<p>Son is struggling to make a decision. Loved Elon. Kenyon, Bates and Rhodes are more rigorous and have better recognition. Some scholarship $ awarded at Rhodes and also UVM, Northeastern, U Mary Washington.
Any opinions & comments much appreciated.</p>
<p>Where is Elon? Does he want city, town or rural? How does he feel about a southern experience? What are his interest areas?</p>
<p>At this point you and your son just have to figure out what his priorities are and what his gut instinct is. I assume you've visited all the schools and are planning to do any accepted student visits. If not, that should be on the top of the agenda. You've got some fairly different schools on that list in terms of size, location, prestige and cost. I can't believe he would love all of them equally. Get rid of any iffy ones and concentrate on the top three.</p>
<p>The same kid can't possibly love Elon and Kenyon. </p>
<p>What kind of kid is he, and what does he seek? Those schools are different as night and day.</p>
<p>He is a muscian & athlete who thinks he wants to try premed. Can you please explain why you think someone can't like both Elon and Kenyon?
Thank you.</p>
<p>Elon = very preppy, conservative & southern (though becoming less southern), reputation as "country club"</p>
<p>Kenyon = crunchier, liberal, largely midwest & east coast kids from large cities, academically intense</p>
<p>Rhodes is a lot closer to Elon's atmospher, but more rigorous academics. Curmudgeon has a daughter at Rhodes who seems to love it & is flourishing. If he doesn't chime in, may want to PM Cur.</p>
<p>I'm curious, too. I know several kids who applied to both of them. In my demographic neighborhood (professional, liberal Philadelphia), Elon has a much higher profile than Rhodes, and probably about the same as Kenyon and Bates.</p>
<p>Edit: Elon is a favorite of the counselors at my kids' former prestigious Quaker school. They can't think it's too preppy or conservative, because that would X it right off the list. They don't recommend any school that isn't a little bit crunchy. Lots of not-very-preppy (for the private school world), not-at-all-conservative kids have gone there and loved it.</p>
<p>Elon is becoming more popular in the northeast, largely b/c of its ridiculously low price, compared to similar schools. Admissions standards, I imagine, are or will be rising accordingly. Still, the latest figures I have seen show Elon to lag behind the Bates/Kenyon/Rhodes trio by about 100 points in the average SAT department, which is significant.</p>
<p>Where I live, in Maryland, Elon has the reputation of being a very nice place, with a lot of attention paid to the undergraduates and a happy student body.</p>
<p>But it also has the reputation of being a dumping ground for rich kids whose statistics were so poor that they couldn't get into the University of Maryland at College Park.</p>
<p>Rankings and SAT scores, etc. are not everything, but Elon is not ranked as a national liberal arts college by US News. It is instead ranked third as Masters universities in the South. It reports 32% of students in the top 10% and an SAT range of 1130 to 1290. Rhodes is ranked 45th as a national liberal arts college and has 50% from top 10%, SATs of 1160 to 1350. Kenyon is #32, 59% from top 10%, SATs 1240-1420. Bates is #23, 57% from top 10%, and SATs of 1280-1410, but they are not required for all students.</p>
<p>The few students I have known who went to Elon are students who wanted to attend a private LAC who were not strong students enough to get into some of the other private LACs. Since I only know a few students who went there, please do not take this as generalizing to the entire Elon student body.</p>
<p>I liked Elon ok, but felt like it wouldn't be challenging enough - I had friends from my high school going there that weren't terribly smart, but still got As in all their classes. </p>
<p>I turned down a lot of scholarship money in exchange for a lot of grade deflation (at WFU) but I still feel like I'm better off for challenging myself.</p>
<p>Years ago, Elon was a school that NC kids (whose parents could afford to pay) went to if they couldn't get into one of the big state universities. Nobody really thought of it as anything special, just a nice private school. For this reason, I was surprised when I joined CC and noticed quite a few people from all over talking about Elon. Obviously, it's standing and quality has changed over the years probably due in large part to the out of state kids who have been applying and attending. </p>
<p>The kids I know who attend don't have a crunchy bone in their body. They are more the "All American kid" types whose parents can afford the COA.
I've been told that the Greek scene is the core of social activities, don't know this for fact. I'm sure not every Phoenix fan is a frat.</p>
<p>I'm with Allmusic and Packmom - - hard to see a kid loving Kenyon and Elon. (not to mention Bates, Rhodes, UVM, NE and Mary Wash). We found Elon and Rhodes very conservative and cliquish - - too much so for my city kids. If S is more conserv, he might be happy there.</p>
<p>If S athletic, I go with Kenyon (new sports complex, probabl the best D# swim team in the country) or Bates; UVm and NE are D1 schools, so unless he's recruited, he probably have to stick to club sports.</p>
<p>Of course, at Mary Wash, he'll always have a date (I believe girls still outnumber boys 2:1).</p>
<p>
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...out of state kids who have been applying and attending.
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</p>
<p>Kids I know who are at Elon were not accepted at Penn State Main, fwiw.</p>
<p>I applied to Elon and got waitlisted, but they said their average SAT was around a 1400 this year, and their average gpa was a 3.8. They seem to be getting a bit more selective, but I could be wrong. They also had one of the most amazing journalism facilities I have ever seen, with an inhouse tv studio.</p>
<p>My son is finishing his freshman year at Rhodes and has been very happy. He plays basketball so sports figured heavily into his collegiate decision making. His roomate is also on the basketball team, but is also very into music, I think he is minoring in some field of music. They both really like the school. My son also liked the fact that it is in a city and not stuck way off in the middle of nowhere. It is not really diverse, and its students are very southern. For my son the southern thing was a plus though, because he has spent his whole life in Ohio and wanted to broaden his experience.</p>
<p>That's odd. The SAT breakdown I saw on our state's comprehensive college site showing all schools in NC posted that the % freshmen admitted with SAT Verbal over 700 was 8% and Math over 700 was 9%.</p>
<p>Hmmm. Packmom, is your kid considering Elon?</p>
<p>From Rhodes website: The Class of 2010 comes from 38 states and 4 foreign countries; from as far away as California, Maine, Bulgaria, Canada, Trinidad and Nigeria and as nearby as mid-town Memphis.</p>
<p>I say either Kenyon or Bates.</p>
<p>I can't speak to the other schools, but Elon seemingly has gotten more selective over the years--see thread: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=288219%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=288219</a></p>
<p>My oldest is a 2004 grad from Elon and loved his years there--no frat membership, but said it didn't interfere with social life. His roommates and closest friends were from DC area, CT, NJ, VA, and RI---we are from NC. The new business building sounds fantastic and Elon is one of the few undergrad programs that offers human cadaver labs to undergrads.</p>
<p>My younger son is at Wake, but often goes to Elon for a weekend night as he says the student body there is so friendly and welcoming. As far as preppiness, son says it is much less so than at Wake.</p>