My daughter was accepted at Hendrix with generous nice merit aid. We have the same concerns about location. We live in New England and have never been to Arkansas. I've heard it's a great school and it is listed as the #1 up and coming school in the Sept issue of US News. The web site makes the college look beautiful. We are planning on visiting in February so my daughter can do an overnight visit. It is by far, the furthest college for her. I think it is very self selecting since the score ranges are above average eveb though the acceptance rate is high. We are anxious to visit. Good luck to your daughter.
Hi - I'm an alumnus of Hendrix, and I'll try to answer some of your questions. First a little intro - I graduated with a BA in Chemistry in 1979, and have proceeded to receive advanced degrees in in business management and Chemical Engineering. I own a couple of small business and live in Brasil now. When I went to school there, I also considered and was accepted to Davidson College and Tulane.
Hendrix is a small, classic liberal arts college. You'll note that I have a BA in Chemistry. I'm not sure if they've changed, but at the time, Hendrix did not grant BS degrees - this is a reflection of the huge amount of Humanities and Social Sciences that were required, in addition to sciences. Nobody zips through school there without firm grounding in all three areas - natural sciences, humanities and social sciences.
Conway AR is about 30 miles from Little Rock and has become a bedroom/commuter community for LR. There are two other colleges in Conway - University of Central Arkansas and a very small Baptist college. I can understand the apprehension of someone from other parts of the country to commit to living in small town Arkansas, but it's a very nice place.
Hendrix is sponsored by the Methodist church, but there are no mandatory church services or anything like that. It's a very liberal atmosphere where I believe that everyone would feel at home.
Hendrix has excellent undergrad programs that lead to professional degrees. Lots of pre-med, pre-theology (of all sorts), pre-law students there. Hendrix is known for its excellent choral music program, too.
Hendrix does not have "greek" social groups - this is a reflection of its small size as well as it's just not the personality of the people that go there. There are many opportunities to have a good time, both on and off campus.
Class sizes are small - especially in the upper levels. Several of my advanced chemistry classes had only 4 or 6 students. All Classes are taught by professors, not grad students. None of them hide in their offices or behind their research or writing. They're very accessible to the students.
I hope that this has helped. I'll check back to this forum to see if there are any questions on areas that I haven't touched on.
Thank you so much for the information. I have a daughter at Davidson also, so I know that Hendrix must have been very special for you to pass up your other choices. I'm assuming from your post that Hendrix has a very good reputation in that area of the country and grad schools and employers look upon a degree from there very favorably. My daughter is unsure as to what she would like to do with her life at this point, so I'm hopeful that Hendrix has a strong advising system. Do you feel you had enough contact with your advisor while you were there?
Also, is the school community very close? It sounds like it would be with such a small campus.
Thanks again for the post. It was extremely helpful.
Hi - I'm glad that my post was helpful. Regarding the contact with advisers - with a student body of only 1500, it's easy to schedule contact with advisers - mine was one of the chemistry professors, so I saw him nearly every day. I don't think that anything has changed in that respect.
A population of 1500 is big enough for one to find a group of close friends, yet become acquainted with everyone on campus. I had friends that attended large state universities, and while I was sometimes jealous of the big rock groups that they would attract and parties that they attended, I feel like I would have been lost there - just a number. I can't imagine how one could be "just a number" at Hendrix.
One thing that I neglected to mention is the new Odyssey program that allows students to develop a course of study in something that interests them . Even back in the 1970s, students were encouraged to find something that interested them and develop their own coursework to that end. The Odyssey program is very unique and I understand that colleges around the country are visiting Hendrix to study it.
I don't mean to sound like the recruiting office for Hendrix, but I'm very pleased with the depth and breadth of the education that I received there. It would have been very easy for me to have gone to another school, spend 4 years in the chemistry building and leave with a degree but without an education. That wasn't possible at Hendrix; I was required to minor in a field outside the sciences, and to study languages, art, music, history, philosophy and religion. I didn't recognize the value in that until I was older.
Thanks for the information. My D visited Davidson twice and did an overnight. She knows it is a top notch school and that she would receive a great education, but the vibe she picked-up did not click with her. It is interesting that the high acceptance rate was mentioned for Hendrix. D wants a selective school and she already mentioned the fact that Hendrix has a high acceptance rate. One advantage that Hendrix has in my D's eyes is the lack of a Greek system. Is there anyone else that might compare Hendrix to other schools they have visited.....maybe Rhodes and Centre?
Hi there, mediaman. My daughter, a current senior at Hendrix visited numerous schools including Hendrix, Centre and Rhodes. In the end, it came down to Hendrix and Centre, both offering great merit money. Originally, my husband and I really hoped she would choose Centre; that was for selfish reasons, really, as it is about half the distance from our home as Hendrix. After seeing how happy our daughter has been for the past 3 1/2 years and how she has thrived, we are thrilled that she found the perfect school for her. My DD, who is currently home for Christmas break, promises to sit down and add to this thread. I searched and found an old (4+ years) message that I posted regarding DD's visits to Hendrix and Rhodes during high school. I hope it is somewhat helpful.
We would really appreciate it if she could write a little about her experience at Hendrix over the past few years. I have read your post from years ago and it was very helpful. An update would be great. I guess the most important things we'd like to know more about are the social life, availability of classes, strength of professors, types of kids there and anything else she can add. Thanks again.
I hope you enjoy the holidays with your daughter. Mine older daughter is home from Davidson and we haven't seen a whole lot her yet
@SplashMom
Thank you for your post and the link to your great trip report!! It would be great if we could hear from your daughter about her experiences. Especially about the type of student that attends Hendrix. D wants to be surrounded with students that are intrested in learning in a liberal arts setting and are highly motivated.
We are also interested in some additional info on Hendrix. We visited in the fall and were very impressed with the beautiful campus and the warmth of the students and faculty. The academics also appear to be top notch. Being from New England, we are also a little leary of sending our son so far away.
Our oldest son has been accepted to Hendrix, offered generous merit-based aid (which may explain high SATs with a high acceptance rate), and will be competing for the Hays Memorial in Feb. He has also been assured that he will be a finalist for the Johnson at W&L, and has applied to Amherst, which we haven't visited, and UVa. Our son is very competitive, so, while I remain concerned about 80% "Greek" at W&L, he views it as less competition. My wife and I were very impressed on our visit by the facilities and the friendliness of the students at Hendrix. The majority of students are liberal in an area of the country that isn't, tolerant, and would probably self describe as un-cool, which is our son. To me, Hendrix would be ideal for a student uncertain where he or she is headed, which isn't our son. Hope this helps.
Thank you for your comments on Hendrix. My daughter is uncertain of her future plans, so Hendrix may be a good match for her. I have visited Amherst and it is a beautiful school. I hope you have an opportunity to visit at some point. Good luck with your son's decisions and the scholarship opportunities.
