Davidson

Hello!

I am currently in the car on the way home from Davidson College. 

I am absolutely obsessed with Davidson. The architecture, the honour code, the eating houses, the D1 athletics, the town, EVERYTHING. 

Our tour guide was amazing. She knew exactly what to say to get me to fall head over heels. There are not that many cafeterias and eating places on campus but that is literally the only con for me. It is a really challenging school to get into, and that really scares me! I want I go here so bad!

Wake Forest has a law school, graduate school, and a school of medicine. Davidson is only undergrad. That's not necessarily a pro or con for either. It's interesting to see the difference though!

Touring Davison and Wake Forest these past few days have really opened my eyes to what I want in college. 

I like how a few people from my school have gone/do go to these colleges, but at neither school are there more than 5 people from my high schools. In contrast, some public state schools have as many as 30 people for each grade. That's over 100 people from my high school at that college! That's crazy. It's a good school, but it really turns me away from it. I want to meet people who don't know a ton of people where I am from. I want to be my own person!

1. Study abroad. I want to go on a semester abroad in college. At Wake, 75% of students go abroad. At Davidson, 80% of students go abroad. This means that many of my friends would go overseas as well, and that kind of thing is really encouraged and does not seem at all strange if you do so. 

2. Small classes. At my current school, I have never been in a class with over 23 people. At Wake, the average class size is 20 and at Davidson is 15. This is really ideal for me. I want to have everyone in my class recognise me and get to know me. I want my professors to know my name, and know me as a person, as well as a student. 

3. Traditions. At Wake Forest, after big sports team wins, they "roll" the lawn, covering the trees with rolls of toilet paper. At Davison, they have a "cake race" for first year students during Freshman Orientation. It's a race, and in the end every person gets a cake baked my a Davidson. The young alum leading the information session talked to us about how he got really close to the family that baked him his cake. This made me so happy!

4. Honour code. I really like how proud Davidson is in their honour system. It reminds me of my high school. At both places, teachers/professors trust their students not to lie or cheat, and you can leave your stuff anywhere and rely on your peers not to take it, or disturb it. 

5. Liberal Arts Education. I want to be a well rounded student. I do not want to declare my major early on, as you do at many large state schools. I want time to learn what I like. At Davidson there is a required PE credit. Some options you can do for this are tinker ball (I hope I am saying that right) which you play with people on your hall, wake boarding or water skiing at their lake campus (which is a five minute drive from their main campus), among many other options. 

6. College Town (with Trees)! I need some nature in my life. I do not want to go to college somewhere like NYU or VCU, which are really urban. I want more of a small college town feeling. Here are some pictures of all the trees at Davidson  (yesterday I shared photos of all the forestry at Wake!)

7. Greek life. I am really interested in becoming involved with Greek organisations. Wake has Sororities, but they do not have sorority houses. A side note, but I also really like Washington and Lee, which has amazing sorority houses and a really high percentage of participation in Greek organisations. Davidson does not have the traditional sororities (they do have two historically African American sororities), but they have something that I actually might like even more! 60% of the girls at Davidson join one of the four "Eating Houses". You do not live at eating houses, you can join with up to three of your friends, and are guaranteed  to be in an eating house with them. Anyone who wants to be in an eating house will be in an eating house. Although at most colleges, most girls do get into a sorority if they want to be in one, very rarely is there a guarantee like there is for eating houses at Davidson. 

Some other things that made me fall in love with Davidson:

- Laundry service. You will be given a laundry bag with a number. Put that number on all of the tags of your clothes. When your clothes are dirty, drop them off at the laundry centre, and within 48 hours your clothes will be clean and folded! This is awesome. My mom has explained to me that doing laundry was one of the most annoying things for her in college. This seems really easy and convenient. 

- Division One Sports. This means that they have competitive football and basketball team that I will want to cheer for. Yay!!

-Self Scheduled Exams. You have an eight day period to take your exams. You am choose any of the 16 time periods over those 8 days to take the exams. So nice!

So in love with Davidson. There's a chance I would even apply early decision. Yesterday I said that I could see myself at Wake Forest, which is true. However, Davidson is my 1st choice DREAM SCHOOL. So scared to apply next year!

XOXOXO, 

Kelsey