OT: College search in the Carolinas

[HuskyNan]

My Son #2 is starting his college search. He doesn't know what he wants to study (maybe Chemistry or Environmental Sciences) and he doesn't know where he wants to go, geographically, but it needs to be south of, say, New Jersey.

So far we've checked out Loyola in Maryland (the frontrunner), James Madison and Virginia Tech. JMU is a no and Virginia Tech is a maybe but, honestly, driving hours and hours and hours without seeing a single home was daunting. And when we finally did spot some signs of life it was an adult "book" store, one of many that dot the trucking route of I-81. My son was not impressed.

So, we're looking further south. Elon University in North Carolina is a school he really wants to visit but we don't want to go all the way down there to see one school so we're going to visit High Point University, too. We're pondering visiting UNC-Greensboro as well.

Is there anyone familiar with that area that can offer some opinions on the colleges? My son is quiet but very social and needs a school that has an active and involved student population. He's currently in marching band and would love to be in one in college but it's not a must-have (he can do pep band).

One last thing - he's a good student but a A- type so Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill are out.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Billybonggg]

My Son #2 is starting his college search. He doesn't know what he wants to study (maybe Chemistry or Environmental Sciences) and he doesn't know where he wants to go, geographically, but it needs to be south of, say, New Jersey.

So far we've checked out Loyola in Maryland (the frontrunner), James Madison and Virginia Tech. JMU is a no and Virginia Tech is a maybe but, honestly, driving hours and hours and hours without seeing a single home was daunting. And when we finally did spot some signs of life it was an adult "book" store, one of many that dot the trucking route of I-81. My son was not impressed.

So, we're looking further south. Elon University in North Carolina is a school he really wants to visit but we don't want to go all the way down there to see one school so we're going to visit High Point University, too. We're pondering visiting UNC-Greensboro as well.

Is there anyone familiar with that area that can offer some opinions on the colleges? My son is quiet but very social and needs a school that has an active and involved student population. He's currently in marching band and would love to be in one in college but it's not a must-have (he can do pep band).

One last thing - he's a good student but a A- type so Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill are out.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Coastal Carolina University. Environmental sciences/Marine majors have their own research island and vessel. Located in Conway, SC- 12 miles to Myrtle Beach. Small time marching band, but plays at football games.

 

[UConnChapette]

Sorry, Nan. I can't offer anything about NC colleges. My son loved his time at Georgia Tech. That may be a bit to far south from where you are looking - 5 or so hours depending on where you start from.

 

[chip]

Davidson College, Un. of Richmond, Un of Charleston. Not real big schools, but students love them. Enjoy the process

 

[Icebear]

it doesn't meet your south needs but PSU has an excellent environmental resources dept.

 

[bschwartz]

I would suggest this school in North Carolina, but I would be jealous.
LINK

They have lots of pools and hot tubs for student use.

 

[HuskyNan]

it doesn't meet your south needs but PSU has an excellent environmental resources dept.

He does not want cold and snow and dark any more. At least Connecticut weather is fairly moderate - PSU is in the snow belt. He won't even visit there.

The Environmental Studies is just something he's looking at. He is totally undecided on a major.

 

[ProZack]

I am a long time "lurker" here and haven't posted anything in years. I think the last exchange was in regard to your son's robotics program. Anyway, when I saw your question, I couldn't let it go by.

My daughter graduated from Warren Wilson College, just outside of Asheville, NC. It is a truly beautiful place. They have a unique program in that, everyone who attends works for the school (not just "make work" but real work). In addition, every student must also participate in volunteer service. Environmental studies are big there. They have a working farm with both horticulture and animal husbandry. It is also very outdoors oriented, being close to Asheville in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I think their moutain bike team has won numerous national championships.

You can get a lot more information here: http://www.warren-wilson.edu/external_index.php
Good luck with this next Adventure.

 

[zakalex]

Interesting that your son didn't like JMU. One of my sons teaches physical geography there, specializing in remote sensing (satellite images) and the department is bursting at the seams because the graduates easily find good jobs. My impression is that the students love the school, especially the males because there are way more female students than male. Did you go further east to look at U of Virginia and William and Mary? VTech is out in nowhere, surrounded by strip malls. There's no 'there' there, as Gore(?) would say. I sure remember those days, driving all around with my sons looking at schools. Glad they're long over!!

