My soon-to-be graduate is deciding between Ithaca and Elon.
Though undecided about majors right now, he is interested in business (marketing) or communications (sports/TV production or journalism).
Money he got from each school makes them comparable (except for flights to NC being more expensive than car ride to Ithaca from Southern NY where we live).
Would love input from anyone on this. Eager to hear more about student body and student satisfaction, reputation of school/academics, future job prospects/connections, supportive nature of profs and admin etc…
He visited both. He will return to both. He is leaning towards Elon. Not sure where he would want to live after college. But I was hoping to get some input from parents and students to add to our data! Thanks i
We are in the same boat…Ithaca and Elon. My son like Elon better. But so far we have received way more money from Ithaca. Still waiting on financial information from Elon…but they have a rep for not giving much money.
I can tell you, my niece goes to Elon. She loves it but is a very dedicated, hardworking student (math major) and the work seems to be really challenging. It is a really beautiful campus, and was the only school she applied to, Early Action, so once she got in, she was set. There are a LOT of people with money there. She tells stories of returning to school in August and there are car carriers and trailers hauling some of the kids’ cars…Mercedes, BMWs, etc. She is a junior, spent a semester studying in Australia but had to do all the planning herself and get approvals from Elon. Has a couple of good internship opportunities for this summer. She takes a class during the winter term every year in order to finish up in four years, so she’s only home for 10 days over Christmas. Got no financial aid, although I’m not sure what their merit policy is. She does community service through Habitat for Humanity, and I think some form of community service is required. I don’t really know anything about her professors.
My son is a senior at Elon and also was accepted at Ithaca (hence his sister applying and being accepted this year). I cannot say enough good about the Elon experience. Wonderful school on so many levels with so much to offer. Money wise for us, Elon was a no brainer over Ithaca but that wasn’t the deciding factor for us. Elon was a better fit for him and it’s been a great choice. He could’ve graduated after 3 years but as he would’ve been 20 at the time, we wanted him to do four full years. Yes, there is a lot of wealth at Elon. There basically is no merit aid at Elon because the annual tuition/room and board comes in mid-40K. Small class sizes - none over 30. Wonderful traditions - like their holiday candlelight night (can’t remember the name). Greek life is bigger than I’d like which is basically the only negative I can think of. They require students to do community service and have two experiences - either two abroad or two internships or one of each. They really try to turn out well rounded students. My son is a Finance major and has enjoyed all his classes and professors. They have a fabulous brand new building for communications. My older son went to a different school and there is no comparison between the interaction with professors as well as parent involvement. For example, when Elon played basketball against Syracuse last year, we got a call from the President’s office asking if we’d like to attend the game in the presidential suite (we live in Rochester). No, we’ve never donated a penny past our tuition. When we moved him in freshman year, his admissions counselor stopped by to visit for about 30 minutes to welcome us and answer any questions. How nice is that? They have done many touches like that to set Elon apart from other schools we’ve either toured or had family members attend.
We are also looking at Elon and Ithaca. My daughter loves both schools but is leaning towards Elon. She was admitted to the fellows program and doesn’t want to pass up the extra opportunities it affords her. Just waiting on financial aid…
