Can you elaborate on Sewanee?

College Search & Selection
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<p>TWO more questions, since it won’t let me edit my last post:</p>

<p>As I briefly mentioned a few posts back, I’m thinking of double-majoring, how easy or hard is it to do so at Sewanee? I know it is a breeze at some schools while others make it quite difficult.</p>

<p>Also, how friendly/welcoming are students there towards students of other ethnicity? I’m not too worried as I’m one of the few non-Caucasian people in a lot of my classes, so it is more of a curious question than a concerned one…</p>

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<p>No problem! I’m 99% sure you would be guaranteed housing – the only students who live off campus are senior gownsmen who get the top numbers in the housing lottery. Most of the housing that is not for students is owned by faculty, staff, alumni, etc., so off campus housing is really limited. There are housing options other than the dorms like specialty housing (if you’re interested), but definitely being in a dorm incoming would be best (that way you would be assigned an assistant proctor who lives in your dorm and can help orient you). The dorms vary – there are a couple of nasty ones and a couple of ski-lodge-like ones, with the majority in between, but they all have really great senses of community (you almost definitely will make friends with people in your hall and dorm). </p>

<p>It’s pretty easy to double major assuming you have enough time to take all of the classes! Econ and environmental studies should be more than doable since the classes all build on each other and count as credit towards your major, and you should not have to take too many extra classes as prerequisites that don’t count towards a major (econ probably needs a statistics prereq – maybe nothing else). I would check the major requirements on the departments’ pages, and if you look at the class schedule for the upcoming semester on registrar.sewanee.edu you can check on any prerequisites (if you don’t have a course catalog, which I’m sure they can send you if you email or call them). </p>

<p>You will also have to be sure to get your general distribution requirements out of the way though, but these will be the most likely things taken care of by transfer credits.</p>

<p>If you double major you will have to “comp” in two subjects! That is, you’ll have to take a pass/fail test at the end of your major that comprehensively covers the material you’ve studied – it’s scarier sounding than it actually is.</p>

<p>There is not a large minority population on campus (I think students who identify with a minority ethnicity only constitute 10-15% of the student body) but they are treated just like everyone else, and students of all races are welcoming to them. Like anywhere (most places, maybe) there are occasionally nasty things written on bathroom walls, but people who think that way are definitely an extreme minority of their own.</p>

<p>Last semester someone posted a pretty horrific blog online, pretending to represent the school as a whole, but the whole community rallied and even had a giant march simply to assert that the general population did not think that way.</p>

<p>Though students of different ethnicities make up a tiny portion of the student body they are alongside the frat bros in frats, representing students in the Student Assembly or Student Senate, eating with their otherwise homogenous classmates at lunch, attending Gownsmen meetings, etc. Students generally don’t make a point of treating people according to ethnicity either way. There are some international students who stick together a lot (probably because their first interactions were with eachother) but they are treated no differently and treat American students no differently; there aren’t enough students at Sewanee to really single out a group! And as with students of other ethnicities in general, there are just as many international students frequenting the pretty-homogenous frat houses and the like.</p>

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<p>I’m a student at Rhodes, and I’d agree with lynxinsider that the schools are very similar aside from their dramatically different settings.</p>

<p>Since there were some stats about Sewanee, here are some on Rhodes:

  • 1685 students from 42 states and 15 countries.
  • 53% ranked in the top ten percent of their class.
  • 73% had a high school GPA between 3.5 and 4.0, and the mean GPA was 3.73.
  • The middle 50% range of SAT scores is 1210 to 1370 and the ACT middle 50% range is 26 to 30.
  • 41% acceptance rate.
  • 97.5% of faculty have a doctoral degree or the highest degree in their field.
  • 58% women, 42% men.
  • 10:1 student/faculty ratio.
  • Average class size is 13 (but I’ve been in classes of as small 8, and the biggest was only ~25).
  • 80% of our students participate in community service (it’s not mandatory by any means).</p>

