Opening at OP’s request
I’m the OP, back a year later with acceptance outcomes to share, in case it can help someone with their short list.
When it came time to apply to schools this past fall/winter, my son applied to several BM programs and a few non-performance liberal arts schools, to keep his options open and hedge against burnout / injury.
For the non-performance schools, he focused on ones that had strong orchestras, allowed for submitting an arts supplement, and either didn’t require supplemental essays OR allowed him to use an academic paper in place of an additional essay. (That way he could put his time into practicing, vs. writing more essays.) His list included several suggested by others above: Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan, and Middlebury. All have a reputation for appreciating musicians, but we didn’t know how that would play out in reality.
Results are still coming in, but last night my son got acceptances to both Williams and Amherst. Of note, both schools have their appropriate departmental faculty evaluate arts supplements and give feedback to admissions staff. (At some schools, only admissions staff see arts supplements, which is not as helpful.)
My son seems likely to pursue one of his BM options, but I wanted to share this result, in case it can help someone who is making their apply list. I would not have believed my son would see acceptances at these two schools, but now it’s clear these two schools really do appreciate musicians.
12 Likes
My son is a musician at Williams. He would have likely been accepted to some BM programs also. Williams definitely loved musicians.
3 Likes
@helpingthekid73 I specifically remember you recommending Williams last year. Glad it has been a fit for your musician!
What was the outcome with Middlebury?
He also was accepted at Middlebury and Skidmore. Have not heard yet from Wesleyan.
1 Like
If you or your child wants more details please feel free to PM me
1 Like
Just a brief reflection:
I think this (success) story supports a general observation. The main reason holistic review colleges look at your activities is residential colleges have a bunch of valued student activities themselves. The stakeholders in those student activities include current students, but also relevant staff, prospective students, alums, and so on. So part of Admissions’ job is to make sure these activities get new students in their pipelines, the sort who will eventually play valued roles, take on leadership positions, and so on.
OK, so music is a MAJOR category of student activity at many of these colleges, and that means Admissions is going to be looking for talented and dedicated musicians who are good bets to contribute to those activities at the levels they expect at their institution. Of course in some cases you may need quite a bit of demonstrated talent to attract this sort of attention from Admissions. But it makes sense it can happen.
1 Like
Thank you!
1 Like