Current Student Perspective

ncgoucher11 · 09-08-2009, 04:32 PM

Hello everyone!
I am a Junior at Goucher College this year.
I would love to answer any questions about student life, academics, or anything you'd like to know- from a student's perspective!
I am also happy to refer anyone to a particular department, office, professor, etc. if you have a question that I can't answer.
If you'd like to send a private message with other questions, that is fine!
Good luck to everyone with your college search-
NC

gweeta · 09-08-2009, 06:02 PM

ncgoucher11, my son's top choice right now is Goucher (although it's a bit of a reach for him).

My biggest concern about the school is the relatively low graduation rate (both 4 and 6 year rates). Do you have any thoughts about that?

Beyond that, can you talk about the prevalance of drugs and alcohol?

Thanks for making yourself available. Really appreciate it.

deloar · 09-09-2009, 11:48 AM

My D is a hs jr and a dancer and soccer player. I think Goucher might be a possibility for her, but we are concerned about the cost. So we have questions about financial aid.

gweeta · 09-09-2009, 12:41 PM

deloar, although I know nothing about dance, we visited Goucher twice and the dance facilities seemed very impressive.

ncgoucher11 · 09-14-2009, 03:00 PM

@gweeta:
I'm so glad your son is interested in Goucher! I honestly had never heard that we had a low graduation rate. I don't know anyone (and here you know most people) who didn't or doesn't intend to graduate within 4 or 5 years. I don't think that reflects upon the academics and student life at Goucher, though. Classes are certainly challenging and if a student feels like there's nothing to do on weekends, he likely just doesn't know where to look. I couldn't tell you the reason for that statistic or even how accurate that is, but I absolutely don't notice that or see any logical or prevalent cause for students not to graduate.

As for drugs and alcohol, they can be found on campus. If a student chooses to party or experiment with something, the opportunities exist. However, I have never found myself or any of my friends in a situation where we felt pressured ro uncomfortable. Goucher is not a major party school, so if things are going on at night or on the weekends, it is rarely seen outside of the dorms and even inside- they usually stay inside the actual rooms. Public Safety is very responsive to serious threats to the community, and takes the law seriously as far as drinking age and illegal substances. Overall, if your student is looking to avoid that scene, it is ABSOLUTELY possible and there are a thousand and one things to do every day and every night that don't include drugs or alcohol. If your student, is interested in trying that out, it is possible. Goucher feels that it is very important to keep the students informed, so the Freshmen receive a lot of information regarding drugs and alcohol that we hope will guide them in making good choices while in college.

@deloar:
Dance is HUGE here! There are SO many dancers, and everyone else is VERY supportive of the dance program and attends the shows, recitals, etc. all the time! As for financial aid, I would call the department directly and speak to someone that can answer all of your questions. The number is 410-337-6141 and everyone in that office is very nice and always willing to help out.

Let me know if you guys have more questions!

hopeful878 · 09-14-2009, 06:09 PM

I applying EA to Goucher as my first choice, but I think I'll be a pretty average candidate. My SAT score is a 1120 without writing and 1730 with it, I'm i the top 20% of my class, have a 3.5 gpa.....do you think apply EA is smart or should I wait for the regular date? I'll be crushed if I get defered

gweeta · 09-15-2009, 07:53 AM

hopeful, do you have access to the US News College Book (the telephone book sized thing)? I know it has a section that tells you how much (if at all) EA boosts your admissions chances. (Not sure if the Web version has it.) If you don't, let me know. I have an edition of the book at home (from 2007), and I'll check for you. Other than that, I'm not sure what you could look at. You seem like my son (with somewhat better grades). And for him, I view Goucher as a reach.

NCGoucher11, thanks for the helpful post. The data on Goucher's most recent 4 and 6 year graduation rates comes from collegeresults.org. It's 57.8% and 66.9% respectively. Certainly, not the last word on the school, but something it's hard not to consider. Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions.

nyc · 09-18-2009, 09:48 PM

Gweeta, the low grad rate is definitely something to consider. I know that at some schools, the low grad rate is often linked to student finances (student lacking $$ to complete the program or leaving school to work and assist with family finances - - but I don't suspect that's the case at Goucher.

hopeful878 · 09-20-2009, 01:44 AM

thanks gweeta, I actually don't have any college books, I've done most of my searches via the web and nothing has really answered my EA questions...

gweeta · 09-20-2009, 08:25 AM

nyc, we've looked at other schools with low rates, too. Hiram, for example. There, one thought was that the school gets a lot of first generation students, who for whatever reason, find college not to their liking. As for Goucher, we've not really heard anything to explain the low rate.

hopeful, our 2008 US News book reports about a 20 percentage point increase in the early decision acceptance rate (over the regular acceptance rate) for Goucher.

gweeta · 09-20-2009, 10:38 AM

Sorry, the difference is actually 15 percentage points (66% for regular and 81% for early decision).

nyc · 09-20-2009, 02:35 PM

Applying ED often boosts an applicant's chances of admission, but I thought hopeful was asking about non-binding EA (early acation).

hopeful, I've looked too, and I can't find any info about admission rates for EA candidates.

gweeta · 09-21-2009, 07:56 AM

My bad. US News only reports on the binding ED program.

jg0339 · 09-21-2009, 11:01 AM

From the common data set (2007-2008); the EA acceptance rate was 77%. Regular decision rates were 55% for men & 68% for women.

Elephantsweaters · 09-28-2009, 10:30 AM

I just posted this on another Goucher forum but this seeems to me more alive.

I was just wondering if anyone had information about the theater program? Goucher is high up on my list and I am visiting and having an interview in a few weeks but I would still like to know more before I visit the school. Any help, and general facts would be very much appreciated, and any insight into how academics are structured at Goucher. I have a general gist, but the information I have found is not as refined as I would like. I also have a 1700 on the SATs, not very good, but my GPA is a solid 3.5-3.6, should I bother submitting my SATs?