Southern LACs

@Overtheedge, I agree with your impression re aid at Sewanee. The student we know at Sewanee has need-based aid and is paying virtually nothing. They are very good with need-based aid.

Also, I was just reading where the average non-need based (i.e. merit) scholarship for freshman at Centre is $18k vs. only $10k at Sewanee. In our case, if D gets around the average (10k), she will not be able to attend :(. Just not enough compared to other offers in the $20k range. Still hopeful the award will be better than predicted! We loved Sewanee as well.

We have a visit to Southwestern U and Trinity U coming up in a couple weeks, will be sure to report here.

Good luck all.

Thanks AD2016 for additional insights about Sewanee. Itā€™s quite a unique experience. My D is not a party goer and has no interest in joining a sorority, but I could see a change of mind at the right college/sorority.

Yup, @overtheedge, D did get in to Rhodes! Quite happy about that. Still awaiting the all-important award information from Rhodesā€¦ hoping it is more than Centre. Like you @4kids4colleges, we may find it difficult to pay a $60-70K premium for Rhodes/Sewanee/Centre over a college like Birmingham-Southern. Thatā€™s a lot of money that could be put toward travel abroad and grad school.

Looking forward to your Southwestern and Trinity thoughts, 4kids.

Additional note on the dress code: S wears only khakis and shirts to class, but by choice. He wears jeans, shorts and t-shirts out of class. He says that they itā€™s the studentsā€™ way of showing respect to their professors and to the education theyā€™re receiving. That being said, those students who wear jeans and t-shirts to class are not in any way made to feel that theyā€™re breaking a dress code or anything. (Although, he did hear about an incident where a teacher ejected someone from class for not being dressed appropriately.)

My son just told me last night that he is now part of a pledge class at a frat at Sewanee, and they have been instructed that they have to wear coat and tie to class during the pledge weeks ā€“ again, as a way of showing respect to the institution and apparently to show that their frat takes that seriously. (Just happy he survived Shake Day!)

@Momzie - Iā€™m so glad you posted the good news. I was hoping things would work out for your S during rush. My D also survived Shake Day and is now a sorority pledge.

Ok Iā€™m curious, what is Shake Day and why is it a thing that must be "survived? (Signed, Greek clueless womenā€™s college grad )

Shake Day is the day that students accept bids to fraternities and sororities. I think it is so-called because the freshmen shake the hand of a member in the house they want to join. It is a massive campus party running from 3 in the afternoon until late at night. Lots of crazy antics.

Oh that sounds fun! Love all the traditions at Sewanee. @Overtheedgeā€Œ, Iā€™m sure itā€™s been discussed before, but is your D ever unhappy about the remoteness of Sewanee? The Princeton Review says students rate it 77% for ā€œquality of lifeā€, a measure of studentsā€™ happiness outside the classroom. Centre and Southwestern, for example, scored 91%, Agnes Scott 98% (excellent location, Iā€™m thinking). I know these numbers are to be taken with a grain of salt, but this is based on student ratingsā€¦

@4kids4collegeā€Œs - I think a lot of those ratings get skewed by particular questions. For example, if you ask students to rate the surrounding town, itā€™s likely to get low marks. Overall, students at Sewanee seem very happy.

D has grown up in Charleston, SC - a pretty cool place with lots to do. D is a city girl at heart. To her, Sewanee is like summer camp. There are plenty of things to do and she loves the peacefulness and beauty of the surrounding area. Occasionally, she goes to Chattanooga for a shopping and dining fix. When you factor in summer and all the breaks, theyā€™re only at school for about 7 months a year so that provides plenty of time away from rural TN. Ironically, she was anxious to get back to school over Winter break because she was bored at home - lol!

@4kids4collegeā€Œs - She does have one complaint. There is no Chick-Fil-A nearby. Itā€™s always her first stop on the road on her way home.

