My son is excited about his acceptance to Furman & we’re visiting in early April. We have relatives who live in nearby Travelers Rest, but we’re from the upper Midwest. I’d love to hear about experiences of other families who live outside the South whose kids have gone to Furman. Did they feel out of place or were they welcomed into the student body?
@ILtwinmom I can’t answer your question directly since our D21 will be starting at Furman in the fall, but I thought my experience might be somewhat helpful.
I grew up in the Upper Midwest and started at Davidson 30+ years ago. All of my high school friends attended schools in the midwest or northeast. It was a time when most people from the midwest didn’t give much thought to attending schools in the south. Although there were some students from all regions of the country, the majority of students at Davidson at that time were from the southeast.
I thought it was a great opportunity to experience life in another part of the country. The other students were extremely welcoming and easy to get to know. I went to many friends’ houses on breaks over the years, and a few even travelled up north to my parents’ place. We still get together all these years later, and now our Zoom calls run across 5 time zones 
We got the same welcoming feeling at Furman when we visited in Jan 2020. I hope your visit goes well and helps your son decide where he would like to attend school.
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The son of close family friends who live in NY attended Furman and loved it. He joined a fraternity and Canterbury (young Episcopalians) and found good friends. He loved the small classes and attention from professors. His major was CS. Furman was a great choice for him—he got merit and he loved the weather and Greenville.
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I can only pass along more anecdotes… We have a friend who is a senior at Furman. She is from the Chicago suburbs, pretty liberal and absolutely never considered Greek life. In fact, I think she was bribed into even visiting Furman during her college selection process. To her surprise, she really connected with the campus and students during that tour and has never regretted her decision to attend. She finds the student body to be very accepting of various views and she even joined a sorority. She found that many of the “stereotypes” in her mind just did not apply. She has been very happy her four years there. She particularly enjoys taking the bike trail to Travelers Rest.
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Your son will be very much welcomed at Furman. My daughter had a wonderful 4 years there coming from New Jersey. I got to know a good number of her friends and many were from the Midwest or Northeast as well as the Southern states. It is a very friendly school and where you’re from will not make a bit of difference.
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