What type of kid attends Sewanee?

[Anonymous]

It is changing relatively rapidly with a significant influx of athletes from the North East in soccer and lax. It will always be more oriented toward southern look and feel but It is becoming much more selective and is attracting a broader geographic range of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a lot of Sewanee grads, recent and older. The southern traditions are still in place, but it is progressive in its thinking on social issues. More and more, the student composition includes those from the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast. It is a strong SLAC in the mold of a NESCAC school, but without the permafrost and the requisite frosty dispositions. There is a strong private school connection for admittees, but the public school percentages are increasing. It is a warm place where long term friendships are made.

I agree with this, but for SURE the kids there are very very rich, and very white.

I know numerous Sewanee grads. I wouldn't consider any of them to come from very very rich families (or even very rich). Rather, they're UMC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is changing relatively rapidly with a significant influx of athletes from the North East in soccer and lax. It will always be more oriented toward southern look and feel but It is becoming much more selective and is attracting a broader geographic range of students.

Why soccer and lax? Has the school targeted those sports?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is changing relatively rapidly with a significant influx of athletes from the North East in soccer and lax. It will always be more oriented toward southern look and feel but It is becoming much more selective and is attracting a broader geographic range of students.

Why soccer and lax? Has the school targeted those sports?

demographics/fundraising

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It gets several kids from Episcopal each year.

Makes sense. Are these kids generally jocks? From the deeper south? Any common denominators?

[Anonymous]

I know Sewanee is becoming a very hot, newly "discovered" school, in the NE. But what about the south - has it been a destination school for awhile?

[Anonymous]

I know Sewanee is becoming a very hot, newly "discovered" school, in the NE. But what about the south - has it been a destination school for awhile?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It gets several kids from Episcopal each year.

Makes sense. Are these kids generally jocks? From the deeper south? Any common denominators?

It makes sense since Sewanee is affiliated with the Episcopal Church.

[Anonymous]

Paleo, did you get in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paleo, did you get in?

I've been wondering this too! I checked the EDII notification date, and it's February 15.

[Anonymous]

OK Paleo,

Today's your day. Are you Sewanee bound??

Good luck

[Anonymous]

The more I learn about Sewanee, the more I like it. Just have to convince my kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK Paleo,

Today's your day. Are you Sewanee bound??

Good luck

My junior is looking at Sewanee. There is a part of me that hope Paleo does not get in. Sorry, Paleo. You just seem a little scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Creative Writing and Theology are the two big majors there.
And it is very isolated in the south-central part of Tennessee.
Can't see it myself.

This is not true. I am an alum. It is a liberal arts college so English and History are big majors, followed by Forestry and Geology (it's a 10,000 acre campus with extensive forest, caves, etc). The School of Theology is a separate program -- not mixed with undergrad -- where students are becoming Episcopal priests. I never met a School of Theology student during my 4 years there; they do their own thing entirely.

But to answer the question posted, the students were mostly southern but I think that is shifting over time. Lots of well off kids too, but definitely not all of them. I had friends who got a lot of financial aid and whose families were not wealthy. More white kids than minorities but I never heard any racist remarks or anti-minority sentiment. Like any school, there are crunchy / hippie kids, preppy kids, theater kids, super academic kids, snobs, and so on. I made lasting friendships with people I respect and who are thoughtful and devoted friends. They now live all over the country and are successful professionals, and politically mixed. It's a small school and it is geographically isolated, so if you can't handle being away from a big city, it's not for you. There's a lot of natural beauty. The focus is on learning and challenging students to think beyond what's taught to them in class. There's a lot of social stuff around Greek life but you don't have to do it by any means -- that has also changed over time. If you want a big time sports school / SEC or Big 10 type football experience, you won't get it there. I didn't care about that but I guess some kids might feel like they were missing out if they didn't have ESPN covering their school!

[Anonymous]

I have a child at Sewanee. We were a bit scared off by the 'isolated' bit, but here's the thing. Your kid's college experience is going to be very different from the one you had twenty or thirty years ago -- before Uber, Zipcars and all the rest.
Since school resumed this semester, our child has participated in an immigration rally in either KNoxville or Chattanooga, along with some other kids in his immigration seminar. (School provided a bus, apparently); he's been to other schools either to participate in team sports himself or to cheer for friends who are playing elsewhere. IN his time at Sewanee, he's participated in community service, been to Wake Forest, UAB, Washington and Lee and other schools. Most kids have cars and they leave campus for events at Rhodes College in Memphis, to participate in academic conferences, just to go shopping and hang out in Nashville and Chattanooga.
They are significantly less isolated than I had expected they would be.