Mid-sized universities strong in both arts and sciences?

College Search & Lists
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<p>Hi, this is my first post here so sorry if it’s in the wrong place/doesn’t make sense. (For reference, I’m in the middle of a gap year right now, and I graduated last year. I decided to delay applying to schools until this year cause I didn’t really know what I wanted out of school last year.)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.7 unweighted (I think. My average was a 92.3 unweighted, if that helps. We didn’t use a 4.0 scale in my school, so I’m going by the chart on collegeboard.)</p>

<p>SAT/ACT: Somewhat dismal…2010 SAT (590 math / 670 writing / 750 reading) and 31 ACT with writing. Plus I only took one SAT subject test (US history, which I got a 690 in). </p>

<p>AP classes: I took APUSH (passed with a 4 on the test) junior year, and AP Psych and AP Art senior year (4 on the psych test, and a 5 on my 2d design portfolio.) I also took a SUPA English class (which was basically just two college courses offered through Syracuse university to high school students, a lot of other schools in NY offer this). </p>

<p>Extracurriculars: I worked on my school’s lit/art mag since freshman year and was editor-in-chief my senior year. I wrote for my school’s newspaper sophomore and junior year and was the layout designer/editor senior year. I was in NAHS junior and senior year (but not NHS). Plus some other smaller clubs…GSA was a big one, environmental club, that sort of thing. I wasn’t in positions of leadership there, just enjoyed going. Work-wise, I did occasional weekend work at YGO tournaments (registration, scorekeeping, stuff like that), and currently I work as a copywriter and graphic designer at a small business. </p>

<p>I’m thinking I might want to do graphic design as a major, but since there’s so much else I’m also interested in (psychology, writing, advertising…etc) I don’t want to limit myself by going to an art school. Hence, the desire to go to a school strong in both the arts and sciences, rather than favoring one or the other—I want to keep my options open! Locationwise, I’d like a school in New York or California (I can get in-state tuition in both states) and I’d absolutely love a school in Boston. A school size of about 5-15 thousand students is just about where I’d like to be, although I’d consider a larger university with good opportunities for one-on-one time with professors. It’s important to me that the school has very good academics, but I don’t care about the name too much, so whether it’s an Ivy or a hidden gem I want to hear about it. </p>

<p>Also—do any colleges offer something similar to Tufts’ experimental college? The excollege is a resource I would love to have, but Tufts’ doesn’t seem to offer any sort of graphic design program. </p>

<p>Thanks everyone in advance for any suggestions—I’m having a really hard time finding schools that fit my somewhat picky bill. And sorry for the length!</p>

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<p>One of my friends who’s in college now was looking for similar things – a good graphic design/fine arts program with other strong academics. Here are some of the schools she considered and my analysis based on what I’ve heard. </p>

<p>University of Rochester usually comes up when talking arts + science. But it doesn’t seem to have a graphic design program. </p>

<p>I think in California, UCLA is the best public school for arts programs (and also has really good science offerings!) but it doesn’t have a specific graphic design program - it’s the Design/Media Art major, plus it’s a huge school. </p>

<p>I guess USC and Boston University also fit under a geographic requirement, but they are fairly large schools. </p>

<p>Some of the more tech oriented schools offer graphic design programs yet have strong sciences (although they veer on the edge of math/CS) – for example, Carnegie Mellon and Georgia Tech I believe. The tech oriented schools also tend to be medium sized. </p>

<p>I have not heard of Tuft’s experimental college, so I don’t know about that. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Thank you quidditchcat! Carnegie Mellon is a very attractive choice, haha. I’m not sure I have the grades to get into such a competitive school but it’s definitely something I’m going to be looking into. And I’m actually going to go visit UCLA in the next couple weeks—I live about forty minutes from the campus—so we’ll see how the size feels when I’m there. I loved BU when I visited it last year, even though it’s bigger than I thought I’d want, so maybe I’ll have a similar experience there. </p>

<p>Out of curiosity, what school did your friend end up going to?</p>

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<p>I think you have decent chances of getting into Carnegie Mellon, as long as you don’t apply to the School of Computer Science (that is the hardest to get into, from what I’ve heard). </p>

<p>My friend ended up at Carnegie Mellon.</p>