 

[Geno-ista]

My Son #2 is starting his college search. He doesn't know what he wants to study (maybe Chemistry or Environmental Sciences) and he doesn't know where he wants to go, geographically, but it needs to be south of, say, New Jersey.

So far we've checked out Loyola in Maryland (the frontrunner), James Madison and Virginia Tech. JMU is a no and Virginia Tech is a maybe but, honestly, driving hours and hours and hours without seeing a single home was daunting. And when we finally did spot some signs of life it was an adult "book" store, one of many that dot the trucking route of I-81. My son was not impressed.

So, we're looking further south. Elon University in North Carolina is a school he really wants to visit but we don't want to go all the way down there to see one school so we're going to visit High Point University, too. We're pondering visiting UNC-Greensboro as well.

Is there anyone familiar with that area that can offer some opinions on the colleges? My son is quiet but very social and needs a school that has an active and involved student population. He's currently in marching band and would love to be in one in college but it's not a must-have (he can do pep band).

One last thing - he's a good student but a A- type so Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill are out.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Nan- funny, one of my nieces is graduating from Loyola, and walking into a nice job right now. My other niece is finishing freshman yr at Elon and really loves it. We travel Rt 81 4-6x annually. Our 2nd daughter is in Greenville SC. That is an absolutely awesome small city. There is a nice school in town also. Close friends have daughter at U. VA- she loves it and we loved it. Personally, I think it's smart heading south to school, because future growth, jobs, etc.... I think are there. U of Richmond is supposed to be awesome and gorgeous I am told. If I come up with anything I think that would be helpful I will priv Mes u. Also, if you or your son wanted to chat with either of my nieces, we could easily arrange.

 

[triaddukefan]

Outside of NC, I would suggest looking into the Univ. of Richmond, William and Mary, the College of Charleston and possibly Furman as well. I'll expound on the NC schools after i grab something to eat

 

[Geno-ista]

Outside of NC, I would suggest looking into the Univ. of Richmond, William and Mary, the College of Charleston and possibly Furman as well. I'll expound on the NC schools after i grab something to eat

Thanks triad...
Furman in Greenville- beautiful area and this entire area is on the rise big time.
Charleston is another great area. Don't know much about the school.

 

[Momto2]

My Son #2 is starting his college search. He doesn't know what he wants to study (maybe Chemistry or Environmental Sciences) and he doesn't know where he wants to go, geographically, but it needs to be south of, say, New Jersey.

So far we've checked out Loyola in Maryland (the frontrunner), James Madison and Virginia Tech. JMU is a no and Virginia Tech is a maybe but, honestly, driving hours and hours and hours without seeing a single home was daunting. And when we finally did spot some signs of life it was an adult "book" store, one of many that dot the trucking route of I-81. My son was not impressed.

So, we're looking further south. Elon University in North Carolina is a school he really wants to visit but we don't want to go all the way down there to see one school so we're going to visit High Point University, too. We're pondering visiting UNC-Greensboro as well.

Is there anyone familiar with that area that can offer some opinions on the colleges? My son is quiet but very social and needs a school that has an active and involved student population. He's currently in marching band and would love to be in one in college but it's not a must-have (he can do pep band).

One last thing - he's a good student but a A- type so Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill are out.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Another Mom suggesting Davidson. Our son is a graduate. Really a great school on the outskirts of Charlotte, NC and situated on Lake Norman. It is, however, a bit difficult to meet the eligibility requirements.
You might recall that 5 or so years ago their men's team reached the Final Four and the board of trustees bought tickets and chartered a bus so the students could attend..

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

As someone said above, I too have heard good things about Coastal Carolina (if it matches your son's interests). Don't remember where the conversation occurred, but they were raving about it, in the environmental / ocean sciences context.

Otherwise, my only contribution is don't let the adult book stores bother you or your son. The more "bible belt" the area, the more adult book stores (or, more accurately, the more open advertising of them). Something that has baffled me over my years of business and pleasure travel.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I live in Columbia and graduated from USC. Does he have a college size in mind? City size? There are a lot of options to choose from.

 

[Adesmar123]

Outside of NC, I would suggest looking into the Univ. of Richmond, William and Mary, the College of Charleston and possibly Furman as well. I'll expound on the NC schools after i grab something to eat

Triad nailed it....

Your son will love the first three....mix a trip down there with Williamsburg. It borders W & M.

