Hi!! To be short, I’m from NJ and was raised in a pretty liberal household. As college apps rolled around, I really focused on the south because I love warmer weather and bigger schools. When I visited Clemson, I absolutely fell in love with it, but as I came home I started to think about it and got really nervous about how a person like myself might fit in at a more-conservative school. I also really liked UGA but have similar concerns. I know they are both big schools and there are all types of people, but just looking for some opinions from people who have gone there and what they think ! Thanks!!!
@som1plshelpthx we are from NJ also. My son’s first choice is Clemson. Clemson admissions informed us the majority of OOS students are from NJ right outside NC if that makes you feel better. My son also applied to University of South Carolina and University of Alabama. H was accepted already to both with a very generous scholarship. However, since Clemson is his first choice he is holding out. We were informed U of Alabama he may not fit in as much since that is the real south and they even have clubs they may consider him a yankee. I was shocked to hear that, but glad to know up front. However, I have never heard anything like that about Clemson and know sooooo many people from NJ who attend there now and have never had a problem. I hope that helps. What is your intended major? My son’s is Business and we are from Bergen County. You?
Just wanted to offer my input as well. My sister goes to Wake Forest University in NC, and our family is from CA, and very liberal. We can really only afford the school from a fantastic scholarship. She is a junior there, and likes the school but hates the people there (they seem to be very wealthy, spoiled, and racist, as she describes). Keep in mind this is only one university in the south, not to mention private, but this has been her experience. She’s wanted to transfer several times but she met her boyfriend of 3 years there and they want to stick together.
This was just her experience, and again, this is in no way applicable to all southern schools. Just what she encountered.
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@som1plshelpthx
Our son is a senior at Clemson and we are OOS. When he applied, he noticed that a pretty good percentage of Clemson’s population does come from OOS, about 30%.
He’s not a very politically demonstrative guy so, I can’t speak so much to that. His experience though was that the culture is overwhelmingly friendly. He’s loved his time there and would make the same decision again. This is as a non-Greek guy who jumped right in to many clubs etc.
Clemson is known for being conservative and more isolated than other colleges; it’s a very good stem school, very hard to get into.
There are actually more OOS students and a higher percentage of OOS stusents at UAlabama (but I’m waiting to see whether a youth molester is elected before I recommend Alabama again!)
The South is vast - UGA, UNC CH would be different from Clemson or Auburn, Miami from the Florida Panhandle, etc.
If you go in with the mentality that it is going to be exactly like home and try to force it to be similar to home, things are not going to go well. The key is to accept that this is a different place from where you are from with different people who may do/think things differently.
It really varies, as someone said. I don’t know anything about Clemson really. I’ve spent a bit of time around UGA, many years ago. Athens is a neat college town and pretty liberal.
Clemson is “very hard to get into.”? Fall 2016 Acceptance Rate - 51%
I personally know several graduates of Wake Forest, some of them recent and others not so recent. Not one of them is “very wealthy”, “spoiled” or “racist”.
UA is the “real south”? 56% of the entire Fall 2017 student body comes from states other than Alabama. Students from 82 foreign countries attend UA and comprise another 3% of the student body.
My two nieces, from Long Island, both attend Clemson and love it!!
We are from the northeast and I know 3 kids who attend Clemson. They seem very happy.
All southern schools are different. My daughter goes to school in the south and her school is way more liberal than our town, in a blue state. She is very liberal and is loves it there. That being said… I agree with Mandalorian- you have to accept that the school/people may be different than what you are used to. It took my daughter time to get used to that.
@Mandalorian @twogirls : I think it’d help if you could list some differences your kids/friends encountered.
Maybe if a “very liberal” child goes to a “conservative” Southern school, they will become more well-rounded people, taking into account the experiences and perspectives of others.
Very few of the issues were differences, most were simply adjustment / confidence issues which would have happened anywhere. And some … are about getting out of her HS bubble ( which she wanted).
My daughter was not used to some students going to church every Sunday. Nothing against that at all… nobody cares… but she was not used to seeing it. Do I think this happens at northeast schools? Yes… this is not unique to southern schools… but it was a new experience for my D.
