Elon University - is it as good as it "looks"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People don't care about Williams, Colby, Amherst, etc. ?
Same list....

say what?

Havard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Stanford get much more attention, wouldn't you agree?

Any list that excludes HYP is NOT a list of TOP private colleges. NOP didn't limit the comment to SLACs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People don't care about Williams, Colby, Amherst, etc. ?
Same list....

say what?

Havard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Stanford get much more attention, wouldn't you agree?

Any list that excludes HYP is NOT a list of TOP private colleges. NOP didn't limit the comment to SLACs

Harvard, Princeton . . . are large universities which is fine for some students but others prefer the SLACs where you can get an equal quality education (or better because at many universities classes are large lectures and/or taught by grad students) with a lot more attention. Like universities, SLACs vary, but at their best they can burrow in on the subjects in which they excel, and give students an intense academic experience. If you think Ivies are the only way to go you could miss out on some of teh bext academic institutions around.

[Anonymous]

If you prefer SLAC's that's fine, but don't pretend that SLAC's are the only "private colleges" Princeton has less than 8,000 total students (graduate and undergraduate), not a "large" university and not a SLAC, but certainly a private college.

The original point was that Richmond was among the Top 30 private colleges - it is not. UR is among the Top 30 SLAC's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People don't care about Williams, Colby, Amherst, etc. ?
Same list....

say what?

Havard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Stanford get much more attention, wouldn't you agree?

Any list that excludes HYP is NOT a list of TOP private colleges. NOP didn't limit the comment to SLACs

Harvard, Princeton . . . are large universities which is fine for some students but others prefer the SLACs where you can get an equal quality education (or better because at many universities classes are large lectures and/or taught by grad students) with a lot more attention. Like universities, SLACs vary, but at their best they can burrow in on the subjects in which they excel, and give students an intense academic experience. If you think Ivies are the only way to go you could miss out on some of teh bext academic institutions around.

This is well stated. I think the school has to be looked at in terms of the student...what envrionment does DC thrive? A LARGE university with thousands and classes with 300 + kids (yes, one of my relatives attends a LARGE university and has lectures that large....you are a number...) or one where you have the direct personal internaction with a professor (not a TA) giving you a true learning expereince. Its up to the student.

[Anonymous]

I also grew up in North Carolina. While I do think Elon has improved over the years, when my high school class was applying to colleges (in 2000) it really wasn't on most people's radars. Part of this may be because if you are from in-state, the academics aren't better than many of the state schools and it's expensive. The top kids in the class were applying to Duke, Wake, UNC, or out of state schools. The next tier focused on UNC as a reach, NC state or schools like UNCG or UNCW. The only kid I know who went to Elon went because he got a scholarship to keep playing soccer.

Also worth noting that Elon is near Burlington which, frankly, is even more of a dump than many of the other towns in that part of North Carolina. Someone was knocking the area around Duke earlier but Durham is a far more vibrant and interesting place (the downtown is in the process of a pretty significant revitalization) than the Elon/Burlington area.

[Anonymous]

Wow, no love for Elon from these posters. Well, we love it. My son is actually a great student who went to Elon from a very good high school and has found it to be a wonderful school. He is a biochemistry major and has found the abilities/talents of the other students to be competitive but, more importantly, he has made real connections to wonderful faculty. He would tell you the academics have been top notch and that Elon walks the walk when it comes to the engaged learning philosophy. The university is very well run with a real caring about the student. My son found a niche of great people to hang out with socially but will admit there is a preppy, private school feel to the place. That is really the only negative we have found. Our top ranked Chicago area high school was only sending one or two students to Elon every year but this year over 20 applied to Elon. The word is out and I feel the school has the leadership necessary to continue it's upward trajectory. My second son is now a senior and is a straight A student and Elon is at the top of his list, as well. The personalized attention, beautiful campus and small class sizes make it an excellent value. I highly recommend taking advantage of the fellows and honors programs when possible for additional perks and opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also grew up in North Carolina. While I do think Elon has improved over the years, when my high school class was applying to colleges (in 2000) it really wasn't on most people's radars. Part of this may be because if you are from in-state, the academics aren't better than many of the state schools and it's expensive. The top kids in the class were applying to Duke, Wake, UNC, or out of state schools. The next tier focused on UNC as a reach, NC state or schools like UNCG or UNCW. The only kid I know who went to Elon went because he got a scholarship to keep playing soccer.

