My son needs to decide between Rhodes, Furman, Elon and Rollins. He does not yet know what his major will be but he is leaning toward a combination of Business/economics and biology. We have visited all but Rhodes, and will go see Rhodes early in April. We liked all of them, and he is having a hard time deciding. He was offered great scholarships at both Rollins and Furman. ( He was also offered a great scholarship at Eckerd but I don’t think he will go there.) putting financial issues completely out of the picture, I would love some feedback about these schools. Being from the North and living in the Caribbean for the past 25 years, I have had very little exposure to Southern schools. He is now in boarding school in the Northeast, and one thing we do know is that he is done with long winters. Any feedback about any of these four schools, and especially comparisons, would be greatly appreciated.
I love Rollins. It is in a cute town, but has very easy access to Orlando and airports and other conveniences.
I thought Elon was more remote. It has easy access to the highway, but just seemed off by itself and not part of the community.
Rollins has good connections in the business world.
Love Furman. Greenville is fun town. Elon is slightly out of triangle area (closer to Chapel Hill but not that far from Raleigh/Durham) but close enough that I would think there would be good internship opportunities.
Furman and Rhodes are similar in academics and size. Both are committed to rigorous academics, service learning, undergraduate research and national internships. Both of these schools have excellent reputations and it may just come down to your campus visit. Furman has strong athletics and participates in NCAA Division I athletics while Rhodes is Division III. While the weather is similar, Memphis and Greenville are markedly different so that may be a deciding consideration for you. Greenville is consistently on best places to live and play lists and the downtown is safe, full of great restaurants and other attractions and caters to the college kids (Clemson University and several other schools are within 30 minute drives). Memphis is obviously more culturally edgy with plenty of restaurant and music venues. Furman is a much larger campus and completely enclosed campus while Rhodes is in the middle of Memphis. Short of a campus visit, it would be hard to differentiate. Greenville does have the advantage of a much shorter drive to a beach (less than 4 hours to Charleston). My daughter is at Furman and one of her good friends is at Rhodes. Each one loves her respective choice. I do not think you could go wrong with either of these.
Elon does not have the academic reputation of either of these schools and really is an outlier on this list. It has a significantly larger student population. It is working hard to increase its reputation and has put a lot of money in its infrastructure in the last decade but it does not compete academically with either Rhodes or Furman. I do not have any personal info on Rollins.
Elon’s best notable perk is they prepare students well with Leadership skills. You can actually minor in this. Town is small by friendly. Easy to get to RDU.
Actually I would say Elon is stronger than Furman. It certainly has much more national appeal-40 percent of its student body is from the Boston/NYC/Philly area, with a good smattering of California. New England boarding schools are particularly well represented in its student body. It has southern manners but a distinctly northeastern feel, unlike Furman which seems very old south to me
Looks like elon and Furman have the same SAT scores, but Rhodes is notably higher. Note that Furman is test optional, which tends to skew scores
I’m in complete agreement with buddyparent’s assessment. Furman and Rhodes are academically stronger than Elon and Rollins.
Just to clarify on my earlier comment. I do not see Elon as being in the same category as small LACs such as Furman or Rhodes. This is not a bad thing. Rhodes and Furman are nationally known and highly ranked (at least to those in the know such as high school counselors, job recruiters and graduate schools), academically-minded small liberal arts colleges. (Check out any of the reputable ranking sites such as Forbes, Niche, WSJ, etc) While they are better known in the South, both draw students from all over the country and from other countries.
Elon has moved out of the small LAC category and that seems to be its business plan. Elon is almost 3X larger and has more of a university feel with graduate schools (my brother got his MBA from Elon and still lives there). It is in transition and is not looking to be a small LAC. It draws a different type of student (Check out the Common Data sets for all 3) and does have a lot of NE students. Neither Niche nor US News categorize it as an LAC but rather as a Regional University,(the best one in the South per US News), not an LAC.
If your son really wants a business degree, Elon is probably better because that is where Elon is putting its resources. If he is looking for econ or biology either Rhodes or Furman would be better, particularly if looking at graduate school since their placement rate into 1st choice graduate schools is noteworthy.
Rhodes is very strong in biology and has strong connection to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital for research opportunities. One of my relatives took part in that and it was a great experience.
I have also had a relative graduate with an economics type degree from Rhodes and got into a great graduate program.
All of my relatives who have graduated from Rhodes ( I can think of 5, off of the top of my head) have great things to say about their experiences. I know nothing about the other schools on your list.