D (from Virginia) is deciding between these three/four (not really considering Furman). Leaning toward Clemson. Merit aid significantly narrowed the cost differential (DePauw cheapest, then Sewanee, then Clemson, then Furman). I am biased towards small private liberal arts and manageable social scene. All are conservative but Clemson seems the most so and sorority scene seems much more competitive than other schools. D is pretty introverted.
Anyone else who had a child decide to go to the big public school, not the small school? Other general thoughts?
My son was different from your daughter in some ways–he’s pretty liberal and had no interest in Greek life but was also somewhat introverted (he’s much less so now)–but he (and we) were pretty intent on a private LAC. By the end of senior year, my son was DONE with them and chose a public flagship that actually, in a lot of ways, was a giant version of the LAC he was pretty set on attending. Both schools were more conservative on average than he is and both are big into Greek life, but he’s been very happy with his choice.
I’d recommend she revisit the contenders. Visiting Sewanee and Clemson in the spring might help her make her decision. Good luck!
Hi, I go to a huge public and here are a couple of things to consider. First huge publics are working hard to seem small and offer small school benifits. They are doing this through the individual colleges generally but also through various other programs which include living and learning communities, figs, bloc programs and such. Also most honors colleges are basically a LAC within the flagship so that is an option. Division 1 sports are fun and create a memorable life long connection to the school. Finally, I’m a member of a sorority at a very competitive school and I can honestly say that there is a place for everyone generally speaking in the greek system. And the few who who do not become members generally have some extenuating circumstance, finances being number one followed by grades and or suiciding (being to selective).
Also, Clemson has about 17000-18000 undergrad students so it’s not crazy big. I have 2 friends at Clemson and they love it. Both OOSers. Good luck.
Our DS1 is at UT and DS2 is at Clemson. From our perspective, Clemson feels like a small school.
UT tries to break it down. DS1 joined a fig (first year interest group) group and then was a fig mentor as a sophomore. He was not interested in rushing so, his new friends came from rec sports and activities plus a few from his dorm. The biggest difference is that he has always had to be more proactive for every detail of his experience. -From friends to advising to transportation. Any issue that has touched his life has had to be managed by him seeking out an answer or living with the results of missing the information. I am an alum and I bleed burnt-orange but, UT is a machine.
Clemson has truly felt like a family. Take orientation for example. Parents actually attend. I was shocked. We had our own meetings but, family attendance was expected and well attended. (Including siblings) Move-in day… UT had no plan, no nothing. DS1 could have showed up or not and they never would have known the difference. He picked up his dorm key and spent his first night alone without even seeing his roommate. (He did see lots of people the next day.) Clemson practically carried DS2 inside. A mob in bright orange (and the RA) helped move him in. Lots of friendly greetings and plans made for that evening, official and unofficial.
Clemson has been terrific and thorough communicating with DS2 and us. -and about lots more than just how to pay the bill.
I could go on and on. Just so you know, both boys are very happy with their choices.
If you are worried that Clemson would feel too big, you can check that concern off of your list. We are OOS and have been overwhelmed by the Clemson family experience. It’s been the polar opposite of a big school stereotype.
My daughter had a terrific experience at DePauw. Faculty contact outside her major helped her network which lead to her music industry career. Great friends. A huge party school but the students work extremely hard. Six years later she says she wouldn’t change a thing. She is extremely outgoing and was successful at sorority rush, which is involves over 70% of the students.
@1966mom Yes, our DS1 is at the University of Texas, enrollment sits around 52K students. Clemson has about 17K students. We wear a lot of orange around here.
Sewanee: 72% of women, 67% of men
DePauw: “just under 70%”
Furman: 51% of women, 38% of men
Clemson: 48% of women, 22% of men
What is her opinion on sororities? If she is uninterested, Clemson may have more non-sorority women to interact with. If she is interested, she may want to investigate how sorority rush and sororities are managed at each school. Also, she may want to investigate whether sororities tend to self-segregate by race and ethnicity at each school.
Not surprised lowest Merit aid was from Furman (and also highest COA of these schools). They are very opaque on their merit aid system, and apparently they made a decision to reduce merit aid offers about 3 years ago, since they felt they were “discounting” their tuition too much. As a result, they have reduced the academic rigor of admissions to some extent, probably to allow more full-pay students to attend.
DS2 did get a 10K / year scholarship from Clemson. I am pretty certain they only give merit to top 10% students. There’s more information on what you could expect to receive in scholarships on their website. @2017girl \m/
My S graduated from Clemson and my D attends Sewanee. Both are great schools, but they’re very different.
As PokeyJoe mentioned, Clemson feels much smaller than its size (no comparison to UT - Hookem’ Horns!) It is an easy school to navigate, with amazing school spirit, a friendly student body, and extensive course offerings. I believe S received a good education at Clemson, and he is doing well. There are a lot of opportunities at Clemson if one looks for them. Having said that, Clemson does not, on a broad basis, offer the personal attention, faculty interaction, small class size and intellectual experience of Sewanee.
My jock, conservative S loved Clemson and my introverted, quirky, moderately liberal D loves Sewanee. She feels like she’s found her tribe. D is not particularly outdoorsy although she appreciates the natural beauty of Sewanee. Sewanee does have a “work hard, play hard” mentality that students need to learn to manage. The academics are fairly intense and students have to engage (which most do) to excel.
The Greek experience at Clemson is far more traditional, exclusive and defining than at Sewanee. At Sewanee, all but one of the sororities are local, students don’t often sport greek letters, and friendships aren’t defined by greek affiliation. Both of my kids went Greek. I don’t know whether D would’ve joined a sorority had she gone to Clemson.
What else is important to your D? Class size? On campus housing? Furman seems out of contention (I don’t think their merit is good at all and D was offered top award there) but it is a nice size, smaller classes, good environment even if you don’t go greek, and (my favorite) 4 year housing. Greenville is great town. But Furman has kind of lost it - agree with what ColdinMinny said above.
There are lots of ways to make a large school seem smaller but at the end of day, Clemson is going to have some very large or on-line freshman level classes. They are renovating some older dorms but still many upperclassmen live off campus. I know a lot of students there who love it and are involved in lots of different stuff. If D doesn’t want to join a sorority and finds another group (student gov’t, religious group, etc) then she will have a manageable social scene of her own. I’m not sure how competitive rush really is at Clemson - sometimes when I see that I wonder if the thought is “can I get into the most popular one”. Most places pretty good track record for girls getting bids when they keep an open mind to all the groups.
Sewanee is so pretty but very remote. D1 liked it but not as much as her eventual choice of another small LAC. D2 goes to USC (bigger than Clemson) and is not a social butterfly and didn’t care at all for greek life but found a great niche at large school and loves it even though at beginning of search she was also leaning towards small LAC. So don’t discount your large school options.
If you can visit again, do and try to visit a class in given major. What is D thinking about majoring in?
Don’t get me wrong. Furman is gorgeous, and Greenville is a really cool small city. I posted a review under the “Southern LAC’s” thread, which also has a lot of good information on Sewanee, too.
Furman is just a tough choice to make when it nets out to $10K more per year than its competitors after COA and lesser merit awards are accounted for. I am afraid that will likely rule it out for our S…but it sure is a lovely school.