 

[Icebear]

He does not want cold and snow and dark any more. At least Connecticut weather is fairly moderate - PSU is in the snow belt. He won't even visit there.

The Environmental Studies is just something he's looking at. He is totally undecided on a major.

No problem just wanted to make sure you were aware of that department there.

Roanoke College in Roanoke, VA is an excellent small college if he wants a small college experience with environmental studies. Do be aware that snow falls from the Tidewater area of VA up through MD have had extreme snowfalls (18-24+") the last decade as weather patterns have changed. The worst snows are south and west of central PA mostly in the Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York triangle. I have young adults from church now living in the MD/VA area. So indeed staying south of VA is your best bet to avoid that type of weather.

 

[pvdoggy]

John Hopkins, or if he really wants to get away from the cold, Rice University, both great school and great
chemistry program.

 

[HuskyNan]

Hey guys, I really appreciate all the suggestions.

Just some clarification - my son doesn't care to be in the Roanoke area. It's beautiful country and the schools that way are great but they're just not for him. I've gotten a couple PM's wondering why my son doesn't want JMU. It's not because there's anything "wrong" with the school it's just because it didn't feel like the right fit for him.

We're aware of these schools and have looked many of them up on the Internet. I can see that they're beautiful campuses. What my son is looking for is this:

1. A lively and involved student body is important. He would prefer no commuter schools as they tend to have less school spirit. He'd also prefer a school that's Div I in sports, believe it or not. My son was actually surprised to learn this about himself. When we got to Loyola, we found out the men's lacrosse team is ranked #1 and the women's team is #14. The student support is unbelievable and there's an actual club students could join to paint their faces, put on the club t-shirt, and scream as loud as they can for the entire game. My son loved that idea and the excitement and fellowship it created among the students.

2. No remote areas. He doesn't want to go somewhere that requires an hour long ride in a bus to get to the airport where he has to catch a regional flight to get to a larger airport. He'll be an 18 year old Northerner heading hours away from home for the first time and needs to know that if he ever needs to get back to us that the trip isn't going to be stressful.

3. No areas where it's not safe to walk at night. This is from me.

4. He has not decided on a major. He thought maybe Chemistry, maybe Pharmacy, maybe Environmental Studies but he isn't sure. Therefore a school with a good career counseling dept is a huge plus. I think most schools have something that helps undecided students focus on a major but some schools are better than others.

5. Would like to have but not a deal breaker if the school doesn't have them:
- Marching band
- Near the beach or some kind of body of water

Thanks again, all.

 

[whaler11]

Clemson would hit a lot of those points.

Historically there have been enough Central CT students there to find way to share transportation at times.

Sounds like HPU is getting popular around here too.

 

[johnnyc]

I went to a couple of WCB games at Furman U. I know nothing of the school other than it is a liberal arts and has a very nice campus. Decent crowd and the band, dance team and cheerleaders all were on hand. And Brittany Hodges is a pretty good player.

Located right outside of Greenville, SC which is growing. There seem to be more people from there than here. There is a small lake on the campus, a bigger lake Robinson with boating, fishing, etc. about 15 minutes away east and much larger lakes (state parks) about an hour to the west. Plus you will get to combine a visit with your son and watch UConn when they play SC (at Columbia which is about an hour and a half away).

http://www2.furman.edu/academics/music/precollegeandadultprograms/Pages/MusicbytheLake.aspx

 

[pap49cba]

Outside of NC, I would suggest looking into the Univ. of Richmond, William and Mary, the College of Charleston and possibly Furman as well. I'll expound on the NC schools after i grab something to eat

I would second C of C and Furman. Both really good schools in nice areas.

 

[BooRadley]

Sounds like you've covered the bases nicely... A criteria that is also valuable questions whether the area offers quality coop/internship opportunities. Those first glimpses into the a field of interest do help to decide whether or not the field is a good fit... Coops/internships also provide the first elements of that ever so important network.

YOPB

 

[Harry Mangurian]

Have you looked at William & Mary? My daughter had the same interests and went to W&M.
Reasonable cost state college, nice town, highly rated.

 

[arch]

Have you looked at William & Mary? My daughter had the same interests and went to W&M.
Reasonable cost state college, nice town, highly rated.

UNC Wilmington? Has the water nearby. May have a commuter school lean, not sure.