>Vassar prides itself on not pigeon holing students around majors-S has friends of every description and has been welcomed into many non-sciency things. For example, he walked onto the diving team with no prior experience and has been involved in the Rocky Horror Picture Show for three years. There are countless activities on campus-the Barefoot Monkeys is a favorite. Anyone walking into an activity “cold” is warmly welcomed.</p>

<p>The only core requirements are a year of language and one quantitative course.</p>

<p>Let me know if I can answer any other questions.</p>

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<p>I believe CMU requires freshman to live on campus. My son had a fabulous room freshman year which he was allowed to stay in sophomore year as well without having to enter the housing lottery, but that was because he wasn’t in a designated freshman dorm. He lived in a really nice house with friends third year, and an apartment fourth year. Finding a place to live wasn’t hard. He waited until about a week before he had to move in for that apartment!</p>

<p>We visited Vassar with my oldest and liked what we saw. It’s on the big side for an LAC which we liked. It has almost no distribution requirements which is also nice. I think science is solid, art is very good. Lots and lots of theater. Somewhat hipster student body, but enough variety that I think anyone could feel comfortable there. Young professors live in apartments in the dorms and are very much a part of student life.</p>

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<p>I’m intrigued with Vassar & will continue reading. Sounds like a potential match that will be worth visiting. Thanks.</p>

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<p>Just want to say if you’re going to visit CMU during the spring, be sure to check ahead that you don’t visit on Carnival weekend. It’s a fantastic tradition at the school, but really doesn’t give an accurate depiction of what a typical day is at CMU. :)</p>

<p>(Also try to visit later in the spring, because as much as I love the campus, it’s not at its prettiest in the period between snow melting and grass starting to grow again.</p>

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Leave time to visit the studio art department on your own. Out of 14 college tours, only two included the art department on the standard route. I’d also devote the most time and energy to visiting safeties. It’s fairly easy to love the super-selectives but admission is so unpredictable. Really drilling deep at the “sure-bets” builds a sense of security that will serve you well from December to April.</p>

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Harvard has an excellent art history department. The art studio is well funded but not as famous as Yale’s. I’m not so sure how easy it is to drop into art classes as a non-major at Yale though.</p>

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In addition to its connection to RISD, Brown has an excellent art program of its own. I would say the emphasis is more on theory than practice. </p>

<p>The biggest draw of SFMA is that it’s in Boston. To my son, it was too far away from Tufts to be workable. He took a couple of classes at SFMA when he worked in Boston and found it a little on the sleepy side. </p>

<p>Skidmore has a beautiful campus, a lively small town and one of the better “hands on” art programs encompassing a wider range of media than you usually get at an LAC. Academically, it’s good, but maybe not as rigorous as some of the other schools discussed here. We didn’t visit Bates or Vassar.</p>

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Academically Swarthmore is superb, but I wouldn’t give high marks on any of its arts programs. Haverford has an excellent studio program and Bryn Mawr is known for art history. Like 1012’s daughter, my son didn’t relate well to Haverford, but I’d rate it highly for close knit community. My son didn’t love the idea of consortiums, but they seem a workable solution for many students.</p>

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<p>Also, visiting super-selectives beforehand may be a waste if the student is rejected from most or all of them (of course, a visit can be done after acceptance).</p>

<p>On the other hand, visiting potential safeties before applying can help confirm which ones the student likes (or at least finds acceptable), so that eventually attending one will not be considered a big letdown.</p>

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<p>VASSAR–joesboy, thanks for your thoughts on Vassar, which sounds like a possible good match with strength in science & art, small classes, discussions, House systems, & welcoming attitude.</p>

<p>mathmom–really like joesboy & your thoughts on Vassar—hopeful that it could be a possible match that we can visit. Like LACs but don’t want to get too small & Vassar seems to be in a good range, as does Wesleyan & Williams. Increasingly appreciating the almost no distribution requirements of some of these schools. The theater at Vassar is a plus. Like that young professors live in the dorms. Will be great to check out in person—Thanks.</p>

