<p>I took private lessons and did the wellesley-brandeis orchestra during my first year. I found it to be pretty time-consuming, but I liked it. I wasn’t that impressed with the WBO even though the repertoire was challenging. It’s hard to have two large groups from different schools join together as one orchestra. It didn’t feel much like a “family.” Don’t get me wrong! I had a great time in this orchestra, and I still made great friends in BWO, both at Wellesley and Brandeis. It’s just that I didn’t feel like as many people in the orchestra were all friends with each other like I expected… Maybe that only happens in high school, who knows?
If you consider yourself a hardcore musician and you’re into difficult but very cool orchestra pieces, you should audition for mitso. Since I’ve never done it myself, I can’t say if there’s a strong sense of community in the orchestra, but I imagine it’s better than the divided one in BWO. Keep in mind that I only know of two people from wellesley who joined the mit orchestra last year. Joining mit’s orchestra would also take much more work. They meet twice a week instead of once a week, and you’d be driving to MIT for the practices. I’ve been to a few of their concerts, and they’re probably the best undergrad orchestra I’ve ever heard. Hope this helps, and please feel free to message me if you have more questions!</p>