<p>Ghostbuster and Pierre0913,
Thank you for your very thorough answers! The detail in them helps immensely! I have visited both Clemson and Furman and truly liked both of them. Your answers about their reputations and specialties greatly helps to clarify the schools. Thank you for spending the time to answer my questions! I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>I just want to say thanks to pierre0913. He is one of the few students on cc who always puts his personal bias (for Clemson) far enough in the background so as not to get in the way of sharing some informative reflections on other schools. Mature input that is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I just want to add a few things on the Furman side. A few of these things I did not find out until I arrived on campus as a freshman this year, actually.</p>
<p>As far as research goes, Furman is number four in the country for undergraduate research. They are very proud of this statistic. Part of the reason is that there really are no graduate students to fight you for positions in a research project. Instead, you only have to compete with your fellow undergrads. This can be an amazing opportunity. I hear that a few students stay every summer to actually run experiments whilst professors are away at conferences and visit campus maybe only twice that summer. This sounded like an amazing opportunity, and my major doesn’t even have a real research component (music).</p>
<p>As far as political science/economics goes… I have met some students taking that track. One is planning on focusing on international politics, since we technically do not have that as a major.</p>
<p>One thing is that if you might go into engineering, Furman does not have an engineering department. They have science, but no actual engineering. However, I have run into a slightly similar problem. I enjoy music history and would love to learn more than what is offered. I discussed this with one of the music history teachers that also happens to be my trumpet teacher and he suggested an independent study with him in this field. One of the great things about a small school is that you become very familiar with your professors. For example, my trumpet teacher is my advisor and will also be my music history teacher.</p>
<p>This has been my experience so far. I cannot say much about Clemson or USC, seeing as I am from GA and don’t know anyone going there. Back in GA the big names are UGA and GA Tech!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help! I’ve continued to think about it and today I think I’m leaning more towards Furman… but that is by ALL MEANS not definite and still open to more advice. Furman just seems to have a broader range of classes than the USC Honor’s College and I would really like to do a semester-internship in the Budapest School of Economics or any other European school… which university of the two (or any other in SC) is better for that?
I’ve heard Furman has a good deal of in-state prestige but is a pip-squeak compared to Princeton and the like. There’s not really a more “Princeton-y” college in SC right?
The campuses on both are great! And Wofford… seems to be less prestigious and slightly less challenging than Furman but it’s around the same price-wise so I’m assuming that should be an no-go right?</p>
<p>I’m worried that employers don’t take honors colleges seriously, out of state especially. Needing to separate the smart kids from the rest of the school is not good for the overall school’s brand. However if your primary concern is getting the best education for yourself, I think honors college is close enough to Furman that you should go with it if price is a concern.</p>
<p>Well, my highest priority is to find the best in-state education, but as I mentioned earlier prestige helps a little taking into account a future job I might have. If possible, I do not want Furman or USC Honors to limit in any way my ability to pursue a graduate degree in a school like Princeton. I have friends in Furman and in USC so social-wise I don’t have a preference. Also, like I mentioned earlier, I do want to do a six-semester internship in economics or poli-sci in Budapest, maybe somewhere in France/Italy, or basically anywhere in Europe… which of the two schools would be more likely to have work with a broader spectrum of “destinations”? I also don’t think I’ll do Clemson because it’s around a 3-hour drive from my house and does not have a sizeable airport right there. Also, I’m assuming both of these schools encourage double-majors?
Thanks again for all of your continuing help! You don’t know how much I appreciate it (:</p>
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<p>There are only a handful of “Princeton-y” colleges in the world. For that matter, I’d think that there are fewer than two dozen “prestigious” colleges in America - schools at which the mention of the institution’s name diverts the direction of the discussion that you’re having. That’s not the case at Furman, but it’s probably not the case at Emory either, and Emory’s usually in the USNWR top 20 nationally.</p>
<p>The person on the street will probably not take great notice at the mention of Furman. The farther from the Southeast that you get, you’ll find that most folks may not have heard of it - but that’s the case with just about any LAC. Employers and grad schools will know about Furman. It’s a very distinctive, outstanding college with a high quality of campus life. I have no doubt that it’s the top college in South Carolina. I’d like my son to consider it.</p>
<p>You should know that getting into Graduate School is another kettle of fish. Its even more bizarre than undergraduate admissions. They take people from the work force, people with one or two masters degrees already, and they want to know your specific area of study and the reasons for it, and perhaps even the professor you want to study under/mentor. They pick and choose a small number of students from a pool of brilliant Phi Beta Kappa undergraduates. Its political as well. If they don’t like your topic, or they feel its already been researched to death or if they simply don’t want to invest in your idea or a professor on faculty has no interest in your topic, you are hosed. That being said, Princeton and all the top Ivy League and top tier graduate programs take students from all sorts of undergraduate schools, like Iowa State or LSU or whatever. What you need to do to get into a prestigious graduate school is get the highest gpa you can, from a rigorous and respected undergraduate program (not necessarily just the school) and a super high GRE (or LSAT or GMAT or whatever). And you need the help of your undergraduate mentors to help you craft a strategy, such as what graduate research project you want to do and where. Many PhD programs are fully funded and offer a stipend as well. So they pick and choose the topics and people they want. Just because you graduated magna cum or summa cum doesnt guarantee you anything. Trust me on that. Its particularly true in the liberal arts.</p>
<p>Umm, the part about Furman not doing well in the SoCon is so not true. Check out the overall sports standings for the last few years … Furman men were 3rd overall out of the 12 teams and the women were 6th last year. Out of the last 23 years, the Furman women have won the overall cup 12 times. The men have only won once (App State almost always wins), but the men are traditionally in the top 3.</p>