Southern LACs

College Search & Selection
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<p>D received a phone call from her admissions counselor at Birmingham Southern today. I know it’s not that uncommon but being the first one to call, it gave her a good feeling. Just wanted to say her application was received and if she had any questions. Another example of the “nurturing” environment of the school.</p>

<p>About Furman, I remember it being called a very religious school when I was going to college in the 80s (in GA). For this reason, I was a bit hesitant about it being a good fit for D. Now that I know it broke ties with the Baptist church in the 90s, I realize why it no longer has this stereotype. Thanks for the info everyone!</p>

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<p>@4kids4college‌ - How is the tour progressing? </p>

103

<p>I’m one of those northeastern bigots, so I’m benefitting quite a bit from this discussion. Thanks. </p>

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<p>Today we toured Centre College. Fantastic school. Presentation was excellent. The president of the college stopped by info session and introduced himself and shook hands with every student and parent. Apparently he is well-loved by the students. Tour was great (though weather was not). Attractive campus, nice facilities. Upperclass dorms very nice, with beautiful common areas and suite style rooms. Freshman dorms pretty typical. Dining hall very nice, food seemed pretty average - the usual fare. </p>

<p>More diverse than I expected. They have a program recruiting kids (lower income and students of color, I believe), from Boston. Our presenter and the admissions counselor who interviewed my D was formerly from this program, and the student we had lunch with was recruited from the same program. Students seem very smart, conscientious. No major stereotypes – all the usual kinds of students. Seemed a little less “southern” than Sewanee to me - but my D disagreed. She had the chance to actually hang out with the students at Sewanee, and she disputes that characterization. </p>

<p>By the way, shortly before our tour at Sewanee we realized a student from her tiny charter high school is a freshman at Sewanee. She found him in the dining hall during her visit and got to talk to him. He raved about the school (as did all the students, according to D). For what its worth, this kid is very “out” gay – not the usual Sewanee stereotype. She also went on again today about how “fun” the Sewanee students are. Of course, she did not get a chance to stay overnight at Centre, but she agrees that she might feel the same about that school if she was able to do an overnight there as well. </p>

<p>A very nice touch - the student interview was a 2 part deal, where the admissions person first interviewed D alone, then called me in so the three of us could speak together, ask questions one on one. Very helpful. First time I’ve seen that done. </p>

<p>Interesting facts - Centre is ranked #3 for study abroad (USNWR I think), with 85% studying abroad at least once, 30% more than once. It is absolutely expected of every student. And the study abroad programs are run by Centre - they don’t just ship you off to someone else’s program. They guarantee the following: You will graduate in 4 years. You will have an internship and/or research opportunity. You will study abroad. If those 3 things do not happen, they will pay for your 5th year to get it done. </p>

<p>Side note – We stayed in a great historic inn about 10 miles from Centre College- I would highly recommend to anyone who visits. Called the Beaumont Inn. The corn cakes for breakfast! OMG! The town itself is nice, smallish, clean. But I can see looking forward to staying at that inn on visits to Centre in the future (though probably have to be booked waaaayyy in advance. Also - I stayed in the Inn at Sewanee when visiting there - it is fantastic – and heard parents saying you have to book it years in advance for major events!) </p>

<p>Overall, D and I were very impressed. I would be happy to have her at Centre. </p>

<p>We also stopped by UNC Asheville for a quick visit. Great town, beautiful area. We had an “informal” tour from a relative who is a student there currently. It was pretty clear to D and I that students here are not as close-knit and maybe not as focused on academics. Lots of stories about dropping out, taking semesters off. Only 1500 out of 4000-ish students live on campus. Too commuter in my opinion. Most campus buildings older and not so attractive. A few new and impressive buildings (gym). D said no right away. So it is crossed off the list. (Yay! one less to consider!)</p>

<p>D ranked the schools we have seen so far as follows:</p>

<ol>
<li>Sewanee</li>
<li>Centre</li>
<li>Agnes Scott</li>
<li>Westminster (UT) and U of Puget Sound (WA) - tie</li>
<li>Lewis & Clark (can’t figure out why she didn’t like this one more - we visited in the summer so no student vibe to consider I guess)</li>
<li>All the schools we have seen that she eliminated – Willamette (OR), Seattle U, Linfield (OR), CU Boulder, Asheville, Oxford of Emory</li>
</ol>