She had to adjust to the manner of dress, which sounds silly but is different than what she experienced in high school. The girls in HS wore expensive clothing to school… mostly pricey jeans and expensive sweatshirts ( $75 and up) , always wore make up ( my D and her immediate friends did not) and they don’t do this in her current school. My D does not dress the way the HS girls dressed and was happy to escape it, yet it was hard to get used to initially because it was different. The boys at my daughters college also dress differently than boys up by us… polo shirts etc… my older daughter always comments on this. Again… my D loves this now but it took some getting used to. My D does occasionally wear casual dresses to class… does not happen where her sister went to school.
Food. My daughter went to a house… and the person served served cannolis. This person is from NJ. There were a few kids from NC who had no idea what cannolis were - my daughters prof later told my daughter that they are not commonly seen in NC.
Speech- yes… she now says "y’all. My father picked up on that recently.
My D grew up in a bubble. Homogeneous, relatively wealthy, etc. She wanted to get away from that.
She is in the Triangle area. Her school and the surrounding area are very liberal… her adjustment issues had more to do with a lack of confidence ( socially, academically) than to the issues that the OP is concerned with. Now… as a junior… she is more comfortable in her college town than in her hometown.
Thank you!
Glad to help!
@Defensor Again, this is why I emphasized that this has been my sister’s own personal experience at WFU. Those are the people she has mainly encountered. That in no way applies to all of the students there (nor the ones who have graduated), and obviously not all students in the south for that matter. What I’m saying it that it has been very different than what she was used to, in terms of mindset, clothing, Greek life, etc.
The school itself will be a little bit of a bubble because there will be lots of people from outside the region, but if you are in the south you will deal with people ‘Yes ma’am-ing’ you at the grocery store and bank and gas station all the time. If you watch local news on TV, it will be very different than you are used to (I never got used to it).
If you are used to professional sports being big, the focus will switch to the SEC and ACC college sports, and even Friday night local high school sports. There will be big rivalries with other schools, and it is the hill those loyal fans will die on. NASCAR is mentioned more in the news than you ever realized it could be.
The food is different as twogirls said. Ice tea is ‘Sweet tea.’ Lots more fried food. Grits.
The people are ‘freezing’ when it is 70 degrees, and won’t do outdoor activities. Lots of ice storms when it is 30 degrees.
Things actually close at night. Grocery stores are open 7-10. The CVS and Walgreens are open 9-9. Banks close at 5, even the drive through. Gas stations close at night. Sunday mornings are dead because everyone is at church. Liquor laws will drive you crazy because they can change from county to county.
People speak slower, move slower. This can be viewed as being more polite or it can frustrate you. People even drive slower. This can really frustrate you when you are just trying to get to work and someone is driving 45 on the highway.
What probably bothered me more than anything was that segregation is still accepted in some areas. In many areas, restaurants, churches, clubs still tend to be segregated. Not by law, of course, but just by practice. When we moved to the south I was asked more than once how my daughter (she’s Chinese) ‘came to be in our family.’ Um, through adoption? It was as if they’d never heard of it. We were used to a more blended society. She was asked how she could play lacrosse if she wasn’t white, and this was a serious question.
@som1plshelpthx Good question. I sometimes worry for students when I see great CC posters recommending schools in Alabama to so many students; will the student feel comfortable there? We are from the Southwest, from a culturally diverse city, and one of my son’s closest friends started at Clemson this year. He had visited, and it was a top choice, but at least for now he is looking to transfer out. He said he has trouble making friends, finding people who are like him. He’s a friendly, gentle person, with moderate Republican-type political views, preppy/clean-cut, had a part-time job, played varsity sports, sang in a prestigious choir group and was very popular in his high school. I wish I had more info. to report, and this is not meant as anything more than to say, I think your question is a good one, and you should talk to and ask as many people as you can. (I will add that I grimaced when I heard that his Clemson roommate had a large Trump/Pence poster on the wall when he arrived; my son said it didn’t bother his friend.)
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Seems that those asking why a non-white person could play lacrosse should learn about the sport’s Native American origins.
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@cafe9999 I’m not sure why your friend’s son is having difficulty making friends at Clemson. He sounds like the majority of male students that attend there .