Hi all! So our admissions counselor told my daughter if she is interested in medicine, the FU direct entry program with UofSC School of Medicine would be great thing to look into. She is very interested in it, therefore she has been trying to find out how to get started. The problem is every since ED1 decisions were released, her admissions counselor is no longer responding, and we don’t want to keep bugging her. According too the staff, her counselor is the only who can help her. And suggestions?
We went to visit Furman for the first time yesterday. We’re from Chicago and we were waiting to see if my son got in before making the trip. Overall, we had a nice visit and I think we all liked it enough to go back for the Admitted Students Day on 3/31. The GSP airport is really nice (small but updated) and very easy to fly in and out of - a big plus! Campus is beautiful, although it was VERY quiet on a Saturday morning. We didn’t get to see too many students… especially boys. There was a student panel of 5 girls, and then all of the 6-8 tour guides were girls. That was a bit disappointing, and I think a snafu on Furman’s part. But on a positive note, I would say all of the girls were super nice, down to earth, unpretentious, etc. and it made us feel like our son could likely find his people there. We stayed in Greenville and ate breakfast there, and then had lunch in Travelers Rest. We liked both areas and felt they would be a fun place for a college kid to hang out/explore. I would say the biggest issue we’re contemplating is the location… the SE is the one part of the country we’re not overly familiar with and we’re wondering about name recognition of Furman for getting a job outside of the SE. But we’d like to go back for Admitted Students Day and let our son interact with some other prospective students, and also see it on a weekday when it’s hopefully livelier.
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Has anyone been selected to go interview for the Duke Scholarship at Furman? My son was selected for the Townes scholarship and just wondering if there is still a chance for him?
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Last year, invites were sent around the beginning of the second week of February via Fed Ex. They were available in the portal before they arrived, but an email was not sent. Good luck!
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Yes, same question here. Daughter got Hollingsworth but hoping for Duke.
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Has anyone received any FA information yet (above & beyond scholarships)? I’m getting worried that we haven’t heard anything.
Not yet! Not sure when to expect it! But haven’t gotten info from any other school yet, either.
My DD just received an email with the FA information.
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Yeah, we got it. But Furman is a lot more expensive than other schools so far (except U Miami). I can see why kids may pick Wofford over Furman – Wofford made my son a very generous offer that will be hard to turn down!
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My son is in the same boat at Wofford, it is really becoming his top choice now- especially after seeing the aftermath of UNC, NC State decisions. We are from Raleigh, he wants to get out of here I think!
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Can’t see the financial aid without setting up another account, correct?
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I think so. We had to for my DD
What is the aftermath in NC? Our dd got into UNC but we are OOS (out of the country) so I’m not sure what the situation in NC is? The financial offer seems ok from Furman but my dd didn’t apply to Wofford (found out about it too late). Furman would be cheaper for sure for us since we are OOS for UNC. I think Furman would be a good match for my dd but my husband (who is from NC) isn’t that familiar with it so he is uncertain.
Furman is a fine school but its student population is sub 3000. It’s near a small city. Yes in the city limit but not downtown.
UNC is a large flagship but not crazy large. It’s in a small city - right in the thick of things.
It wins in reputation but that doesn’t mean it’s right for your daughter. Which is she better suited for?
Thank you. I honestly don’t know what’s best for her. She is our 3rd and been drug to many, many tours and college visits. Coming out of the summer she was sure her match was a small LAC with possible good pre-med preparation. But…as she started to apply…and write essays…and look at colleges more closely…and hear from her friends…she started to wonder if a LAC might, in the long term, feel very small, too small. I think there is a lot of growth in students from the end of 11th, thru 12th and the start of their freshman college year. I think everything felt abstract to her until Oct/Nov of senior year and she finally could visualize herself at college.
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I think that there are many schools out there that can work for a kid - so it’s not to say one size fits all. Many think they found the right one - but the truth is if they are picking from three or five, all might be right.
At the same time, kids go to their dream - and struggle and even leave - you never know when you have a bad prof or bad roommate or bad food, etc.
So no matter how hard you try, there’s no perfection. But there’s likely never a “only one can work” - it’s just that people aren’t open to it.
Furman is a “larger” LAC but not large. UNC is a - not a mid size flagship but there’s 20K undergrad and 10k more grad. Other flagships are much bigger. Does she care about sports, greek life or other things? Have you talked to pre-med advisors at each?
Did you apply to any in between or is it just these two?
Will she be living here after? Or overseas? Does the reputation matter? I don’t know if globally that UNC has a big name or not. Obviously here it’s ranked and I’m not a huge fan of rankings - but it’s 29th of all national colleges and Furman 45th of the LAC subset. Furman won’t be a known name - nationally or internationally I’d venture to guess - and that’s likely your husband’s concern. Won’t matter with med school - but what will matter - GPA, MCAT, Shadowing opportunities - are they available at one moreso than another?
You mentioned cost - what’s the difference and how much does that or will it impact your decision? Would you need loans? Would it strain you financially?
But I’m sure they put out a lot of successful grads including med school.
Take the virtual tours, do some on line sessions…hopefully they’ll have a student panel. Make the decision and roll with it.
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Something to consider, and on a separate N.C. State (regarding computer science and engineering) thread right now, is will your daughter get into the program she chooses at UNC after her core classes are taken?
Some programs like business, and public health are extremely hard to get into at the end of your Sophomore year even with very good and almost perfect grades. Even med school seems to almost reverse preference at UNC.
Going to a Furman, and doing well is going to ensure her major of choice and that she is prepared for anything in the graduate school future and if it costs less then its almost a no brainer…
Payscale rates all of these schools for salary at the 10 year mark. You may be surprised at where Furman versus UNC lands (on average). → 2021 College Rankings by Salary Potential | Payscale
Hint: Furman is higher on this list…
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Mine also got accepted to NC State, UnC, and Wofford, but he commited to Furman last week due to size, a great Neuroscience dept (his major), and credentials for medical school, especially with schools like MUSC and other medical schools n the SC, NC, and GA area. Furman is well known to have kids really prepared for Grad school. If he was just going for a BA or BS, we’d look elsewhere with the cheaper options.
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Congratulations! That is wonderful to have made the decision and enjoy the rest of senior year! I wish we could get to Furman to visit. I feel like Furman is a hidden gem but it’s hard to make the decision over schools we have seen without seeing it. With aid Furman comes out lower than UNC OOS.
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Definitely important to visit… especially because I think UNC and Furman are very different. In terms of reputation, UNC wins for sure. We’re from the Chicago area and UNC is very well known and highly regarded… Furman is very unknown. I found it just by doing a bunch of research because it ticks many boxes for our son, but otherwise had never heard of it. We have a daughter at USC in California and that is a similar size undergrad to UNC… and it has a totally different feel and energy than Furman. We visited Furman a couple weeks ago and really liked it, but it is an isolated, QUIET campus. That could fit well with our son’s personality, but it definitely wouldn’t be for everyone. We are sold that the academics at Furman would be very strong and set our son up for future success, so I wouldn’t worry about that. I went to a LAC and think there are many benefits, but the feel is very different from a big state school. Best of luck… we’re struggling with making a decision too - so hard!
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