<p>We just got back from a four college visit to High Point, Elon,Guilford and Queens U of Charlotte and saw them in that order. This is my third child and I’ve visited probably two dozen colleges now. I’ve never seen a college like High Point. It was sort of like a movie set or how Walt Disney would have done a college. The facilities are flat out beautiful and I’ve never seen anything like it. Fountains, beautiful pool, movie theater, wonderful communication building, terrific food and lots of perks. They have an excellent retention rate, but no surprise there. Their dorms are probably nicer then most kids rooms at home.</p>
<p>Academics? That was the weird part, there wasn’t a lot of talk about that. All of the other college admissions people emphasized the majors, and careers after graduation. HP seemed to emphasize more of the college lifestyle. There might be something of substance underneath style but the fluff kind of distracted us from seeing it.</p>
<p>My daughter’s high school friend went there for a year , then transfered to UNC Wilmington. My accountant’s son will be attending in the fall. I have heard that it is like Disneyworld, which seems odd to me. It isn’t supposed to be a playground, is it ?</p>
<p>If everything is done conventional, then you get conventional results. I’ve taken a tour at High Point on 3 different occasions. Each time I was able to ask different questions about the academics and each time I got an answer. The staff at High Point wasn’t afraid to answer the questions. I felt they were up front and honest. They realized High Point had a lot of glamour and that was one of the selling points. I asked one of the counselors why High Point had so much things on campus that made it feel like a “theme park”. Their reasoning was that High Point wanted to keep students on campus and try to keep them out of the trouble that you get into while off campus. Not a bad reason if you ask me. </p>
<p>I was able to ask questions about my major, internships, job opportunities, professors and things that made a difference.</p>
<p>My daughter has two friends going to Highpoint. Both from private schools. One Jewish, one Catholic. Neither preppy and definately not conservative. I will have to ask them why they chose Highpoint. I think a lot of people are commenting here when they know very little to nothing about the school. Creepy? That’s kind of silly.</p>
<p>“if for no other reason than I don’t want to pay for glitz, or for heavy marketing.”</p>
<p>You probably pay for more glitz and heavy marketing if you send your kids to Yale or Harvard.</p>
<p>The one concern is that if they are really trying to create a top academic environment, they should be seeking to recruit students who care about academics. Unfortunately, if all of the fluff makes so many parents think they are skimping on the substance, it is doubtful that they are successfully attracting the intellectual type. Someone should warn the pres. to reformulate the tour or something ;).</p>
<p>umcp11 hit the nail on the head. It’s as if they are trying so hard to market the college that they are making a huge effort to win everyone over with superficial things instead of investing that money in the academic programs. Or maybe they do have great academic programs but the emphasis is not on them. That’s what was weird. We went from High Point where leisure activities were all we saw to a college where the emphasis was on research and service. A combination of the two would have made the perfect college.</p>
<p>One thing they did have that I thought was a great idea was a kiosk in the middle of one of the central walkways where kids could grab a juice or water and breakfast item on the way to class. No card swiping or anything, just grab and go. The golf carts for the tours was also very nice. We would like to have had them at many of the larger colleges we toured.</p>
<p>At my oldest son’s college, Roanoke, I remember a talk that I think the President gave to us parents at orientation where he said that they have found that kids that are comfortable and invested in their college tend to do better academically and are the ones that will stay. That’s the point of their First Year Experience (FYE) program where students do community service and different things to make them comfortable on campus. High Point has a very high retention rate, so that would be proof for them that they are doing something right.</p>
<p>Maybe High Point is catering to a different crowd, one that doesn’t have a big presence on CC…the average kid, the kid who didn’t make NHS, or wasn’t consistently on the honor roll,the kid who made too many C’s and whose SAT score sits squarely on the state/national average.