<p>She will still apply to the others we don’t have time to see – Hendrix, Southwestern U, etc. And a few in Midwest - Cornell College, maybe Knox, Beloit.</p>

<p>Overall, great tour at Centre. One school left tomorrow - Guilford in Greensboro, NC. We will not be able to make it to every school we wanted to see. But this has been great (exhausting, but great)!</p>

<p>@dadof1, thanks for the BSU info! How is the neighborhood there (safety and otherwise?) </p>

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<p>And… @dadof1, that is so cool she got that first phone call! I need to be done with this tour so I can go back to pressuring my D into finishing apps! </p>

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<p>Thought: If Centre or Sewanee (or a similar school) was suddenly plunked down in New England, or PA, etc., it would immediately become a top 10-20 (rather than #45) LAC. Just because of its new location. Nothing at all to do with the quality of its programs. It would also become much richer - because it would no longer have to offer merit aid. It would find families willing to shell out $60k a year no problem. More applications and students than it could possibly accommodate. And thanks to those families, the rest of us would no longer stand a chance of getting in and actually affording the school. </p>

<p>If my kid can get the same quality education – at half the price!-- in the South, and avoid NE winters at the same time, that sounds good to me! </p>

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<p>Glad your D had a good visit at Centre! A dear friend of mine has two children there and they are both very happy. I think Centre and Sewanee share many similarities although a bit of a different vibe.</p>

<p>When my D started researching colleges her sophomore year she was determined to attend a NE LAC. During the process, we came to the same conclusion you did with respect to schools like Sewanee, Centre and Rhodes - great education, better value, and warmer weather! </p>

108

<p>@4kids4colleges We are by no means experts concerning the Birmingham area, but the we don’t consider the neighborhood around BSC to be walkable. Definitely a drawback to the college, and a car or a friend with a car seems essential. There are no destinations immediately surround the college. It seems BSC, Rhodes, and Sewanee all have this characteristic (but for different reasons). Maybe the area around Rhodes is a bit more walkable than the area around BSC?.. don’t have enough info or experience to say really. In this regard, Rollins bests these other Southern LACs by a huge margin in my opinion.</p>

<p>Choosing where to go to school seems to have important implications for your future. Although many graduates do move to other parts of the country immediately following school, I would venture to say it is more likely that graduates remain in the region from which they graduated. It would be interesting to do a study of students that don’t have family ties to a region and compare where they are living ten years after graduation. I very much agree that Southern LACs have benefits over their NE counterparts, but the decision to attend a LAC in any part of the country may have a big impact on where you live your life. </p>

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<p>^ Just a small modification to the above. The area around Sewanee may be the most walkable! and has many destinations!.. still, I would want access to a car as a student.</p>

110

<p>Speaking of getting to areas away from campus I realized that Rollins is a three minute walk from a station on the new Sunrail light rail system in Orlando. </p>

111

<p>@4kids4colleges Thanks for the detailed review of Centre! I too was really impressed by the stats on 4 year graduation, internships, and study abroad. So many schools for D to choose from (hopefully, anyway)… makes for an interesting Spring next year. </p>

112

<p>Thanks for the Centre review! I want to suggest the school to my daughter (study abroad and internship are priorities) but she may blow. To how many schools are your children applying? </p>

<p>@4kids4colleges‌, it looks like our kids’ original lists overlap a lot but my D has schools your D rejected :). (My daughter just applied to UNC-Asheville, Williamette, Eckerd and New College of Florida.). Can you write about your Guilford visit too please? It’s not on D’s list but it’s one to consider. </p>

<p>Definitely finding this thread enlightening and very helpful.</p>

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<p>My understanding from my son is that it can still get quite cold at Sewanee in the winter due to the mountain location. He said the other kids actually own corduroys – a first for him --and today I’m going to send him a down vest from LL Bean. </p>

114

<p>After reading comments about Furman, particularly this comment, I want to offer some history and clarification.</p>

