<p>I'm a senior in high school and right now I think Furman is my first choice. I was wondering if current students or recent graduates could tell me what going there was like. Can I still have a social life if I don't join a sorority? Also, do people go to the football and basketball games? Do students go to downtown Greenville frequently? And, is the workload manageable?</p>
<p>Well, I don’t go there but I have visited and been to a student panel discussion. I also live near to Furman. I’ll tell you what the students told me.
-Yes you can. since they don’t have frat or sorority houses, the non sorority people and the sorority people are usually living with each other sorta. They have halls for sororitys if they want but you can still request to live on that hall with them.
-Yes!! Students have a ton of school spirit. They show up at any game, especially football.
-They do. Some restaurants have offer discounts for furman students. I know of one restaurant that will actually buy the furman football game(if they’re playing away) and give free food to the students.
-They say its tough because you have to do the homework and the reading because of the small classes. But the teachers really try to help you.</p>
<p>So, future Paladin? Furman is in my top 3 right now but everytime I visit it goes up on my list:) are you applying ED?</p>
<p>As for the social life, not being a part of greek life certainly does not restrict you. The activities and parties are open and most people aren’t a part of greek life. There are so many activities that you can become a part of that are credible which is nice. These clubs and sports have all sorts of people greek and non greek alike who you will find yourself becoming close to.</p>
<p>School spirit is great, as for attendance- it’s not like your typical big public school turnout, which may be a turn off. I personally enjoy enthusiasm, attendance and the reputation of schools like clemson, tech, etc. so it is something to get used to if you grew up where a lot was centered around college football. However, it’s not horrible and Furman has had an interesting season thus far, but most people don’t seem to be as pumped about games as elsewhere…but really it’s like that at any med/small liberal arts school except large ones like WF and Vandy.</p>
<p>People occasionally go to Greenville. There are a lot of off campus gatherings and parties that are located in greenville. Sometimes on weekends we will go out to eat. It is convenient and there are always people who are driving down there. On the other hand, a lot of people like myself end up spending less time going downtown because there is so much going on on campus.</p>
<p>The work load is manageable, but heavy. The good thing is that everyones is too. The professors work close with you and are really passionate about communicating their ideas to students. The heavy workload usually entails an amount of reading, which makes studying worthwhile without pointless busy work.</p>
<p>I hope this helps, good luck!</p>
<p>I’m a freshman here on campus and I think I might be able to present another viewpoint that will help you.</p>
<p>Due to changes in zoning enforcement, the fraternities that had houses in single-family zoned areas were kicked out of their houses at the end of last school year and left to find new places before this year. This means that as of now, only SAE, Pi Kap, and KA have houses. The Greenville police has become extremely vigilant about cracking down on underage drinking, so they have busted a number of house parties this year at the houses. Now, a properly run fraternity party will have a guest list (all freshman and Greeks are on party guestlists, unless it is a closed party) that you sign in on. The fraternities have become much more careful about actually IDing and not allowing underage drinking. This is not to say that there is none, but they’ve become much more careful. What this has led to is many more parties being held at locations downtown in Greenville’s numerous bars and clubs. They’re mostly a good deal of fun, but it’s not as fun as a house party, and there are often townies to deal with. Hopefully, by the time you come, the whole situation will be sorted out. For now, Greek life is going through a transition period.</p>
<p>With that said, you can absolutely have a social life without going Greek. There is a ton of non-party type stuff going on on campus, and in fact, most of the campus does not drink (or does not drink every weekend). You’ll find the crowd that you want to hang out with here. If you like going out, you can do that. If not, there’s plenty of stuff to do on campus.</p>
<p>Lots of people go to sports games, and they’re free for all students. If you’re in a fraternity or sorority, you’ll dress up for tailgating and football games. Our team is not bad, but it certainly isn’t big state school good. </p>
<p>As for the workload, it’s definitely manageable. Professors will know you by name, and really go out of their way to make sure you succeed. You won’t have more than 25-30 people in any of your classes, and will have half that in your seminar class. Everyone here studies a lot, so you won’t feel out of place when you spend one or two hours a day per class doing studying and working.</p>
<p>If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Hope I was able to help out a bit!</p>
<p>what are Furman’s strengths and weaknesses? ( based on your opinion). I’d like to learn Management there so what do you think about that department?</p>
<p>I’m not sure if you’re referring to overall strengths/weaknesses, or simply academic issues, so I’ll try to address both in as concise a manner as possible.</p>
<p>For starters, Furman is one of the top small liberal arts colleges in America. That said, it is a liberal arts college, and there is a very strong and very rigorous academic core that has to be completed. If you aren’t interested in that, then Furman is not the school for you. As a small school, classes are small. You’ll know your professors. You’ll see them walking around campus, and you’ll have ample opportunities to interact with them outside of class. This, to me, is an enormous plus. It’s awesome to have professors who genuinely care about you, and your progress as a student. It is admittedly weird, however, to run into your professor on a near daily basis in the PAC (physical activities center) locker room. </p>