Also worth noting that Elon is near Burlington which, frankly, is even more of a dump than many of the other towns in that part of North Carolina. Someone was knocking the area around Duke earlier but Durham is a far more vibrant and interesting place (the downtown is in the process of a pretty significant revitalization) than the Elon/Burlington area.

Elon is better than uncw or uncg c'mon now...lets at least be honest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, no love for Elon from these posters. Well, we love it. My son is actually a great student who went to Elon from a very good high school and has found it to be a wonderful school. He is a biochemistry major and has found the abilities/talents of the other students to be competitive but, more importantly, he has made real connections to wonderful faculty. He would tell you the academics have been top notch and that Elon walks the walk when it comes to the engaged learning philosophy. The university is very well run with a real caring about the student. My son found a niche of great people to hang out with socially but will admit there is a preppy, private school feel to the place. That is really the only negative we have found. Our top ranked Chicago area high school was only sending one or two students to Elon every year but this year over 20 applied to Elon. The word is out and I feel the school has the leadership necessary to continue it's upward trajectory. My second son is now a senior and is a straight A student and Elon is at the top of his list, as well. The personalized attention, beautiful campus and small class sizes make it an excellent value. I highly recommend taking advantage of the fellows and honors programs when possible for additional perks and opportunities.

Please come back later in the year and tell us about the job he obtained with his ELon degree. That will go a long way to convincing us skeptics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also grew up in North Carolina. While I do think Elon has improved over the years, when my high school class was applying to colleges (in 2000) it really wasn't on most people's radars. Part of this may be because if you are from in-state, the academics aren't better than many of the state schools and it's expensive. The top kids in the class were applying to Duke, Wake, UNC, or out of state schools. The next tier focused on UNC as a reach, NC state or schools like UNCG or UNCW. The only kid I know who went to Elon went because he got a scholarship to keep playing soccer.

Also worth noting that Elon is near Burlington which, frankly, is even more of a dump than many of the other towns in that part of North Carolina. Someone was knocking the area around Duke earlier but Durham is a far more vibrant and interesting place (the downtown is in the process of a pretty significant revitalization) than the Elon/Burlington area.

Elon is better than uncw or uncg c'mon now...lets at least be honest

W > Elon > Greensboro

[Anonymous]

I know someone who graduated from Elon within the past five years, with a degree in Sports and Event Management. He accepted a position with one of the large TV sports networks in NYC, and met a lot of pro athletes at his job. Not too shabby!

[Anonymous]

Didn't read the whole thread, but one of my current interns went to elon (graduated last year). She is very bright and picks up on things fast but doesn't have much depth. She was in their communications program fwiw.

[Anonymous]

God, you last few posters are so horrible and judgmental. Please tell us what schools you attended so we can tell our kids NOT to apply there.

[Anonymous]

I'm from North Carolina. Elon is a decent school, but not worth the $30,000 in tuition it costs to go there. Before 2000, it was attended mainly by small town folk who were the first in their families to go to college, but didn't have the grades to get into NC's public universities (not that that's a bad thing, someone has to do it).

As someone else mentioned, there isn't much to do in the town itself. Its close to Greensboro, but then why not just go to UNC-G, pay less in OOS tuition, and get a larger choice of majors (and honestly a more pervasive alumni network if that's important to you)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:funny all the people i know who went there were the ones who couldn't get into any other school or were total f' ups.

when did schools for rich dumb and f'd up kids beicome known as rising.....

+1!!

So glad someone else thinks that. My sibling, who didn't break 1000 on the SATS (in the 90s) and had about 3.0 on a good day was accepted there and nowhere else. It was a weekend school. Everyone left on the weekends. Up and coming must mean they are giving away lots of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't read the whole thread, but one of my current interns went to elon (graduated last year). She is very bright and picks up on things fast but doesn't have much depth. She was in their communications program fwiw.

How do you know she has "no depth". Do you know her whole life story? She is working for you as an intern but not good enough because she has a communications degree from Elon? The whole world can not have an Economics degree from Harvard or a computer science degree from Stanford. If that is the standard, then 99.9% of the people in this country are not "good enough".