My daughter has been accepted to all three and hasn’t decided yet. She wants to major in history and go to Law school. Thoughts?
Sewanee!
All good schools. Does she care about location? Sewanee is beautiful but nothing nearby. Greenville (Furman) is a great town. I don’t know as much about Rhodes but I think all would be good for her major, just depends on atmosphere.
Sewanee might have the best academic reputation, but it is very traditional and - as scmom12 noted - in a remote location. Rhodes has the advantages and disadvantages of Memphis to consider. If your daughter enjoys “Roots” music, it’s hard to beat Memphis. It is a tough city, with a lot of crime, however. I don’t know much about Furman.
I’d be more concerned about law school as a goal than about the choice between these three, all of which have good reputations. Lots of people have been saying for the past 5 years or so that there’s no point in going to law school unless you can get into one of the top 13. Of course, this is going to depend on the type of law she wishes to practice and the degree to which she has to borrow to pay for law school. But there are a lot of current law grads who can’t get jobs as lawyers.
If she has literary leanings, maybe Sewanee. Rhodes seems more preprofessional, Furman maybe more conservative and Christian. I could be completely wrong. 
My D went to Furman freshman year. She loved it. While there are some conservative students, there are many who are not … my D is quite liberal and never felt out of place. The education is excellent, the location is awesome. (She transferred to Vanderbilt due to a change in major, but she still has a number of close friends from her Furman days).
D also was accepted to Rhodes. Although she decided not to attend, she thought it was an excellent school. Curmudgeon, a CC legend, has a D who graduated from Rhodes and had her pick of just about every top med school in the U.S.
She didn’t look at Sewanee … we are from the midwest, and it seemed too southern to her.
My D is a 2012 Rhodes grad, and my husband and I are grads from the early 80s. All of us were science majors; D is now in an MD/PhD program. We all had great experiences at Rhodes, and part of what made it great was attending a small liberal arts college in a fairly large city. There are so many opportunities to volunteer, and Rhodes is known for its volunteer program. Our D had a full tuition scholarship at Rhodes–and that was the deciding factor for her. While Rhodes is quite strong in the sciences, I feel that it is also quite strong in the humanities, and many of D’s friends majored in one of the humanities. If you have specific questions about Rhodes, feel free to PM me. (Although my H and I grew up in the South, we’ve lived in the West for several decades, so D did a lot of traveling to get to Rhodes!)
I would consider the travel issue, for sure. Depending on where you live, both Sewanee and Rhodes can be problematic. Not sure about air access for Furman.
I (an adult living in the Nashville area) spend a fair amount of time around Sewanee and have for many years. It is gorgeous and I love it up there. I think it would start to feel very, very small after about 2 years. If you love outdoor activities (hiking, climbing etc) it is a great place. It isn’t near anything.
Rhodes offers access to Memphis and all it has to offer- good and bad. The campus is very nice and, in my opinion, safe. Some of the rest of Memphis- not so much.
Congrats to your D! All three are great schools and would be excellent for pre-law. Each has its advantages. My D did an overnight at Sewanee, and was absolutely hooked. Great students, excellent faculty, a unique community atmosphere that was different from many of the other LACs we visited.
My son complained that when he visited Rhodes that Fed Ex was very close by and that the incessant clamor of airplanes taking off and landing was quite annoying.
Otherwise he liked the school.
Sewanee is much quieter and in a more scenic area.
A friend of mine, her husband and her daughter are all Furman grads. They can’t say enough about how much they loved Furman. Greenville,S.C. is a nice small city (around 60K) with good weather. There is an airport in G’vlle. Furman’s campus is really pretty.
All 3 great schools.
I posted a fairly detailed visit report on Furman in the “Southern LAC’s” thread on CC. That would be a very good thread to read, with comments from multiple posters on all 3 of these schools.
A couple thoughts:
Location dramatically different for all 3. Sewanee rural, scenic, but over an hour to anything in the way of a city. Rhodes, its in Memphis. Furman is about 10 minutes outside of Greenville, feels almost suburban. Greenville itself is a wonderful smaller city, with a lot of growth, and great downtown with a “mini-Riverwalk”.
