I’ll be curious t hear what the counselor recommends.
Yale - Probably the top Ivy for Humanities. Not in a huge city, but definitely not rural… plenty of concrete and asphalt.
Columbia - Also very strong in the Humanities + NYC
Brown - Could design his own English/Music curriculum. Brown is also the most laid-back and liberal Ivy. Providence isn’t huge but it’s definitely urban.
Penn - Excellent all-around school, strong in everything + Philly + the Quaker Consortium. Also see the aforementioned Swat, Haverford. Can also take classes at Bryn Mawr.
Harvard - Great at everything (surely including English and Music…) + Boston.
Johns Hopkins - Not sure about Music, but they have an outstanding English department + Baltimore.
Northwestern - Great Humanities + Chicago.
Vanderbilt - Fine Humanities + Nashville, Music City USA.
Carnegie Mellon - Some pretty stout Humanities programs + Pittsburgh.
Other fine private universities in major cities:
UChicago (but Music?) - Chicago
Emory - Atlanta
Rice - Houston
WUSTL - St. Louis
Georgetown - DC
Emory - Atlanta
USC - Los Angeles
MIT (but Music?), Tufts, Northeastern, BC, BU - Boston
NYU - NYC
http://mitadmissions.org/discover/majors indicates that MIT has both literature (21L) and music (21M) majors.
However, the relatively heavy general education requirements in math and science may not be the student’s preference.
In the original post, I see a lot of “no interest in” this or that, including the college exploration. Plays squash (but not interested in sports,) maybe music/English (but what music genre, traditional, alternative, what?) Competes in music, published in poetry, likes food, concerts, photography. No testing. All we know is he’s #1 after 9th grade.
Why suggest such reachy colleges? At this point, all we know is what he might like or what the parents think he’ll want. That’s not enough to see how the reaches may want him. Maybe OP can tell more.
Btw, young friend happily majored in composition and another humanities at Rhodes. Is Memhis big enough? Or the “wrong” music scene?
And when’s the last time Dad was in Providence? Everyone talks about how it’s changed in 20 years.
Everyone I’ve known who has gone to CMU…including alums with children who are current CMU students would disagree with CMU having strong humanities/social science programs. From their experiences as students, CMU’s strengths are overwhelmingly in the engineering/CS and performing arts.
While they would be willing to be full-pay for their kids to attend CMU for engineering/CS and Performing Arts, they are of the mind that if their kids are interested in studying social sciences/humanities, to look elsewhere or attend their respective in-state colleges.
How long is it since you’ve visited Providence? It is a MUCH nicer city than it was 20-40 years ago. IMO, it’s a much nicer city than New Haven. YMMV. Moreover, it’s much easier and cheaper to get to Boston (and even NYC) than it used to be.
If he’s interested in politics, Brown is a great place to go to school.One reason is that Providence is a state capitol. Thus, it’s easy to get involved in politics at the state level. At Yale, lots of kids are politically involved at the local level but since NH isn’t the state capitol, state level is difficult. (Yes, they put together transportation during campaign season, but you can’t spend a few hours doing an internship in the governor’s office or the state legislature and get back in time for class.) And, Harvard is very close to Boston, but there are a gazillion colleges there and so it’s harder to get involved and have an impact.
Another college you should investigate is Macalester.
Jonri, I agree with the politics angle completely when it comes to Brown. I also agree that Providence is a much nicer city than New Haven, and it was that way 25 years back as well. But, I spent significant time in Providence last in 2012-2013 for about 6 months, and it still has a distinctly small town feel. YMMV. We used to drive to Boston back in the day to get the feel of a city and I suspect today’s kids will have to do the same.
lookingforward, You are right. At this stage, there is no reason for any reaches to be interested in my son. In fact, there may never be any reason at all, as I really don’t know what reasons are applicable.
Does anyone know what the reasons are?
I might work backwards–think about cities/areas that are a fit/attractive and then look at the schools in the area/do a visit. From your description, the cities that popped into my mind were Boston, Chicago, SF Bay Area and Los Angeles. All are great cities for food, music, culture, as well as liberal attitudes/SJW culture. Boston has a ton of college choices–I would visit Harvard, BU, BC, MIT (which has a writer’s program that always needs students–MIT is not just for STEM). In Chicago, UChicago popped into my mind for your kiddo, though of course as others have suggested, Northwestern is also great. SF Bay Area: the SFW comment screams UCB.
I live in LA and it gets a bad rap but has a surprising amount of culture (I was genuinely surprised once I’d landed here). I would look at USC or UCLA. Maybe Pepperdine as a match option, depending on SATs. Between the LA Opera and LA Philharmonic, there are top-notch classical opportunities year round, and generally there is a huge concert culture here–Hollywood Bowl, the Greek, etc. Also some fantastic museums, including the Annenberg Space for Photography, which always has fantastic exhibits. (plus the Getty, MOCA, LACMA, the Broad, The Huntington–lots of fantastic museums) And we have the Pantages + Dorothy Chandler Pavilion if he likes musicals. And OMG the food. A++++, especially for anyone who enjoys authentic ethnic cuisine (I recommend Thai Town and Little Tokyo!).
(and then NYC, of course, is obvious, ha, but not a city for everyone: I love Boston and LA but loathed living in NYC)
proudterrier, For a kid like mine, your approach may be the most appropriate one. All the other cities have great conservatories, but Chicago doesn’t have one.
What does “international level” mean? Is it something like swimming at the Olympic Games level where all top swimmers go? I have no idea about music competitions.
@cobrat, re:45
I’m afraid i incorrectly assumed that if CMU has strong performing arts, that they must also be strong in the (other) Humanities.
This may help:
@1Wife1Kid If your son continues to have top stats at a school that regularly sends 15% to the top schools, then I would highly recommend Yale as one of his reaches. You can find my old thread where I was looking for safety schools for my son, but he wanted high level academics at a place where he could continue to pursue his passion for music. If your son does not want a conservatory or a joint program with a conservatory, Yale is really excellent with multiple excellent orchestras, operas, acapella, composing, etc. LACs are likely great for English, but my son was not impressed with the music offerings ( but we did not look at many of them for other reasons). If he plays at a very high level already, he will likely want somewhere where auditions are required for the orchestra, for example.
I forget which other schools have already been suggested, but my son also looked at Vanderbilt, Michigan, USC, among others, but these are strong in music.
Thanks, Musicmom2015. I will look up your thread. The key for him will be to find good private teachers as he won’t likely participate in any organized music ensemble in college and only take music classes sporadically.
I’d say wait a year til he knows more about which major(s) appeals to him.