We haven’t been able to visit Mercer, Furman and Berry College but from our search my daughter seems interested. Please share your thoughts on your experiences with them.
They’re within 4-5 hrs of each other. Hopefully you apply and can visit later.
I work with a few Mercer grads. Loved it. It’s by far the biggest of the three population wise.
Berry is, I believe the largest campus in America. From those I know who have looked very homogenous, very religious. It’s near Rome Ga. Sort of rural-ish is what I thought the few times I’ve been. . Marjorie Taylor Greene country and my guess is the school is of a similar belief system.
Furman is in very nice Greenville. So like Mercer near but not in the bigger city. Not religious anymore but I believe most who go do so for that reason. It’s motto is For Christ and Learning. It’s bigger than Berry population wise but much smaller than Mercer.
My guess is this is three schools you need to visit and you could read student reviews on niche.
Berry will be most religious if that matters to you. Both Berry and Furman are generally considered to have nice campuses vs a Mercer which I’ve seen and isn’t really that nice. But nice campus or not is in the eye of the beholder so you really need to go see yourself.
Doesn’t help with vibe. If you can’t visit, see if admissions can set up a discussion with a current student and have your child pepper them with questions about vibe.
Good luck.
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Thank you so much. Your answer is very helpful. We live in Europe and I am not sure we will be able to visit until after we learn of whether she was accepted or not. She has looked endless online, at their websites, follows them on instagram and looked at niche and other reviews but still couldn’t get a exact idea but your response helps.
Are you saying most students go based upon religion? If so what are you basing that on please?
They shed the religious affiliation in 1992 I believe so that seems a bit dubious as there are plenty of overtly religious options available for students so inclined.
Seem pretty overtly pro religious diversity…
And trying to support a Jewish campus presence…
I love this first hand CC comment that is a bit dated…
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We’ve been through this before and others have confirmed, there definitely is a Christian or religious bias on campus.
You feel differently - and that’s your opinion and that’s fine. OP is free to see it how they feel.
As the school’s history is grounded in religion and its student body is considered southern, it will have this vibe. It’s also known, where I live, as the Duke safety - meaning kids who want to go to Duke who don’t get in tend to go here - a rich kid, preppy school.
Yes, they have many religions they support and if you feel the school doesn’t have a Christian vibe, say so as you have many times - and move on.
My opinion is otherwise.
You will continue to find comments like this online: My daughter attends Furman. She said there is a strong Christian presence at school. The last time you brought this up there were varying opinions.
Your opinion is otherwise. Just state it. No reason to beat me up for mine.
OP can decide what is correct for them.
Actually it’s not my opinion I have never spent time on Furman’s campus nor do I have first hand experience with the school. Do you?
I don’t post second hand views or repost Reddit comments as facts as OPs might mistake it as informed.
Not “beating” anyone up asking you to provide context for your comments.
Duke I actually know first hand very well. The school maintains a 12% jewish and 65%+ public school population and has a fair bit of diversity so not sure how to reconcile your two comments to understand reputation versus reality.
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I’m assuming the two posters above are ready to move on and agree to disagree
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If you live in Europe, what made you choose these three colleges? Maybe if we knew your preferences/criteria, someone might comment specifically.
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To gain some more insight your daughter may want to see if any (or all) of the college’s newspapers are online and read through a number of them.
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My husband’s job brought us to Europe but we are from NC. My DD is looking for a college that is on the small-ish side, possibly pre-med. She’s strong in math/science, weaker in reading (dyslexia) however has taken AP Hx’s and AP English and done well. She likes small, self contained colleges. One where most live on campus all 4 years. Safe feeling. Strong academics but not uber competitive. She likes the outdoors, mountains, nature and the ocean all make her happy. Cities stress her out and make her irritable. She likes the South (we are from the South but she hasn’t lived in the US in 9 years). Not overly party school but she’s social. We’ve looked at a variety of schools but these 3 we haven’t been able to visit. If accepted she will visit. Since we don’t qualify for ‘in-state’ tuition in any state, private colleges sometimes come out to about the same cost as paying out of state tuition. We are trying to narrow the list down and cross off any that we don’t think would be a good fit and even with the online research, brochures, and college websites these schools seem somewhat similar to us. She has liked WF, William & Mary, URichmond, and Rhodes. She does have UNC-CH (which would be a huge reach being out of state), UNC-W, and App State on her list however, they would likely be too large. She hasn’t particularly liked Davidson or Elon. She liked HPU but I’m not sure about it. We visited in the summer so probably didn’t get a real feel. Thanks for your insight and help.
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Great idea. We haven’t looked at their online newspapers.
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You haven’t asked for additional schools, but some on the schools you’re asking for seem to have higher acceptance rates than some of the other schools she has liked. If you’re looking for smaller schools in the NC/VA area, have you/she considered Wofford (SC), UNC-Asheville (NC’s liberal arts college), Roanoke (VA), or Hollins (VA women’s college)?
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Thank you. Several of people have suggested we should look into Wofford so we will. I am not as familiar with Roanoke or Hollins so I will look into those as well.
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Hollins is a women’s college. If she’s open to that I think it would tick a lot of her boxes. It’s in the mountains of VA. Beautiful, small self-contained campus. Financial health of the school is excellent. We have a friend who goes there and really loves it. My D22 did a summer camp there and really loved it too. It has a very supportive and collaborative vibe and a very strong alum network. I’m a big fan.
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Has she looked at Sewanee? It might be a good fit.
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Lafayette? 2500 checks most of the boxes. Expensive though.
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Lots of good suggestions here.
I second the recommendation to follow the school newspaper/newsletter to learn more about campus life. Also the social media accounts of any clubs of interest.
My D is premed at Washington & Lee. It seems to check most of your boxes. She also was admitted to and considered Davidson, Furman and Rhodes. I can post her impressions of any of those of interest to your D.
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Thank you! We will look into Hollins.
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I would love to hear your impression of Furman, Rhodes and W&L. We’ve visited Davidson 3x and she didn’t connect with it. She is following the social media accounts and has been for over a year but she hasn’t read the newspaper so I will have her check that out. Thank you!
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I really think Sewanee would be a good fit too. But she has crossed it off for some reason I don’t understand. 