<p>Okay, so stats aside, here’s what makes Rhodes great, in my opinion. And I learned most of this after getting here as a freshman since I didn’t actually visit campus before that (oops). It’s a gated campus, so it’s very safe, but that also makes it easy to not feel overwhelmed by city life. Rhodes is in a unique location, being in a large city (top 20 in the nation) yet it’s located in a relatively residential section of the city. That said though, downtown, with all it has to offer, is only a ten minute drive away and the Cooper-Young area, a big artsy part of the city with a lot of neat little shops and local restaurants of all kinds, is only 7 minutes away. The zoo and Overton Park are literally across the street too. So there’s a lot to do here.</p>

<p>It’s a small campus (1700 students) so you get to know a lot of people and have classes with a number of the same students several different semesters. You also get to know your professors really well, and have great research opportunities with them. Both of those are great for getting good rec letters for post-grad work, of course.</p>

<p>The strong Honor Code means I can leave my door unlocked or walk away from my laptop in the library and not worry about coming back to find things missing. Professors also let us take tests unproctored, sometimes in our own rooms at a time that’s convenient to us. It’s a huge boon to the campus to have a Code that everyone follows so closely.</p>

<p>But basically, I’d say the difference between the two is setting. If you want Rural, Sewanee is your place, if you want the benefits of a large city, give Rhodes a look.</p>

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<p>Thank you again to cajunking and now to schnp! very informative posts, and for the record, I’m totally planning on applying to both now, since they seem so similar from the outside!</p>

<p>Cajunking, if you don’t mind me asking a few housing questions, that’d be great!</p>

<p>You mentioned specialty housing, can you elaborate more on that? also, what are the halls that are ski-lodge-type?? Also based on the pictures on Sewanee’s website, can you tell me more about Elliott and Trezevant halls?</p>

<p>One last question, for those who needs to fly out for breaks, how do students usually get to the airport? do everyone carpool with friends or are there public transit? </p>

<p>Thank you again!</p>

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<p>Specialty housing is either special-interest housing or Greek housing. Last year there was a community engagement house, theater house, green (eco) house, and language houses (French, Spanish, German, Russian). This year I think the theater house is going to be an Asian Studies house. Each regularly holds events related to the house’s theme – the green house has an organic garden, does a bunch of service projects; the Spanish house holds lectures or speakers, Spanish themed parties, Spanish dinners, etc. Greek housing would just be fraternity or sorority houses. </p>

<p>I’m not sure if you’ll be offered the chance to participate in this, but freshmen are invited to opt into "LLC"s (living and learning communities) where about half of the freshmen living in the dorm all have some shared academic or extracurricular interest (pre-med, theater, community engagement, the humanities, etc.). </p>

<p>The two nicest dorms are Humphreys (mostly juniors and seniors except for the spaces reserved for freshmen) and St. Lukes. Humphreys is the newest and is the most ski-lodge-type with a giant nice living room, some nooks and cranny balconies and alcoves around the dorm, a couple of TV rooms, small outside balconies looking out from each floor, etc. It also has a fair number of suites (4 or 5 singles or doubles with a living room). St. Lukes is almost entirely doubles, but has the newest and most comfortable furniture, has a really great study space, etc. All the dorms also have barbeque pits and outdoor areas to sit/eat/etc.</p>

<p>Elliott and Trez are two all-male dorms. I’ll actually be living in a single in Elliott next year – they have some really cool loft rooms where either both people in a double can put their beds in the loft, or one can have their own sort of room up in the loft. One double has its own patio, but I think that is generally snatched up pretty early in room draw. Lots of the dorms are old academic buildings or other buildings reconfigured for dorm use, so many have at least a few out-of-the-ordinary rooms… one, for instance, has turrets (like a castle) and all of the singles on that side have the giant turret space in their room to look out onto the rugby fields. </p>

<p>Trez is kind of unique, it’s probably one of the more removed dorms on campus. It’s about a 7 or 10 minute walk from the middle of campus, but its residents seem to love it. It’s all male, and is notorious for raucous behavior. “Frat lords” particularly seem to like the dorm, and often you will see upperclassmen choose to return there over much nicer dorms even though there is no A/C (Sewanee is usually only really hot for the first two weeks of school, but a fan eliminates the need almost entirely for A/C – all dorms have heat). The rooms are pretty nice besides not having A/C, though. It has lakes on either side of it (one with a nice little dock) and is essentially surrounded by woods. The intramural and hockey fields are right beside it, so that’s pretty nice. The guys who live in it always end up making good friends with most of the other Trez men.
(It’s 104, at the top right: <a href=“Sewanee”>Sewanee)</p>

