Have you heard of Davidson College?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^
never heard of Denison or Dickinson, either!

That's something to be proud of? Any adult who is theoretically helping their kid with college admissions should know all of these schools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yes, I have. It is a second-tier (nothing wrong with that) liberal arts college, and it is in the South.

It is in no way "second-tier". I know people who were admitted to schools such as Boston College, Wake Forest, Bowdoin & even Swathmore (with no "hook") who did not get into Davidson.

Signed,
Someone who did not go to Davidson & has no personal connection with the school whatsoever

The school is a good but not quite as good as they to brag. Their graduation job placement is not nearly as impressive as others.

I think the graduation placement is an issue with all liberal arts schools these days.

All of my kid's friends who graduated from a New England LAC in May found professional positions in New York - with Citibank, and other financial services firms, PR firms, Snapchat, etc. Their majors: Political Science, English and History. So the death of liberal arts education is greatly exaggerated to paraphase Mark Twain. Companies want smart kids who know how to think. Davidson is no different.

I doubt every single friend your child had landed a job at a bulge bracket bank or whatnot. Yes, there are companies that hire liberal arts majors, especially from top schools. However, statistically liberal arts majors don't fare as well in the job market right out of school. It's why you would see so many liberal arts grads attending law school during the recession. Unfortunately, liberal arts majors may be able to think but they don't necessarily have any skills.

Nope every single friend has landed a Manhattan job. True it is a good school. Top 20 but not top 10 and not Ivy. Just tired of seeing liberal arts graduates and liberal arts colleges so maligned. And it's no doubt true that some engineering school graduates are making more money right out of college. But not everyone wants to be an engineer, and many liberal arts graduates will end up supervising engineers who have the emotional intelligence and general knowledge/literacy of mushrooms.

You don't even understand how the real world works. Are you 16? "Manhattan job" ?!!! No one said anything about engineering. No, there aren't many English majors at Google and the like supervising engineers. I worked at a bulge bracket bank after college and there were hires from liberal arts, ivies, state schools etc. however, during my time in NY I never once met someone who told me every single friend they had from college ended up in Manhattan. Even from NE schools. Many pursue careers in Boston, SF etc. your child either doesn't have many friends or you're delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I have. It is a second-tier (nothing wrong with that) liberal arts college, and it is in the South.

It is in no way "second-tier". I know people who were admitted to schools such as Boston College, Wake Forest, Bowdoin & even Swathmore (with no "hook") who did not get into Davidson.

Signed,
Someone who did not go to Davidson & has no personal connection with the school whatsoever

The school is a good but not quite as good as they to brag. Their graduation job placement is not nearly as impressive as others.

I think the graduation placement is an issue with all liberal arts schools these days.

All of my kid's friends who graduated from a New England LAC in May found professional positions in New York - with Citibank, and other financial services firms, PR firms, Snapchat, etc. Their majors: Political Science, English and History. So the death of liberal arts education is greatly exaggerated to paraphase Mark Twain. Companies want smart kids who know how to think. Davidson is no different.

I doubt every single friend your child had landed a job at a bulge bracket bank or whatnot. Yes, there are companies that hire liberal arts majors, especially from top schools. However, statistically liberal arts majors don't fare as well in the job market right out of school. It's why you would see so many liberal arts grads attending law school during the recession. Unfortunately, liberal arts majors may be able to think but they don't necessarily have any skills.

Nope every single friend has landed a Manhattan job. True it is a good school. Top 20 but not top 10 and not Ivy. Just tired of seeing liberal arts graduates and liberal arts colleges so maligned. And it's no doubt true that some engineering school graduates are making more money right out of college. But not everyone wants to be an engineer, and many liberal arts graduates will end up supervising engineers who have the emotional intelligence and general knowledge/literacy of mushrooms.

You don't even understand how the real world works. Are you 16? "Manhattan job" ?!!! No one said anything about engineering. No, there aren't many English majors at Google and the like supervising engineers. I worked at a bulge bracket bank after college and there were hires from liberal arts, ivies, state schools etc. however, during my time in NY I never once met someone who told me every single friend they had from college ended up in Manhattan. Even from NE schools. Many pursue careers in Boston, SF etc. your child either doesn't have many friends or you're delusional.

Oh no? My niece is a humanities major from Georgetown supervising engineers at Google. As for my kid all of her friends happened to have ended up in Manhattan. I didn't say that all of them are in banking. You don't like reference to "Manhattan job"? I don't think that's a wise criticism coming from Mr. "Bulge Bracket". Carry on with your navel-gazing.

[Anonymous]

Donald Trump not liking something is an excellent reason for me to love it.

Davidson is a great college and anyone I'd want to be friends with or work with has heard of it.

