wimabi

My son wants to major in viola performance, but also has a passion for languages. He was born in Switzerland and speaks French well. His college credits in languages are

French 201 and 202
German 101 and 102
Russian 101 plus he has spent 2 summers at Concordia Language Villages studying Russian and will continue to study Russian his senior year and hopes to return to Concordia as a counselor next year.

His university GPA is a 4.0, though his HS GPA is lower - I believe an unweighted 3.6/4.0 and he has only taken 2 APs (English and Calculus) since his High School is an Arts Conservatory and does not offer any science APs. I am hoping the score will arrive today in the mail.

He has spent the past two years at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts studying viola performance (they have a high school boarding section), he has studied viola since age 7 and has gone to music summer camps since he was 10, including NCSA, Credo, and 2 years at Domaine Forget in Québec, Canada.

He does not want to give up languages in music school and will spend his senior year at home to take college classes - more French (300 level) and German and Russian 200 level and music. He has gotten an English override to take a 300 level English class on Tolkien. He also loves Tolkien and is interested in linguistics, the history of languages, Middle English, etc.

Due to the nature of his boarding school, his extracurriculars are only his music. He is an Eagle Scout, which he completed his freshman year knowing he could not continue with scouts while on campus. He will participate next year (senior). He also plays chess, a pursuit he was able to continue at school, as a small group started a small chess club. He is a member of a community chess club at home.

Does anyone have any suggestions of schools that have great language programs and don't mind if you double major. I think he is leaning towards the Russian/music performance. We will be looking at Oberlin, but it is the only school on our list.

sunmachine

Lawrence University.

stradmom

You might get some good answers on the music major forum Music Major - College Confidential but the place that immediately comes to mind is my D2's alma mater, Bard College. Bard has a conservatory that requires all students to get a double degree in the college (BM/BA or BS, a five year program) and they have a strong language program that includes study abroad experiences. My daughter is a recreational violist, and found that violists were in great demand there (she was in the college, not the conservatory).

Oberlin and Lawrence both seem like good suggestions also.

wimabi

Thanks,

I knew about Lawrence from Colleges that Change Lives and have been on the web site. It looks beautiful. We should consider and visit, but it is far away. We are in Virginia. I had not thought of Bard.

I also wonder if it would take 5 years to double major since he would enter with 30 college credits. He will take almost all college courses his senior year since he only needs 2 more HS credits to graduate. It puts us in a strange situation of knowing if he should apply as a transfer student or a freshman, but this is a question for admissions.

stradmom

I believe there are more merit scholarships designated for first year students, and that they can then apply those AP/dual enrollment classes once they are accepted. Many kids these days enter as "freshman" but with "sophomore" level credits under their belts.

SpiritManager

I think Bard is a great suggestion. The conservatory does accept transfer students, so it's possible he could complete the program in less than five years. The Russian program in the college is very strong, and Bard has a partnership with a liberal arts college it helped found in St. Petersburg. Performance Majors from Bard Conservatory have studied there for an abroad term - and simultaneously studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. They also have partner colleges which are part of the Bard system in Berlin and Krygzstan, Central Asia. Bard | Study Abroad For Bard Students

SgtDonut

Oberlin & Lawrence are the two most notable (only?) LACs with conservatories. Both have Russian.

maxwell123

what about rochester?

BSCHEEngBAChm

^University of Rochester.

Check out the Dual Degree Program- Eastman and River Campus