<p>Can anyone tell me anything about this college? My son hopes to attend UT Austin, but does have some slight reservations about its mammoth size. He got a brochure from Southwestern which caught his attention since it is located just 20 minutes north of UT Austin. The classes are smaller and he could still have access to all the fun things in Austin. But, he has other reservations: primarily that is is religiously affiliated. I called their admissions office and they assured me that they are very accepting of other faiths/no faiths/diversity etc. And their brochure was quite impressive; seemed very open-minded and tended towards peace activism.</p>
<p>Anyone know anything about them? Most specifically, the campus culture.</p>
<p>The academics are very strong and it is a great school. Like you said, it has the benefits of Austin without the mammoth size of UT. It is moderate (not too liberal and not too conservative). There are athletic opportunities if your son is interested. I would go visit.</p>
<p>My son likes the political activism at UT and probably won't get that at SW. And SW does not seem nearly as diverse. But, it is smaller, so it's a trade-off. He is not into sports at all. Other than academics, of course, he is mainly interested in meeting lots of freethinkers.</p>
<p>Send a PM to fireflyscout. She is an alumni of Southwestern. It is not a religious school at all, just religiously affiliated, and that's a big difference. Soutnwestern is a wonderful school in terms of academics, and they can also be quite generous with merit money.</p>
<p>As Carolyn said, I'm a Southwestern alum. The religious affiliation wasn't that big a deal 25 years ago and it's even less so today. About the only impact you see is that there are several kids of Methodist ministers attending SU.</p>
<p>From what I could tell at Homecoming this fall, the students are more activist than when I was there, but it's still pretty calm. The academics are great, and students develop close relationships with their professors.</p>
<p>Do they offer a wide range of majors, including the hard sciences, computer science, etc. or is it more of a liberal arts school?</p>
<p>How is the housing? Does everyone live in a dorm, or are there any other options such as co-ops? Is it hard to get a single dorm room?</p>
<p>Is there anything else you can tell me about student life? As in, what do they do for recreation, is there a lot of partying, boozing, or is it pretty much normal...do they go into Austin a lot...6th St. along with the UT students, or do they mostly stay in Georgetown...music scene? any metalheads...vegetarians...how diverse is it...are they pretty homogeneous or are they very welcoming of people who are different in any way...stuff like that...just anything at all would be helpful...thanks!</p>
<p>I have a few friends who have gone to Southwestern in the past and the ONLY thing that they complain about is that it is SO small. It has less than 2000 people, which is really hard for a lot of people who come from my 5A high school. I don't know how many Southwestern students come to party with UT students on a regular basis...from what I have observed it seems that generally the students who attend and love Southwestern are more tame than a lot of kids who attend UT (which makes sense, there are plenty of "tame" kids at UT also). I would say that the student body is not completely homogeneous, but with a small school a lot of diversity is sacrificed. Southwestern, being so close to Austin, isn't hugely conservative though, so there is diversity in that aspect.</p>
<p>One other thing about it: the campus is absolutely beautiful. It's small, yes, but the buildings are really nice. I've only been there a few times for swim meets, but from what I can tell it seems like a very peaceful place to live.</p>
<p>If your son likes the idea of Southwestern, he might want to check out Trinity. It's in San Antonio, which is only 80 minutes or so from downtown Austin, and it also provides wonderful academics without the gargantuan size. </p>
<p>Additionally, Trinity (from what my friends there tell me) is AMAZING. Wonderful food, amazing dorms, cleaning services in the dorms. There are no grad students or TAs teaching classes and therefore a lot of individual attention. If your son is wary about the size of UT, you might suggest that he check out Trinity (the application deadline isn't until February).</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion. Actually we live in SA so we're familiar with Trinity. It seems to specialize in music and arts, and he wants computer science. You are right, though - it is a very nice campus right in the middle of the city.</p>
<p>Southwestern has outstanding science majors. They do have a computer science major, but I don't know much about it. The dorms are very nice, most are fairly new or recently renovated. There are some apartment-style residences on campus. Most students live on campus. Not sure about availability of singles. As someone said, the campus is beautiful. There are many new buildings that have replaced older buildings, but they kept many of the same elements that made the old buildings special. For example, the student union building is new, but seemed very familiar to those of us returning for homecoming.</p>
<p>I think we'll do the tour. It does sound nice. I think I had disregarded it because it looked like they wouldn't accept his cc credits. We'll have to check on that.</p>