[Anonymous]

Yes. It's a fantastic school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It's a fantastic school.

It's an Elon at best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It's a fantastic school.

It's an Elon at best.

+1

[Anonymous]

It's an excellent school. I think most educated people know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It's a fantastic school.

It's an Elon at best.

DH and I both went to Davidson (it's where we met). DH's sister and brother-in-law went to Elon. I have godchildren at both schools, and I am work in higher ed. I also have a great deal of respect for Elon.

By no means do I think Davidson is (nationally comparable) to Yale, Princeton, etc., but it *is* comparable to Amherst, Williams, Pomona, Carleton, Oberlin (all schools with which Davidson used to recruit as part of a national consortium).

The only viable comparison between Elon and Davidson is that both are in North Carolina.

In my opinion, you can get a spectacular education no matter *where* you attend college so long as the college is regionally accredited by one of the accreditation agencies such as MHEC - the agency that accredits the DC and Maryland schools, among others. Having said that, you will get a spectacular education 'that people have heard of and have high regard for' at relatively few institutions. To that end, it's worth pointing out that if you tell any reasonably well-educated person (including employers) that Davidson is comparable to Elon but not comparable to Williams, well, you're going to embarrass yourself.

Your employer, though, shouldn't be offended that you've not heard of the school. One of Davidson's tenets is a service ethic and a humble approach that strives to de-emphasize elitism and to illuminate knowledge and sharing knowledge. Most alums 'get that,' and most of us who now live outside the South are used to saying "Davidson, a small liberal arts school near Charlotte" since we often hear 'Davidson? Never heard of it."

I'm sorry, OP, that you got this reaction when you indicated you were unaware of the college. Please don't take that as representative of all alums and our attitude towards the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It's a fantastic school.

It's an Elon at best.

If you actually believe this,you are obviously clueless about both schools. Davidson is a couple of notches above Elon in pretty much every way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I have. It is a second-tier (nothing wrong with that) liberal arts college, and it is in the South.

So are the Naval academy, Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, Haverford all second tier?

These schools are much more fa mouse than Davidson, get real.

It may not be as well known among the general public in much of the country (though certainly not in the south!) but I'm certain that the majority or hiring managers for major companies & law firms & professors & admissions officers at top grad schools are well acquainted with Davidson & know that its graduates are among the brightest & the best in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It's a fantastic school.

It's an Elon at best.

If you actually believe this,you are obviously clueless about both schools. Davidson is a couple of notches above Elon in pretty much every way.

+1
What is wrong with people on this board...why post if you know nothing about either school? You can easily look up the stats or common data set.
N personal connection, but Davidson has an excellent reputation and is very hard to get into. (Davidson will be reach for most students, Elon, a likely for many.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It's a fantastic school.

It's an Elon at best.

DH and I both went to Davidson (it's where we met). DH's sister and brother-in-law went to Elon. I have godchildren at both schools, and I am work in higher ed. I also have a great deal of respect for Elon.

By no means do I think Davidson is (nationally comparable) to Yale, Princeton, etc., but it *is* comparable to Amherst, Williams, Pomona, Carleton, Oberlin (all schools with which Davidson used to recruit as part of a national consortium).

The only viable comparison between Elon and Davidson is that both are in North Carolina.

In my opinion, you can get a spectacular education no matter *where* you attend college so long as the college is regionally accredited by one of the accreditation agencies such as MHEC - the agency that accredits the DC and Maryland schools, among others. Having said that, you will get a spectacular education 'that people have heard of and have high regard for' at relatively few institutions. To that end, it's worth pointing out that if you tell any reasonably well-educated person (including employers) that Davidson is comparable to Elon but not comparable to Williams, well, you're going to embarrass yourself.

Your employer, though, shouldn't be offended that you've not heard of the school. One of Davidson's tenets is a service ethic and a humble approach that strives to de-emphasize elitism and to illuminate knowledge and sharing knowledge. Most alums 'get that,' and most of us who now live outside the South are used to saying "Davidson, a small liberal arts school near Charlotte" since we often hear 'Davidson? Never heard of it."

I'm sorry, OP, that you got this reaction when you indicated you were unaware of the college. Please don't take that as representative of all alums and our attitude towards the school.

Wake Forest, a NC school and not far from Davidson or Elon. is also a liberal arts school now with admit rates of low 30s and dropping is a school of similar character to Davidson. Once you leave the East coast many say they've not heard of Wake but their grads are being highly placed in jobs etc.
Its the graduate's performance in the real world that matters not the name of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It's a fantastic school.

It's an Elon at best.

Never heard of either.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Anyone who has looked into SLACs has heard of Davidson. It's an excellent school.