Schools that offer strong music program that are not conservatories

[AustenNut]

@abowfor

What he is really looking for is spectacular music even if it’s not a conservatory. He knows Harvard, Yale, Princeton will have phenomenal orchestras and performance opportunities. We’ve heard Williams and Amherst are also strong in music. But, these are all crazy high reaches.

I’m to offer a few suggestions, even though some of them are slightly outside of the geographic priorities.

Seconding Lawrence (WI) and thirding St. Olaf (MN). If St. Olaf is okay geography wise, then also check out Gustavus Adolphus (MN) which is about the same distance from the Twin Cities, but in a slightly different direction. And in that same corner of the world, Luther (IA) would be another school to give a close look. If a student would be competitive for the Harvard-type schools, then St. Olaf is probably a likely (60-79% chance) and the others I suggested would be extremely likely (80+%).

Getting back into the desired geographic zone (i.e. not further west than Chicago and no further south than Philadelphia), then some other possibilities include:

• Butler (IN): About 4500 undergrads in Indianapolis, so similarly-sized to Ithaca
• Gettysburg (PA ): About 2200 undergrads (seconding this)

And I definitely agree with @tsbna44 about Indiana…it’s got a world-famous music program. And it offers B.S. in various music fields as well as B. Mus.