What about it's reputation as being white bread and insulated?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Furman University
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<p>I have found the Fiske book to be generally unhelpful, because it whitewashes so much of the college experience. I therefore found it amazing that it described Furman as full of naive, rich kids who live in a bubble, essentially unaware and unconcerned about the world at large. I was really excited about going to visit as an accepted student until I read this. What's the story? Any diversity? Also if this is really what kids are like, is the greek life totally exclusionary, so that if you are a little different you could find yourself without any social life?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

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<p>First off, congratulations on your acceptance! If you find the Fiske guide to be generally unhelpful, why would you than be concerned about what it says? Seriously, the guides are just one part of an evaluation process and are probably at its best when you are initially looking at colleges, not making a final decision. </p>

<p>I would highly recommend you make the visit and judge for yourself. If possible, arrange an overnight stay with a student and attend a class. If you want you can even meet with a professor. My D did this last year before deciding on Furman and it was a great investment of her time. I won’t lie, the diversity is minimal at this point but they seem to be working on that. My D joined a sorority but many of her friends did not. From what I am told, there are plenty of social opportunities for all students, Greek or independent. </p>

<p>For whatever it is worth, my D is not only a minority student herself but she is also from outside the Southeast, which could really make her stand out. She loves the social activities on campus and the group trips into Greenville. She has made more friends and had more fun in less than one year than all of high school combined. If you are a very liberal, atheist type of student, you might stand out a little but you would still find friends. I would highly recommend you make the visit and judge for yourself. If it is not right for you at least it was your judgement, not someone else. Good luck!</p>

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<p>A poster was concerned about Notre Dame being too Catholic. I know parents who are concerned about the Greek scene at some schools. All of these things can be addressed by visiting the school for at least a day, better for two. If the environment bothers the student, then it is not a good choice.</p>

<p>A lot of the smaller, non city schools are “white bread”. My friend was concerned about this when her mixed race son was looking for schools in the midwest. All of his life, she had looked for schools that were integrated beyond a token, and then the colleges he liked had very few minorities. He wanted big, midwestern state schools that had his field of study. and that was the result He went to OU and enjoyed it immensely. Did not bother him a whit that there was not a whole lot of diversity there. He could have gone to a number of more diverse schools, but that was not his choice and did not rank high as an issue to him.</p>

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<p>From what I have seen and heard, the “greek life” at Furman is not neccesary to have a social life at all. It’s a very small part of the campus culture. On the surface, it would seem like the school is exclusionary, just based on price, but other than that I don’t think that they try to exclude anyone from anything. So far, I know of three students from my son’s high school who were excepted at Furman (including him) and the other two are both black. I hate to mention race, but I have no reason to believe that there is any racism there. I can only assume, that if there is no racism, there are probably not a lot of other barriers either. </p>

<p>Both of the students that I ate lunch with a few weeks ago told us that the instructors were very concerned for each student as a person and not just a school ID number. Then we met one of the music instructors who walked around and spoke with many of the students.</p>

<p>I have also noticed that on the weekends the school is full of ROTC activities. People who are interested in military as a long term career probably don’t pick Furman as a first choice, so I can only assume that there are so many ROTC students because they choose ROTC as a way of paying for college (which indicates to me that they all ain’t rich spoiled brats).</p>

<p>The only Furman student that my son knows really well is from my same home town. His mother is a high school teacher and he spent part of his summer working with our high school band as a bandcamp instructor and he is currently student teaching. They are very “real world” type people.</p>

<p>When my son auditioned for the music department, he had Furman students who just walked up to him out of the blue and started up conversations. They all seemed to be interested in him as a person, but not in a “judging” type of way. One of them even suggested activities at Furman that my son should consider doing. After my son auditioned, one of the auditionors (if that is a word) came out of the audition room and shook my hand (actually kind of suprised me a little).</p>

<p>I also think that the administration goes out of it’s way to create a highly diverse student body. The post last week from the foriegn student who mentioned that he got a full ride scholarhip indicates that.</p>

<p>Also, when I have been on campus, I looked at the cars parked in the student housing areas. I saw pretty much the same types of cars that you would see on any high school campus (maybe a few less pickup trucks). No luxury cars, no exotic sports cars, just every day normal cars.</p>

<p>My son is from a very middle and class working family, will be graduating from a very typical public high school, and has absolutely no prejudices and is much more the bluejeans and tee-shirt type of person than he is a coat-n-tie person and they accepted him (and believe me, they can tell a lot about a person from the application). We still don’t know if he will be attending Furman (he is thinking a lot about going to his second choice school and I don’t know if we can swing the finances at Furman), but if he does attend Furman, if nothing else, you can hang with him.</p>

<p>I am sure that there is a group of preppy students who have their own little click, and maybe you wont get invited to their parties or study groups unless your parents are rich or unless you have that certain “look”, but you will find that EVERYWHERE. </p>

<p>If you do a web search, including on this site, you will find lots of people with the same concern as you have, but in almost every response, you will find that students have almost always said “it’s not like that at Furman”. I suspect that the nice campus and high cost and high level of student achievement give a lot of people the wrong impression.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the responses. I will definitely go visit. I know that you can tell a lot by being on campus.</p>

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<p>My older D recently graduated from Furman. She came from a public high school and very average middle class family - definitely not rich! She is politically very liberal, did an internship with a politically liberal organization in Greenville, also interned with the legal division of DSS, and volunteered with the rape crisis center. She likes indie/alternative music, buys a lot of her clothes at thrift stores, and while a student at Furman, got a tatoo. She also joined a sorority, and worked for housing at Furman. So you really can’t put a whole student body in a mold. She did wish there was a little more diversity, and she chose a graduate program at a very liberal university. However, she said that the diversity at Furman isn’t going to smack you in the face like it might at a big state U., but you’ll see it when you get to know people. She also said that having discussions with students with different points of view helped to sharpen her views - that being around only like minded people would not have helped her grow. Definitely visit and see first hand.</p>

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<p>I am Parent of an African American Son. Issues of Race and Discrimination are part of our lives… I think that many parents of Minority Children are not only concerned about the quality of education they will receive in Higher Ed but we are also concerned about how Minority Students are supported (Academically, Socially, Emotionally, Spiritually etc…) at Institutions where they are in the minority… Racism and Discrimination is unfortunately part of our life experience… The concern is how can these students that are maybe 4-8% of the total student population feel supported in the total environment…My child is familiar with sometimes being the only African-American…in an Integrated setting and in a Predominately African American setting…but what we All have in common is….our concern for our child’s safety and ability to settle in to the College scene and a fertile environment to develop relationships with fellow students, faculty and administration and be embraced for who they are and at the same time be able to celebrate and appreciate differences…(If I had a Daughter of any race, I would be concerned about how she would be supported in the same way…) On many of the Campus Tours there is a lot of discussion about Historically White Greek Organizations but no mention or no existence of Historically Black Greek Organizations…I don’t really care if my son opts to get involved in any Greek Fraternity, it is about him having the options available to him and not just a one-way street…I just wanted to give a little insight into what many Minority Parents are asking when we ask about Diversity…</p>

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<p>Im a parent of two hispanic daughters who both graduated from FU. Both are doing super. Law school, etc. Both of them are liberals.</p>

<p>Classifying FU as a bubble is no longer true. Generalinzing the school as white is also not true. The % of race of FU is not exactly the same as the country but trying to get there. Ive spent alot of time at FU and have observed nothing but respect for all races, creeds and social backgrounds from the admin and students alike. BUt dont take anyones word for it. Go visit and see for yourself</p>