<p>Furman seems like the perfect school. However, I often hear the complaint of Furman's lack of recognition. I know I want to go to grad school after college, so do top grad schools know of Furman's rigorous academics? Does Furman even have rigorous academics? Is there a strong alumni network?</p>
<p>Furman was recently ranked as having the second most rigorous academic environment in the country. My D, a current junior, will confirm that the reputation is well deserved. It is not a school for a slacker. It does have more of a regional reputation but is also well known nationally with grad programs such as med and law schools. If you want to go to grad school, it has a strong reputation. It is not as well known outside the Southeast for an undergraduate looking to work right out of college. </p>
<p>With that being said, my D recently told me that if she could do it all over again, she would not have chosen Furman. She has enjoyed her time there but is very glad is almost over. I agree with her. Our youngest daughter is now looking to choose a college and Furman is not even a consideration. The current Furman President has tried to make Furman more of a national presence but in my opinion has done more harm than good.</p>
<p>Would you mind being more specific about your experiences at Furman. My D and I are scheduled to make a visit in June.</p>
<p>I would suggest asking admissions for an analysis of grad school acceptances for graduating seniors. If I remember correctly, it is highly regarded amongst academic institutions and acceptance rates are very high among Ivy league grad schools.</p>
<p>@Bigdaddy88- I would still encourage you to visit Furman, particularly if your D is interested in Psychology, Chemistry, Music or Pre-law. They have some of the best undergraduate departments in the country. The workload is intense as any Furman parent here can attest to.</p>
<p>The issues we have are based upon the perceived direction of the the school. They are attempting to increase their national recognition but many of the goals of their strategic plan are clearly conflicting. You just can not achieve so many conflicting objectives without something being compromised. The tuition was just raised to over $43,000 a year, so the cost of Furman without any merit scholarships or grants is well over $52,000 a year for an LAC that has declined slightly in the rankings. It becomes a question of value and at this point we do not see the value with some higher ranked colleges costing much less. (Sewanee comes to mind). My D enthusiastically made Furman her dream college when it was run by the prior administration in her Freshman year. If she had visited a year later under the new President, she would have attended elsewhere. </p>
<p>I would still visit campus and make your own decision. I have always been a huge Furman supporter here on this board and our opinions are somewhat colored by the change in administration during her time. You and other prospective students will not have this contrast to compare with. Visit campus, attend a class and ask lots of questions. I wish you the best of luck in your college search.</p>
<p>Thanks for the perspective. We are definetly visiting in June. My D would have to receive a pretty substantial merit award to even think about attending!</p>
<p>BobbyCT, aside from the raise in tuition what are the other changes the administration is making? I’m already committed to Furman, but I feel like these would be good things to be aware of from the get go.</p>
<p>There are merit scholarships at Furman. My son has a substantial music scholarship and was recently awarded another one through the music department (interestingly, the new scholarship seems to just cover the tuition increase!). We are not eligible for financial aid so we have been very happy. He has been happy at Furman. The work load is no more than UNC (he has 21 hours he transferred in from there) and his GPA is about the same. He made Dean’s list last semester and, although he did do a lot of work, he doesn’t consider it unreasonable. His sister attended a respected LAC in the midwest and the family opinion is that she did have more pressure academically (she also was taking more chemistry, math, bio).</p>
<p>I have noticed that Furman seems to be recruiting more internationals and is making it clear in the student news and on the website that they are LBGT supportive. My son has several gay friends and they are quite comfortable at Furman. Furman also recently hired its first Rabbi (not as straight faculty but more for support community). </p>
<p>The faculty seems incredibly supportive with helping students find experiences. My son is preparing to apply to grad school and his professors have been amazing with the advice (this was not really the case with D’s LAC so I appreciate their help). H
I can’t comment on the way Furman was in the past.</p>
<p>I couldn’t agree with you more on how well Furman is known. I’m an international student, and whenever I tell my teachers of Furman University, they always shake their head and ask me where it is. But seeing that the university puts such a huge emphasis on internships, is probably doing a good job of getting its students ready for graduate school. And even then, what normal people think of as “well known” and “reputation” is far different from the “well known,” “prestigious,” and “reputation” people in the education field know of.</p>
