What college has all or some of these qualities? Where should I go?

Question

I am a rising senior and have a couple colleges in mind but I want to know if there are any colleges that I either haven't heard of that are gems or if you have something good to say about your own college, I'd love to hear it!

The university doesn't have to encompass all of these but the closer to the top of the list, the more important it is to me, so please keep that in mind.

This is what I'm looking for...

-Good location

-Small to Medium student body

-Under $25000 tuition/$35000 with room and board

-Good Scholarships

-Good business school

-A type of Music Industry concentration (not completely necessary)

-Small classes

-Orchestra (hopefully for non-music majors)

-Good quality of life

-Enjoyable social life

-Safe

-You/a friend have had a good experience

Thank you so much!

Answer 1

Berklee in Boston.  

Answer 2

Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois is a prestigious university that has almost all of those criteria.  The only thing it doesn't have is the price of tuition, which is pretty expensive.  However, take it from me (I go there), they usually give good financial aid/scholarships (out of 7 colleges to choose from, Northwestern was the cheapest for me).  The people are wonderful and many classes are small, although some intro classes can be pretty huge (but other classes are typically small), most classes are pretty difficult, however.  In addition to class sizes, there is somewhere between I think 7 to just over 10 thousand undergraduate students here.  There is a school of music and if you're not in the school, you can still participate in the bands and orchestra (or you can be in both the School of Music and another school).  One of the graduate schools, Kellogg, is one of the top business schools I believe.  It is also a pretty safe school (I see the police around pretty often and we always get alerts about any possible crime going on in or around campus) and in a nice, beautiful area right on the lakefront of Lake Michigan and next to downtown Evanston, not far from downtown Chicago, and the campus is very beautiful.  Finally, the social life is active and welcoming, giving many options of things to do with others (party, hang out, study groups, dine, etc.).  There are an endless array of things to do at Northwestern, so it's hard not to have a good quality of life here.

So yeah, I feel that NU has those qualities, but overall, it's up to you in deciding where you want to go.  I recommend you visit whichever schools you consider.