My daughter is trying to decide between these school, I’d love some input. She is planning on studying Psychology.
Does she want small intimate preppy party culture or the excitement of a fairly large public in an incredible city ?
Have you visited both schools ?
Im not sure. I think she would do well at a small school. I worry that Rollins is too much of a party school. But I know there are all different groups at every school and you can hopefully find your nitch. DO you have personal experience with either school? We are going to visit both in a couple weeks.
We’re are in the same boat! Visiting both schools (for the 3rd time) in 2 weeks and hopefully will get some clarity then. Message me if you want to chat more!
An interesting aspect of both Rollins College & College of Charleston is the male / female ratios are both about 38% / 62%.
They party hard at Charleston, too. Just in case that was in doubt.
Smaller classes at Rollins College.
Attrition rate is about 15% at Rollins & about 21% at College of Charleston–but, due to a much smaller enrollment, the non-returning students will be noticed more at Rollins (about 2,000 total enrollment versus 9.100 full time & over 800 part-time total enrollment).
One has a poolside country club environment while the other is immersed in one of the most interesting cities in the world.
What type of high school is your daughter attending ? If small & private, and she wants to continue that type of experience, then Rollins College is the obvious choice.
P.S. I could understand one attending Rollins College for the first year or two to take advantage of small class size then transferring to a university for her upper level courses–more variety & smaller class size than introductory courses.
How often does one get the opportunity to live in & experience Charleston, South Carolina ?
CoC is not that big. Just 10,000 undergrad enrollment. Not a Wisconsin situation or anything (182,000 enrollment) or even a University of South Carolina situation (24900).
I posted above that we are in the same situation. Love both schools. Fell in love with Rollins last year and thought tit was so beautiful and I really loved how they structure their ‘immersion’ for freshmen (as a mom) to get the kids involved and working with their advisor, the small class sizes so the kids don’t get lost and are held accountable, etc. But also love Charleston for the school size (sometimes worry Rollins may be too small), location and the wider variety of courses and majors/minors. I think both schools would offer an amazing 4 years. Really looking forward to visiting again in the next few weeks.
I live in Orlando. Rollins has a beautiful campus and is in a fairly quiet area of Winter Park. Yes, its reputation is that it’s something of a magnet for white, wealthy kids who like to have fun (especially students from the northeast, who are drawn to FL, seemingly, by something in their DNA).
But you know what? Colleges have fairly diverse mixes, and one of my work colleagues went to Rollins. I’d describe him as a nerdy/granola-y type. CoC has its appeals too, and I am assuming that the OP’s daughter has visited both?
Are they both equal in terms of price? Even though CoC is on the smaller side for a public university (this is a good thing!), still, one should have a pretty strong gut preference: small private college or larger public university. The OP’s daughter should go where she will be most happy. Psychology is a common degree. Rollins and CoC have equal name-pull, I’d argue, so it’s a wash in my mind.
My DS16 is a junior in the Honors College at CofC and my DS19 will be attending CofC on the Fall. In terms of the party " culture", as with any school, if a student is looking for a party, they will find one. My son is not a partier and has had no difficulty finding a peer group, engaging in different clubs and enjoying his college experience…he has developed close relationships with his professors and has had the opportunity to do research as a sophomore. As a parent, I have been very pleased .
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