<p>Hi- my son has narrowed it down to these 2 schools. Both are the size he wants and as of now, his major is undecided although education and/or communications are on the top of the list. Any thoughts on which might be better? He was deferred and then accepted at Elon and we are VA residents so UMW is much cheaper. Have visited both campuses, loved them both. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Both education and comm are considered to be very strong at Elon…as is student life/media involvement in those areas…</p>
<p>Have heard that UMW is very “sleepy” in terms of student life, but good academics…</p>
<p>If financials are an issue though, do not go into deep debt to go anywhere…</p>
<p>For Mary Washington the freshman retention rate is 76%. Elon is 90%. I believe Mary Washington is up & coming & beautiful, if your a VA resident tuition is a bargain. I would research why the lower retention rate & figure out if that matters to your student.</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at UMW and was accepted to Elon last year. She ended up choosing UMW because we thought she’d get the same education or better there, and as VA residents, the price couldn’t be beat. Like Elon, it consistently ranks among the best values in education. Both campuses are beautiful. UMW is not a suitcase school, but I do feel like Elon might be a more vibrant campus due to its football program and its fraternities. UMW struck us a bit more laid-back and not quite as status-conscious, for better or worse. The bottom line is that I don’t think you’d go wrong with either.</p>
<p>One last note – we toured Elon a couple weeks ago with our sophomore son (we’re still big fans of the school) and if communications is the way your son is going, Elon seems to have the stronger pre-career set-up.</p>
<p>Hi, We’ve just returned from a visit to Elon and loved the campus but had a few concerns. It seems to have little to no diversity and we were wondering if the Greek scene/social life makes it cliquey? We loved the campus but my daughter is a liberal/hippie type…do you think she would be able to fit in there?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the majority of students are not in a sorority/fraternity. From what I hear the kids are pretty open and involved whatever their affiliations. Regarding diversity this is unfortunately true- not the most diverse campus, but still pretty welcoming of all people.</p>
<p>My tour guide told us that if she had to go from a scale, Elon was a 7/10 in terms of preppiness. So, it certainly has that ritzy southern vibe, but when I went it seemed like it had many more people from the Northeast, and a decent mix of student types.</p>