<p>My S is totally up in the air. Anyone have thoughts about HP versus Elon. Academically, student personality, athletics (he's hoping to start club baseball if he goes to HP or play club baseball at Elon), faculty, campus attitude, the regular drill.
He's been accepted to both schools (along with Tulane, Rollins, Florida Southern, U. of Tampa - He's waiting on Emory, Vanderbilt and Washington & Lee). He's a smart kid with no clue of what he wants to pursue...anything from business, to national security, Law to engineering. He's planning to pledge but is a serious student
How would you rate the schools for a good student, looking to find a direction?</p>
<p>That is a wide range of schools. I can not comment on the others ( except U of Tampa -
no comparison to Elon Academically). I can state that Elon does a great job with its students. They really have a variety of resources. Have you talked with your Elon admissions rep? Hopefully, you have visited. The classes for my child have been as advertised. They are interesting with teachers who want to be in the classroom. My d has loved her classes thus far. The class size is small enough for interaction and discussion. Hopefully, someone in the Business program can address that school.</p>
<p>I believe academically it would be more challenging than HP but that is based on stats not first hand knowledge. There isn’t one Elon Type. Just like at the larger Universities you are going to find students from different socioeconomic and political spectrums. Elon does not have great ethnic diversity - it is admittedly more caucasion. Something they are trying to work on.</p>
<p>Baseball looks to be Elon’s sport so I am assuming the club baseball is great.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at Elon and loves it. Statistically speaking I believe it is more selective than HP. I believe HP has a bigger “party” reputation - not that you can’t find a party at Elon. That’s just reputation though, we never looked closely at High Point so I can’t speak from experience.</p>
<p>“Student personalities”: Elon’s students tend to be very involved - in Greek life, club sports, other clubs & activities, community service - it’s a place for “do-ers.” So far my daughter would tell you it lives up to its advertising on “engaged learning” and caring professors who know their students’ names. </p>
<p>I don’t know what High Points M/F ratio is, but Elon is about 60% female - enough men that they don’t feel out of place, but it should be pretty easy to find a date!</p>
<p>Good luck, whatever your S decides.</p>
<p>You’re lucky your S gets to choose from two of the best small private schools in the state of NC. My best advice is to go talk to professors in the schools he’s interested in. That’s how I eliminated schools from my list. When I went to the big schools, I got a totally different vibe than I did at HPU and Elon. I personally ended up choosing HPU because the business program there offered better technology and career services than any school I’ve visited and/or got accepted to. I was down between NC State, Elon, and HPU by the end of the whole process, so it was a tough choice. </p>
<p>After 2 years, everything I expected HPU to be is a reality. I love it here and I love the business program. I know I’m going to be prepared for the real world once I leave because out-of-classroom learning is top priority at HPU. The campus life is great, very active with activities for any type of person (parties, movie theater, arcade, campus sponsored events). Parties do not overtake campus though, they stay out of the way for students who choose to participate. Its a great college environment for every type of student. You literally would have to try an be bored here on weekends. Its a very happy campus as a whole. (Yes, even on class days!)</p>
<p>My best advice about choosing between the two schools… Look beyond their nice campuses and really focus on what is important. Get out there and talk to the people who will be preparing you for YOUR future.</p>
<p>Out of curiousity, It seems strange that you are only asking about Elon and HPU. Or have you just put Elon & HPU in one basket for comparison?</p>
<p>I would think it difficult unless for financial reasons, to leave Tulane and Rollins out of the equation.</p>
<p>No actually, they are still in the mix. Actually, S received good merit based scholarship from all Tulane, Rollins and HPU. I’m basing the question on his focus. Actually, I’d be happy if someone could make a case for Rollins for him. He got a bad impression when he went there. He wsn’t there when students were in session though. His sister attends Tulane and, while she loves it, she’s had lots of administrative issues (typical with larger schools) that have driven her crazy, plus, there may just be the fact that she’s there and he wants to blaze his own trail.</p>
<p>My philosophy is that you can get a great education at any “Average” school and you can get a lousy education at any Ivy League school. It’s really up to the student. I think he’ll do fine if he finds the right fit, not necessarily the one that matches his GPA (3.9 weighted) and SAT scores (2010 “super score”) to the average of a particular school, so, yes, Rollins and Tulane, and Even U of Tampa are still in the mix. Any thoughts on any of them would be grteatfully appreciated. For some reason, he is just at a loss for making a decision.</p>
<p>NYMIZ, I posted about Rollins on another thread where you asked about Rollins. Our S is there and now I believe our daughter is leaning towards matriculating there this fall. We are attending the accepted students day on April 15th. We know about the school so it meets the academic criteria but D wants to check out the theater and communications departments while there. You may have already decided but I’ll put in another pitch for Rollins. Of course you have some nice offerings in the mix so it will come down to fit for your son.</p>
<p>When we toured one of my D’s other top school my H noted that the students did not seem happy - very little smiling, laughing etc… Of course it was a large university so difficult to compare but our experiences with the Rollins students is that they seemed outwardly happy. My D still has good memories when she last visited when S was touring so that may tell you something about the feel. She does talk to her brother about the school so she has had good feedback about campus life etc… that makes her want to go there.</p>
<p>They are attracting more intelligent kids all the time with great merit aid and those students that are not too studious or partiers usually are only around a semester or two. Freshmen are usually the rowdiest and that settles down through the years as they get into more difficult academics.</p>
<p>I must say that every time I’ve been on campus I have met some of the friendliest and helpful people from students, staff and faculty. The department chair for my D’s intended major responded very quickly to setting a meeting time and we experienced the same thing when S was exploring his majors. The faculty is very accessible and willing to answer questions.</p>
<p>We have looked through course offerings and while some courses may only be offered certain semesters you can usually fit what you need in your schedule. I would suggest you look at some courses being offered to see if they interest your S. I particularly would love to take some of the courses just for fun. Back when I went to college it seemed all my courses were the standard boring choices. My S took a course that he was able to include some clips about Boondock Saints in his powerpoint that the professor really felt was poignant to the topic they were studying. How nice to be creative and fun while learning! He thought that course was a blast.</p>
<p>I think that there are more study abroad opportunities for students that don’t have time to take a full semester away. There are opportunities to go before you matriculate and especially during winter and spring breaks. These mini study abroad choices are sometimes tied to courses they may take for the semester. Of course you can still go away fall, spring or summer. They have a cute sign on campus that says something like…“Now that you are here, go away”</p>
<p>I would think the school would compare easily to Elon (don’t know anything about the others on your list) As I mentioned before I really liked Elon but my kids are more drawn to Rollins. Take another look if you have time. Sometimes it is hard to sift through so many choices so try and make some contacts at the college to answer questions you may have. Best of luck to you!</p>