<p>I am very interetsed in Davidson and am waiting to hear RD. I vivisted last fall and I loved everything about it. My one major concern is the small size of the student body. I'm at a public high school with 2100 students right now, so I'm hesistant to go to a college that is smaller than my high school. I know the benefits of small class sizes, but I'm wondering if students get tired of such a small student population after four years. Do students typcially feel claustrophobic or end up feeling like they know everyone?</p>
<p>Also, I know someone who graduated from Davidson about 20 years ago and claimed that there was nothing to do on campus, but obviously that could have changed by now.</p>
<p>Davidson is very supportive of foreign study applications with their Dean Rusk named program. A lot of students at liberal arts colleges (not just Davidson) mix it up by going abroad…sometimes twice. My Duke student went abroad with a joint Davidson Duke venture and was super impressed with his peers from Davidson. Davidson has tremendous respect in graduate schools so you need to take the long view. You will get more support and interaction with professors at Davidson and its peers than at larger institutions. Davidson has a remarkable theater scene on campus including an annual contract with the Royal Shakespeare Company that is a boon to on campus life, their Symphony travels and their sports program can only be praised for a school of its size. That said, no school “has it all.” Suggest you attend accepted student day and give it a serious look once you know your options. Charlotte is hardly an isolated location since it is on the “way” to so many locations with high populations in the south. All isolated colleges work to place their students outside of campus part of the time. Even Dartmouth places students in internships for a winter term and requires students to live in Hanover one summer just to address the issue of isolation. Never met a Davidson grad that I didn’t respect. Comparing Davidson to larger publics or privates is an apples to oranges proposition. Take the long view and consider your personal needs for urban or larger outlets vs gains in small classrooms and consider your graduate school dreams when making your final decision.</p>
<p>I have another question somewhat on this topic. Is the town of Davidson isolated or is it a sort of suburb town to a larger city? Being on the west coast, I don’t have a feel for how close cities and town are in NC.</p>
<p>While it has that small college-town feel, Davidson is really part of the Charlotte “metroplex.” Having never been to, but only through NC before, I was very surprised when we first visited to find how suburban and modern the surrounding area is. The main commuter highway into Charlotte is 2 minutes from campus, and then it’s about 15-20 minutes into the city.</p>
<p>our tour guide was from California and our son spent the night with a good guy from Washingon State. The brave who matriculate into Davidson come from near and far–the school has a great sense of community. The 1-85 corridor cuts through a swath of what you can call The New South where jobs are relatively plentiful and I mean relatively…down through Charlotte Greenville Spartanburg and on to Atlanta. a very vibrant corridor of American life. </p>
<p>Davidson has the charms of a small town and the peace of a small town but you are a stones throw from this interstate and all that is connected on it</p>
<p>I would add that our son, who is a Davidson freshman, has nothing but great things to say about campus life, and has found so much to do that he hasn’t commented much about the surrounding area, other than to report how supportive and friendly the townspeople are.</p>