<p>The worst dorms are probably Gorgas and Cannon. Gorgas is far away and used to be some sort of military barracks for the military school, though often times sophomores and juniors can snag pretty roomy singles even with low lottery numbers. Cannon is an all male dorm that is just known for being pretty nasty, (nearly?) as crazy as Trez, but without the open space to diffuse the sound…</p>

<p>Hope that helps some!</p>

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<p>Cajunking, thank you again for answering my questions, greatly appreciated!!</p>

<p>After reading your analysis on Trez, I was wondering if you suggest a hall that’s not too rowdy/raucous and not too shabby as well? I love the look of Trez but not sure if I would fit in with the rowdy types…</p>

<p>Also, how are the workloads? I know you mentioned previously that most students study during the week, are the loads usually manageable or do students barricade themselves in the library most of the time?</p>

<p>One more thing, how often do students get off campus on the weekends for whatever reasons (trips, activities, going to the city, etc) and how easy is it to explore the areas surrounding the campus (i.e. biking, hiking, climbing, etc)?</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

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<p>CrownoftheSea, I was:

  • a transfer student who
  • double-majored and
  • lived in both Elliot and Trez</p>

<p>So I can answer a few of these questions :)</p>

<p>Transfer students will live in a dorm. If you don’t know anyone on campus, you’ll be put in a room with a stranger – a blessing in disguise. Your roommate plays a huge part in expanding your social network. Most students seem to enjoy showing newcomers the ropes on the party scene. </p>

<p>Double-majoring is easy. Getting good grades in both subjects is not. Exams at Sewanee are no joke, and comps take up a significant part of your senior year. Handling both course loads was not especially easy, and I did it in “softer” subjects than what you’re considering. Be realistic with yourself about how many hours (and I mean that literally) of homework and study you really want to do per night. Honestly, if you can handle it I say go for it. Your professors will support you.</p>

<p>Something you need to ask SPECIFIC questions about when you return your application is your transfer-credit situation. Do not assume that Sewanee will take community college classes for full credit. For that matter, don’t assume they will give you credit at all. Get some sort of written record of what you will have to do to graduate, and do it early in the process. Trust me on this one. They don’t try to screw you intentionally, but it is a common complaint among transfers.</p>

<p>When considering dorms, bear in mind that they have a permanent head resident (usually a “matron”, or older woman) whose personality tends to shape the character of the dorm. Most of them are very positive influences, but whether they’re quiet old grandmotherly types or a loud disciplinarian will make a big difference in your experience. If you are double-majoring I suggest a quieter dorm or at least one with suites. The ideal would probably be Tuckaway or St. Luke’s. You could do ok with Courts or Benedict but the rooms are a little more spare. Hodgson is a quieter, upperclassmen dorm but is a very long hike from class. </p>

<p>Elliot is one of the best dorms on campus for a guy. It’s central to everything, a great place to stumble back to when drunk (just being honest), and a place where men can live somewhat respectably compared to a Trez-type environment. Recently renovated, big fireplace downstairs, and a reasonable level of noise. They have changed matrons recently so I don’t know how that will affect it.</p>

<p>Trez is more of an Animal House environment. It tends to be a bit fratty and honestly, I didn’t enjoy my time there at all. Definitely not a good place to study. Cannon was similar back then but perhaps a little less fratty and more central. I hear it has cleaned up somewhat but from the comments below perhaps not. I would not suggest either of those, or Gorgas, for a transfer student.</p>

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<p>SewaneeTiger,
Thanks for the insightful post. Question for you though: when you first transferred in, how difficult was it to get your first-choice residence hall? I like the idea of Hodgson since you said it’s far from campus, I’m assuming less crazy distractions.
Also, how difficult was the courseload as a result of the double major? will I be sacrificing social life and do you think it is even a good idea to contemplate the idea of taking on two majors?</p>