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<p>Furman was the “flagship” Baptist university in South Carolina, much like Wake Forest for NC, Mercer for Georgia, and Baylor for Texas. Those universities were established by Baptist churches in part to educate Baptist students of all means. Farmers’ children, ministers’ children, children of doctors and lawyers, mill workers’ children – all knew that these universities would accept them, treat them respectfully, and usually provide financial aid and/or jobs to work their way through college. These schools were very strongly Baptist, but they accepted students of all faiths. Moreover, they were often thought of as “liberal” for their time – a place where open, intellectual discussion was valued and encouraged. The Southern Baptist Convention was a “big tent,” with moderate, conservative, and liberal Baptists all working together.</p>

<p>Two forces have changed the atmosphere in those Baptist colleges since the early 1980s – the takeover of the SBC by fundamentalists and the skyrocketing cost of private higher education.</p>

<p>First, when the fundamentalists gained control of the SBC in 1979 (presidency) on into the 1980s, they targeted what they saw as “liberalism” in the SBC’s institutions, particularly the seminaries, colleges, and universities supported by the SBC. Moderate and liberal Baptists began to join/form other entities as alternatives to the SBC, and the universities that had the financial means (including support from moderate and liberal Baptists) pulled out of the SBC. While Furman, Wake Forest, and other universities broke from the SBC, they did not break ties with the “Baptist church,” because there is no “Baptist church” other than individual congregations, many of which still support these schools. In fact, the divinity schools at Wake Forest, Mercer, Baylor, and other Baptist universities were started by moderate and liberal Baptist churches and individuals as a response to the fundamentalist takeover of the seminaries.</p>

<p>Second, after educational costs began to rise, many of the students for whom these universities were originally founded could no longer afford to attend, even with substantial scholarship assistance. Rather than attracting an economic mix of people from the South, these schools now pull more from wealthy families, and Furman draws 25% of its students from outside the Southeast.</p>

<p>These factors together have resulted in undergraduate institutions that are less religious in nature (although still supported by many Baptist churches), less socially conservative (for one thing, more drinking) but overall more politically conservative than they were before the early 1980s.</p>

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<p>I’m not sure I agree with this. So many LAC graduates go on to grad school (I believe in higher numbers than their large-university counterparts) that they are likely to go somewhere else anyway. And LACs all over the country are in small towns.</p>

<p>I think there might be some truth to a regional effect after kids have spent time in a place where they have had numerous chances to explore. For instance, my son at Hendrix has fallen in love with Austin after visiting with one of his friends who is from there. It’s still 8 hours away, though. But I could see him looking for work there after college if he doesn’t go straight to grad school.</p>

<p>Marsian, your explanation about Furman and similar schools is interesting. When I was a senior at a small evangelical high school (not by choice) the teachers pushed kids hard into religious colleges, and Furman was a popular one. Thankfully the guidance counselor saw that those types of schools would not be a good fit for me and encouraged me to apply to secular schools. I am glad to hear that Furman has evolved the way it has.</p>

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<p>Can you provide some info on the area around Centre? On paper it looks perfect for S with one exception - all of other schools he’s looking at are on the fringes of mid-sized cities. I think he’s hoping for an environment where there’s a lot to go and do off campus easily (not bars, but more the coffee house with live entertainment/independent film festival type stuff).</p>

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<p>Actually, sally305, those students who went to Furman from evangelical high schools probably found their world view quite challenged. That was the reason the fundamentalists targeted Furman and other schools like it. You probably would have been more comfortable there than you think you would have. :)</p>

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<p>@InigoMontoya: I have driven through Danville and by Centre College; the town is small and is set in mostly a rural area, as I recall. I the closest big city is Lexington</p>

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<p>@Sally305 - It’s hard not to love Austin (except the traffic!). My S recently moved there and really enjoys the City. Hendrix is a neat school. It was further than my D wanted to travel, otherwise, it would’ve been on her short list.</p>

120

<p>My son is in his first year at Centre. They don’t have much going on off campus but they do have an amazing performing arts schedule on campus. You may remember the facility from the vice presidential debates that were held there in 2012. For parents’ weekend they had Smashmouth perform and for homecoming they will be having Starship (formerly Jefferson Starship). They also have many other diverse events. He went to a concert by a famous harpist and enjoyed it!</p>