What colleges have good music/orchestra programs?

I’ve heard good things about Vassar and Smith; Bowdoin seems interested in attracting musicians. Smith has good chamber music and you can play in the 5 college orchestra. I have friends whose daughters were strong string players (but not music majors) at Smith and they were very happy. Wellesley and Brandeis are worth a look for chamber music.

UPenn and Columbia are both possibilities but Columbia’s orchestra is very hard to get into for non majors. Last fall a friend’s daughter (not a music major but still a good violinist at Barnard) said they only had openings for 5 freshman violins.