(Deep background: I’m looking for SLAC options for my shy, smart, creative, quirky kiddo from SF Bay Area. Although a junior, he has not yet unfurled – still discovering his interests and coming out of his shell. He and his friends like to play video games/Magic/D&D, eat large quantities of sugar, and go out on their bikes exploring together. They play jazz in a garage band and are super into listening to music. He’s naturally athletic (fast runner, strong mountain biker) but more into games like badminton than intense endurance activities. He plays one sport (varsity badminton – yes, it’s a thing!), one instrument, has zero leadership or volunteer activities (honestly the kid has been resistant to the whole concept of doing-things-because-colleges-like-them from day one – and he values unstructured time). Has no idea what he wants to study – could be physics, could be history, could be econ…hence SLAC. He’s likely to ace the SATs and will have a bunch of APs under his belt by the time he graduates but unweighted GPA isn’t going to be much above 3.7 and I’m not sure he talks enough in class to get blow-them-away teacher recs. So I’m formulating a list of colleges around the country (Reed, Beloit, Dickinson, Rhodes, Macalester, etc.) that might be a fit.)
Which brings me to Sewanee…
We’re heading to a family memorial service in northern Alabama the weekend before Thanksgiving so I’m shoehorning in a quick visit to Memphis to check out Rhodes (and eat bbq, hear music, see ducks). Here’s the question: is it worth driving a couple of hours out of our way into the mountains to see Sewanee?
Pros: It’s not that far. We’re Episcopalians, although he hasn’t been active in youth group since middle school. Mountains! Maybe we could do a little hike or something. he’s into the Hogwarts-looking schools (formative time spent at Duke when he was a kid).
Cons: I worry that the culture of the school will be too uniformly fratty/southern. Also worried that the Monday before Thanksgiving it will be deserted and cold and we’ll find ourselves wandering around a ghost town looking at pretty buildings, alone. Maybe we should just spend more time in Memphis or Nashville instead?
Sewanee is beautiful but I’d guess probably not your son’s scene. It is outdoorsy but pretty southern and fratty. Greek life seems to be in a constant battle with the administration. It will likely be cold and abandoned thanksgiving week.
What about Hendrix? I’m not sure how far that would be and I haven’t been there but maybe more his speed?
You should go. Monday will be a normal school day. Sewanee is fratty and not so different in that respect from Rhodes, but there’s a significant counterculture scene there. It’s a beautiful campus as well and you will enjoy the Episcopal connection.
Yes, it is worth the time to check out Sewanee: The University of the South. (Plus, how else are you going to get material to post in the thread about college visits ?)
I don’t know if it’ll be the right fit or not - but if you’re headed to Memphis, another to consider (also don’t know if it’s the right fit) would be Hendrix in Conway Arkansas.
You can’t do both - one or the other - but from Memphis, it’d be less than 3 hours.
It’s very respected - and it has a flagship match if you qualify.
Sewanee is really nice and strong in the humanities/writing - but I get the sense it’s rich kids galore and very preppy - from what I’ve heard. But you never know until you go and visit if it’s the right school for you or not.
The adults I know who went to Sewanee do not fit this stereotype at all. I know one kid who went for a short time but did not attend all 4 years. He left due to some other issues. He is kind of the antithesis of fratty or preppy, a very scruffy musician (some jazz folk funk rock fusion kinda stuff). None of the people I know who have ties to Sewanee are wealthy, but I’m sure there are wealthy kids there.
That said, I don’t know if it’s a match for the OP’s kid. The people who love it really really love it, but it’s pretty isolated. The Domain is vast and not near any big city.
I would say I don’t regret any of the college visits that I went on with my kid so if you just view it as a bonding time then yeah, why not. Check it out. Might not be much going on, but it’s a beautiful drive and you get to spend time with your kid.
BTW, he might like William & Mary. Not a lot of town there compared to SF but more than Sewanee and lots of nerds to play D&D and Magic with. Also an excellent school.
Was your son close to the person for whom the memorial service is being held? If so, you might think about how traveling for the service might affect his college visits. (For instance, it could be a positive insofar as it could be getting his mind off of sad things, or he could be feeling down from the memorial service and then feel down about all the college visits, even if he would have felt differently if the visits did not coincide with the memorial trip.) I know people who might fall into one camp or the other, so you might want to reflect on which grouping your son would be more likely to fall in.
Now, with respect to the colleges…my sense is that Sewanee is a more remote version of Rhodes (or that Rhodes is a more urban version of Sewanee). You may want to see if you can get a hold of a Fisk Guide (or maybe Princeton Review) and read the descriptions to see if the vibes seem like a good fit. He may also want to check out the Niche description to see whether the students’ responses represent a good mix for him.
I have heard that at some schools with very high percentages of Greek life, that it can actually be a more inclusive, different style of Greek life than is typically depicted (@cinnamon1212 or @DramaMama2021 might be able to speak to it). I honestly don’t know if that’s the case at Sewanee, or not.
Like a couple of others above, I do wonder whether your son should give Hendrix some thought as well, depending on how your family is traveling. I will say though that visiting Sewanee is a very special experience. I recall my first visit there decades ago, and it really is a beautiful setting, even if it doesn’t make the college application list. Frankly, it’s kind of worth seeing just as a “sightseeing” experience, regardless of whether the school would be a contender.
You might check the academic calendar for Sewanee, and see when classes are over Thanksgiving week; you might be able to fit in a visit while students are still there. I visited there several years ago with my daughter, and I loved the place – it was the kind of college that I wished I could have attended as an undergraduate. (Back when we toured Sewanee, they split up the parents and children into different tour groups; I don’t know whether they still do that.)
If you are also considering a side trip to Nashville, you might think about visiting Belmont University there – it’s not a SLAC, but is a good school (I know several kids who have attended there). It’s also near Vanderbilt, and Nashville is a fun city.
I’m pretty sure they’re in school the Monday before Thanksgiving. S23 was accepted at both Sewanee and Rhodes. Both are beautiful. Neither has much of a college town which he wanted. He liked the outdoorsy-ness of Sewanee. He found it to be more outdoorsy than preppy. He’s southern but not particularly preppy, nor was he interested in Greek life.
Ultimately, he picked another school over both of those, but they were strong contenders, especially Rhodes. I think it’s worth a look though.
S21 and I visited Sewanee a few years ago. I would not describe him as southern fratty (though we live in the south and he is now in a fraternity) but he felt like it was too quirky for him. We definitely encountered a wide variety of people on campus and a visit there is worthwhile if only for the beautiful campus and surroundings!
He wasn’t super close to the person whose memorial we are celebrating (although I was) – I think he’ll be okay. I’m leaning toward going to Sewanee at this point – it will be a beautiful drive and I think the comparison will be useful. Re: Greek life, I think you’re potentially correct. I had a high school boyfriend at W&L and the frats there were not all “fratty” in the stereotypical sense (although the hazing situation seemed kinda problematic).
No, not teetering on the brink. There was concern that their model of spending whatever they raised wasn’t sustainable and might lead to future problems. However, George Soros donated $500 million to them and questions about future sustainability have gone away.
When doing college tours, we made a stop at Sewanee in search of a liberal arts college with a national reputation, but provided merit. It was definitely the most isolated campus of many that were visited, but the sheer size of the campus (13,000 acres) with its own on campus remote cabin, farm, lakes and hiking paths (50 miles worth) made it really appealing for those with outdoor interests. We visited the campus and hiked several of the trails while there. You can get a Domain guide from the tour which was a book with the list of trails and sites to visit. The campus architecture was the real Hogwarts gothic experience as well.
