Linde

One thing that I think makes Williams stand out is the fact that so many students participate in the arts. This may be a weird question to ask in the Williams forum, but can anyone suggest any other schools that are similar? In particular, I am interested in good/great music at a LAC. If anyone out there has the same interest, what other school(s) have you considered?

mythmom

Most LAC's have good art and music to offer and a non-audition process. If you tell me a bit more what you're looking for perhaps I can be more helpful.

Linde

Well, for example: A brochure (I forget which) states that 97% of the students participate in an arts EC of some sort. The web page says that attendance at the spring Choral Society and Berkshire Symphony performance of Brahms's German Requiem exceeded 1000. There are ***12*** instrumental performance ensembles and three choirs. The music dept. claims to present about 125 performances per year. Each of those stats is impressive. Together, they are really impressive.

Since Williams is not so easy to get into, I think my S should look at other schools before getting his heart set on Williams. So, I'm wondering what other LACs offer something comparable. Those that we've looked at on line don't look as impressive. Perhaps the other schools don't do as good a job in showcasing their departments on their web sites or perhaps we haven't researched enough schools. (We are going to visit Amherst.)

I am hoping that someone else out there has done some of the legwork and/or has looked at other schools, and is willing to share their knowledge. Thanks!

akamom98

Well...I guess you could say we have done a fair amount of research on this. Our son is a freshman at Williams. He looked at many schools - all strong top tier LAC or Ivy. He wanted a strong, active music program and strong academics. In all honesty, we didn't find another LAC with the same strength of programming in these areas. He looked at the number of participants and the quality of the programming in the music department. He looked at the private teacher availability, and the physical qualities of the music space. Again, this was his opinion, you might feel differently. He also plays a less common instrument and he wanted a teacher of that instrument instead of a teacher whose primary instrument was another within that instrument family.

He had many college accaeptances when all was said and done, but the strength of Williams in both academics and music was unique. I just attended a concert there last weekend and was amazed at the level of talent and the number of participants in a school of 2000 students!

mythmom

S is a junior at Williams and a violinist and composer, and we had the same experience as akamom98. But here are some alternatives we discovered that I *would* enthusiastically recommend.

Vassar, Wesleyan, Bard, Oberlin (conservatory), Grinnell, Tufts, Dartmouth.

Bard has a new conservatory, too.

For the most part, we avoided programs that were audition only, because we liked the inclusiveness of the programs discussed above.

Bard is considerably easier to get into and has an EA application. Because DS was accepted EA we were able to eliminate all the "safeties" from the list.

akamom98

Our son was accepted at Grinnell and Wesleyan from the above list, WL at Dartmouth. Looked at Vassar and Oberlin. None of thses schools had teachers whose primary instrument was the one my son plays. All had fewer ensembles than Williams. It would really depend on your child's instrument and the type of ensemble playing they wish to do. I think our son would have been happy at any of his acceptances, but Williams seemed to be the best fit for him.

Mythmom - were you at Williams last weekend? I so enjoyed the Friday night performance...the torrential rain on Saturday, not so much!

mythmom

akamom: DS is a junior, so alas, no, he prefers to be on his own on Family Days and see the frosh review with friends, etc.

We had already been to see him, however.

And after doing two music ensembles for his first two years, he stopped this year. I am heartbroken, but he has indicated that his course work just became too demanding.

He also did two Shakespeare plays his first two years, and will not be following that up either.

He did acquire a GF, so I don't know how much influence that has on his life.

He was a music major with English in the wings, but now he has completely dedicated himself to succeeding as a Classics major. He won many Latin awards in HS, but had a three semester hiatus (when he thought he would not be going back to it), and now is studying Ancient Greek as well. Languages are quite time consuming.

sunmachine

All that sounds well and good, but does Williams have any venues where musical kids can rock out? Plug in, let down their hair, and make some godawful noise!?!

bruinephland

WCFM has a sick production studio that is barely ever used, and there are a bunch of rooms for music playing. We have a few student bands on campus, one of which is ridiculously awesome (Beastface), and they play around. Goodrich (whose floor we broke my freshman year during, I **** you not, a Gunther concert) is a pretty cool venue for concerts, and there are regular "Coffeehouse" type things in which people play acoustic stuff. I am hoping to get together a sick group to perform "Rocky Top" next semester. We've got the banjo, the jug, the spoons, and the cowboy hat. Now all we need is a washboard and a semblance of musical ability and we're set.

Skie

I would add Brandeis and Bowdoin to Mythmom's list of schools to consider.

williamsdad

I've heard Oberlin is awesome in music.

Linde

Oberlin has a problem, though, for the talented musician who doesn't want to go the conservatory route. Because there is a conservatory, BM students will invariably get priority in many contexts, e.g., performing in certain ensembles, and some opportunities or performing groups will not be open to non-conservatory students at all. This is a discussion for another forum, I suppose (Oberlin's?), but what we are looking for are schools like Williams -- small, freestanding liberal arts colleges with strong music departments.

ConCerndDad

I suggest that you look into Lawrence University. It has a conservatory, but to participate in the (very many) ensembles one need not be in the conservatory. It's a great school and small (1500) and has tutorials like Williams and Oxford. It's on my D's short list. High acceptance rate, though well respected. A LU grad just got a Nobel Prize.

dave72

Linde, I have a different view of Oberlin: I would say that opportunities for non-conservatory students interested in music are amazing. See the following student blogs for further insights:

Oberlin Blogs | Blog Entry: "Opportunities for College Musicians"

Oberlin Blogs | Blog Entry: "Music Opportunities for Non-Music Majors"

MichaelS

I don't know if someone mentioned this already (I'm not reading the whole thread) but Columbia and Yale are both similar in that respect. They're not 'liberal arts colleges' exactly like Williams, but they're both colleges. Besides that, I believe that Vassar is very arts involved.