<p>I'm a high school senior from Bulgaria and am facing a dilemma about which university to choose.
So far I've been accepted with good financial aid to Clark, Illinois Wesleyan University, and Roanoke College. I want to study international relations, international studies and foreign languages, and in the mean time participate in music ensembles, courses and activities. </p>
<p>Please help me with your opinions about which university is worthier, or at least what do you think about giving $11,000 a year to Clark? I know the ranks, but they cannot tell much to an international student.</p>
<p>Clark is a well-respected school and is known for its diverse student population. it has a high percentage of international students, and is a very welcoming student community. I think it is fairly good for international studies. My d has applied there, and we are waiting to hear. I am not familiar with the other schools you mentioned. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>V, my daughter has been accepted to Clark; it's one of her top choices. Worcester is just beginning to rebound. Clark is in a fairly rough but diverse area. The student body does seem to have some diversity to it. An important thing not to forget is if you're in the right major and keep your grades up, you can get your Masters free from Clark!</p>
<p>twr,
I keep hearing and reading this, but still don't have a good sense of it. Maybe you can help to resolve it a bit: what do you mean by "rough neighborhood?" ie what can you and can you not do safely? Walk alone during the day? walk at all (even with friends) at night? We visited the school, but drove through worcester without getting much of a feel for the place. And, if worcester is sort of dangerous, what does this mean regarding clark's policy of having an open relationship with the community (ie letting the people of the town use their facilities, etc)? </p>
<p>When did your daughter hear? Congrats on the acceptance :)</p>
<p>Hello, can't help you at all with Clark or IWU but S. was accepted at Roanoke and we just visited there earlier this week. They don't have a separate college forum here for the school so it's probably hard to get information on it. He (and we) found the people friendly enough, it is southern, but do look at the area and what you want for surroundings. The location is beautiful, up in the mountains, but it is isolated by city standards. Roanoke City itself is the largest town in that part of the state, so there is something to do there, but it's not like a large metropolitan area. OTOH, Salem, where the college is located, is a nice, little town and seems to be very safe. It's small, so you have the opportunity to do a variety of activities. If you can't visit, then at least think about the area where it's located and if it's what you would like. S. liked it a lot, but most likely won't be going there despite scholarship money. He is interested in polisci and found out that their polisci dept is going to go through a restructuring in the near future so he was uncertain about what that would mean. He also found out two of the three econ. profs are retiring, again, not knowing what that will mean. Sorry to take over a Clark site, that I just found due to searching for Roanoke posts. Good luck in your choice!</p>
<p>Mommeleh,
We live about 10 miles from Clark. I purposely chose to call the Clark area rough, not dangerous. There seems to be a lot of budding ethnic diversity along Main Street in that area, Latin and SE Asian immigrants, little shops and restaurants which is nice. But, there also seems to be plenty of characters with no visible means of support dotting the street not far from campus, along with an occasional bag person or drunk (not students........ha-ha). During day it's fine. Nights in groups, but that goes for any campus, especially for females. Acting with poor judgement can make a rough area dangerous. D (and I) really likes Clark. It's not spread out or really pretty, but it seems to have some special character to it, and part of that is the neighborhood. Worcester is not dangerous, just run-down, but it's just beginning to rebound as several New England cities have in the past 10-20 years. It seems like there is strong community outreach although I have no specific knowledge about it. But, that should be great both ways.</p>
<p>Please post back with D's acceptance results.</p>
<p>Mommeleh,
The above response is kind of long winded. Let me just say that I would not dissuade D from, nor hesitate to send D to Clark based on safety, if that's where she choses, and her other choices are generally much more rural.</p>