If he is submitting arts supplements he is obviously very talented on conservatory level. Look for schools with expanded arts programs. Conn Coll is one. And wouldn’t you want to shine in an interview where he can expand on that?
If you are doing Bates, why not go to Colby? They have a beautiful museum on campus and it is a short drive. The town is much nicer. No cost application SAT optional an exemplary academics…
Also if you are looking at Skidmore, suggest Vassar for music.
Re: Open House vs interview. My D found the Open Houses way too long. After 2 presentations or one presentation and a tour she generally felt like she had enough information and wanted to leave. They are generally very crowded so the tours are quite large and it is hard to hear anything. We did a tour at Conn College on a Sat Afternoon in the fall and there were only 2 other families on it. They had a lot of tour guides. I would opt for that and an interview over the open house if you can make it work.
I think Open Houses can be great for juniors – who may be starting their tours and who are too early in the process to interview. Since your kid is a senior AND has some particular interests, my vote is for tour with interview. You could try to visit with someone in the department but I know you are trying to get in and out. I agree that Conn is probably a good one for you and they do seem to worry (more than dome) about admitting kids who aren’t particularly interested in attending.
Thank you! We toured Vassar this summer. Beautiful campus. It is definitely one he is seriously considering. He loved the Steinways they had in every dorm lounge.
DS has considered Colby. It may be worth a second look. We do have an interview scheduled at Bates and tour, but could easily fit in a trip to Colby.
Thank you for all the feedback. Right now, we tentatively have tours scheduled at Williams, Brown, Wesleyan, and Dartmouth, and tours and interviews scheduled at Bates and Connecticut College. I really wanted to schedule an interview at Wesleyan and Williams, but at Williams the interview isn’t evaluative, and Wesleyan we are touring on Sunday. I am going to try to see if we can fit in a visit to Colby as well.
I may be the outlier here with my advice but his scores and lack of academic rigor are going to be issues for a lot of these schools. You realize that some of these schools have sub 8% acceptance rates in RD, right? Kids with high scores, tons of rigor, and excellent ECs and recommendations get turned away in droves. From our high school, no one would be admitted to most of the schools on your list without a minimum of a 1500 SAT and rigor in all subjects. I think you might be setting your son up for disappointment.
Also, many of the schools on this list don’t care about demonstrated interest. If your son does get in, you can visit after acceptance.
I was thinking the same thing. Does he have any safeties on his list and has he visited any of them? Those schools can definitely be the most important to visit as you want him to have somewhere to go that he really likes that he can definitely get into.
Williams, Brown, Wesleyan, Dartmouth? I don’t think it makes sense to see any of these.
I too was thinking the same thing homerdog. Other schools mentioned by OP were Tufts, Penn, Colby, and Bates - all very much reaches given what OP said about lack of rigor and 1420/32 test scores. I also agree with what poster #8 said about Skidmore not being a safety. Don’t want to be a downer OP, but I would focus more on safety and match schools where your DS will likely end up.
He is applying to Bard, but that’s quite a bit out of the way. He doesn’t have many AP courses, but he does have many advanced and honors courses. That said, he’s well aware that many of the schools are reaches. I’m also hoping he will decide he likes one and will consider applying to one of the ED II options.
Some schools we also considered looking at are College of Holy Cross, Roger Williams, and Wooster Polytechnical Institute. If anyone has suggestions of good safety schools, I am open to suggestions.
Since you are a NY resident, maybe New Paltz or Geneseo.
Has he visited Bard? It’s definitely a very particular flavor and will be a great fit for some students, but a less great fit for others.
Additional safety options:
-St. Lawrence University
-Sarah Lawrence College
Additional match option:
-Oberlin College (could be great for someone with a strong musical interest)
@nextstepcollege I would reevaluate your trips as you have them set up. I"m sure your S is an awesome student and is obviously strong in music but that is not a hook and there are probably 20 kids at our high school who are recognized by our state as top performers and play in semi-professional orchestras or have their own bands who have recorded. No joke. 20. We have 750 in the class. One of them was a state champion percussionist (sorry but I’m not sure of the name of the contest), had all APs in all subjects, super high GPA, 1550, 5s on all APs, super advanced in math taking BC as a junior, and was also a three season varsity athlete and was denied at all of his reaches.
My point is that visiting reaches that don’t track interest doesn’t make sense. It’s getting pretty late to decide on an ED as those are due in two weeks and many of the schools on your reach list don’t have ED2. For Dartmouth or Williams or Brown, your son’s scores are too low unless he is a URM or first gen. Those apps are LONG and you need to request interviews as well. You can’t turn back the clock but, if you were planning on using ED, you should have been visiting schools way earlier than now.
I know this all sounds so bad but I really think you need to get to the match schools that you’ve mentioned. Conn College. Skidmore. Bard.
What is the interest in WPI? It is an engineering school
Holy Cross is not a safety school by any means. They have a music scholarship. Unless you are applying for it I would not send the arts supp in. It could be a ding. List it as a EC.
I agree with poster above that unless your son has achieved juried awards for music it is not a hook. Having rec’s from the schools band and vocals is simply not enough.
The point of a music supp is when your app is strong enough for them to send it to the music faculty. If they decide they would like to work with you, it can be a little tug. No harm done.
Skidmore’s 75th percentile is 700/700 SAT and 31 ACT Composite.
https://www.skidmore.edu/admissions/academics/music/
Surely schools do not only accept a personal visit as a way to express interest. That would not be consistent with their stated goals to improve diversity (economic), as those trips are $$$.
We have done two in a day if they are close to one another. That said 6 over 4 days (including travel day) was all we could handle. Everyone was grouchy, tired, and unable to accept any more college stimulation.
@nextstepcollege
Can he interview locally for Conn College if you end up going to the open house?
And when you say he lacks rigor, does that mean your high school doesn’t offer a lot of APs, or is it because he is not taking the most rigorous track available? Those are 2 different things entirely. He will be judged in the context of his high school, so if there are only a few APs offered and he takes most of them , that is what counts. But if he is not taking as many as compared to peers at his high school then that will be noted and can be a deal breaker at the very reachy schools.
Same goes for class rank. The very reachy schools are looking for the kids at the very top of the class unless there is a big hook.