<p>Hmmmmm. A southern school without a football team? Noticed HPU also lacks a men’s lacrosse team. Any conjecture as to what this all means?</p>
<p>I find this whole thread amusing on many levels. </p>
<p>I would just add two cents wrt this</p>
<p>“either these courses are taught by part-time adjunct instructors, or they are not really filling/offering these”</p>
<p>If RPI would decide to hire an adjunct to teach Japenese, I would be most pleased, as it would still beat going to Hudson Valley Community College to take a Japanese class that from what I can gather from HVCC’s catalog is about equivalent to what DD took freshman year in HS. Cmon, Pres Jackson, MOVE on this!</p>
<p>and speaking of the devil.</p>
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<p>Source? If “this year” really means last year’s rising sophomores I’d love to know the source because US News and World report is listing last year’s stats as 79 percent. That’s a huge difference from “more than 90%.” </p>
<p>After googling High Point and “common data set” info it came up empty so I called the school asking if the common data set info was on-line. The very nice woman took my telephone number telling me she would get right back to me. And the very nice woman did not get back to me.</p>
<p>Dr. Qubein quoted 90% returning students (I assumed it was Freshman retention, but it apaprently is the return rate for all students) in his letter to graduating seniors.</p>
<p>NewCollegeDad: do you have access to High Point’s common data set? Curious to see it…</p>
<p>According to this [College</a> Navigator - High Point University](<a href=“College Navigator - Search Results”>College Navigator - High Point University) HPU’s retention rate was 81%. I think that’s pretty good.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t understand why High Point is being so vilified here. So it’s not for everyone, neither are many small LAC’s. I visited and it was not Sodom and Gomorrah, not an oversize community college. It was just different and interesting. If my son had fallen head and heels in love with it, I think I would be investigating further but without a dog in the fight I don’t know why some of you parents persist in bashing.</p>
<p>81% is excellent, IMO, esp. for a school in NC. The reason that I say this is because after freshmen year, I’d imagine that some percentage would be tempted to pay instate tuition at a NC public U if they are considered to be instate (they are a bargain). I would think that some percentage might not have been accepted to their instate NC public of choice and decided to choose a private college for one year with the idea of reapplying to that NC public after freshman year. The fact that 81% stayed at HPU does say something.</p>
<p>High Point is one of 240 colleges with spots still available - you can take that any way you want.</p>
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<p>Don’t shoot the messenger. If HP wants to be taken seriously they can begin by ending this nonsense:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.highpoint.edu/undergraduate/images/The_Hpu_Dorm_Room.jpg[/url]”>http://www.highpoint.edu/undergraduate/images/The_Hpu_Dorm_Room.jpg</a></p>
![http://www.highpoint.edu/undergraduate/images/The_Hpu_Dorm_Room.jpg[/url]](http://www.highpoint.edu/undergraduate/images/The_Hpu_Dorm_Room.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>Yes! That’s the electric marquee I refered to in post #8. It did kinda make us :eek:.</p>
<p>They had this for my son as well. He got a kick out of it, and I took a picture. The next day we visited Guilford and they had a little sign welcoming him there. I took a picture of that too. Marketing does not make a college bad.</p>
<p>Frankly, we several of these signs, whether they were reserved parking spots, or welcome signs in front of admission offices (some done in lights too) and they often listed the student’s name and state they come from. This seemed to be quite common at the small midwestern LACs.</p>
<p>As far as those schools with open slots, you’d be suprised at some of the schools that have been on that list in the past. I did not look at it this year. Sometimes I think that being on this list has something to do with location and how much a school is discounting and if they are gapping too much.</p>
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<p>You’re there on site, that’s not marketing, that’s sales. What’s next? Breakfast with the theme characters in Cinderella’s Castle?</p>
<p>Zipidee-doo-dah, zipideee yay…my oh my what a wonderful idea ;). </p>
<p>About the signs, I know a nontraditional student who attends HP. She told me about the parking sign. She thinks it makes one feel special! I guess these gimmicks work well with some people. I feel it is more like a “used car salesman stunt”. It just is not me. I’d like to know about facutly, programs, career center placement statistics, cost, and so on. I don’t care about signs, fountains, ice cream trucks, etc.</p>
<p>nemom-agreed. the superficial things are just not important!</p>
<p>“Gaming? Ha! Not so fast. The same disciplines used for creating vide games are now being used in medical, military, social, media, design, etc. - pretty neat way to evolve toward future needs.”</p>
<p>From all I have read, to go into gaming, you are better off with a straight Comp Sci degree than a game design degree. Plus its a lot more flexible. I say that, with DD going off to RPI which has a gaming and simulation degree. But its also got a rock solid reputation in engineering and architecture etc, so I will forgive them the gimmick major. </p>
<p>At a school that sounds so gimmicky in so many ways, I would be more wary. Its not that any one of their innovations/gimmicks couldn’t be argued for. From what I can gather reading here (and that is my sole source on this) its kind of the whole gestalt. </p>
<p>A PR guy could be a great college prez. Having fancy dining halls to teach manners could make sense. A college with a PR guy as prez that has fancy dining halls to teach manners - well I smell an agenda. A particular vision of education. Not one that makes me comfortable. But then I am an old fogie. Every choice is invididual.</p>
<p>I wanted to address the football comment.
