Too Much Like High School?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Davidson College
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<p>So I've enrolled at Davidson. I chose it mainly over Rice University in Texas, and Bowdoin College in Maine. Like everybody who makes a big decision, I've experienced a lot of second guessing and the occasional buyer's remorse. I think my biggest worry now is that the school is too much like high school, or like a boarding high school. I'm afraid that it's so small and wealthy that people divide into cliques and that there's a distinct social structure predicated around being a "cool kid" in a frat, and I worry that the academic feel is too much like high school as well (i.e., almost every class is in the same building). My experience of high school was not necessarily negative, but I'm ready to move on to an environment where kids don't pay so much attention to who is cool and who is not, where kids are doing their own thing pursuing their passions, and where organizations (like frats, perhaps) don't encourage kids to focus more on their social standing than their intellectual engagement or growth. I worry that, even if it's noticeably different from high school in terms of professors at the top of their fields, there is just too much about the school that will jog my memory and bring me back to the last four years. Can someone dissuade my fears? </p>

<p>Don't get me wrong, I know I'd be experiencing different but comparable concerns had I chose another school. I love Davidson and loved it throughout the whole process, I just have gotten increasingly concerned recently.</p>

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<p>Everyone goes through this, so don’t worry! Sometimes even I have second thoughts (“Gee, should have applied there…” etc.), and I LOVE Davidson and know that I would choose to go there over any other college/university in the whole world, if given the chance to go full-ride wherever I want. </p>

<p>I think I’ve found the ONLY ways Davidson is like a high school are having the majority of your classes in one building (unless you’re a science, theater, art, or music major, and then you could be all over the place), and for some people, the size. I went to a very, very small private school (less than 300 in the whole high school; 81 in my graduating class), so size hasn’t really been an issue for me. Davidson still feels pretty big at 1700. </p>

<p>It’s not at all like a boarding school, because boarding schools are usually very strict with the boarding aspects. At a typical co-ed boarding school, boys and girls are usually not housed on the same hall or even in the same building. At Davidson, all the buildings are co-ed, at least by floor (Watts, Richardson, Little, etc.), and even by wing (Belk), and even completely mixed (Irwin, Akers, Knox – I’m in Irwin next year and I’m on a hall with mostly guys…actually, even my RA is a boy. I’m a girl). At boarding high schools, there are usually very tight restrictions about boys visiting girls, and even members of the same sex visiting each other. At Davidson, they really don’t care too much, if at all, if you decide to move in with your boyfriend. Of course, your boyfriend’s roommate will probably mind, but the school just doesn’t care haha.</p>

<p>At boarding high school, there are typically VERY scary consequences for being caught with alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs. At Davidson, not many people are going to care if you’re drinking. There are cops at a lot of the parties, but they’re not going to bother you unless you’re clearly causing harm to yourself or others. If you’re walking around with an open cup of something, they assume you’re drinking water unless you give them a reason to think it’s something else (eg. acting crazy). If you’re caught and written up, there’s only about a fifty percent chance that the report will even be processed. If the report is processed, it’s a small fine. As long as you’re not getting caught all the time, you won’t have to worry about them so much as informing your parents of your behavior. No one cares if you smoke cigarettes. Not many people in the older classes do, but I know LOTS of kids in my class (2012) who do smoke. Actually, almost all of my good friends smoke. As for drugs…if you get caught, you get in some trouble, but you don’t have to worry about expulsion or suspension or anything scary for weed the first time. </p>

<p>Boarding schools are also very careful about monitoring locations of students. They want to know where you are at all times. At Davidson, you can come and go as you please. If you don’t have a very involved hall counselor (RA for freshmen), the school might never know where you are. You don’t have to tell anyone you’re going home for a weekend or visiting someone. There’s no signing out. There’s no curfew. There are technically quiet hours, but people ignore them for the most part. I mean, people are respectful, just there’s no one minute when people decide it’s bedtime. You don’t have light’s out…no prefect telling you it’s time to go to bed and stop talking. You’re in charge of waking yourself up and getting yourself to class.</p>

<p>The biggest difference, therefore, between boarding school and Davidson/college-life is independence. </p>

<p>The biggest difference between Davidson and high school in general is that at Davidson, the word “cool” doesn’t mean anything. The kids who act like they’re just too cool find each other, stay together, and are basically ignored by everyone else. Anyone who’s snobbish will get a lot of people rolling their eyes at him/her. There’s no pressure to dress a certain way. A lot of people say Davidson kids are “preppy”…I don’t think so at all. You see all kinds of clothes…funky…punk…hippy…rocker…sporty…sloppy…high fashion…classic looks…everything! There’s no pressure to act a certain way either, because even though Davidson is not very ethnically/racially diverse, it is still extremely diverse geographically and personality-wise. </p>

<p>People won’t judge you unfairly like high schoolers do. They’ll take you for who entirely for who you are. If they don’t, they’re probably not worth getting to know and you should find a different group of friends. Most of my friends were not on my hall, last year…just didn’t click well. But a lot of times, you will find people on your hall who are awesome and who have a lot in common with you (Myers-Brigg is applied to halls, too, not just roommate pairs).</p>

<p>For the most part, people at Davidson are there to learn, better themselves, and make friends for life. </p>

<p>I promise, it’s nothing like high school :)</p>