Sewanee, Rhodes, Furman, Centre
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Anonymous
| Kid who's still a junior loves the idea of a SLAC and wants to be in the South. (And please, if you're part of the "no such thing as a good education in a red state" cabal that has popped up in other recent threads, your input isn't needed here.) Likes Davidson and W&L, but stats will probably be borderline, so will need a backup plan. These four schools seem to be the next best thing, at least from what I keep hearing, but I don't know enough about any of them to even offer an opinion on where we should look first. If anyone has kids at any of the four, or is otherwise familiar with them, what can you tell me about the academics, social life, reputation/employability, and so forth? Thanks. |
Anonymous
| Socially, I think is Sewanee is more like W&L, and Rhodes and Furman are more like Davidson (but R and F are a little more conservative). I don't know enough about Centre to say. Almost everyone I know who graduated from Sewanee loved it, but it is very remote up on that mountain. Memphis is a fun city and probably has the most going on in the town outside of the school. Greenville is a charming city with a downtown that has been revived with good restaurants and bars. I'm not sure where they all fall in the rankings, but I can think of many successful colleagues and friends who have graduated from Rhodes, Furman and Sewanee. That's not a knock on Centre, I just don't know anyone who attended. |
Anonymous
| College of Charleston. |
Anonymous
Not a SLAC and not on the same academic level as the schools the OP asked about. |
Anonymous
Sewanee - 47 Centre - 52 (tie) Furman - 52 (tie) Rhodes - 54 So not a whole lot of difference between them. |
Anonymous
| What about University of Richmond? |
Anonymous
| Did you read Colleges that Change Lives? It has long profiles of a couple of them |
Anonymous
| Centre and Rhodes are in CTCL. A few other CTCL's in that general geographic footprint are Guilford, Emory & Henry and Lynchburg for what it's worth. |
Anonymous
| Check out Elon. Not a SLAC, but has much in common. |
Anonymous
|
We visited Rhodes in-person over the summer and drove through the Sewanee campus. DS ended up applying to both (honestly, I think mostly because he actually saw them).
I was far more impressed with Rhodes / Memphis than I thought I would be. I grew up in the South and never thought of Memphis as anything other than run-down. The neighborhood around the campus appears to be diverse. The campus is gated, so visitors have to check in. You can easily get to downtown / Beall Street from the campus. The admissions officer we spoke to described Memphis as an affordable city (e.g., $15 tix available for Grizzlies games). She also said that Memphis has more non-profits than any other similarly-sized US city, St. Jude's being the standout (also easy to get to from campus). The student who showed us around was a POC from Memphis, and she spoke lovingly about the college and her professors. My main concern is Greek life; DS is totally not interested in Greek life. The student who showed us around does not participate in Greek life and she still loves the school, but she acknowledged that roughly 50% of students do participate in Greek life. The frat houses are part of campus; they are built of the same materials as the other buildings on campus, and they blend right in. I don't really know what to make of that. Sewanee is beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful. But isolated. It's also very spread out, and it appeared that students take shuttle buses to get from one building to another. In my mind, Tennessee has this push-pull of modernity (its cities) versus total backwardness, and Sewanee is surrounded by the backwardness -- although it is close-ish to Chattanooga. My understanding is that both of these schools offered generous merit pre-COVID. |
Anonymous
| Sewanee is gorgeous. It is also around 82% white, which my kid immediately noticed when touring. |
Anonymous
| I think you have a good list. Like PP, I know nothing about Centre. You might also look at Queens in Charlotte, Austin College (in TX but not Austin) and Hendrix College in Arkansas. |
Anonymous
|
We toured Furman just before Covid and our daughter loved the campus, the students she met, the academic environment and Greenville. The alumni network is great, and they have a good connection with Greenville for internship opportunities for students.
We also liked the Cultural Life Program - students attend a minimum of 32 events over their four years. The events "engage students in a spectrum of issues, ideas, and artistic expressions from various disciplines and cultures. Events foster a sense of community on campus and help those in attendance see multiple compelling and legitimate views on cultural issues, inspiring a life-long pursuit of intellectual fulfillment and cultural engagement." A bike path runs through campus, and they can ride about 3 miles north to the village of Travelers Rest which has eclectic restaurants & cafes and a Farmer's Market or ride south about 7 miles into downtown Greenville. They have a great music program and lots of club sports. Definitely recommend checking out Furman - hopefully you'll have a chance to visit in person! |
Anonymous
Is that materially different from the other schools mentioned by the OP? |