Maybe High Point doesn’t see seeking/educating the tippy-top students as their mission. There are plenty of schools who do that and folks are knocking down the doors and paying big $$ to get a seat. </p>
<p>It seems that the general consensus is that HPU has many really nice amenities but has their priorities backwards because there are few if any h.s. Valedictorians among their ranks and HPU seems to be doing little to attract them. If there were, then all those amenitities/beautiful grounds and services would be great (think Elon). </p>
<p>Surely the students at HPU must go to class and do academic work. </p>
<p>Maybe High Point University’s goal is not to be a college that is sought out by the best of the best but a school that is a nice place for the average Joe’s to land and have a chance to mature, blossom, earn a college degree giving them a better shot at success in life. </p>
<p>I don’t have a “a dog in this fight”. We are a state u. family. It just seems odd that the tone here is that it’s a waste to have spent all this money and emphasis on facilities to cater to kids who thus far in life have not risen to the top. </p>
<p>I’ve lived in NC all my life, have never visited HPU so don’t profess to be an authority. Very few from our h.s. attend HPU. Costs are prohibitive. Most go to state u’s. I do know one kid there, a junior. He’s a nice kid from a nice family but he didn’t have the stats for our big state u. and wasn’t interested in the state directional u’s. I can’t imagine these people leaving their son in a “creepy” place.</p>
<p>HP is ranked #1 in the baccalaureate schools group of southern schools on the rise list, which is put out by USNEWS. Obviously, many students like what this school offers, and very much want to attend.</p>
<p>I opened this thread to see what was being said about HPU. This school is just a little over an hour away from where I live and I have barely heard about it. I can’t think of a single kid I know who has attended there from our area (I’m sure there must be, but just ones I don’t know). I never hear anyone discussing this school. Kinda weird. However, many from our area attend Elon, Wake, Davidson, and even smaller schools like Peace and Lenoir Rhyne.</p>
<p>I have heard nice things about Lenoir Rhyne. I never read anything on cc about it. What’s it like, mkm? Also, how much do you know about Guilford, Queens U of Charlotte, and Winthrop (SC)?</p>
<p>I know some people who have attended Queens, and even some transferring out of UNC Charlotte to Queens, as well as professors who teach at Queens and Wingate University as well as UNC Charlotte. </p>
<p>I hear it’s a very nice school. Never seen it (maybe?) or been there, but it must be somewhat decent for people to want out of here to go there? </p>
<p>Packmom, you mention that HP is looking for the perhaps lower level student, one that would not get into UNC but their stats are in line with the kids that WOULD get into AP State or UNC - Greensboro, etc. My son is in the latter group which is why we looked at HP. That does not, however, mean that he is looking for a college without some oomph to it’s program, and that’s where they are missing the mark. Even the B students are looking for a job at the end of their college career and I just didn’t get the impression that that was their goal. We were not able to hear an information session though so if anyone has gone to one of them, I’d love to hear what was said.</p>
<p>Winthrop is a small (about 5000 students) public college, just over the NC border, in South Carolina but close to Charlotte. It is known, in our area, as a solid school for teacher education, the arts, and seems to be a good choice for B/C students.</p>
<p>NEmom, Lenoir Rhyne is a small college (well just a couple years ago changed to U.). It is Lutheran based. Academically I don’t think is very challenging, but I hear staff is engaged and supportive to students. It seems to have a nice mix of out of state and more local students. Most of the kids (and older) I know who attend there are going for business, religion, or nursing. Know several middle aged adults going back for master’s degrees in social work. </p>
<p>Mostly I know about Guilford because I have know several boys who went there on basketball scholarships. I hear about the school but really don’t know much more.</p>
<p>Queens is known locally mostly for the nursing program (at least I assume it is still going strong). I hear pretty positive things about Queens in general.</p>
<p>Don’t know much about Winthrop except again students who have gone there to play sports.</p>
<p>Wingate, I have a good friend whose son is in senior year there. He has really liked it. He became very involved on campus and his advising seems to have been good. I know he didn’t get accepted to NC State, Elon, UNC-CH, or Wake, but did get accepted to Appalachian and Wingate (fwiw).</p>