Why is Furman so easy to get into?

Easy? DD made an informal visit to the campus, spoke with the rep at the college fair, familiarized herself with the research projects the Furman profs were doing in her chosen field of study and indicated these things on her application. She has a 4.0 UW GPA in an IB program, 3 AP courses, class rank 7/400, 33 ACT, her Parchment transcript service estimated her chance of acceptance at Furman to be 99.9%. She applied EA and was DEFERRED, not because of her creds, but because they “wanted to get to know her better.” Ouch! So I’m not so sure it is easy to get in. She was ultimately offered admission at Furman with an 80K merit scholarship, but by that time she had emotionally moved on. She was also accepted with merit to Emory and wait-listed at Duke, but chose GA Tech with their research scholarship. We think she made the best decision.

Atl: I don’t really have specific questions today ( I did message you to say.) I guess I just wanted an application buddy to go through the process with, if that makes sense.

Stat: was that 80K per year or 20K over 4 years? Thanks. I’m glad things worked out for your daughter.

@atlgal2016 and others: how well do yankees and non-christians assimilate into the Furman culture? It sounds like a wonderful experience academically, are there any substantial cultural biases?

I specifically asked a religious question on my son’s tour. Furman used to be a Baptist college and I was worried my Catholic son would be made to feel unwelcome or have few opportunities to attend Mass. The guide reassured me otherwise. And when we were touring back in April, I saw diverse students. The campus felt small and Cheers-like: everybody knows your name. Hope that helps.

Hi all, I’m happy to answer questions, public or via private message. I am a huge fan of Furman after our daughter’s first year, so I’ll admit to being very biased! We are from Georgia, and my husband and I are both Georgia Tech grads, but neither of our daughters were interested in Tech. The one at Furman really wanted a small school - small classes and a condensed campus were very important to her. She wanted to be able to walk across campus and see people she knew (like Cheers I suppose). We are Catholic, and she goes to mass every Sunday night - they have a mass at the chapel on campus, and it’s very well attended. I think the school is quite open to different faiths, but I wouldn’t exactly call it diverse, at least not like a big state school. Actually, that’s my only complaint - I wish it was more diverse, more like real life. While it’s no longer a faith based school, it definitely has a more “conservative” feel than the other schools we visited, and that works for her - she wanted a school where there was less of a party atmosphere than the typical college. She doesn’t drink, but does go to parties and feels no pressure to drink, and I think that sort of atmosphere is not terribly common in college these days. Also, she did join a sorority and loves that experience as well. Rush is in January, which in my mind is great, and it seemed like most girls got their first or second choice - way different from a big SEC school where rush is super intense. Hope all this helps.

apraxiamom - happy to be your application buddy! just message me and we will keep in touch

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Thanks atlga2016!

northshore - I’m not aware of cultural biases - the campus seems very welcoming and I know there are students of many faiths, including non-Christian. I honestly don’t know how many of the students are “not Southern” but I know Furman is trying hard to draw students from all over. When our D was trying to decide between multiple schools, in the spring of her senior year, we had her visit each one, spend the night in the dorm (she knew someone at each school), go to classes, and stay at least one weekend night to get a feel for the social atmosphere. Those visits made all the difference in her final decision, and once she did them, she knew Furman was her first choice. I highly recommend doing that if possible, unless your child decides early and doesn’t need the additional visits.

@apraxiamom Furman’s COA is 62,000 a year, so that 80,000 is most like over 4 years.

Thanks.

@northshoreofma both my Ds graduated from Furman. Neither were particularly religious. Both are on the very liberal end of the political spectrum. Only 30% of students are from SC. D2s roommates and closest friends were from Texas, Massachusetts, and Maryland. If you look at the speakers and programs over the course of a year you’ll see very diverse offerings, which should be found at a liberal arts university. When D1 was there during the 2008 election campaign, Hillary Cinton, Barack Obama, and Mike Huckabee all made stops and spoke at Furman.

@StatQueen clearly your DD was deferred because Furman wanted to make sure that she would come before admitting her. I believe the term is “yield protection”, and lots of schools do it so that they don’t have bad admissions numbers due to admitting highly-qualified students with lots of options who go elsewhere.

statqueen, I agree - your D was caught up in the game all the colleges play where they want to make sure their numbers look good - ironically that is why this discussion began in the first place. There are local students who get into Ivy League schools and not into UGA. Crazy! But it’s because UGA knows those kids are highly unlikely to go there - that they are only applying to UGA “just in case” … anyway, I am so glad she is happy and ended up at GA Tech. We could not get either of our girls to even look at it - it was not a fit given their interests, but it sure would have been nice financially, and of course since we went there. This process can be so hard, and it’s personal, even when you have to realize it’s a numbers game in the end. Best of luck to her at Tech!

@atlgal2016 @dheldreth a very late, but very sincere thank you for your replies!