I am a very liberal, Jewish, art education major from the northeast. At which school would I likely fit in? I love both but I've heard the High Point is conservative and 1984-ish which is a huge turn off, but I've also heard that Elon is very preppy and full of spoiled kids which is also a huge turn off as I'm coming from a wealthy town and have spent my whole life not fitting in and being the only teenager with a job.
I'd say neither are particularly liberal-seeming, though I'm sure both have a population of non-preppy, conservative kids. If you like the Bard-type schools in the NE, then I don't think you'd love either HP or Elon. If you listed schools which you've already seen & liked or disliked, that might help rather than listing your knowledge of the stereotypes!
Despite being well manicured schools within about 50 miles of each other in North Carolina HP and Elon could not be more different and have almost nothing else in common. Elon would be the don't miss school.
Some students at Elon certainly are preppy and many students certainly are not. Some students are conservative and some are liberal. Most work or take additional classes in the Summer and a lot of them work on campus or have Internships off campus.
Elon works hard to put together a unique class of students each year and has been actively recruiting for religious deversity. You will find a lot of useful information here on CC or at the Elon Hillel website Elon University - Hillel
spacejam - I have spent considerable time researching Jewish life at many east coast schools. Elon has a vibrant Hillel and a growing Jewish population. The incoming freshman class is between 7% - 10% Jewish. I believe Jewish students will be very comfortable at Elon.
High Point, on the other hand, has a very inactive Hillel and virtually no Jewish life to speak of. It is, in my opinion, a Christian school. For example, there are few if any Wednesday night classes offered because there is a Christian worship service held on Wednesday nights that is very well attended. Not saying there is anything wrong with that - but I think High Point should be more clear about its Christian identity.
As ncmentor said, they are very different schools. They are close enough that if you have time to visit one - you can see both in the same day and form your own opinions.
According to Princeton Review, both Elon and High Point have religious affiliations. Elon, with the United Church of Christ and High Point with the United Methodist Church.
My daughter is in her first semester at High Point and loves it. Her roommates (there are 3) enjoy a party and seem to find them easily. D is more academic but has found a great group of friends. For what its worth, one of her friends is Jewish and seems to really like High Point as well.
I would encourage to visit both schools and find if either of them would be a good fit for you. Ultimately. that is the most important. Best of luck to you!
You are correct about the religious affiliations. I am a United Church of Christ member, and my church supports Elon financially. My S is currently a freshman at High Point, and he loves it. We visited both schools, and both seem very welcoming to those of all faiths. I concur that you should visit both as this is an important issue to you and could easily get a vibe others do not. Good luck!
I don't think the differences between the schools starts or ends at historical (almost every private college in the US was started by a religious group) or perceived institutionalization of selected religious values. What does matter quite a bit is how welcoming and open the administration and other students are to people who are different from themselves and if those differences are encouraged and valued as part of the learning experience or only merely tolerated.
I think it's very important to look for an institutionalized culture of welcoming differences.
It doesn't take long to do a little research here and elsewhere to see some vast differences.
My S was recently accepted to High Point. How is the quality of the education? Do students find enough activities on campus and in the surrounding community?
Have you visited HPU? There are plenty of activities to keep students busy on weekends without even leaving campus. I think the quality of education is top-notch. They've recently added staff that has come from Duke and John Hopkins. All classes are taught by professors, not TA's or grad students.
My son is a freshman, without a car, and he has never uttered the word "boring" when talking about HPU! There are plenty of activities on campus to keep him occupied.
In terms of the quality of the education...given the fact that my son is only a Freshman, I can't speak to how the next 3 years will be but so far his courses have been on par with any other college courses my older son has taken at his school. My HPU student is a fairly decent student and has actually been challenged with a couple of his courses ("I've studied harder for this course than I ever have in my life" was recently said). We've been more than satisfied with his experience at HPU so far.
We attended the Presidential Scholarship weekend also. My wife was looking forward to the Godiva box (we had been there before with out D, so we knew the deal - D. ended up going to Tulane). My S is totally up in the air. Anyone have thoughts about HP versus Elon. Academically, student personality, Athletics (he's hoping to start club baseball if he goes to HP).
He's been accepted to both schools (along with Tulane, Rollins, Florida Southern, U. of Tampa - He's waiting on Emory, Vanderbilt and Washington & Lee). He's a smart kid with no clue of what he wants to pursue...anything from business, to national security, Law to engineering.
How would you rate the schools for a good student, looking to find a direction?
Ok, I would personally say, that if you at all want to be challenged academically HANDS DOWN go to Elon. At HPU it's not hard to make straight-A's, and it definitely does not have the academic prestige that Elon does. Maybe in a ten years it will, but right now it definitely does not. The professors are amazing and they really want you to do well. However, most of the students don't really try, so if you put forth any effort, then you will make great grades.
Also- about the wealth- HPU has a lot of rich kids. However, there are some middle class students there as well. And 60- almost 70% of people are either in a sorority or fraternity. Everyone dresses up to go to class and you hardly ever see anyone in sweats or without make up.
Also- they recently switched to a 4-credit system. BUT you can only take a max of 18 credits, which means you can essentially only take 4 classes (and if you can find any 1 credit classes to fill up the rest). So, it's really hard to graduate on time and/or transfer to a different college.
However, it's really just a matter of your own opinion. People LOVE High Point, and its obvious due to the wonderful faculty and the great campus. However, if you don't want a school with a huge Greek scene, then I don't know if it's really the school for you.
What about the Honor's Program at HPU? Isn't that more academically challenging? On our recent visit to HPU I saw several girls wearing sweats as well as many in jeans.
