From what I can tell, Elon has become a really “hot” college, especially among kids here in the northeast. What I’m wondering is, why? Is it a party school? Whom would you compare it to?
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It’s definitely a hot school at my son’s New England boarding school. It kind of hits the sweet spot in terms of size and warmer weather (much sought after by kids who have spent the last 4 years battling frigid winters). Add to that an acceptance rate that makes it a “target” for many kids and you get lots of kids applying.
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A year ago, I don’t think I’d ever heard of Elon. But, a very influential magazine with college rankings had some lists that I was interested in, and here were Elon’s results (source):
- Best Undergraduate Teaching (#1)
- Most Innovative Schools (#9 )
- Writing in the Disciplines (#16)
- Study Abroad (#1 )
- Learning Communities (#1 )
- Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects (#13 )
- Service Learning (#2 )
- First-Year Experiences (#2 )
- Senior Capstone (#3)
- Co-ops/Internships (#6 )
In looking through those lists, I kept seeing Elon’s name popping up and became much more interested in it. Now, most of the this magazine’s rankings are based on other colleges mentioning the university’s name for that category, so it could well be the result of a lot of handshaking and networking. But for it to be ranked at all, and so highly, in so many of these categories definitely made it seem worthy of looking into. I suspect others feel the same way.
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Elon is definitely becoming a more popular option, especially as @vwlizard mentioned as a solid target for some kids. My D’s most in-depth and personal tour of all our visits in the midwest and east coast was at Elon. I reluctantly took my D based on her counselors recommendation because we were touring SC, NC, VA schools… and we were blown away. It was tremendously impressive and opened my eyes as I was not overly familiar with how it had changed over the last few decades. I definitely suggest it to others now.
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Elon has become popular in our area of suburban Chicagoland for all the reasons cited above. For a private school, their COA is relatively low at $56K for 2022-23. Higher stat students can get decent merit too.
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Elon regularly wins awards as the best-run college in the nation, and I understand why. A large percentage of the students and their parents are very happy there. It is hard to describe how well-run it is, but having had a child attend, I can attest that it deserves the awards.
Very engaged faculty. Responsive administration. Innovative programs. Great job placement. All that results in happy students.
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Yes, our orthodontist said he had never heard of Elon until recently and now he knows 4 kids going there. It’s very well-run and the small class sizes, warm weather, study abroad options and rise in rankings the past few years are very appealing. The business school is ranked 35 in the nation by Poets and Quants. Business school graduates are hired by big 4 accounting firms, Deloitte, Wells Fargo, IBM, etc.
For anyone very interested in Elon’s rise from a local to a national college, George Keller’s short book “Transforming a College” was good.
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My impression after touring with both kids is that Elon genuinely cares about each and every student - they are much more than just a student ID number. There are many more opportunities to get to know professors on a more personal level. A couple of older D’s friends attended Elon and spoke of dinners at professor’s homes and personal emails from professors asking if they were okay after missing a class or two. Her one friend has a mild learning disability and Elon had a program in place to help her manage any challenges that she had.
They market heavily up north so it’s not surprising to see lots of students from NJ, NY & New England. It’s an opportunity to attend college on a gorgeous campus in a warm, sunny state without the high stat requirements of Duke or Wake Forest (and at a slightly more palatable price tag). I think they have found a niche with the northern students who are looking to come south and don’t mind the lack of a Clemson-like football culture.
My experience is that they are not overly generous with merit, although they do have some competitive scholarships available that are beyond the cursory $5000 “president’s award”.
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The Presidential Scholarship is $7,500 and there are a variety of Scholars and Fellows program scholarships which range from $5k to $13,500. The cost of Elon is significantly less than many private colleges and on par with the OOS cost of public schools like UMD.
As I mentioned, they do have some competitive scholarships available.
Kids who are OOS merit hunting at some of the large southern public U’s with similar price tags to Elon, will probably see bigger merit packages from the publics (at least my kids did). Nonetheless, it’s pretty much apples/oranges as far as size & overall experience. Elon was the only private college on my kids’ lists. Elon is a special place, but they wanted a different experience.
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Elon was my D’s 2nd choice and sometimes she regrets not going and attending her first choice. The COA is reasonable even if the Merit awards are not huge. It allows for a non 4.0 academic record (my D was a B+ student) and thus was a match. She was also drawn to the minimester in January to be able to go abroad then, versus a whole semester. Finally, important to us, was a decent Jewish population.