<p>This semester, for example, I have four classes. None has more than 25 students. One has 14. This is completely normal.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t really call this a weakness, but the workload here does get really intense at times. It’s not that the work is necessarily impossible, but that professors here seem to relish in giving a ton of it out. Students here, on the whole, study a whole lot, or they get terrible grades. It’s not a place where you can skate by not doing homework. Likewise, many classes (if not most), have attendance requirements. </p>
<p>For Furman’s departmental strengths, our pre-med program is very, very successful in preparing students, as is our pre-law program. The communications department is actually overloaded with students right now, and the political science department (my major) is also excellent. Business Administration, from what I hear from majors, is really great. There isn’t a management track here, per se, but you could certainly tailor a business degree with mostly management classes. A significant number of students double major, so you could foreseeably double economics with business or communications with business or something similar. The great thing about being at an LAC is that you’ll be exposed to so many different academic disciplines that you’ll be able to find what you truly love best.</p>
<p>I don’t know of any real weak departments, but those are the better ones. </p>
<p>One thing I will mention based on your location as the United Kingdom is that Furman is known to give out amazing financial aid, especially for international students. If you’re looking for money, which I would think everyone is these days, Furman is usually very generous. We have two internationals on my hall and both said financial aid was a key decision in them coming here.</p>
<p>As for the social life, I’m continuously amazed at how much is going on on campus, and how fun of a small city Greenville is. You won’t find any wild and crazy parties here, but if you’re content with smaller gatherings and fun school sponsored events, you’ll do just fine here. Plus, with the workload we have, it’s not like we have the time to be out late every weeknight getting hammered! On a related note, because of the Cultural Life Program (I’ll explain more if you haven’t heard about it–look on the Furman website for more info, but basically you have to get 32 CLPs while here, on average four/semester) people actually show up to lectures and concerts and events on campus. So if you hear about a cool sounding lecture, chances are if it’s a CLP, you can convince some friends to go!</p>
<p>If you have any other questions about the social life, academic life, or anything else about Furman, in general, don’t hesitate to ask.</p>
<p>This CLP program sounds terrific! I assume the school organizes a variety of lectures & events to suit different tastes. Your explanation of the different aspects at Furman is great.</p>
<p>all of these comments were very helpful! thank you!!</p>
<p>If the OP wouldn’t mind me barging in I’m Haitian but have been in the U.S. all my life.
How diverse is this campus from a students or someone whose been there perspective. Not worded right but you know what I mean.</p>
<p>One of the biggest questions and concerns that I think potential students have here is the lack of diversity. In many ways, this is a fully legitimate concern. </p>
<p>I will not attempt to spin what is a very obvious fact: Furman is not racially diverse. Other than athletes, the number of African American students here is low. There are few Asians, few Hispanics and few members of other ethnicities. The campus is, on the whole, very WASP-y. Racially and economically, Furman has a very country-club feel to it. Sure, there are plenty of students here on significant financial aid, but on the whole most students are upper-middle class to upper class and from white, southern backgrounds. This is an indisputable fact. I don’t think anybody here would argue that we are particularly diverse in terms of race or socioeconomics. </p>
<p>Still, there is great diversity in thought and a very balanced campus in terms of religious folks (the majority) vs non-religious, conservative vs liberal. The people here aren’t homogeneous in terms of interests or activities or the like. </p>
<p>I’ve also found that there is very little racial tension on campus, and that members of different ethnic groups have relatively little difficulty fitting in. Self-segregation, I have found, is a bit of a problem amongst the African American athletes and others, but there are not any other ethnic cliques that I am aware of. One of my best friends here is from Pakistan, and we have a great time joking about Indian politics together and debating Israeli aggression. I don’t think he has had any problems–other than the lack of halal meat in the cafeteria–fitting in on campus. If you have lived in the U.S. your whole life, you probably will not have any issues either. If you are looking for an active and large Haitian or Caribbean student population, you probably won’t find it here. </p>
<p>The Furman administration is working actively to try to change the demographics here through aggressive affirmative action, well-funded minority student organizations, and outreach efforts nationwide. The student body is getting more diverse each year, statistics show. And, the school offers incredible financial aid packages which make it extremely desirable to many students.</p>
<p>If you check out my other comments on some of the other threads, you can get a sense of some of the other aspects of the school. I would highly recommend you to come visit the school to get a better sense of how you would fit in. While I can’t lie to you and say that the school is diverse, I can say that you shouldn’t let Furman’s current lack of diversity be the sole reason for not applying. Come and check us out to get a sense of the campus.</p>