Elon University - is it as good as it "looks"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son attends a local private that sends a few kids to Elon each year. The kids that attend are are at the bottom of the class - lets just say Elon is not included in the marketing materials.

Exhibit A for typical DCUM snobbery. This person has no specific or direct information about the school, no idea what its approach to education is, but can't pass up the opportunity to assert that the students who go there are dummies and her little son or daughter is, of course, superior.

Another way to spin this: Kids who weren't successful in the grind of certain DC privates found what they needed at Elon, learned to love learning and went on the great success. You can't see this if you are fixated on your DC's college competition (and you clearly see it as a competition) but I can tell you having graduated from a Big 3, that many of the students in my class who were concerned the bottom of the class, found what they needed in their less prestigious colleges and have had hugely successful careers.

I'm the parent of 2 "Big3" grads and a current student, and I agree completely with this statement. In fact, I'd go further and say that some of the kids who got lucky in the admissions game and got into a "top" school might find some aspects of schools like Elon quite appealing. For example, per the parent of a current student, I understand that Elon has an excellent academic advising program. I wish I could say the same about the school my child attends, which is ranked in the top 5 by US News (which is, of course, always and everlastingly omniscient and omnipotent.)

[Anonymous]

The reviews of this school on the website Student Reviews paints a negative picture; yes, some of these are disgruntled students with an axe to grind over some negative incident or expression of bias that may not pertain to your kids, but rarely do you see a school with more negs than positives.

http://www.studentsreview.com/NC/EC_comments.html?type=negative

[Anonymous]

Good lord - if a school doesn't attract Asians then that should be a sure red flag.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reviews of this school on the website Student Reviews paints a negative picture; yes, some of these are disgruntled students with an axe to grind over some negative incident or expression of bias that may not pertain to your kids, but rarely do you see a school with more negs than positives.

http://www.studentsreview.com/NC/EC_comments.html?type=negative

When you look at the summary page of Elon for Studentsreview, 63% of students said they would choose to return to EC, whereas 37% would not.

http://www.studentsreview.com/NC/EC_u.html

That percentage was higher than the "would return" score for UMD, UDel, or UNC-CH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good lord - if a school doesn't attract Asians then that should be a sure red flag.....

ha ha, well with regard to academics yes, but not everyone goes to a college for that reason. It may be a very good place to get a Mrs. degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good lord - if a school doesn't attract hot Asian girls then that should be a sure red flag.....

corrected

[Anonymous]

Same with my daughter's elite private school. The bottom of the class went to Elon. But, if you're coming from a public school it might be considered a great land.

Anonymous wrote:My son attends a local private that sends a few kids to Elon each year. The kids that attend are are at the bottom of the class - lets just say Elon is not included in the marketing materials.

[Anonymous]

But it seems like they're getting a lot of applicants etc. They are trying to position themsevles as a player?

[Anonymous]

Elon might be "better" than GMU/ODU, but is it really $30k a year better? I doubt it.

It may be better than my college days (where it was regarded as a joke), but again, for $35-$45k a year, it better be worth it IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same with my daughter's elite private school. The bottom of the class went to Elon. But, if you're coming from a public school it might be considered a great land.

Nope. I went to a public school, and even we benighted troglodytes thought that Elon was a steaming POS.

Anonymous wrote:My son attends a local private that sends a few kids to Elon each year. The kids that attend are are at the bottom of the class - lets just say Elon is not included in the marketing materials.

[Anonymous]

Elon doesn't compare academically to University of Richmond. UR is considered one of the top 30 private colleges.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in NC and Elon is a well-regarded school. I had several friends from high school who went there. It is better academically than UNCW or UNCA and ASU; plus those all have the 'party school rep.' Don't think it's fair to compare to the large public universities; it's a very different experience.

It's not in a "party" area of the state, but neither is Wake Forest and I don't think anyone would say that's a crappy school. Even Duke, which is a beautiful campus and one of the top schools in the country, is in Durham, which is, by and large, a hole. Just off campus, it's ugly, it's ghetto and it's dangerous.

I love the way some Marylanders and NoVirginians say that because not many kids from this area go to Elon, it must be for dummies. If it's not on your radar or you don't know anything about it, keep your mouth shut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elon doesn't compare academically to University of Richmond. UR is considered one of the top 30 private colleges.

By whom? UR grads?

[Anonymous]

We know great kids who are enrolled at Elon. College admissions have become so competitive during the past two decades that many very bright capable students are not being accepted to their dream schools. Logic then dictates that they must attend their fall back schools. If the pool of highly qualified applicants is greater than the number of seats available at schools considered to be elite, then then students at second tier schools must be pretty darn good these days.

There are millions of very smart high school students in America today and they will not all be matriculating at Harvard. Personally, I have faith that the vast majority of those very bright young men and women who do not attend Harvard will thrive and enjoy very pleasant lives.

[Anonymous]

Um, no, by US News. Not everyone agrees with the rankings but the other schools mentioned don't even come close to UR.