So I know Davidson is a fantastic school that’s hard to get into and hard work once you get in, but it seems fairly unknown, even in the east. Is that true? I know that a lot of the time how well-known a college is doesn’t necessarily matter, but it does for my intended career and I’m worried it will hold me back. Any input from east coast people? Thanks!
It’s a regional school - it’s known in the mid-atlantic/southeast. Well known in North/South Carolina and less as you get further away. I lived in NC half my life and new and heard about it all the time, In PA/Philadelphia I hardly hear it mentioned by students/parents doing the college search now.
My major would be international relations-- any idea of how well-known it would be in DC @Dolemite ?
I grew up an hour or two away from DC (in PA) and have never heard of it.
No sorry - you might get a better response on the Davidson forum as far as how large their Alumni network is especially in DC. I remember lots of Davidson grads in Law/Med/Business schools at UNC-CH and Wake.
Thanks @Dolemite --I posted on the regular forum because I wanted more honest, well-rounded answers from people who live in the area but aren’t necessarily interested in Davidson to get a better idea
On the west coast, the school is probably best known in this context:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJBgFvbod2I
Haha yep @ucbalumnus I live in Warriers territory, so the few people who have heard of Davidson have only heard of it because of Steph curry, so that’s a little concerning
I live in Maryland and am quite familiar with Davidson. it’s a given that small, private schools tend to be less well known than big state schools. But Davidson is more well known than most small, private schools in the South. Partly this is due to the basketball team, but it’s also because of it’s academic reputation. Plenty of Davidson grads in the DC area. Pretty well known from New York to Florida. Less so in New England or points West.
Basically, people know
1° schools everyone knows: Harvard, MIT, Stanford
2° schools located in the region where they live (ie., people in the Northeast know RPI, but not people in the South. reverse this for Clemson or Emory).
3° schools that have D1 football/basketball/that are on TV
And that’s it. In other words, general opinion about an elite college that’s out of these categories is going to be “unknown”.
However, if your target group is employers, grad schools, government contractors, prestigious fellowships and foundations, the answer you get is very different.
In short, people who know little about colleges won’t really know Davidson - or Swarthmore, or Wellesley, or Amherst, or Reed, or Carleton or Washington&Lee. Even educated people in the general public.
Apply to grad school or to a big-deal job in DC? That’s a whole other story.
So, are you going to impress your uncle and your high school classmates? No. When you’re a graduating senior, is that who you’ll try to impress, though?
Anyone familiar with SLACs will certainly know of it. It has an excellent reputation for those familiar with higher ed. OIt is not going to be a household name for most 18 year olds but they are not the ones on the grad school admissions committee
I live in North Carolina, and Davidson is obviously very well regarded here - but just want to point out that very few people here in NC have heard of left coast schools such as Pomona or Philly schools such as Haverford - doesn’t make the wonderful education received at such institutions as any less valuable.
When I practiced law in D.C. years ago, several of our partners had done their undergrad at Davidson – even back then, I didn’t get the impression that anyone hadn’t heard of the school. I think it’s fairly well known in the East (at least as well known as other LACs east of the Mississippi). Davidson alums are pretty devoted – never met one who didn’t rave about their experience (that includes my gen and the current – my son has at least a couple friends with old siblings there; we are sort of in their region).
Davidson regularly made the NCAA tournament (not every year, but pretty often) long before Curry attended, there is some national name recognition, even if folks aren’t completely aware of its quality.
The average schmoe thinks UPenn is Penn State, thinks UChicago is Chicago State, thinks WashU is the University of Washington and thinks Colgate is a toothpaste.
The average schmoe doesn’t matter. Grad schools and employers in the IR field will recognize Davidson. It’s a great school.
Thanks everyone for the input!
@ThankYouforHelp that is a fantastic answer you may be my new favorite person…
I echo what others in this thread say: people who don’t know anything about schools won’t know about it, but people who are well-educated themselves will know of Davidson and respect it.
When I was looking at law schools, I recall telling people that I was looking at Columbia University, the Ivy League school in NYC. People in the Southeast thought that I meant the University of South Carolina at Columbia. Those types wouldn’t know anything about Davidson, but what does it matter?
I don’t live in the Southeast, but people outside of the Southeast who know about schools (basically any middle/upper middle class person who’s had children look at competitive schools) knows about Davidson.
Davidson is the alma mater of 23 Rhodes Scholars, including former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Woodrow Wilson attended Davidson (didn’t graduate) before transferring to Princeton.
Lots of lawyers out of Davidson, so very well known. Also, Davidson is super well known among the gifted and talented community, as it has lots of ties there, so there is a national association that Davidson=smart.
How many small liberal arts colleges are you familiar with?
Davidson has grown a lot in recent years, I would say. Being a sophomore, even over the last year, I feel like it is mentioned more and more in the general media. I’m sure Stephen Curry, the pro basketball player, has a lot to do with that. It depends on who you want to notice you at Davidson.
For med schools it’s okay, but not GREAT. You will get a GPA bumb for med school, as well as most other grad schools (especially in the south - Duke, Wake, UNC…), for going to Davidson. I guess they must understand the rigor of the school.
For business, however, the school is pretty solid. Given its proximity to Charlotte, a lot of big financial firms recruit there. If you grab an internship with one of these companies from Davidson, you’ve got a great chance to land a job with a big-time financial firm. I’m (going to declare as) an Econ major, and the upperclassmen have had a lot of great things to say about job placement.
Additionally, their accounting program has a relationship with some grad schools in the state. The most well-known is Wake Forest. If you focus on business and accounting at Davidson and do well, you are almost guaranteed a spot in the accounting grad program at Wake Forest.