<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I just received my acceptance letter from Hendrix!! I'm really excited, as this is my first acceptance! I know a bit about Hendrix, and it seems like a really neat university, especially the Odyssey; however, I don't know a lot about the personality of the school. Would a liberal student from the Midwest fit in? If anyone would give me a rundown of what they've heard about the school, or their own personal experience, it would be very appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks,
J</p>
<p>J,</p>
<p>Congrats on your acceptance. My daughter and I visited Hendrix last month. I would characterize the political climate as VERY liberal, which was OK with us (also from the midwest). The campus was gorgeous and the cafeteria food was excellent. </p>
<p>Students we met have a lot of pride in their college and Conway, while not being your typical college town, is nice. </p>
<p>My daughter’s visit didn’t go as well as she’d expected. Some visits just “click” and others don’t. This one didn’t. She’s going to apply, but we’d have to make another campus visit and it would have to go better before she’d go there.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’d go wrong at Hendrix. Good luck.</p>
<p>I’m another liberal Midwesterner. I’m currently a freshman at Hendrix, and the school is quite liberal, though not very in-your-face about it. Also, though most students are from the South, those from other locales are accepted into campus culture, and the culture shock isn’t as great as you might expect. (Though if you refer to carbonated beverages as “pop”, like I do, note that that isn’t the norm and you may get lightheartedly teased about it.)
The campus is small and pretty. The cafeteria food is good- it gets old after a while, but I suppose that happens everywhere, and the cafeteria workers are the friendliest people. Conway is a nice town, and if you don’t have a car, you still have WalMart in walking distance, as well as some restaurants and thrift stores. With a car, there’s a surprisingly large amount to do in Conway.
It’s fairly strong academically, and the student body is filled with bright students, many of whom could have ended up at a top-tier school but for restrictions like location and money. There’s a lot of variety in the student body, too, though not so much politically or racially. I’ll gladly answer any other questions you may have about Hendrix for you. :)</p>
<p>By the way, I just got a $19,000 a year scholarship along with a $5,000 a year Odyssey Honors and Distinction Award!! </p>
<p>Does anyone know about the research opportunities and the ability to go to a top graduate school after Hendrix? Does the lack of name recognition hurt?</p>
<p>Congrats! I visited Hendrix just last week and stayed overnight actually and I was very impressed. Also, if you are liberal, you will fit right in. The campus was gorgeous… the food was flat out awesome (I’m NOT lying), the science buildings were clean and very well kept. Class sizes were very small, I sat in a zoology class of 8 students and it was apparent that the professor and the students could easily form strong bonds. The people there were all very accepting and friendly. You should definitely consider Hendrix.</p>
<p>About your question about research opportunities… Hendrix is alllll about research and giving opportunities to undergraduate students, something that big universities don’t have. And I saw that actually lots of Hendrix grads go onto great grad schools. Wash U seems to be like the favorite to many students there and Hendrix actually has an excellent name recognition to grad schools from what I’ve heard.</p>
<p>I’m a senior from Tennessee, and am almost certainly going to Hendrix next year. I’m really excited about it and have been doing a lot of research on it. I spent the night about a month ago and loved it. About the liberal thing, when I asked the guy I was staying with what the worst thing about the school was, he said it was that if you’re a republican, you’ll get eaten alive, which you can take how you want. I’m very liberal, and growing up in TN, am ready for a scene more like me. Let me know how what you decide-I don’t know anyone else looking at the school, so it’d be cool to have someone else to talk about it with.</p>
<p>hdenton–I’m going to apply for the Hays scholarship, and regardless of whether I am a finalist or not, I am going to be visiting the school in March. It should be an interesting experience because I have never spent any time in the deep South. I’m from Madison, which is one of the most liberal cities in the country, so hopefully I will fit right in there. I’m really looking forward to the visit and I’ll let you know how it goes. What other schools did you apply to?</p>
<p>From what I gathered from my visit, you will. I also applied to Birmingham-Southern, American University, and a few others. What really won me over about Hendrix was the laid-back, friendly atmosphere. Where else are you looking?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say Republicans get eaten alive, unless they’re intolerant of liberal views. I would say that Republicans are far in the minority, and Republicans are likely to be known for being such.
To be more specific, I’ll give an example of a friend of mine, who attends Hendrix and is Republican. He’s known as the group Republican, and where some might (jokingly) play the race card in arguments, he (jokingly) plays the Republican card- e.g. he’ll say “You’re just saying that because I’m Republican.” Also, he complains- and perhaps rightly so- about the lack of conservative groups on campus to rival the liberal ones. But we don’t get into crazy arguments about it, and there’s no real anti-Republican discrimination at play.
I know it’s a minor point, and I know this message may not make a ton of sense as I’m a bit sleep-deprived, but I hope that clarifies things a bit.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of paranoia on the part of Republicans in regards to discrimination, but it’s mostly imagined. Some professors are very noticeably liberal, but they’re all professional enough to not grade down ideological opponents.</p>
<p>Because hendrix only has undergraduates, research opprotunities are very easy to find. My former roomate just spent the summer after her freshmen year doing research and even presented some research at a national physics convention as a sophomore. You also have opportunities through Odyssey to do your own research if you are interested.</p>
<p>Also, which Hendrix may not be known as much among, non-academic people, Hendrix is well respected among all other academic institutions. I know people who go to really good grad-schools, med schools, and law schools. Plus the Odyssey program help you add stuff to you resume that appeals to the top schools.</p>
<p>thanks for all the information… i, too, have been accepted and am very interested in hendrix. i have been concerned somewhat about the size (i REALLY wish it were a little larger) since it is about the same size as my current high school. definitely impressed with the opportunities for undergrad research and the odyssey program. can’t wait to visit!</p>