<p>But what’s more important than rankings is whether a student will prosper in that college. I attended a small 100-student highschool in a third-world country! Our school offered at most 2 APs and I had to visit the city to take SAT/ACTs. But I made the best out of my opportunity, got involved in the community and took advantage of what I could. And no, Furman was not the best school I got into. It was the only college I could afford. But at least I’m not attending small community colleges or having to take gap years like a few of my classmates are doing. Not trying to sound preachy, but trying to give some hope! Furman may not be the best known college. But if a student tries and makes the best of his or her experiences there, then THAT will appeal to grad schools! After all, colleges are looking at an individual’s application or resume and the name of the college is only one part of that. Imagine if I had attended an enormous public high school! I would never have been able to plan charity concerts, organize sports tournaments, etc! </p>
<p>Let’s go future Paladins!</p>
<p>Parent of two Furman alums who graduated one year ago. I echo BobbyCt’s comments about the direction I see the school moving. It is important for students and parents to familiarize themselves with the school’s strategic plan and think through how many of those objectives can be accomplished without diminishing the school’s solid reputation for academics. Both of our students will tell you that other than the beauty of the campus, the professors at Furman are it’s single best asset. We have come to know many personally, and while we disagree on political issues (faculty, like almost everywhere is extremely liberal), the group as a whole spend countless hours with students after class, email ideas, and create a great environment for learning-particularly if you thrive in the Socratic method. </p>
<p>As our family enters the one year post-graduate mark, I would encourage any student considering Furman or already enrolled to begin their job search and positioning in earnest long before their senior year and NOT to count on career services as a tremendous help. Their programs are basically DIY, which for a school with a COA of 52K is lacking at best. Albeit our kids started FU during the first year of the recession, but I was disappointed when I looked at the employers visiting campus at Furman compared to those at Wake, GT, Clemson, etc. While I have always been an advocate of a liberal arts degree, PLEASE be aware that many of those degrees prepare you for grad school-not a job in this economy. Furman does take pride in internship programs-again I believe they do their best in those subjects they are the strongest in-Poly Sci, Teaching, the sciences and Psychology. Our two kids got their own internships each summer. Most importantly, at the 12 month mark, one of kids is employed full time with a private equity start-up company and the other, a Philosophy major who graduated cum laude is substitute teaching and still looking for a first “real job”. Many of the kids our two know, defaulted to grad school rather than endure the endless search for a job. Furman has a solid reputation of their students being well-positioned for grad and professional school, but be aware that slightly over 50% of students from 2000-2010 were employed full time after graduation. I appreciate the prior poster’s enthusiasm for the school-it has many assets, but remember the importance of reputation and the school’s ability to network is paramount if employment after graduation is important. Good luck to everyone with their decisions!</p>
<p>The president of Furman resigned this morning, effective June 30-‘for personal reasons’. Search cmte has been announced. Hopefully, the University will get back on course.</p>
<p>@hubbellsdad: A great development for Furman, it’s students and it’s Alumni. The guy was out of his league. Hopefully they use a different search committee this time. I also hope the new President takes a serious look at scrapping that ridiculous strategic plan or refining it so that it actually makes sense. This was a sad chapter in Furman’s history and I hope it will be soon forgotten.</p>
<p>BobbyCT- I’d love to hear your thoughts on areas of improvement. I tried reading the strategic plan, well part of it, after you mentioned it up thread. I didn’t get too far and have no frame of reference to compare the plan to. My daughter has two more years at Furman and we have another child to go. So your thoughts are of great interest to me.</p>
<p>@mommamocha; There are so many things wrong with that plan, I wouldn’t even know where to start. I had no frame of reference to compare it to either, I just judged the plan based upon what they said they wanted to accomplish. It was clear that the objectives and methods to achieve them did not add up and clearly conflicted.</p>
<p>One of the primary purposes of the plan was to increase enrollment, while maintaining academic standards. They did increase enrollment but also increased the acceptance rate to over 75%. I have not had the opportunity to see what impact that has had on the retention rate but we know they have declined in the rankings. They also wanted to vastly increase the number of minority students, a noble and needed goal, but did so by diverting more FA to attract these students. To balance this out they had to accept less qualified but full pay students and jacked up tuition. Once they had all these extra students, they had to bring in adjunct professors to help with the increased number of students, mostly from Clemson and many of them clearly not up to the level of a Furman professor. In addition to a flawed plan, they compounded the problems with an extremely poor execution of the plan. Rather than phasing this in over time to allow for a smooth transition for the current students and faculty, as well as housing, they literally executed the plan all at once.</p>