When I was in college there I heard a RUMOR, but I am not sure how valid it is, from what I understand years ago before I went to college there was a football team. The way the story goes is that one of the (white) football members got depressed and committed suicide and the family paid the school for them not to have a football team.</p>
<p>I would like to offer my perspective to this debate. Several people mentioned that HPU is a college for the average or below-average students, and someone expressed curiosity as to the stats of the newly accepted class. I just graduated high school as the valedictorian of my class, and I am also a National Merit Scholar. I took AP and honors coursework throughout high school and this year I have already taken 3 college courses through dual enrollment programs. My extracurriculars are not lacking either. I have received varsity letters for swim team, I am extensively involved in a community service program in my city focused on the prevention of drug use and underage drinking, I work as a choreographer in my community, and I have been a Louisiana delegate to national and international conferences like NYLC and GYLC.
I am certainly far from what one would consider an average student, and nevertheless, I have chosen to attend HPU this fall.
I was also accepted with scholarships to many other schools including UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Asheville, Texas Christian U, University of Alabama, App State, and my number 2 choice: Washington and Lee University, which if any of you are truly familiar with the top schools, is considered an unofficial Ivy because of its stats.
Yes, I was given a considerable scholarship to attend High Point, but it was not a free ride, as many of my other scholarship offers were.
My decision was based upon some things that do not need further description: the size of the institution as a whole (I wanted a small school), the student:professor ratio, and the student focus.
Also, I decided I did not want to attend a school with a heavy emphasis on research. The more research the professors are being paid to do, the less they are teaching, and more often than not, you end up with Teaching Assistants, who certainly possess lower degrees than the professors they are replacing in the classroom.
My major played a big role in my decision because I have declared Strategic Communications which at HPU is an advertising and public relations track. Most other colleges required me to choose one, and I could not double major in the communications department, which seemed rather ridiculous. There is alot of crossover in the work force between advertising and PR so learning one and not the other is strange because you would likely find that information beneficial, and it could even open up more opportunities for you in the job market. When I visited HPU to interview for my scholarship, I had the opportunity to meet with the head of the Strategic Comm department and what I was most impressed with was the focus on actual experience in the classroom. Theoretical knowledge is great for your lower level courses, but what you really need is to be trained to deal with all kinds of situations in the PR field, and to actually attempt to promote a product using advertising. Of course, this was my research on one department, and I have no idea if the same philosophy is applied to the other majors.
Regretfully, I end on the note that HPU “fit” me best. I know it seems overplayed, but it really is all about what’s right for you. If the Chemistry program is understaffed (I do not know if this is true or not), it doesn’t affect me, so it did not go into my decision making process. I wanted a school that cares about its students and tries to prepare them for the job market, as that is the end goal, and at this point in time, I believe that is what I’ve found. I will certainly post again when I have experienced life as a HPU student.</p>
<p>Wow, another brand new poster telling us how impressive they are while supporting HPU. What a surprise.</p>
<p>I wish you best of luck at HPU, but no, Washington and Lee is not considered an “official Ivy.” It’s a decent regional school, not well known at all outside its region, that’s all.</p>