It's a pretty campus. Cute town. |
I think that's unfair. I know some smart people who went there. WASPy males, outdoorsy. Nice enough guys, perfectly intelligent, not especially curious about experiences outside their own |
while at Vandy visited friends at Sewanee - so gorgeous! For kids who don't desire to be in a city or even a town. It reminded me of summer camp. It has a very close community feeling. Profs have kids over for dinner and really get to know one another (not in a creepy way). I'm Episcopal and had no idea of the "high church" distinction until I visited. It seemed unique. |
i think they have a dress code? |
My kid is at sewanee. Could have knocked me over with a feather when he said that's where he wanted to go: we are northeastern and lefty and not christians. But he's enjoying it: loves his classes, love his friends. He was a solid B+ kid in high school and not terribly motivated. Much more academically engaged now. Students are mostly pretty progressive, and new Vice Chancellor is terrific, though the old guard alums dont like him. |
Does he feel like a Yankee there? |
Kids are not mostly progressive. Be prepared for your kid to become more conservative. |
None of the 3 men I know that went to Sewanee work - they either have their own family money to manage or their wives are the breadwinners. Can't say that this is the norm, but kind of interesting. Really nice people by the way - all raised in the south nice guys - and like others have said, white and rich. |
IME, very wealthy with southern grandparents to fund education. |
Not true. There is a visible group of conservative kids but most are pretty liberal. No, not as “woke” as kids at Oberlin or Vassar— but frankly I think that’s a good thing. Most of the kids my DC has met are Democrats. And he is in a frat. (And no he does not feel like a Yankee— LOTS of northeastern kids there (mostly preppy, mostly affluent, it’s true, but leavens the “southern” atmosphere. They do have a tradition of dressing up for class. Not dressing waaay up, but what adults would call “smart casual.” Khakis and collared shirts for guys. No sweats or ripped jeans. It’s not a mandatory dress code— they view it as a gesture of respect for their professors. |
This is not surprising and I thought the Vice Chancellor, who is black, and his family were the subject of a racial attack. I don't remember the particular facts but it was something similar to a cross burning or racist graffiti on their property by students the first year of his tenure. These are the kinds of kids who attend Sewanee. |
The kids who attend Sewanee from the DMV are B students, from private schools and from wealthy families, who are polished and charming and drink to excess and will be your kid's boss one day. |
They have a 2022 Rhodes scholar. |
"The kind of kids who attend Sewanee" had vigils and rallies in support of the new Black vice chancellor and his family, in support of racial justice, and against hate speech. (And no, there was no "cross burning"-- there were a couple of drunk kids who shouted racial slurs). Show me a campus that has never had any incidents of racist hate speech. Every school has a few a*hole students. The more notable thing is how the rest of the community responds. At Sewanee, more or less the entire community turned out to condemn the racist comments, and the students involved were disciplined. Sewanee, like many other colleges, particularly in the south, is struggling to reconcile a toxic history of past discrimination with a present commitment to diversity and equity. It's doing better than many. Being Episcopal helps: strong church commitment to anti-racism. |