<p>Quite frankly, when I looked at the plan it was clear to me that they were following the model successfully set by Elon years earlier. I am not knocking Elon, it is a good school, but we didn’t commit to Elon, we committed to the rigorous and prestigious Furman. Thankfully the faculty at Furman would not reduce their classroom standards. My daughter told me the other day that when she was accepted into Furman in 2010, it was the happiest day of her life since she knew how selective they were. Now she is disappointed to see the level of many of the incoming students, she knows that many of them have no idea what is expected of them. The outgoing President was an unmitigated disaster and embarrassment but the reputation can be restored quickly by just going back to their roots of being an exceptional and highly selective regional LAC rather than a wannabee prestigious national LAC.</p>
<p>I am still somewhat stunned by the comments in today’s Greenville Press by Richard Riley, a member of the search committee that chose Smolla as President in 2010. Judge for yourself:</p>
<p>Former Board Chairman Dick Riley, who was on the search committee that chose Smolla, told GreenvilleOnline.com he was surprised by Smollas decision but not shocked.</p>
<p>Hes a person that excites people and he gets excited himself. Hes not kind of a steady kind of person, Riley said. So it really didnt shock me that much. Because he is kind of an excitable person. Hes a brilliant lawyer.</p>
<p>Hes not the kind of person that would be real comfortable in the same place for a long time in my judgment.</p>
<p>So they hired a President that “is not a steady kind of person”? In addition, “He’s not the kind of of person that would be real comfortable in the same place for a long time in my judgement”. Seriously? This is the quote from one of the people responsible for selecting him. If he is not “steady” and you don’t expect him to stay for long, why are you hiring him AND allowing him to put together a strategic plan for the college. What a debacle.</p>
<p>I’m so glad this situation is transporting now! My D is a junior in HS and has Furman on her short list of potential colleges. We have an official tour scheduled for late June. The info session should prove quite illuminating. You can bet I’ll ask about the direction the school plans to take.</p>
<p>BobbyCT- Thank you for providing your thoughts! Good to know. Thankfully my daughter has only had tenured professors, so far. I completely agree on the housing front. That provided quite the uproar this spring. </p>
<p>In defense of the professors I must say my daughter has had some really impressive people teaching her and pushing her forward in learning. She has been given great opportunites to engage, present and submit her work on a national level. In that I am very pleased with Furman.</p>
<p>My daughter also choose Furman over Elon for the same reason, it was more academic leaning. So that is of concern. Hope Furman can return to their roots. My daughter did comment that some of the freshman seemed out of step with “typical” Furman students. I thought maybe she was just getting a little proud of her school. I guess she may have been correct.</p>
<p>Richard Riley’s comments are stunning indeed! </p>
<p>Well, I’ll be staying tuned in. Thank you.</p>
<p>@mommamocha-I agree 100% with you on the academic quality of the Furman professors. They are the heart and soul of the school.</p>
<p>My son graduated this past weekend and was very glad to hear of Smolla leaving. He felt that Smolla was trying to make Furman into something it was not and that he was going to tarnish the place beyond repair if he was around too long, I guess this feeling was shared by the Board of trustees and the faculty. My son noted that Smolla seemed to be happy to take the money of well-heeled, but not qualified, students who then flunked out to finance his plans-thereby greatly increasing their admission rate and diluting the academic pool of students as bobbyCT noted above.</p>
<p>@hubbellsdad- Congratulations to your son! Sounds like he is a very perceptive young man. </p>
<p>I agree with most of your statement, however the Board of Trustees and the faculty were on separate pages on this. Remember, Smolla was not asked to leave, he stepped down on his own. The faculty, and many students and parents caught on very early that this guy was self-serving and quite frankly, very immature at times. He was just in over his head. The professors never believed in his “plan” because they had no input and also were smart enough to realize that it couldn’t work. The Board of Trustee’s seemed to think this guy was doing fine, despite all his indiscretions and questionable performance. They are also sending mixed signals, with some board members praising his performance while others openly questioned his emotional stability. It is worrisome to think that many of these trustees, who deemed Smolla qualified, will have a role in the next decision. </p>
<p>My daughter said it best, Smolla brought a lot of national recognition to Furman but for all the wrong reasons. Good riddance. Finally, he left for “personal” reasons? Please, he is already lined up as a visiting professor to Duke and Georgia. He couldn’t handle the pressure and he bolted.</p>