That sounds more like my daughter!
I live in NC and Elon never made my punk rock creative girl’s list. It’s too conventional for her, but I know a lot of people love it. Just mostly out of state people. It’s not a school that a lot of NC kids go to because they can get better deals at the state schools and some other in-state privates.
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Yes, it’s important to find students that you feel a fit with. My D was not interested in some other colleges that are popular at her high school with a much higher “quirky” factor. Elon has over 1,000 North Carolina students, so they are not a majority but it’s not like 50 to 200 kids either.
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There are a lot of NC kids at Elon!
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Elon’s website says 24% of students are from NC.
I’m curious which NC privates of Elon’s caliber in terms of education and career outcomes would consistently be less expensive than Elon (especially considering Elon’s COA starts out lower than many other private schools)?
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Most Elon students are not from NC, which is what I said. 76% OOS.
I never said that. There are a LOT of subjective and qualifying phrases in this. I just said that NC students can get better deals at the state schools and some other in-state privates. Didn’t say anything about “Elon’s caliber in terms of education and career outcomes” but in state tuition at UNC-Chapel Hill is $25K before any aid or scholarships. I think you will find that most lists rank UNC much higher than Elon, FWIW. UNC is not where my kid is going, but I’m pretty sure it is the most expensive of the 16 in-state publics.
Also UNC is in a much better location and a much prettier campus than Elon. Many/most of the other state school in NC are in nicer locations than Elon. I’ve been to Elon. It’s fine. I don’t think it’s particularly beautiful and I am not a fan of the town of Elon or Burlington or most of Alamance County. This is all pretty local for me. I live 40 minutes away and have a lot of friends and connections in Alamance. NC has a LOT more to offer than Alamance Co. That was another thing that knocked it right off my kid’s list.
But people from OOS seem charmed by it, so it’s all good. My kids are 21 and 18, so we’ve had a lot of pretty recent exposure to their friends and acquaintances applying and attending colleges. I don’t know any of them that have considered Elon, much less attended. Obviously some NC kids end up there, but it’s not attractive to most NC students for the reasons I listed — much better deals at in-state UNC system schools elsewhere, higher caliber NC schools elsewhere, nicer NC college towns elsewhere, nicer parts of NC in general elsewhere.
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Clearly, I seem to have touched a nerve, which was not my intent. I just provided data as to Elon’s proportion of NC students which supported what you said, and asked a genuine question about what NC private schools might be less expensive than Elon. I did insert the outcomes qualifier, because for me, that’s important when evaluating relative costs.
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Same for other out-of-state students, such as Virginia. 
S was accepted to Elon but couldn’t rationalize spending All.That.Money for a CS degree.
It’s great that there are options and at many price points.
No nerve touched. Just trying to clarify why Elon is not particularly attractive to most NC students. If the 1000 NC student figure is accurate that is a pretty low rate compared to the number of high school seniors graduating in NC who complete the FAFSA (about 50k).
I am a native NCer and knew folks from NC who went to Elon way way way back in the olden days. I think Elon has done an amazing job of making over the school and marketing themselves to kids and families from OOS over the decades. I agree with what @BillyWindy said about it being a great safety for private school kids from up north.
To be clear, I don’t think Elon is a bad school at all. It’s just too conventional, too close to home, and not in a great location for my kid. I really liked what I saw of their placement services when I have been on campus, though, and generally I think it’s a good school, just not a good fit for my kid.
Other private schools in NC that are more expensive and much more selective than Elon are Duke, Wake Forest, Davidson, but then you have schools like Guilford (a CTCL school), William Peace, Meredith, Catawba, Gardner-Webb, High Point (I’m not a fan), Campbell, Queens, Lenoir-Rhyne, Shaw, St Augustine’s, St Andrews, Johnson C Smith, Bennett, Brevard, Lees-McRae, Warren Wilson, Methodist, Greensboro College, Belmont Abbey, and more. These private schools may or may not offer the outcomes that Elon touts, but they are probably on par or cheaper for cost of attendance and may be more attractive to students in NC for that reason.
Campbell is another school that my student would never ever have gone to (it’s religious and she is not), but on their website they say “We enroll more North Carolinians than any other private university in the state and nation”. I think Campbell is generally pretty well regarded. They have a med school (D.O.), pharmacy school, and law school among other graduate and professional schools. Their list price tuition is a little cheaper than Elon’s (38K for Campbell to 42K for Elon). That’s a private school that’s mainly NC students.
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Elon places a lot of students in Boston-NYC-Washington jobs, so that may be less appealing for those who know that wish to remain in-state
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Of course no school will appeal to everyone and that’s why there are so many choices. Students and families don’t choose Elon because of the town or Alamance County. It’s everything else that is talked about by many posters in this thread. It’s a very well-run and supportive college that was ranked in the top 5 in the country last year for best undergraduate teaching. There are a ton of campus events and it’s a school that appeals to kids who don’t want an urban experience. Personally I think having a geographically diverse student body is a plus. To each their own!
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Many people do choose or eliminate a school because of the town or surrounding areas. There are tons of threads on here where people have knocked schools out due to the surroundings. Obviously the location is not a deal-breaker for the people that ultimately pick Elon, but from reading threads on CC I think a lot of people do eliminate it from consideration based on that location too.
I’m not knocking Elon. I think it’s a good school and I often recommend it when people are asking for suggestions. It’s more money than I want to pay and too conventional for my kids, but I think they do a good job at taking care of their students and preparing them for life after college.
