Davidson Grad

<p>Hey All,
I am a 2001 graduate of Davidson. I'm happy to answer any questions that I can on this forum!</p>

<p>hi i'm trying to decide between davidson and uchicago.</p>

<p>both are academically rigorous and i love the atmospheres at both schools. i am a bit concerned about the diversity, or lack thereof, at davidson, however.</p>

<p>do you think that diversity ever became an issue during your time at davidson? or did you feel that the lack of diversity was limiting in some way to you?</p>

<p>dear grad
whats your experience of anyone outside the south, knowing about Davidson?</p>

<p>Honestly (and embarrassingly) I didn't really consider diversity very much when choosing a college. Once I got to Davidson, I found that racial and ethnic diversity was (while not stellar), acceptable. I had friends from many different races and religions while at school, and I learned a lot through the racial, ethnic, and religious diversity of my peers.</p>

<p>The one form of diversity that I thought was somehwat lacking at Davidson was economic diversity. Not surprisingly, most of Davidson is made up of kids from the upper-middle class to upper class. A lot of the kids went to east coast prep schools before attending Davidson. Coming from a public school, from a very middle class family (you could maybe have classified us on the low end of upper middle class in a good month), I sometimes felt a little out of place. I just didn't have the kind of disposable income that a lot of my peers had, and that was hard when it came to things like vacations, traveling while studying abroad, etc.</p>

<p>Still, I don't regret my decision to go to Davidson. It was a great experience!</p>

<p>I think it depends on who you ask. I have found that other students that went to "elite" schools have definitely heard of Davidson. I have also had very positive experiences as far as grad school administrators knowing of and having favorable impressions of Davidson. As far as the "general public", its very hit and miss. A lot of people give me a blank look, but sometimes people surprise me with "Oh, that's a really good school!" That makes me happy, but honestly, when I went to Davidson I figured that a lot of the general public wouldn't know about it. I try not to let it bother me. As long as grad school administrators know, that was really what mattered to me.</p>

<p>Did you intend on going to grad school or professional school?</p>

<p>And, do you think that the majority of your peers got what they wanted in relation to the postgraduate studies?</p>

<p>I did intend upon going to graduate school. I think that the vast majority of davidson kids are geared towards going to some sort of graduate or professional school. Some kids choose to take a few years off in-between, but most eventually end up in some sort of post-graduate program. Davidson is a very "professionally oriented" school.</p>

<p>I think the majority of Davidson grads end up satisfied both with their Davidson education and with their postgraduate studies. I'm not going to claim everyone gets into their first choice school--but the vast majority of Davidson grads do get into a grad school in the area they are interested in. And, really, once you are an attorney or a doctor or whatever where you went to graduate school doesn't matter that much. (Well, for law school it does matter--but only for getting your first job and then after that it won't matter at all.)</p>

<p>About ~65% of Davidson students end up going to grad school. And we have the highest med school acceptance rates south of the Mason-Dixon line!</p>

<p>Plus, all of our chem majors in the past 6 years who have gone onto grad school have been fully funded at the institution of their choice.</p>

<p>What is the economics dept. like.</p>