So depending on what you want for location, big difference.
Access also different. Memphis is a hub for Delta. Greenville can be flown in on connecting flight, and is about 75 minutes from Charlotte if you have better connections into there. Sewanee is a haul from closest airport.
The academics are pretty darn comparable, and probably depends on who you ask. Sewanee very strong heritage of writing programs. Rhodes has wonderful connections to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Furman very strong in Chemistry in particular.
If you have a wannabee lawyer, Furman has the strongest mock trial team of the three schools, and they travel all over the country competing.
Finally, I would echo the reservations about becoming a lawyer in this economy. There are no jobs to speak of, and it is actually fairly depressing for young, newly-minted lawyers. Way too many law schools for way too few jobs. Just being honest.
Good luck, you can’t go wrong with any of these three fine schools.
I’m familiar with all 3 and agree they are great schools. Each has its own vibe and the locations are very different - urban, suburban and rural. I think Furman has the best location. Greenville is a charming small city.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a lawyer and my D attends Sewanee. She was also accepted at Rhodes. She didn’t apply to Furman (in our state). For pre-law, I’d choose Sewanee. It’s very reading and writing intensive with an emphasis on teaching the canon. IMHO, the best preparation for law school. Sewanee also has a strong history department and high acceptance rate into law schools.
In response to one of the posts above, there is a lot of geographical diversity at Sewannee. I think the feel is more Southern than Rhodes, but not as Southern as Furman.
Has your D visited all 3 schools?
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
PS Sewanee and Rhodes have a joint European Studies program that is fabulous for a history major.
I don’t know much about these schools specifically but, what I do know is that Rhodes has a Mock Trial* program for undergrads that is unparalleled in the nation. Look up their results through the American Mock Trial Association. These kids are heavily pursued by the schools they compete at across the country. I was at a tournament as a parent and heard the dean of UVA law tell a student that they were waiting for his application.
*Mock Trial is an extracurricular activity not a major.
I really can’t imagine this bothering people. It’s a noise you would quickly adjust to. The tornado sirens, on the other hand… 
Rhodes has a great history program, and of course Memphis itself (and the surrounding area) has quite a bit to offer in the way of historical museums and sites – Chucalissa, National Civil Rights Museum, Egyptian Museum, Pink Palace, etc. Memphis is actually a pretty fun city if you avoid the sketchy parts, and there’s lots for a Rhodes student to do in the Midtown area.
@overtheedge: “In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a lawyer and my D attends Sewanee. She was also accepted at Rhodes. She didn’t apply to Furman (in our state). For pre-law, I’d choose Sewanee. It’s very reading and writing intensive with an emphasis on teaching the canon. IMHO, the best preparation for law school. Sewanee also has a strong history department and high acceptance rate into law schools.”
I agree with overtheedge’s assessment of “advantage Sewanee” in this regard. I am an attorney practicing law in Tennessee, and I know several very good lawyers who attended Sewanee as undergraduates; all of them have had nothing but great things to say about Sewanee, notwithstanding that its location is a little more remote than the other schools mentioned.
This is not intended as a disparagement of either Rhodes or Furman; I also know several current students and graduates from both of those schools, and they loved their undergraduate experiences there as well.
gandalf- I’m a lawyer practicing in TN, too, and I agree. Lots of Sewanee grads in the Nashville/Chattanooga legal communities for sure. Everyone loves the place. I always thought one of my kids might go, but it wasn’t to be.
I’m actually heading up there this weekend for a church retreat (well- Monteagle) and I’ll definitely run through campus. It’s just so beautiful. I know many happy Rhodes grads, too, but not as many in the legal community.
This is funny. Does every lawyer love Sewanee? I am a lawyer too, though educated in the NE at BU. If it was my choice I would pick Sewanee! D is deciding between Sewanee, Centre, Denison, Southwestern U.
But she is probably more likely med school than law school bound…
My son loved his visit to Rhodes a year ago. Thought the campus was beautiful, and the school offered many great opportunities. He decided, however, that he wanted to run competitively at a higher level and took a full tuition offer from another school.