Match Me - Starting early and looking for college ideas [TX resident, 3.7 GPA, estimated top 35% rank, 1330 PSAT in 10th grade, 29 pre-ACT in 9th grade; studio art]

Applying to College
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After going through this process for the first time this year with my 2024 grad, I’m starting early with by D26 because their personalities and interests are so very different. I’m looking for ideas of schools to start researching. We have plenty of time, I know. I just had a really good sense of where to start with D24 and I’m not sure where to start for this one.

  • Demographics - TX resident. Would like to go out of state.
  • Intended Major(s) - unsure but possibly art or something humanities
  • UW GPA 3.7, Weighted 3.9. Currently on an upward trend, hoping to be about 3.8 UW, 4.0 W and approx top 20-25 percent by end of junior year.
    Rank - school does not rank but an educated guess would be about top 35 percent.
    Test Scores - have only taken PSAT 10 (1330, index 204) and Pre ACT in 9th (29) . So nothing official yet but early standardized test scores seem pretty good. NMSF probably out of reach but hoping she can hit Commended. Not that it counts for anything…just trying to give a sense of where we think her test scores will be.
  • Coursework Some honors classes so far. Will take 2 AP in junior year plus 2 honors and 3 or 4 more AP senior year.
  • Awards - Qualified for National Hispanic Recognition this year based on PSAT 10.
  • Extracurriculars - school and community theater productions, plays guitar (not that well, takes lessons and plays with friends), some studio art classes outside of school. She’s done one art show. She did a precollege program at BU last summer, is doing another one this summer at an art school. She also plans to try for RISD pre-college program next summer. She has spent he last 9 summers at summer camp and will be a CIT this summer.
  • Essays/LORs/Other - she’s a good writer so hopefully will write some solid essays. She has a lot of teachers who think highly of her so hopefully will have some good ones for junior year to get good recommendations.
  • Cost Constraints / Budget - None
  • Schools

Really have no idea where to start. She’s quirky, liberal politically, goofy and social, has lots of friends but definitely not the jock/cheerleader/greek type. She LOVES concerts. Like that’s all she really wants to do. She also has ADHD inattentive type, which presents some challenges but has not been a huge issue overall. She gets extra time for tests which is awesome and I’m sure helps her score well on standardized tests. People say she’s very mature though, as her mom…really?!! Ha!

In my mind her dream program could be Brown RISD dual degree but it’s extremely unlikely so looking for any other recommendations, including safety, target and reach. She is open to considering an Art School but she and I both think she’d probably prefer a traditional university where she could major or minor in studio art and be in plays. Really open to anything…small liberal arts, medium sized, maybe large but probably not a large state flagship…but who knows.

I know this is kind of wide open, but we do have time. I’m mostly looking for people to tell me places they think might be interesting for me to further research over the next year.

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As early suggestions, look into Skidmore and Connecticut College.

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Oberlin, Occidental, Willamette, Clark

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Will this student have a portfolio to submit with applications for art programs? It sounds like yes, but just asking. As an art major, this could be the key ingredient.

What kind of art?

I agree that Connecticut College is worth a look see.

What about Wesleyan? It might be a reach.

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Yes, I would expect she will have a portfolio. She’s really just beginning with that, having recently participated in her first art show.

She als recently enrolled in some more focused painting classes outside of school, and is taking an oil painting intensive this summer at an art school. In the past she has mostly focused on charcoal drawing.

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In the Brown/RISD genre, and still a high reach but not quite as stratospheric as Brown/RISD, there’s Tufts/SMFA: https://smfa.tufts.edu/undergraduate/combined-degree But below-the-top-quartile class rank is going to be a very long shot for either one.

UNC-Asheville could be worth a look. It’s a public LAC with <3000 undergrads, with an OOS sticker price of around 44K before merit (including all direct and indirect costs). Very artsy (and liberal) vibe (both the school and the town), and Asheville has a great live music/theater scene. UNCA has both BA and BFA programs for studio art, and an active drama department that offers a BA, but no BFA (so there aren’t BFA students hoarding all of the performance opportunities). Other humanities programs are good too. Could be an attainable and relatively affordable option that would check all of the stated boxes.

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Wow! These are great suggestions! Thanks @aquapt.

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Below are some schools that would probably fall in the likely or extremely likely buckets that your family may want to consider.

  • Loyola New Orleans (LA): About 3300 undergrads (and can take classes at the adjacent Tulane)

  • Oglethorpe (GA): About 1500 undergrads and seems to have pretty popular art majors. Additionally, it’s part of the ARCHE consortium, which includes the Atlanta branch of Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). And as an added bonus, your D would probably qualify for the Flagship 50 program, meaning that tuition would probably cost the same as at UT.

  • Agnes Scott (GA): About 1k undergrads at this women’s college in one of the most walkable areas of Atlanta. In addition to some relatively popular art majors, it’s also part of the ARCHE consortium, so can take classes at SCAD, Emory, Georgia Tech, Spelman, etc.

  • Loyola Maryland (about 4k undergrads) or Goucher (about 1k undergrads): Academically solid schools that are also a part of the Baltimore Collegetown consortium, which includes the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Johns Hopkins, where you D could also take classes.

Perhaps as a target she might consider Macalester, which also allows students to take classes at Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD).

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So the schools in the Five Colleges consortium like to make a point of how many big concerts they get to come to the area–they will claim it is the second-biggest concert venue in New England after Boston.

