<p>Hey! I hope I am not being inconsiderate in posting this now, since I know lots of people are probably stressing about deciding on the right schools and my question is definitely much lower stakes, but I am trying to narrow down east coast schools to visit this summer and was wondering:
1) What makes Davidson stand out? (academically, socially, anything...for better or for worse)</p>
<p>2) What other schools do Davidson students often consider?</p>
<p>3) This might be a hard question to answer...but where does Davidson lie on the spectrum of thinking/philosophy? As in, do students tend to more live in their minds so much that they are away from the real world or just focus on A's and literal meanings with minimal discussion outside of class? (Not to sound negative- I just phrased it as the two extremes to avoid showing bias towards which side I would prefer)</p>
<p>Davidson is the farthest from the other schools I'm looking at, but sounds really cool. I'm just worried to take an expensive detour, and end up not even applying. Anyway, thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Hi, I am a recent Davidson grad and thought I’d share my quick thoughts on those questions.</p>
<p>1) I think the number one thing that stands out at Davidson is the sense of community and overall friendliness. Many colleges boast this, but I imagine few schools actually rival Davidson in this area. Everyone wants to meet their classmates, wants their classmates to succeed, and wants to “do the right thing.” If you visit, you’ll notice that people open doors for each other and smile and say hi as they pass you. They might even ask you if you need help or want to be shown around. I remember one instance when I was studying late at night in the union for an organic chemistry test and found myself completely stuck on a concept. I happened to see another student from my chem class who I had never met before and out of desperation decided to ask him for a point in the right direction. Though it was late and he was about to go to sleep before the test, he instead spent an hour teaching me the topic and making sure I fully understood the concepts before he left. We ended up being friends and studied together for our future chem exams. This type of occurrence is supposedly rare at other schools, but pretty common at Davidson.</p>
<p>2) A lot of people either applied to other liberal arts schools across the country or applied to lots of schools in the Carolina area. Bowdoin, Middlebury, Haverford, Williams, Wake Forest, Duke, UNC, and William and Mary seem common. This may have changed for the younger classes though. At this point I can’t even remember where my friends applied- it seems weird to imagine them anywhere else but Davidson.</p>
<p>3) Davidson students (and students anywhere for that matter) fall in a broad spectrum and I am sure there are people here who fit both of those extremes. I do know that one of the great things about Davidson’s small community is that it lends itself to discussion about classroom topics outside of class. I learned a great deal just by hearing other students talk about the interesting facts or debatable controversies they had discussed in class that day. However, students are also willing to push academics aside in order to socialize and talk about different things. I know this doesn’t fully answer your question, but hope it helps!</p>
<p>Good luck with the college search!</p>