My daughter is down to her final two choices and really struggling to decide between them. One is a large public honors program in a urban area and the other is Elon. Go figure. She is going in as a psychology major but may switch to business. Elon was not initially high on her list, but it moved up substantially in February when we were able to visit (it is the only school on her list where she was able to do an in person visit). Because she was not seriously considering it, she did not apply to the Fellows program. We had an awesome tour guide who was a Fellow and gave a terrific picture of what that is like. Unfortunately that is not an option for her at this point.
We have heard nothing but glowing things from former and current students and parents. The community and culture there seem great, but we have also heard a few comments (both here and elsewhere) that academically it is not a particularly challenging environment and that they students are coddled, and that is concerning. We have connected with a few students from her high school who are so happy and absolutely love it, but they are less serious academically than my daughter.
I think it is as serious as you choose it to be. Upper level finance courses are tough for pretty much everyone, even fellows, and there are advanced econ courses which are quite challenging as well. In our experience, courses in some subjects were much less difficult, but the business school had good rigor and placed well in jobs upon graduation.
Mine entered as a psychology major, briefly spent time in communications, then was in business by frosh spring. My impression is that communications is not a particularly intellectual major anywhere, and that psychology is rigorous primarily in those places where it has a scientific focus, more like neuroscience
However, her friend in psychology did get into a top grad school program, FWIW
My daughter is a freshman at Elon. She was a very good student in HS but not particularly academically curious. That has changed this year. Her classes are definitely challenging her. She slacked the first semester and her grades definitely showed that. This semester she is working so much harder than she ever did in HS and is doing great. The amount of writing and papers she has to do is incredible. There are a lot of core classes so they really get to try out a lot of different things which is great if your D is somewhat undecided. She is not thrilled with her advisor this year and selecting classes second semester was tough but she now actually loves her classes that she ended up with. She is suddenly very interested in Buddhism, and Sociology, and she is taking “Humor in Film and TV” and she says it’s the hardest class she’s ever taken but she loves it. When I visited her I met a bunch of her friends and was really impressed how intelligent they all seemed. One friend picked Elon over Duke and another picked it over Richmond. My daughter had (not as impressive) options such as American, Loyola Marymount, and Fordham but loved the Elon campus and the size of the school. There are tons of opportunities for internships, clubs, study abroad, etc.
Thanks for sharing your daughters experience. This year is so strange. I think Elon being the only school she was able to visit is messing with her mind. She loved it, and it seemed like a really great fit, but suddenly she is second-guessing. I think that is natural, to some degree, but I think not getting to really experience any other college campuses is now causing her to second guess her gut. These anecdotes really are reassuring!
Just wanted to reference back to one of your earlier points. I definitely don’t think the professors coddle the students. My D had a serious situation her first semester (guy on her floor was a complete psycho and eventually got arrested and expelled). I won’t go into the details but it seriously derided my D’s start to the semester. Her professors gave her some leniency for about a week and then she was expected to get back to class and back to getting her assignments done. It was hard for her and her grades definitely suffered. This semester her teachers are being very strict about attendance in class unless you actually are in quarantine. That being said, they are always available for office hours and some are willing to meet at other times as well. My D met with one of her professors several times for coffee last semester to try to get caught up in her class. She also said they are all very responsive to emails.
Great feedback. Thanks for sharing your daughters experience. Coddled is probably not the right word anyway, but you have spoken well to this concern and I appreciate it.