<p>I suspect that it isn’t just “southern” that sometimes makes it hard for northeasterners at southern schools. Some southern schools are so isolated. We don’t have the trains, bus and other systems that connect our small towns. For example, a community may only be an hour from the edge of Metro Atlanta, but there is no other way to get into Atlanta but driving. When I spent time in smaller towns in the NE, I never felt quite as stuck. Many options to get into Boston or NYC. Also, public transportation is either a pain on non-existent in many larger Southern cities as well.</p>
<p>Big southern cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, etc are becoming less and less southern with each influx of non-southerners. I expect the big cities of VA are the same. </p>
<p>Belmont is a Christian school, but my neighbor’s child graduated from there a few years ago. They are Catholic but he loved the school.</p>
<p>Just a note, although VA is considered southern by many, Northern VA is usually not Our HS is more towards urban than suburban. It is very diverse, has over 40 different languages spoken, and all signs in the school are posted in 5 languages. DD had one friend not happy at U of South Carolina. She said it was too “Southern”. By this I think that she meant there was different attitude to some of the diversity issues, a bit more of the Southern conference stuff on campus, a larger greek presence. All of which you find other places, but totaled she was not happy. She came a little further north as a transfer. Before everyone jumps on me that it is not so at the school, it was just one girl’s opinion. Our HS has sent many to U of SC because they offer fabulous scholarship opportunities. They are happy there. DD was accepted there and it was in her top 3. </p>
<p>But any school’s culture needs to be explored before deciding whether to go or not. DD’s friend had not really invested much time on the visit because it was not her top choice. She went in the end for the scholarships. NYU was her top choice and that probably explains why she was not happy.</p>
<p>Yes, I think “Southern” is code for a set of features my kids found unattractive:
– heavy fraternity/sorority culture, matters which one you’re in, etc.
– heavy sports culture
– heavy party culture
– macho culture, heterosexuality assumed to be normative
– large number of religious students, mainly evangelical Christian
– with the attendant political conservatism, weighted towards the “values” types
– not cool to be a nerd or an intellectual
– absence of high culture interest and opportunities</p>
<p>Now, that would be a caricature of any particular college, and there are lots of colleges in the geographical South that are little or nothing like that at all. (And, suprise!, they tend to do just fine attracting northern kids.) Furthermore, there are plenty of colleges in the North that are more like that than not, and plenty of kids in the North who WANT to go to college at a place with some of those qualities, and are happy if they get the chance (especially in a place that’s pretty and warm). For some reason, I know several people whose children have been really happy at Wake Forest, but they were looking for something very different in a college than my kids were.</p>
<p>Not that I would hold out my kids as a model of rationality. I had to laugh at people saying Northern Virginia is not the South – my son refused to look at Johns Hopkins because it was below the Mason-Dixon Line. (I’m pretty sure he knew that was silly, and he had other reasons he wasn’t sharing.)</p>
<p>A post along these lines seems to come along frequently. It funny that so many are interested in coming down here but really wish it would be more like where they came from…sort of like Dorothy landing in Oz…“there’s no place like home”.</p>
<p>When I moved from the north to attend grad school in the south, it was a brief adjustment (my skirts were long, theirs were short, they had lots of “married student housing” which seemed foreign to me, and I wasnt familiar at that time with the ROTC programs on campus–thought AFROTC was AFRO-TC, LOL!!! It was, however, an easy and quick adjustment.</p>
<p>DS attends a college in the South that has a large number of students from the north. He hasnt commented on any issues. His GF attends Centre. I’ll ask him for some feedback about it (she loves ti, that I know).</p>
<p>JHS, as a Northeasterner now relo’d (for business) in the Southeast you hit the nail on the head. On the flip side, my niece, from Boston, is loving Chapel Hill with no problem adjusting and friends from all over. I guess it depends.</p>
<p>Agree with JHS as well. Son refuses to look at Southern school, and your citations are probably the reason why. Although the evangelical Christian thing is not so prominent in Louisiana. We are more a Catholic state. We call our counties parishes, it is that deep rooted. For instance, it is so odd when someone asks us what church we go to. We always think of, what parish are you in, which follows what grade school you attended.</p>
<p>I think the public transport is another turnoff in the south. Son does not like traffic, and he fell in love with DC with the use of the Metro. </p>
<p>Brother in law lives in Ann Arbor and warns son of the “agonizing cold” he will encounter if he attends a school up north. He attended grad school in Rochester, NY, as well, so pretty familiar with brutal winters.</p>
<p>As for stereotypes, I’m from New Orleans. When I went away to college, at UMiami, where I encountered a large number of New Yorkers and met my very first Jewish person, it was amazing how everyone assumed that I must be promiscuous, although that was not the word they used, because of the reputation of Bourbon Street.</p>
<p>I relocated from Baltimore to Atlanta to go to college and it’s awesome…the ATL is great, the people are great. It takes a little getting used to because people do dress and act a little differently, but going to school in the South is legit.</p>
<p>To JHS-
There is a pretty big fraternity culture down here, but the fraternities in the South are totally different than the ones I remember up north (we party harder and don’t look like ******bags while doing it :)). There are a fair amount of religious people here but it’s not like everyone here is a Bible beater and you probably won’t encounter a single person talking about religion unless you bring it up first. And maybe in other places it’s normal to be a heterosexual, but def. not in Atlanta…Midtown has to be one of the most gay-friendly places I’ve been to, other than San Francisco. I’ve met more politically liberal people in Atlanta than I have ever back in Baltimore. It’s never cool to be a nerd, anywhere (even at my nerd-friendly school)…but cool-ness is judged more or less on how one carries oneself and not much on intellectual ability. Of course no one likes talking to dumb people, so…</p>
<p>And I don’t blame your son for not looking at Johns Hopkins…very bad neighborhood.</p>
<p>Montegut - I always had a hard time making people believe I’m from New Orleans because I don’t have what others consider to be a “New Orleans” accent. I don’t even really have a southern accent, altho it seems like it when I visit my in-laws in PA! </p>
<p>With the exception of Penn State (and maybe Purdue - depending on how you look at things), my son is only looking in the south. That’s where he would prefer to be. Funny because…</p>
<p><<heavy fraternity=“” sorority=“” culture,=“” matters=“” which=“” one=“” you’re=“” in,=“” etc.=“”>> - he’s not even sure he’s interested but will check it out
<<heavy sports=“” culture=“”>> - he’s not an athlete, but plays trumpet and wants to be in school with a good marching band (and a good football team usually goes with that)
<<heavy party=“” culture=“”>> - he’s definitely NOT a party animal and does a very good job of avoiding the kids who are
<<macho culture,=“” heterosexuality=“” assumed=“” to=“” be=“” normative=“”>> - doesn’t care one way of the other
<<large number=“” of=“” religious=“” students,=“” mainly=“” evangelical=“” christian=“”>> - we are not a religious family by any stretch…much to the annoyance of my MIL (from PA!)