Smith and Amherst are going to be very reachy, and UMass Amherst might be out of parameters, but I am thinking Mount Holyoke and Hampshire would be very worth checking out.

Another fun list to start with might be this review of top college towns for music kids (they frame it as being for music majors, but when you read the introduction it is really about seeing live music and I think could apply to any kid with such an interest). There are obviously big cities with great music scenes, but this focused on the college towns which can have their very own cool vibe:

Off that list:

Ithaca, NY, is home to Ithaca College, which they note hosts a great School of Music, but might be a good fit in general. Ithaca College was also on that other top 10 list above!

Kalamazoo, MI, is home to Kalamazoo College. It shares the town with Western Michigan, which has a big School of Music, and then there are also a lot of festivals and a college music scene. As they note it is also a day-trippable distance from both Detroit and Chicago. Kalamazoo College itself is a very cool, innovative college that seems like a fit to me–check out what they call their K Plan, an interesting approach to curriculum planning.

Asheville, NC, as mentioned above hosts UNC Asheville. Definitely should be looked at!

Tucson I mostly associate with Arizona, not sure that is a great match. Ann Arbor with the University of Michigan, same issue. I’m also going to skip Norman, OK, Madison, WI, and Denton, TX, plus Cambridge, MA (not sure why it was on the list as I would see it as really just part of Boston and in that same big city category).

Portland, OR, though, you have Lewis & Clark and Reed. For various reasons I hesitate to recommend Reed for your kid, but Lewis & Clark definitely seems like a potential match.

So those are at least some ideas to explore. Have fun!

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Something to think about. If it matters to you, consider which schools are a direct flight and short bus/train ride from the airport -some schools are really hard to get to from Texas, and if it involves 2 flights and a 2 hour drive from the nearest airport to get to school, trips home will be limited

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Yes we discovered this issue this year with my D24 but I’d argue it’s not at all a Texas thing! We have quick access to direct nonstop flights almost everywhere on major carriers. But if a school is far away from an airport (e.g. JMU which we considered for D24) getting there can be a pain.

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Yes, for us the “Gold” standard was a direct flight from our airport to an airport well under 1 hour drive from the college.

“Silver” would go to colleges where we would need a connecting flight, but they were reasonably frequent and then the college was quite close to the final airport. An example of the latter would be, say, Kalamazoo College, which is quite close to AZO (like 15 minutes), which then has enough dailies to ORD (American) and DTW (Delta) to make it a reasonable 1-stop option for us.

By the end I was really rooting for a Gold, but would have accepted a Silver. After that, I would be hoping it was actually drivable from home I guess.

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I like this ranking! But we are so spoiled with nonstop flights that My standard would be: Gold or No way! :rofl:

I’m kidding! But not completely…

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I feel you. I think we are ending up with what I would call a Gold-Minus–it is probably going to be WUSTL for S24, and they are very close to STL, and there is a daily Southwest nonstop. But it is only one a day each way, and I do not love Southwest, so I am mildly disgruntled it was not a full Gold!

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You have already gotten some great specific advice. I would more generally consider the following 10 basic ideas…

  1. Cheaper isn’t always better and the cheapest option should not be the de facto starting point for preference.
  2. Social, academic and financial fit are all very important in determining happiness and eventual outcomes and should be considered equally.
  3. You can’t attend a school unless you can afford to pay for it, but sometimes modest amounts of debt are worth it.
  4. Prestige and name recognition don’t always matter but often they do. For international students and those interested in specific careers, certain top tier schools out perform lower ranked schools. This difference becomes more acute as the disparity in ratings, prestige or name recognition becomes greater.
  5. These decisions and discussions are personal and based on family value systems and unique financial circumstances. Consequently no one should pass judgement on the conclusions or priorities of others.
  6. While it may seem helpful to hear about other kids specific experiences assuming that your experience will be the same is risky. Your response to any comments beginning with the term “my kid” should be taken with a grain of salt in terms of its personal relevance. First hand experience however is always more valuable than “searched” second hand info.
  7. No matter how well intended, anyone giving you advice will be basing that advice upon their own biases and as justification for their prior decisions. It is human nature.
  8. If someone always offers the same answer they aren’t listening to the question.
  9. The value of free advice from strangers is often equal to what you are paying for it (including mine).
  10. Listen to and respect everyone but only follow the advice of GCs, confirmed experts, your parents (or kids observations) and others who know you or your kid the best.

Good luck.

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I agree, with one exception-be very, very wary of student debt. Listen to the mob’s advice on that point. It can add up quickly

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Fully agreed. “Modest” amounts and specific to school options, family circumstances, career choices, etc in my opinion.

There is no universal “correct” answer but generally debt should be avoided or minimized but in some instances may make sense.

Personally, student debt dictated (for better or worse) my career path.

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Of course, if you live near an airport with many nonstop destinations of interest, that criterion is easier to fulfill than if your nearby airports are small ones with limited destinations which are a small number of airline hubs.

So if you live near Dallas or Houston, you may have more nonstop options than if you live in Lubbock.

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For most students, “modest amounts of debt” tend to be within the federal direct loan limits ($5,500 first year, increasing slightly later years), since loans beyond that need a cosigner or have to be parent loans. Parents who are not able to afford paying that amount are unlikely to be able to afford borrowing that amount either (with rare exceptions such as having a valuable but temporarily illiquid asset that they intend to sell).

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