<p>and momrath & ucbalumnus, thank you for reminding me of the extreme importance of having really good, solid, viable safeties, & devoting significant search to finding the right safeties that my dau loves & would be happy attending. Need to make sure to have at least as many safeties on our college visits as “lottery schools”. Will work more on that…</p>

<p>momrath, appreciate your comments on skidmore, tufts, brown, harvard & swarthmore, particularly in terms of the strength of their art programs. will research taking studio art at yale as a non-major as well as the studio art program at brown.</p>

<p>CAMPUS VISITS—good suggestion re seeing the studio art department on our own since the tours don’t normally go there. also, i really appreciate your</p>

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<p>Might look at Holy Cross-great science programs with new science facility and HC offers studio arts major. Holy Cross has 2900 students, is need-blind for admissions and has good diversity(don’t have to be religious). Kiplingers just rated Holy Cross 13th best LAC for good value. Forbes ranked HC 22ND among national universities and lac’s and Cnbc.S PAYSCALE salary study has HOLY Cross at 12 higher than several Ivies. HC has very nice campus 1 hour from Boston and very strong alumni network including Nobel Prize winner in medicine(one of the very few top LAC’s to have one).</p>

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<p>The arts are extremely well supported at Vassar, and they are about to build a new science center. It has everything you are looking for.</p>

<p>Do be very careful about CMU. It is NOT a liberal arts school and we found that major requirements can be very rigid (e.g., in order to major in math, a student also has to take a physics, chem, and bio).</p>

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<p>Holy Cross opened a new 65 million dollar science complex one year ago.</p>

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OTOH, my comp sci son, thanks to a bunch of 5’s on APs, got out of nearly all the general education requirements and got to take exactly what he liked - math, physics and comp sci courses. Comp sci requires a minor (his was physics), but it could have been anything, including a humanity or social science.</p>

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<p>Vassar is about 25 minutes from Bard-doing both isn’t too hard. If you visit Vassar a good place to overnight is Alumni House across the street from campus. Very reasonable and includes breakfast and parking.</p>

<p>I strongly agree with the thoughts about feeling confident about a safety-love thy safety is a CC commandment. Not in New England but still a great LAC is Ursinus in PA–just outside Philly. Great science program, gorgeous campus. Don’t know much about the arts there. It was S’s safety and he would have been very happy there.</p>

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<p>My son, when visiting campuses and deciding where to apply, wanted to be at a place that fosters professor-undergraduate mentoring and research experience in the sciences; and would give him the opportunity to continue with studio art and music, as well as the flexibility to determine how involved he wanted to be. </p>

<p>He is a physics major at Williams. By the time he graduates he may have a second major in mathematics, which comes from the synergy between him and the math professors. Williams math department is exceptionally vibrant in drawing in and supporting students with a range of academic interests.</p>

<p>With that as background, based on his experience, I second the list of colleges. He considered many of them.</p>

<p>Also, don’t rule out visiting during that waiting period in winter, after applications are submitted, especially in snowy areas. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that many places can work. Many students won’t really know until they matriculate. For example, take breadth requirements vs having none. Some courses could be cross-registered and meet more than one breadth requirement, which one doesn’t know until actually picking courses.</p>

<p>Similar to momrath, I HIGHLY recommend wandering departments independently. Seeing the quality of the art studios and the student work was valuable. And, in the academic departments speaking with the professors was very valuable. In particular, my son discussed his interests with a professor at Dartmouth, who critiqued his own department and made suggestions about places to consider.</p>

<p>Ultimately, while creating a list of campuses, one has to clarify what’s important for the student and works for the family. Things like academics, college community, location, travel time & expenses. The hardest part of deciding where to apply is culling and having a manageable number of applications. There are so many wonderful institutions.</p>

<p>Good Luck! (feel free to PM)</p>