<<with the=“” attendant=“” political=“” conservatism,=“” weighted=“” towards=“” “values”=“” types=“”>> - while we are a rather conservative family in many ways, he is very moderate on most social issues
<<not cool=“” to=“” be=“” a=“” nerd=“” or=“” an=“” intellectual=“”>> - he’s not a nerd, but he’s not part of the “in crowd” either; he is very comfortable with who he is and doesn’t really care what others think
<<absence of=“” high=“” culture=“” interest=“” and=“” opportunities=“”>> - he grew up overseas and has experienced more of the world (including museums, concerts, etc) than most US kids ever will; he loves music, is an excellent artist, wants to study abroad and would like the chance to work abroad</absence></not></with></large></macho></heavy></heavy></heavy></p>
<p>So, according to JHS - my son probably should not be looking at southern schools. But he has a very definite idea of what he wants and he has absolutely NO interest in northern schools (other than Penn State), not interested in the West Coast or anyplace cold, and doesn’t even care to consider the Ivies.</p>
<p>well there are certainly schools in the south that defy all of these stereotypes. Just a few examples (please correct me if I’m wrong):</p>
<p>– heavy fraternity/sorority culture, matters which one you’re in, etc:
NOT: New College Of Florida
– heavy sports culture
NOT: New College Of Florida
– heavy party culture
NOT: Samford University, Wesleyan College, Berea College, Agnes Scott College, Xavier University of Louisiana, Hampton University, Fisk University, Spelman College
– macho culture, heterosexuality assumed to be normative
NOT: New College Of Florida (again!)
– large number of religious students, mainly evangelical Christian
NOT: New College Of Florida
– with the attendant political conservatism, weighted towards the “values” types
NOT: New College Of Florida, Warren Wilson College
– not cool to be a nerd or an intellectual
NOT: Agnes Scott College, Davidson College, Sweet Briar College, Centre College, Hampden-Sydney College, Wofford College, Wesleyan College</p>
<p>I want to make clear that my (rather obvious) laundry list of “Southern” qualities was not intended to be a factual statement about any particular Southern college, and certainly not (as I hope would be obvious) a statement that colleges with those qualities would only be found in the South. Also, of course there are colleges in the South that have few if any of those qualities, starting with Emory, Rice, New College of Florida. And others that may have some of those qualities but are so diverse that it would be silly to expect that a non-“Southern” kid (wherever he or she was from) would have difficulty finding kindred spirits. UNC, Duke, Tulane, Davidson for starters.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you’re going to tell me that Sweet Briar is the place for nerds and intellectuals . . . I’m kind of going to roll my eyes a bit.</p>
<p>JHS-While I know you were not only limiting those qualities to Southern schools, I think those are the things son is shying away from. Thought it was a great list as far as the stereotypical Southern school.</p>
<p>Although many will say these are SEC qualities, I would venture to guess that the same holds true for ACC, Big East, PAC-10, and whatever other divisions there are out there.</p>
<p>Every school is different and every college experience is what you make of it.</p>
<p>I did NOT say that the south was like Nazi Germany! It was an analogy. I could have said it would be like someone from India or Ireland condemning religious conflict in another nation. Whatever.</p>
<p>The point is, to repeat it, stereotypes are a double-edged sword. Be wary of claiming the positive ones if your don’t also want to be lumbered with the negative ones.</p>
<p>Hmm well, I live in a small New England town that is 25 miles from the nearest public tranportation and you can’t walk ANYWHERE from here…except to the neighbors. I think that small town isolation can happen in any corner of the U.S.A.</p>
Our HS is more towards urban than suburban. It is very diverse, has over 40 different languages spoken, and all signs in the school are posted in 5 languages. DD had one friend not happy at U of South Carolina. She said it was too “Southern”. By this I think that she meant there was different attitude to some of the diversity issues, a bit more of the Southern conference stuff on campus, a larger greek presence. All of which you find other places, but totaled she was not happy. She came a little further north as a transfer. Before everyone jumps on me that it is not so at the school, it was just one girl’s opinion. Our HS has sent many to U of SC because they offer fabulous scholarship opportunities. They are happy there. DD was accepted there and it was in her top 3. </p>