Over posting here, but 4kidsā€™ post got me thinking. I too read all the rankings, reviews, etc. on the various colleges my D was considering. I remember my parents doing the same when I applied to college - back in the Dark Ages when we had only Barronā€™s, the Insiderā€™s Guide, and a few other books as resources. At one point, my dad was comparing the number of books in the libraries - lol. But once a student has acceptances from similar schools, it really comes down to fit and money. Is it affordable? How does your kid feel when they walk onto that campus or do an overnight? Agnes Scott, Centre, Hendrix, Rhodes, Sewanee, etc. - each has its strengths and weaknesses - all will provide a great education. Itā€™s hard not to over think it when the decision involves so much time and money (Iā€™m the over thinking type). But IMHO, most kids, especially when we step back, have good instincts for the right college for them.

^^Overtheedge, you hit the nail on the head. Our process has been to find colleges within a certain range of quantifiable characteristics (hey, Iā€™m a scientistā€¦ lol) like size, sophomore retention rates, OOS student percentage, graduation rates, GPA/ACT scores that put D in the top half (for aid purposes),etc. The list of colleges will be strained further after all the financial aid is on the table. In the end, the choice will be a function of the parentā€™s thoughts on cost of attendance and Dā€™s very unscientific ā€œfeelā€ when visiting the campus. If D isnā€™t excited to attend a college after making final campus visits, thatā€™s a deal breaker.

Fortunately, there are many great colleges from which to choose.

For Sewanee, itā€™s easier for your child if he/she has a car on campus. If they start to feel isolated on the mountain, Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta are within driving distance. That being said, even if they donā€™t have a car, itā€™s not too difficult to find a friend who does.

Itā€™s been a few weeks since this thread was activeā€¦ time for an update!

D has been accepted to all the schools to which she applied, except for URichmond. Still waiting to hear from them, but I suspect the schoolā€™s grant/merit aid offered will take it out of the running. Still holding out hope that such is not the case, if only so we can visit and make an informed decision.

Itā€™s getting to the point where this decision making is for real. The merit awards have trickled in slowly but surely, and with each envelope that D opens, the parents eagerly await the hearing the numbers. (D cares but not nearly as much as us!) Top contenders in the race for Dā€™s signature at this point are Birmingham-Southern College, Rhodes College, and Rollins College.

Birmingham-Southern is so much less expensive compared to the collegesā€¦ why is that we wonder? Iā€™m talking 10K less/year for CoA than the closest competitor. Thatā€™s a lot of study abroad and internship money. Is there something ā€œwrongā€ with the place, we wonder? Surely the financial issue BSC had a few years ago isnā€™t the cause? Are there fewer opportunities at BSC? We hope to find answers to these questions soon.

D and I are excited to travel to visit Birmingham-Southern, Rhodes, and Hendrix on a whirlwind 4 day flying/driving extravaganza next week! I love these tripsā€¦ get to spend time with D knowing she will be far from home in just a few short months, warmer weather, traveling to new places, etc. Maybe D will get a real passion for one of the colleges; that would be the best outcome of all.

We, too, are going to visit Rhodes late next week. I plan to post our review upon our return, to keep the thread consistent with our other reviews.

Good luck with your trip!

I am sorry, but I know nothing about Birmingham-Southern. Hope others can help outā€¦

@ColdinMinny Maybe weā€™ll see you at Rhodes. Iā€™d be interested in getting your thoughts on it when you return.

S is doing overnight on Thursday eve, attending classes on Fri AM, then tour on Fri PM.

Happy to post a review upon return.

D will be there on Friday as well. She has requested attending a class and speaking with a Bio professor but hasnā€™t received her schedule yet. Tour in the PM, I think.

Somewhat to our surprise, D received an acceptance to Hendrix. While Iā€™m happy, the college took so long to sending its decision (originally they said December 30), D mentally and emotionally just dropped the school off her list. The question is, should she visit the school if she says she doesnā€™t want to attend? She has never visited. She has other options butā€¦ Any advice is welcome.

SlackerMomMD, what was is that attracted your daughter to Hendrix? Do those qualities still appeal to her in comparison with her other accepted schools? Does the merit/aid package compare favorably with the other schools. Can she fit in a visit and is the cost of the visit acceptable or does she now see herself attending other choices?