October 11, 2023:
I wanted to study recording. The nuts and bolts of engineering commercial-quality music.
The mathematics professor agreed. But his syllabus included nothing of technical practice. Nothing regarding microphones, pre-amps, compressors, equalizers, gain staging, placement, reverbs, mixing. No hands-on, although there was equipment available. His focus was purely on the physics of acoustics: definitely useful, and perfectly understandable given his own professional specialization. Not, however, what was wanted.
This experience shows the limitations of a college as tiny as ours. Students had considerable individual attention from professors. But the necessary expert resources for anything outside the main path were lacking. While even those that existed for the main path itself were often narrow to the point of parody.