<p>My #2S is looking for a selective LAC. He is very interested in math-physics-chemistry, but also has a significant interest in creative writing. As parents we want the school to offer Japanese, as he has been studying it since second grade and we don’t want it to “go dormant” over the college years (he is not interested in majoring in Japanese/asian studies, but it is a skill he should not let lapse).
Right now he is very interested in Bowdoin, Claremont colleges (Pomona), Carleton, Grinnell. Any other suggestions? Thanks.</p>
<p>Hamilton College has Japanese- <a href=“http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/courses.html?dept=East%20Asian%20Languages%20and%20Literature[/url]”>http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/courses.html?dept=East%20Asian%20Languages%20and%20Literature</a>
and Creative Writing- <a href=“http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/courses.html?dept=English[/url]”>http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/courses.html?dept=English</a></p>
<p>Some possibilities: Haverford, Swarthmore, Oberlin, Middlebury, Macalester, Reed, Dickinson, Dartmouth (not an LAC but worth a look), Amherst, Whitman (Washington state)</p>
<p>I would recommend that he add Oberlin to the list of possibilities. It is strong in many fields and also teaches advanced Japanese – <a href=“http://www.oberlin.edu/catalog/college/eastas.html#japlang[/url]”>http://www.oberlin.edu/catalog/college/eastas.html#japlang</a></p>
<p>I would also recommend my alma mater, Reed, because it is so strong in math-chem-physics-bio, but to my knowledge it doesn’t teach advanced Japanese (has strong Chinese civ program).</p>
<p>Earlham is strong in chemistry (and the sciences generally) and fantastic in Japanese. Don’t know about the writing part, though.</p>
<p>Williams has a terrific math department and is also quite strong in East Asian studies.</p>
<p>Reed allows students to study Japanese at Lewis & Clark.</p>
<p>Oberlin, Oberlin! We visited and really liked it. A friend has a D there who is working like crazy, but loving every minute!</p>
<p>Perhaps more importantly, Oberlin happens to have particularly good departments in all the areas you mentioned. So I’ve been told.</p>
<p>Williams is a good choice for the math/science and Japanese requirements. It doesn’t offer a creative writing major but it does have a very strong English department with several talented writers on the faculty. Every semester 3-4 creative writing courses are listed. Fiction writers currently teaching are Jim Shepard, Karen Shepard, Andrea Barrett, for poetry Lawrence Raab.</p>
<p>Not LAC-- but Brown was/is? strong in all these areas, and Brown has a flexible curriculum so you could do quite a bit in all three and still take “fun” classes in other areas. Brown has a med school, but also great LAC-style focus on undergrads. They used to have excellent exchange opps in Japan but don’t know if this is still the case.</p>
<p>In any event, people like your S who are pulled in multiple academic directions can really thrive in an open curriculum setting (Vassar & others schools also have this).</p>
<p>Actually, kids interested in several departments often don’t need the open curriculum because they will have no trouble fulfilling the typical 3, 3, and 3 requirements.</p>
<p>It’s the kids who want to take nothing but science courses who need the open curriculum. Or, I should probably say “want” the open curriculum because the distribution requirements are designed to ensure that each student at least samples different fields (a good idea!)</p>
<p>Middlebury</p>
<p>Thanks to all, we will check them all out!</p>