I’d say the lists above have lots of great choices to investigate. The education part might be hard. I especially liked @aquapt mention of Denver and UOP, which while are not LACs they are small and diverse enough educationally. Denver is known to be rich who’re kids who ski but my daughter’s hs bf goes there and says there is that but much more.
From Wheaton you take a bus to the next town over and hop a train to Boston or Providence. Not sure how accessible some other schools on the list are to major cities.
What we don’t know is when someone says urban or suburban, are they looking to escape the college area or simply looking for a college that has immediate surroundings…ie shops, restaurants, etc.
Just going to throw out Occidental as an option even though it’s not in one of the geographical areas mentioned. Beautiful small liberal arts school right in Los Angeles. It has a jazz ensemble and an education minor only. But, the whole LA music scene is all right there. Merit aid is a possibility.
As an education major you generally want to look at going to school in the state you want to teach in. If he’s not sure he might want to consider going to a school in a state that has the more rigorous requirements (it’s easier to go teach outside NY with a NY teaching degree then it is to teach in NY with an out of state degree). Another thing to look at is the pass rate for the teaching exam for each school.
If your looking at the trig-state area here’s a list of some of the better teaching programs in each state
New Jersey: TCNJ, Seton Hall, Montclair, Rowan
Pennsylvania: West Chester, Penn State, St Joe’s
New York: Columbia*, Manhattan College, Marist, SUNY Cortland
Columbia is a great teaching college assuming you can get some aid.
IIRC, the teaching certification program at Columbia is offered only through Barnard. The Teachers College programs through Columbia are graduate level.
That logic makes sense. At my kids HS so many teachers were from OOS. From Bowling Green to Ball State and to New Mex to W&M to Ole Miss to Az and CA schools, just like the rest of our growth. Perhaps in TN we have less strict rules. I know here they are massively attempting to hire for teachers and other staff. With seemingly shortages everywhere due to all the political issues being dragged into the educational system, I wonder if the strict licensing you allude to will change? Still your guidance is very helpful and I’m glad you shared it.
While we are looking at Midwest schools, here’s two more suburban but in mid size cities with airports….both offering education…Coe in Cedar Rapids and Augustana in Sioux Falls. Coe is more diverse but a neighbor toured Augustana…got a good offer and said they strongly push diversity.
@tsbna44 - you make a great point about teacher shortages, and there is a process for applying from out of state and depending on the state they may have reciprocity with other states. A great question to ask if you are meeting with the education department during a tour or open house is if they have experience with placing students out of state and if they provide support in navigating out of state requirements.
I did hear there is a big need for teachers in Hawaii so that’s always an option!
As soon as music is mentioned, there is a tendency to suggest schools “with good music programs.” I would again caution to check schools with conservatories, schools of music or other BM programs to make sure that a non-music major can have a teacher and decent performance opportunities.
Sometimes the better choice is a school where there is no BM program but instead a good music department with lots of extracurricular opportunities, including lessons and performance, and a chance to do music electives, for BA students majoring in something else.
If he wants to do jazz in a degree program, he can consider double degree BA/BM or a double major within a BA. See the music major forum’s Read Me thread and read the Double Degree Dilemma essay to explore different ways to do music at college.
I am going to stick my neck out here as I know the requirements for a music major and for an elementary education major. I do not think it’s possible to double major in these two fields.
I’m not sure it’s possible to minor in music (while majoring in education ), and you can’t minor in education at any place I know of.
But…it is possible to play in a jazz ensemble for non-majors…for fun. Some schools have these ensembles. You need to ask!
Thank you all, fantastic discussion and ideas. We talked more this weekend and he is very geared toward being near an exciting/vibrant city, such as Portland, Seattle, Boston, or NYC. He has been to both coasts but not yet to the Midwest, but Macalester still appeals because it is urban. Definitely Clark in Worcester and Seattle U are going on the list as well. I love the idea of Wooster or Oberlin for him but for him Cleveland is not appealing. Maybe we’ll check out some youtube videos or something. He has a bicoastal bias I think!
He is really attracted to the social justice aspect of a Jesuit school so Seattle U for sure. Loyola in Chicago maybe. Loyola in New Orleans maybe…
He’s not ready to lock down on the teaching career just yet, so if that means doing an extra year in another state in order to teach there, that’s ok. He’s only just turned 17 last month so I don’t expect him to commit to a career really fully at this time. Thanks again.
I looked again and it is an MA in Teaching — certified to teach. They promote working in local urban schools. Since psychology is so strong there it would be perfect to do BA in psych, MA in teaching.
You might also consider Santa Clara University (Jesuit) and University of Portland (Catholic but not Jesuit), if he is comfortable pursuing schools a little larger than the small LACs.