I also think a geographically diverse student body is a plus, but I was just explaining why Elon is not that “hot” in NC — it’s expensive compared to state schools that are more highly ranked and in better (non-urban) locations.
Yes, we got it!
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I think some of those NCians who pick Elon may be athletes. It’s D1, and they may not be able to play at Duke or UNC but still want D1. Many of the schools @Sweetgum listed are D2 or D3.
My daughter looked at Elon but didn’t like it enough to follow up with recruiting. I didn’t like it at all because of how remote it is and how tiny the town is. My daughter would not have a car at school so that meant she’d be captive. She also didn’t like Smith or Presbyterian, Kenyon, Centre, or any of the LAC type schools. Okay, not the right type of school. We moved on. I don’t remember why we even went to look at it except that we were in that area and the club lax team was switching to a D1 team, and the coach was from Duke.
I had a co-worker who went to Elon and loved everything about it. She was from Vermont and was a swimmer, her boyfriend from Colorado was a golfer, so both attracted by athletics. They loved the Greek life.
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Our NC high school (private) sends maybe 1-2 kids to Elon each year, some years none (out of about 300 in an average graduating class). Mainly for the communications/broadcasting program or theatre (several of our local news people have come from Elon’s program). Ours is a mostly affluent high school in a very affluent area so I don’t think the ones (from our school) who choose Elon are doing so because of the price cut when compared to Duke, Davidson, Wake. I also flip through the college insta posts of our local public high schools where I know some of the kids and hardly ever see someone going to Elon unless it’s for a sport. My neighbor’s kid goes to Elon but he came from another very affluent private school.
Like many others, our high school sends a large number of kids to the top four of our in-state publics. The other kids (like D21) seem to want to leave the nest and go out of state. Occasionally we have 1 or 2 go to Duke or Wake, or Davidson (mainly athletic recruits) but more often those students are choosing NYU, Notre Dame, Boston College or Villanova.
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I just looked through the football roster and you’re right that it’s a lot of players from NC.
As far as is being isolated, I was surprised to see that it’s suburban and not rural after reading posts saying it was isolated. I’m used to car culture, and this school is that for sure! There are a few places to walk, and there’s a bus that goes to target, etc. Good medical facilities an Uber ride away. D needed a doctor immediately (of course!) and was able to see a walk in specialist. Many, many kids have cars.
It’s a good 30 minutes from a city, but I’m an hour+ from NYC or Philly, so that’s normal to me.
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My kid’s first 3 years there were without a car, and she was fine. Ubered or took the bus or zip car if she had to. With a campus of 6k kids her age with similar interests, she didnt feel she needed to leave often and had a very busy social life. She now lives and works in the center of a major city, and enjoys it, but looks back fondly on her Elon residence.
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We live in MA where there are obviously a ton of great schools. Of my son’s graduating class, over 75% are going out of state. I don’t think Elon not attracting a lot of NC kids says anything about the school. And I think going to school with kids from all over is such a positive.
Also the school is in the suburbs. It’s a nice, safe residential area. There are a few restaurants right off campus and there are tons of restaurants and shopping just a few miles down the road. There’s an outlet malll about 20 minutes away. There are lots of cute small towns to visit. And you can be in Greensboro or Raleigh-Durham in under an hour. Almanacs county is certainly not my D’a cup of tea politically, but like most college kids, she doesn’t have a lot to do with the locals. She doesn’t even drive but has never had a problem getting to where she wants to go. Lots of kids have cars and the bus is always an option.
And the campus is very pretty. The historic section reminds of an old New England college, it’s gorgeous. The admissions building is lovely and most of the dorms are really nice. A/C in the dorms is a luxury we often don’t get in the northeast.
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Just wanted to chime in that my Elon son’s study abroad experience was fantastic. He did an “affiliate program”, which means it was another school’s program (UNC) that Elon has on their program offerings, billed through Elon. That $6000 fee was the cost of the actual study abroad semester abroad program, as in tuition and room and board in a home stay. Which was about the same as a semester of Elon tuition.
While we love Elon and are huge fans, I can see how it is not a draw to NC staters. There are lots of great choices, and compared to some big schools and big names (UNC, Duke, Wake), that just makes complete sense to me, even though I think if they went or maybe even visited they would love it. Plus I think kids with “Elon stats” could maybe get into a UNC campus whereas OOS could not. And yeah, campus is beautiful! But the town of Elon itself and nearby Burlington don’t really have anything over any other small towns, and don’t compare with the Raleigh area at all.
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We were also blown away by the Elon tour. Our tour guide was bright, personable, and enthusiastic. He’d had so many opportunities, internships, and research opportunities that his genuine love for Elon radiated from him.
It doesn’t hurt that it is a beautiful campus in a very charming town.
The things that hooked my daughter, and made us really come back to it again and again, were a few other things for HER.
She has an IEP and they have great resources for all students, like the writing center, but also, a place where she can go to request accommodations when she gets there. It’s very accessible.
Next, the very collaborative and supportive relationship between faculty and students; she’s a kid that bonded with her 7th grade Algebra teacher and he STILL tutors her and honestly, I’ll bet they are lifelong friends. Actually we all might be because we had a text thread about the World Series. BUT, she thrives in that environment. Finally, her face when she walked into that TV studio? The only time she got close to as excited was when she saw the Bloomberg stock market class - this place got her JAZZED to learn.
From a parent perspective, it’s also reasonable for a private school, to be honest. Honestly, one of the OOS public universities she also applied to (my alma mater) might only be slightly less.
I think this is why it’s the hot school right now.
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