My sense is that Sewanee has been ‘discovered’ – much in the way that Washington and Lee was discovered a few years back. College counselors have put it on some kind of list of schools that 'you might consider if Middlebury, Washington and Lee, etc" are out of range. Hearing a lot about Sewanee from Northern Virginia folks these days. Also, this is going to sound funny, but my son says there are lots of Asian families touring campus this year, which is apparently a new development – It suggests that people are becoming more aware of how good it is academically and also that it is attracting a more diverse type of student.
@Momzie - Funny you mentioned more Asians touring. I saw two Asian families at the Inn. I’m glad the school is attracting a more diverse student body.
A former boss (Vandy grad) has a sister who is a Sewanee alum. Boss’ take was that while Sewanee’s admission may be less selective than Vandy’s, Sewanee’s faculty and academic opportunities are first-rate. I think her exact words were “it may be easier to get into Sewanee, but doing well there requires some serious hard work”!
In observing, as my daughter has not visited Sewanee, it seems your kids prefer Sewanee over schools like Rhoades? My Daughter visited Rhoades and loved it, scheduling a visit to Sewanee in March or a summer month(s).
^ Sewanee and Rhodes vie for students with a similar profile (that is, it’s common for students who apply to one school to apply to the other); I think that the main difference is whether you want to go to school in Memphis (large, urban) or in Sewanee (rural, isolated).
True^. Centre College also competes for the same students, but unlike Rhodes or Memphis it is in a small town, not as isolated as S but not at all urban like R. However, it seems that Centre currently gets the fewest applications of the 3, for now anyway. Centre continues to climb the rankings and is on par with the top NE/Midwest LACs by many measures. They are all great schools!
I would definitely recommend visiting Sewanee @Sophomore1 but definitely when school is in session. We did a tour of the Pacific NW colleges during the summer, and while D liked several of them, she ended up applying to none - its just way different when the students are there, as opposed to an empty (and hot) campus.
Thanks @4kids4colleges and @gandalf78! We will definitely try and visit in March. D likes Center and it has been at the top of her list but she recently took it off as she believes it is too far for her liking.
Just want to confirm the impressions of others about Centre/Sewanee/Rhodes. These are all great colleges but different atmospheres. I’d add Hendrix and Furman in that group too. The Sewanee campus is such a unique outdoors location; Rhodes is urban but not downtown; and Centre has a small town atmosphere.
Thank you @dadof1
@Sophomore1: I definitely concur with the recommendation by 4kids4colleges about visiting a campus while school is in session; you get a totally different vibe when students are around, doing their daily activities. I visited Sewanee on a weekday over one President’s Day weekend with my high school sophomore; while brisk outside, it was pleasant enough for a tour. Also, one thing about the Sewanee tour that I thought was nice was having the potential students in a group go with one tour guide, and splitting up the parents/other family members among other tour guides – I’m sure that the students had questions for their tour guide that they might not have wanted their parents to hear!
@gandalf78 That is a great idea regarding the tour guides. And, I bet they get those all important questions answered while parents are not in the group 
. I hope spring breaks do not overlap, then it will be possible to go while students are in class. Thank you.
I wonder if some of the uptick in apps to Sewanee is due in part to Kenyon’s having become so much more difficult to get into in the past couple of years. They are both Episcopalian schools. (I believe I read somewhere that 1/3 of the students at Sewanee are Episcopalian, but I might be wrong about that.) Getting a little nervous at this point, and wishing the increase in interest was occurring next year instead of this! The ED & EA apps are the ones in the merit pool, so I am also wondering what effect it may have on possible aid.
@sophmore1 We looked at Centre, but unfortunately school was not in session when we were there. Considered looking at Rhodes, but it was further in distance for us, beyond the outer edge of our preferred travel radius. I would have liked to look at Furman, because we’ve heard so many great things about it. But D really connected with Sewanee, so we are patiently waiting!
@MidwestDad3 Thank you. Sewanee does sound wonderful and she cant wait to visit. How is their merit aid and scholarships?
That’s an interesting point @MidwestDad3 about Kenyon. I do think Sewanee stresses its ties to the Episcopal church much more than Kenyon. Sewanee says it “is the only university in the nation that is owned and governed by dioceses of the Episcopal Church, specifically the 28 dioceses of the southeastern United States.” We first learned about Sewanee through our Episcopal church, and I remember our rector saying it was the “only” Episcopal school in the country.
Probably the increase in apps has a lot to do, also, with the top 20 to 40-ish LACs being so difficult to get into (and equally hard to pay for).
As the Admissions guy at Centre said to me and D when we visited that school, “Everyone has heard of the top 20 or 30 liberal arts schools, but no one can get into them. No one has heard of the schools ranked 40 to 100, but at least you can get in!”
@Sophomore1: In regards to scholarship money from Sewanee, here is a link to the scholarship information page: http://admission.sewanee.edu/apply/scholarships. Sewanee also in the past few years has capped their tuition for matriculating students, so that tuition does not increase over four years; although it increases slightly from year to year for newly matriculated students: http://admission.sewanee.edu/tuition. I don’t know how long Sewanee will keep that policy in place, I think at this point it is considered on a year-by-year basis.
D looked at many of those mentioned - Sewanee, Rhodes, Kenyon, and Centre (along with a few others). Had we been closer, she would’ve looked at Hendrix too (great small LAC). She ended up not applying to Centre. A close friend of mine has two kids who are very happy there, but it has a fair number of in-state kids and the Kentucky vibe just didn’t appeal to D. I thought Sewanee and Kenyon were extremely similar. A bit more emphasis on athletics at Kenyon and of course, there’s the Southern influence at Sewanee. Rhodes was among my favorites (only downside for us being Memphis and distance from home) and was a close second choice for D. She just lost her heart to Sewanee. I really don’t think you can go wrong with any of those schools. Just a matter of personal preference.
Over on the current Rhodes early admissions thread, there is a short conversation about what I think is a unique event… at least something I’ve not heard of before. Rhodes is notifying EA applicants beginning tomorrow of their decision, but the admissions department has already emailed or left phone messages for several students inviting them to teleconference tomorrow night. On the teleconference will be the admissions staff and some current Rhodes students who will be there to describe opportunities at Rhodes and answer questions. It sounds like good news for D, but it’s a bit strange not receiving a decision prior to hearing about the teleconference. Can’t be a group rejection notice, right!.. that would just be cruel!
Just jumping in, as a parent of a junior who will be looking at Centre and some of these other schools – thank you! Great to hear the perspectives about these schools. My kid said no way to visiting Sewanee, the combination of “class dress” plus remote location was a double no. Centre I am going to insist on, and I may add Rhodes to that “insist” list, though one of his criteria is no or minimal-influence Greek life, so both Centre and Rhodes are iffy on that score. My kid is very involved in ceramics, and I can see the glass-blowing at Centre just blowing him away (sorry for the bad pun).
He really liked the Kenyon vibe – not too odd/quirky (found Oberlin too far on the quirky scale), so are looking for similar schools. Denison visit coming up, Dickinson on the list too.
Good luck to all you senior families!
@midwestmomofboys Sounds like Hendrix may be a nice fit for your S.
@dadof1, good luck with Rhodes! I’m sure your D will get in! As for the phone call, it sounds like a last minute effort to get more RD apps submitted. My D, who did not even apply, or show any interest, got the call today ( in the middle of class!) I thought that was strange…
@ Midwestmomofboys, please report on the Denison visit! Centre definitely fits the “not too quirky” vibe. And the glass blowing thing really is spectacular. The library and other buildings are filled with beautiful glass art and the school is very proud of their famous glass artist (forget his name). What about Grinnell?