Samford, Palm Beach Atlantic or USF for (maybe) Psychology?

College Search & Selection
21

Ahh, because I don’t think of classes of 30 or 40 as small! Granted, they’re much smaller than 300-400 person lectures, but on my spreadsheet at home, my focus is on the percentage of classes with fewer than 20 students. And although it can happen, rarely are those lecture classes. Below are the stats for the three universities that OP is considering:

University of South Florida

  • 13.4% more than 50 students
  • 40.7% with 20-49 students
  • 46% with fewer than 20 students

Palm Beach Atlantic

  • 1.1% more than 50 students
  • 34.5% with 20-49 students
  • 64.4% with fewer than 20 students

Samford

  • 3.6% more than 50 students
  • 45.7% with 20-49 students
  • 50.6% with fewer than 20 students
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22

Thank you for this stat!! I’m sure it took some work to find it and it’s super helpful!

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23

So funny that I’ve actually heard of Eckerd and Covenant! How was Covenant, by the way? I looked into it a bit.

24

My daughter likes the Socratic Method! How do i find out if a college teaches this way?

25

My guy liked it and has a terrific job now (business major), but he graduated back in 2014 so I’m not anywhere near up to date on how it is currently (pandemic/politics, etc).

Academically, esp for business, it seemed quite solid. To get his job my guy needed to take a test from his employer. There were in excess of 30(?) applicants for his job. He was told he got the second highest score.

It’s definitely a Christian school and would not work well for anyone not caring for that aspect, but my guy isn’t their specific denomination (not Calvinist) and told us it was fine. Their religion classes are taught from a Calvinist perspective if that matters.

ps If you’re in the south, it doesn’t surprise me at all if you’ve heard of Covenant and Eckerd. Eckerd is technically aligned with being Christian, but I wouldn’t consider it a Christian school TBH. The education there was solid too. My boy who graduated from there was an International Studies major.

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26

U.S. News and World Report lists the class sizes by percentage (as I listed them here) and the information is also available in the Common Data Sets, but you’re welcome!

With respect to the Socratic method, I think you would need to ask specific departments and students who are at the university. If possible, your daughter may also want to sit in on some classes. But even if they don’t use the term Socratic method, students should be able to let your family know if the classes are discussion-based, at least.

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27

Based on your daughter’s interest in Palm Beach Atlantic & in Samford, I encourage her to consider Berry College in Georgia. Largest campus in the US, almost 90% live on campus, about 1,900 students, lots of scholarships awarded, and still plenty of time to apply. Gorgeous campus. Great place for distance runners & joggers. However, there is an imbalance of 60% female /40% male.

FWIW I know of Palm Beach Atlantic due to the men’s outstanding soccer team.

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28

Thanks. Samford also has a 60/40 split M/F ratio too! Apparently it’s a trend…

29

PBA is even a bit more pronounced at about 63% versus 37%.

Your daughter should receive a meaningful scholarship award from Berry College based on past years results.

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@dblreedmama

In our experience the Greek/non-Greek life experience varies quite a bit by school. I don’t know much about the three schools your D is considering, but I know several kids at Samford who seem to be happy (and do participate in Greek life).

I suggest your D ask to be connected with a current student to ask about campus life. She can also learn a lot from the Instagram pages of the schools’ sororities and other organizations of interest. If there is a parent FB page where you could get feedback from current parents that would be another source.

  • What percentage of the student body participates in Greek life?
  • How much of campus social life revolves around Greek events? What are non-Greek social activities?
  • How inclusive is the rush process?
  • What is the rush experience? (Parties, dress attire, etc)

Congratulations to your D on having three great choices!

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31

Is the OP looking for additional school suggestions? Maybe I missed that.

@dblreedmama I know kids at Berry and Eckerd if that’s the case.

32

Maybe not, but based upon what they are looking for, additional school suggestions where they can still apply if they like what they see do no harm.

Eckerd is likely full as they’ve been in past years. I’m not sure if Covenant is still taking apps, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Both of those schools only came up due to my post about schools not needing to be known by “everyone” to be decent schools. Smaller schools often aren’t as well-known outside their region.

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33

OP, if you’re not interested in any other options, skip this post as it is completely irrelevant.

According to College Vine, Berry’s application deadline was January 15, but as it’s a 3rd party site, best to verify with the university directly.

Looking at colleges in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia that have no higher than 14:1 student/faculty ratio (which has a tendency to correlate to the percentage of classes with fewer than 20 students), is a residential campus, a graduation rate above 50%, and is still accepting applications:

Eckerd (FL), 2000 undergrads, 12:1 ratio
Florida Southern, 2700 undergrads, 14:1 ratio
Jacksonville U (FL), 2900 undergrads, 11:1 ratio
Mercer (GA), 4700 undergrads, 13:1 ratio, due April 1
New College of Florida, 800 undergrads, 8:1 ratio…but if your D liked Samford, she’s unlikely to feel that New College is a fit
Spring Hill (AL), 1200 undergrads, 13:1 ratio
U. of Mobile (AL), 1600 undergrads, 13:1 ratio

But your daughter already has some terrific acceptances and great places to think about. Please do not feel the need to re-open a search unless your D doesn’t feel as though she’s found the right place.

Also, if she likes Samford, has she thought about Birmingham-Southern? According to College Vine the deadline was February 1, but if she was interested, she could always double-check with admissions. They did a tuition reset a couple of years ago which drops the sticker price significantly, and they frequently offer merit aid on top of that. It (along with New College) is one of the Colleges That Change Lives.

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34

I don’t know how many colleges teach all of their class this way. St. John’s (Annapolis) would be an example. For some subjects it isn’t an efficient way of teaching. You are more likely to run into it in Humanities or some Social Science classes. UChicago teaches some of their Core classes this way.

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35

USF is the best choice however I see she rather go to a smaller school USF has a campus in St Petersburg with about 5000 students. They have her degree there.
If the smaller campus is a deciding factor talk to admissions you should be able to switch campuses.
Your Degree is the same no matter what campus you graduate from and you can take classes at any campus.
Family friend started at St Pete. wanted the smaller campus then sophomore year transferred to Tampa Main Campus no problem
They also have a real small campus in Sarasota more of a commuter campus.

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36

Thanks for all the great input. I think at this point she’s not keen on applying anywhere else, especially if she doesn’t have at least one HS friend going there. Seems like it’s too overwhelming as it is, having to make a decision that feels like it will direct the course of her future with this one choice. The one sure thing is she does not want debt so that’s good! I just hope she’s happy and does well if she chooses the big school.

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37

I am thinking you might be in Florida if USF is the affordable option. Has she looked at UNF in Jacksonville or FGCU? Both may provide a more smaller campus option with Florida in-state tutu toon….

38

This has nothing to do with size of the class. Law schools almost all use socratic method and most classes have 65-85 students in a class, plus a seating chart the prof uses to call on people.

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39

Didn’t know they could campus hop! Thanks!

40

Yes, waiting to hear from FGCU…