We know quite a few people who go there, so its popular in the South, as well as the Northeast. Shhh, dont tell the west coast folks 
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Of course everyone’s experience is different. My D got $15k/yr from Elon (two merit scholarships) plus a $1k study abroad grant compared to $2,500 from UMD and $15k from UDel. Yes, significantly different sized schools.
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Elon is not on the radar of our mountain west kids. Only four people applied there last year. Students seeking warm weather overwhelmingly prefer California schools; CalPoly SLO and SDSU are the most popular as those are match schools for many of our kids. If a kid decides to go south, then it’s usually to Bama because of their generous merit aid.
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I have a son starting his senior year at Elon and agree with what is being said here. I will add that Elon is very, very strong at their marketing/communications, and has the substance/results to back it up. To answer your question “why?” My answer is that Elon seems to have a specific, laser-focused plan to rise amongst the ranks and they are executing it well. They rise in rankings each year.
There is actually a book about it: “Transforming a College: The Story of a Little-Known College’s Strategic Climb to National Distinction.” I haven’t read it but want to. Heavy marketing in the NE seems to be part of that. I sometimes wonder if their admissions is quite strategic as well, positioning as a good choice for A/B students and slowly moving upward over the years.
Comparing it to a similar school is hard because honestly there just aren’t that many mid sized, non Jesuit schools. The peer schools that Elon lists on their website somewhere are, in my opinion, a little aspirational (for example, University of Richmond), but they are heading in that direction. One school that comes to mind to me is Rhodes, which we never visited, but I kept reading about very happy students, gorgeous campus, and (a couple of years ago), pretty under the radar. But anyway if you are a student asking if it is a party school, I would answer that there are definitely parties to be found for all, but it is not a party school. The academics and “engaged learning” are great and seem to leave students and their parents quite happy, as well as (I think last year) being #1 in job placement in NC which is some pretty steep competition.
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This. Every school we found in this size range that wasn’t too selective was Jesuit (or too far south or Christian).
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Elon is impressive. We visited it this summer, and it had one of the slickest (in a good way) campus visit processes I’ve experienced. Beautiful campus, well-orchestrated checking-in process and info session (complete with being handed a nice Elon backpack containing an Elon tshirt and other informational materials), great tour with one of the best student tour guides we’ve seen. Facilities were fantastic - state of the art communications building, but there were other stand-outs including a gorgeous space that is used for campus gatherings and events. We went there mostly because we were already looking at Wake Forest and Davidson, but Elon ended up being the favorite amongst the three based on the campus visit experience and the tuition ($57k including room and board (before any aid)- not cheap but much cheaper than the $80k that is the sticker price at quite a few private universities these days.
The only other school we’ve visited that compared in terms of its presentation of itself was St. Olaf - another school that seems to be punching above its weight these days.
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Many kids from northeast want warmer weather, a change from home but not as far as west coast etc. The size is right as well. And without any desire to spark any debates, North Carolina is a purple state with (so far) protected right to abortion, and as a result is perceived as being much more desirable than many of the other Southern or Southwestern states. Myself and many others I know would let a kid apply to a school in North Carolina but not to one in Georgia or Texas, for example. I don’t know if one can quantify the impact of this consideration, but it is certainly there in our New England private where Elon is quite popular.
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One other thing to note is that Elon has marketed itself to the Northeast maybe partially because the NC publics are so strong and so much more affordable. Neither the price nor the location are particularly attractive compared to in state tuition for NC residents so they had to find students somewhere else is my theory, but I haven’t read the book.
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We are originally from New England and were drawn to Elon thanks to the typical college campus we have seen back home.
But as Virginia residents, we can get a similar (high quality) education at an in-state rate at Christopher Newport. Both schools are similarly sized at 5K students, with similar class sizes, relationships with professors, study abroad, and support services.
When S spoke with professors at each school for admitted students days, he concluded it “clicked” at CNU more than Elon. His major and minor are stronger there, too. So I conclude that Virginia families like ours that are factoring in cost of college are likely weighing in-state options in comparison to Elon.
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Interesting, we visited CNU and yes, maybe they are the closest to a comparison to Elon. My son was the other way, Elon clicked and CNU didn’t. Prettiest dorms we’ve seen, though! If a student is interested in the mid Atlantic, but OOS for Virginia, maybe that 60/30 VA in-state acceptance requirement might push some kids to look one state south!
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