If you have any flexibility on how much you are really willing to pay she should add Northwestern to her list. It will be exactly what she is looking for.
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A few that may be a good fit
WPI - Great physics program. Worchester is a cool college city (Holy Cross, Clark). Really active theater program. Curriculum is hands on project based learning.
Someone mentioned Rutgers before but also has an outstanding Physics program
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My daughter was very involved in community theater and all the HS shows, was an account major at Rutgers, in the choir (sang at graduation when president Obama spoke), and was in a production of Into the Woods one year that I believe was run by students.
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I was going to mention Rutgers but I didn’t know if the level of undergraduate “prestige” was enough for this student.
Rutgers is very strong in the sciences and has an excellent school of performing arts.
It is also easily accessible by train to NYC.
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Well, it’s now at #40 for USNWR!
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Yes, Rutgers has been on and off my list a few times. It probably should get put back on. It really does check a lot of boxes.
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OP here with my new updated (longer! Alas!) list. I would love if people would share their opinion for the top 10 and bottom 10 from my list - purely subjective based on your opinion. If the school is on the list it sufficiently meets our criteria, I am just trying to focus the list. We live in the West and touring schools will be a huge PITA, so would be nice to have a tight list.
Priorizing - if you know the schools and love/hate them that is sufficient, but if you want more specifics some of the higher priorities are:
- Location (in or relatively close to a big city)
- Physics program strength (they all have enough theater for our purposes)
- Size of school / class size (smaller class size = better)
- Value (bang for buck) - I know the cost of each school and if they are still on the list we are ok with the expected COA, but we would still like to get a good value. i.e. no reason to pay a ton for a middle-of-road option, but willing to pay more for an amazing option.
We obviously have some schools here that don’t meet these priorities (especially geographically, e.g. Grinnell), but they are strong enough in other priorities to make up for it.
Current list in Alphabetical order
Boston University
CalPoly University-San Luis Obispo
Case Western Reserve (OH)
Clark University (MA)
Connecticut College
Davidson (NC)
Fordham University (NY)
Grinnell College (IA)
Kenyon College (OH)
Lawrence University (WI)
Loyola University Chicago
Macalaster (MN)
Northeastern (MA)
Oberlin (OH)
Rutgers University (NJ)
San Diego State (CA)
SUNY, Binghampton University (NY)
SUNY, Stony Brook (NY)
The College of Wooster (OH)
Univ of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Univ of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Connecticut
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
University of Pittsburgh
University of Richmond
University of Rochester
University of San Diego
University of Utah
University of Washington (Seattle)
University of Wisconsin (Madison)
WashU (St. Louis)
Whitman College (WA)
and if you are interested in my massively detailed spreadsheet it is viewable here: College Master List - Physics / Theater - Google Sheets
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I am not sure what more could be said. You know the locations (urban or not). You know the size of the schools, and the class size from CDS. Several have provided lists of the strongest physics programs. All that seems left is relative value, which is personal to each family. Good luck.
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For sure. I am just interested in people’s own opinions. I haven’t been to almost any of these schools, living in the West, so hoping people are willing to share their thoughts. Best to you as well!
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It is impossible to provide an opinion when I do not know what you value. You list a strong physics program as a value, but have included programs from rank #3 to rank in the hundreds to completely unranked. So is it a strong priority or not? Same with class size- some places you list have very few small classes, as your spreadsheet acknowledges, some have almost exclusively small classes-if you prefer small, I don’t understand why the others are listed. From tiny rural LACS to giant public universities-this seems like an almost random list. Even from Utah, one could explore the big schools ( U of Utah), small schools ( Westminster?) And form and opinion for which is preferred.
Since you asked, I wouldn’t pay 80k for many-maybe MI and UNC if I had few good alternatives. But that reflects my financial situation, not yours.
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This is a very long thread, so I totally understand the confusion, but there has been a lot of explanation as to how the particular schools got in this list and why certain schools made the cut and others didn’t. There are a lot of factors (non-need merit aid availability, musical theater BA / minor availability, etc.), and I just listed some of the top ones to help focus responses.
If you don’t have an opinion about the schools on this list that is totally fine! No one is obligated to respond.
I’ve heard wonderful things about most of these schools. A few specific things that might help: Pitt is a great, urban option and if she applies early, she’ll have her acceptance and likely a merit offer by Dec. CWRU is great for STEM + arts students. The neighborhood is neat, they give good merit, and they are big on demonstrated interest. They are unpredictable for admits, but the people who get in seem to get good offers. If you’re in the area, prioritize a visit. I think UW and UIUC will be tough admits and stingy with aid. UIUC is not urban (which you know) but its campus is not one that most people consider charming, either (unlike some flagship towns/campuses). I personally wouldn’t choose it over the other publics I know on your list.
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Thank you!!!
I would add UNC CH to the list of very difficult admits. NC requires that a very very high %age of admitted freshmen be NC residents. The remaining slots are, therefor, highly competitive.
Class size is a function of WHAT class, not necessarily the averages provided by the institution.
I was a Classics major- exactly ONE class that was bigger than 25. Everything else was either a tiny lecture hall or a seminar table. Do I recommend skipping the huge lecture class because of its size? NO. It was taught by a master teacher, was one of the most popular courses in the entire college, and he was so “old school” that he did not have TA’s. He graded every paper and exam himself, and you had to make an appointment to go see him if you wanted your paper back (grades were posted on his office door- old school-). And he’d make you tea and you’d sit in his office and he’d go through your work and make helpful suggestions like “You really need to read The Oresteia again if you’re going to make this analogy work”. He did this for hundreds of students.
Small classes are a CC fetish which are not borne out in real life. Sometimes a huge lecture is huge because hundreds of kids have heard from friends and classmates that the class will change their lives. And so the university tries to accommodate everyone, even while there’s a waiting list, kids sitting on the radiators in the back, kids in the hallway, just trying to hear the lecture even if they can’t enroll.
I had a terrible seminar in college- 14 students team taught by two professors. There was nowhere to hide.
Take a different approach to class size- ask why. Some classes are small because the professor is boring and so students gravitate towards someone else. Some classes are small because the university brings on poorly paid adjuncts instead of hiring the “big gun fabulous teacher” faculty.
And in some disciplines, all or most of the classes will be small. My graduation had ONE student majoring in Egyptology the year I graduated. So most of his classes had under 4 students. That doesn’t tell you much about the quality of teaching, but it does tell you that the tenured faculty had named chairs, couldn’t be fired, brought in enough grants to cover the costs of heating and cooling a very old building, and therefore, were left alone by the Provost.
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Northwestern does not have a MT major- it’s a certificate that students can apply for once they are there. And you are correct-- It is part of the school of communications, not Bienen.
Right. That is why it is so perfect for ops daughter if the price is point is not firm
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Some are religious schools. Is that an issue ? If so, they are easy removals.
Value = up to person. If Binghamton or SB ARE $30-40k and UNC $20k more, where are you going. If Bing, then take off all the $60k plus.
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It is definitely not a school known for handing out merit money…
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BU is a great school but it will likely be somewhere around $90,000 a year. Is that ok?
I love Pitt. Great city, nice campus, strong academics.
My D went to UNC and loved it, but there is an OOS cap.
Rutgers is underrated imo. Strong sciences, theater, and not as costly as some others. My D is there now for grad school. It’s very different than what I thought.
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