10 Colleges I Wish I'd Applied To

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I've been doing a ton of school related research in the last few years, and one of the things it's resulted in is me kicking myself for the way I went about applying for my undergrad. I had no idea what I was doing. Although I got lucky because I ultimately came to love my alma mater, it was not an easy ride, and I do sometimes wish that I had had a different undergraduate experience - namely, at a smaller university with a more flexible music curriculum. All I cared about when I was an undergrad was who would be teaching me horn. I didn't care about money, academics, student body, or even location beyond the general thought that I wanted to live in Boston if possible.

My horn teacher only let me apply to five schools - I sneaked a sixth in there by applying to the double degree program at NEC/Tufts - so I wound up going with a mix of schools who had horn teachers I either knew or had heard good things about. BU, NEC, Indiana, FSU, and Emory (never mind that Emory barely has a music program - I heard good things about the teacher, so I applied). This is mind-boggling to me now. Those five schools are so different. Even their music programs are so different. I wound up being waitlisted at NEC, Tufts, and Emory, and accepted to BU, FSU, and Indiana. If I could do it all over again, I would have a very different list. And, knowing what I know now, I would not have applied exclusively for horn performance. Here's what I wish I had done:


1) Boston University - This is the only one that would have stayed on my list. I loved Boston and knew that I wanted a college experience there if I could swing it. If I could do it again, however, I probably would have applied to the University Professors' Program, which at the time was the only program that allowed you to design your own curriculum across all of BU's various colleges. This is currently being replaced by a larger honors program, but I gather that the gist of it is still the same. BU has a veritable smorgasboard of fantastic professors, courses, and opportunities. I lucked into some of them (like the semester in London) and missed out on others (like undergraduate research opportunities).


2.) Oberlin College - The best of both worlds, Oberlin is famous for a fantastic conservatory and rigorous academics. It's also a place that encourages double degrees (at B.U. it was nearly impossible, no matter what the brochures say). I have met a number of Oberlin alumni in the last several years; to a man, they adore their school and speak so highly of their experience that I can't help but feel jealous.


3.) Sewanee, the University of the South - I wish that I had not let my music major mania cross this off my list. Until I decided to focus exclusively on horn, I had always assumed I would apply and likely attend Sewanee. It has the most beautiful campus on the face of the earth (by comparison, BU looks like urban blight), myriad traditions, a fantastic coffeehouse, great academics, and is within driving distance of both Chattanooga and Nashville.


4.) St. John's College - This place sounds like my heaven. They have a unique curriculum based entirely around reading. For four years, all students work their way through Western thought, beginning with the Greeks. Everybody studies Greek and French. Mathematics and science are studied from primary texts, and everybody also studies music in their sophomore year. It really sounds like a life of the mind. And there are two great campuses to choose from, one in Annapolis and one in Santa Fe. Instead I wound up in a TA'd sight-singing class at 8am for two years straight. Damn.


5.) Bard College - Another place where music and academics mesh with much more elegance than at BU. They have fantastic music faculty - most are members of the NY Philharmonic - combined with an intense academic experience, including a senior capstone project. It's artsy, eclectic, and progressive. Also I'm willing to bet their music building isn't literally falling apart, which is more than I could say for BU during my time there.


6.) Barnard College - I doubt seriously that I would have stood a chance of being admitted, but damn. I would have done Barnard. So hard. Prestigious women's college in the heart of New York. Limitless opportunities in the city itself. So hard. So hard.


7.) Lawrence University - Similar to Oberlin, it has a great conservatory with flexibility to study other things as well. And all the people I know who attended Lawrence loved it - like, they really love their alma mater. I wish that I had that kind of glowing fondness for BU. But part of loving BU is hating it - the T, the bureaucracy, the crumbling music building, the nasty West Campus dorms. The list goes on.


8.) Tulane University - another one I had always intended to apply to until I decided Horn Rules All. I would have loved to spend four years in New Orleans, and the university itself, from what I know, is great and well-loved.


9.) University of Tennessee - My eighteen year old self was a snob. I thought U.T. was beneath me at the time. Then I took a summer course there and loved it. The campus is nice. The academics are good. It's affordable. And it would have been nice to have a traditional undergrad experience at a big state school with big sports teams. Knoxville is cool, and it's close to my beloved mountains. Oh,  how I wish I had applied to U.T.


10) Grinnell College - Grinnell is a small liberal arts college with a lot of opportunities for its students and a really rigorous curriculum. Sometimes I wish I had had the small-town liberal arts college experience, where the campus was my 24/7 life and I could have really devoted my time to academic study. Oh, Grinnell. I didn't even know you existed in 2004. Too bad.


This has been: Clarissa re-living her life choices as if it makes any difference.