My daughter is about to start her second year of a metals BFA at a Virginia state school. She mostly likes the school, but due to a mold allergy with neurological symptoms there is a lot of the campus (wet climate plus historical buildings) she cannot access. She has done a lot of her gen-eds online, and if she tries to go to a club or activity there is a good chance she will have to leave after a few minutes. Obviously sitting in her dorm room is not the college experience she was hoping for.
So we are looking for a school that is in a dry(er) climate with a good BFA program. Something that provides an entrepreneurial angle would be a bonus. She went to a small Southern private boarding school and misses the close connections she had in that environment. She spends enough time spinning thanks to her allergy and has no desire to participate in the frat/sorority drinking party scene that is the center of on campus social activities where she is now. Are there any schools you could suggest in the drier parts of the US? Her SAT was in the 1150 range and she is currently on the Dean’s List in Honor College so her grades are good .
Assuming intent to transfer as a junior, her college record will be more important for admission than her SAT score and high school record. Arts programs may also use a portfolio or audition.
On a state level, the driest climates tend to be found in non-coastal western states, but there are variations within states.
I didn’t know how dry it could be until I visited S23 at Colorado State. There are warnings everywhere about staying hydrated and using lip balm. I even had to change all of my hair care products. Yet, somehow, even CSU had a building test positive for mold. It was a huge deal, so maybe that is the difference. When it’s unusual rather than the norm, it’s dealt with
It’s a big school, but I’m sure entering as a junior would put her mostly in upper level classes with her cohort which will feel small. It’s definitely not a school that revolves around Greek life. The only people that even know what is going on in that world are the small percentage that are involved. There are always things happening on campus, but the amazing thing is that there is a never ending list of things to do in Fort Collins. Such an amazing place.
It is hard to be all that preppy when a significant part of your student body are dealing with large animals on a daily basis. Colorado State by the way is excellent for veterinary medicine, and some related fields, and has a very strong large animal program.
One way to find “dry” is to go to the southwest. Another way is to go north. Winters tend to be quite dry in the north, at least indoors (guitar players for example need to be careful in the north regarding their guitars drying out and cracking in the winter). This makes me wonder about UVM (Vermont), although I have no idea what it is like for BFA.
A wild idea that continues the “go north” trend might be Bishop’s University in Quebec. They are quite good for fine arts, although I was not able to find anything about metals in particular, and they are small enough that their majors are likely to be limited particularly when you get to specialized fields. We quite liked it when we visited (one daughter was accepted there). Concordia University in Montreal (just up the street from McGill) has a very strong BFA program, and is likely to have more variations just because they are larger. Again winters will be quite dry.
Boston is indeed quite humid in the summer. Burlington (Vermont) and Montreal are not as humid as Boston, but that is faint praise.
I do not know how someone can tell whether this will be a problem until they get there and see what happens. Of course a college student does usually have the option of going elsewhere in the summer.
I agree there can be dry days in the later fall and winter in the Northeast, but the late summers (see: summer storms), early falls, and springs tend to have a lot of pretty wet days (April showers bring May flowers and all that).
Of course modern HVAC systems mean any modern campus building could potentially have mold issues regardless of the outdoor climate. But I do think people with mold allergies reasonably seek out “desert” climates as stacking the odds in their favor.
In terms of preppy + dry . . . I immediately thought of the state of Arizona generally. Way back when I was going to HS in Michigan, there were preppy kids dreaming of being Sun Devils. Southern California dreamers were more surfish, Northern California more granola, Colorado kids more outdoorsy, but the preppy kids seemed to like their image of Arizona.
My sense is this hasn’t really changed that much, understanding what preppy means stylistically today is not exactly what it meant back then. But to the extent it means something like a combined interest in traditional college fun and liking clothing and room designs and makeup and such which are carefully considered, neat, and upscale casual, then I still think of Arizona universities as a draw for such kids.
My D is headed off in a few weeks to also pursue a BFA in jewelry design & metals and as you already know, this is a very niche area of study. As a general observation, I would encourage you to investigate carefully the viability of the arts programs and particularly the major at any of the schools that might be under consideration. From what we’ve seen, these programs are being dropped and usually not in a very public way, even at well-resourced institutions (see Skidmore as of late - metals was reinstated only after a student petition).
We narrowed it down to mostly Midwest, East Coast and Northeast schools but am familiar with most of the western schools that have metals programs - might want to add Metropolitan State in Denver (although decidedly not preppy). Many metals programs are within institutions that I don’t necessarily see as “preppy” but more or less your ordinary state schools - Miami of Ohio might be an exception as one program that comes to mind. While the school vibe (as my daughter puts it) is important, we really focused on the program stability and the professor’s connections in the field to help boost post-graduation employment opportunities.
SUNY New Paltz is supposed to have a particularly excellent metals program, and it’s also a good mid-sized “generalist” college in a charming town, which probably has at least some preppy element. The Hudson Valley area isn’t extra-dry, but I wouldn’t think it would be overly swampy during the school year either.
RIT has a great metals BFA program too, and even though there’s outdoor humidity in the winter (i.e. lake-effect snow) it runs very dry inside because of the cold.
Of course, neither of these has the desert-dryness quality you seem to be looking for, but the programs are top-notch and the climate might be “good enough,” so, fwiw…!
