<p>I'm an admitted student to Davidson for next year and have grown up on the west coast. A question for current west-coast-based Davidson students: Have you encountered any significant cultural differences between the west coast and the south and if so, can you tell me about them.</p>
<p>Thanks for any replies</p>
<p>well, i’m not a davidson student so I can’t answer this very well (at least not yet) and didn’t move directly from the west, but i’ve lived all over (naples fl, atlanta ga, detroit mi, san diego ca, phoenix az, jacksonville fl). from what i’ve seen, read, and heard, davidson is not verrrry southern. there are a lot of other schools which come to mind as a school that typifies the ‘south’ before davidson does. i’d say davidson is a little more diverse and liberal than a typical southern place. I like to say that davidson still has that southern ‘touch’, though. for example, i bet you’ll usually see people dressed (at least) somewhat well, which is a cultural thing.
but it really depends on where on the west coast you’re talking about. ive been to socal, nocal, and oregon for good bits of time. i’d say davidson would contrast the most with oregon/the pacific northwest.</p>
<p>I’m from the northeast, but I still had the same worries about a big cultural gap. When I visited though, I quickly realized that Davidson possessed all the positives I associate with the south and none of the negatives. Everyone was extremely friendly, which I thought was great! I did notice people were dressed nicely as TTwhite said, but that may also have been because I arrived on a Sunday. I have liberal views, and from what I have heard Davidson is very liberal (for the most part) as well. I know that the Charlotte area has attracted people from all over the United States so the entire Davidson/Charlotte area feels much more like a melting pot of people than some of the (dare I say) “hick” areas that I drove through in Virginia to get to Davidson.</p>
<p>yeah, word is that davidson is much more liberal than some of its comparable schools (maybe in a similar way as UNC-CH, but maybe not that liberal).</p>
<p>I don’t attend Davidson either (but I will be entering this fall as a freshman) but I will try my best to answer your question. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, which is arguably one of the most liberal and diverse cities in the states. I am also Korean-American, and I grew up speaking both Korean and English fluently. In short, I initially did worry about the possible cultural gap, and had a hard time seeing myself at Davidson prior to visiting the school. I did visit the campus, and I fell in love. As Davidson2013 mentioned, Davidson possessed only the positive qualities I would associate with the South. The people at Davidson are so much friendlier than the people here. I’ve talked to some current students who attended the same high school as me, and they all said that they didn’t feel much of a difference, if at all.</p>
<p>I’m a current Davidson student, but I’m from South Carolina. So I probably can’t answer your question extremely well, but I can say that Davidson has not struck me as especially Southern. Parts of the campus could easily be in New England. You hear some Southern accents, you hear some "ya’ll"s…but you also hear “youz guyz.” People here come from all over. You wouldn’t really be a minority, coming from the west coast, as far as I know.</p>
<p>I’m from Boston, which is obviously pretty liberal, and a bunch of my friends are from California. The main difference? People here are friendlier and don’t get freaked out when you say hello to them. (it took me a little while to get used to this, what with the stereotypical “mass-holes” where I’m from)…</p>
<p>The only other real difference is that the highways here don’t have 9 lanes.</p>
<p>Honestly, anyone could be happy here, because the community is generally accepting of diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. I think it’s a very positive change from the North</p>