Susie-Knits Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 any info or experience with this college? Any input appreciated. Thanks, Susie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 any info or experience with this college?Any input appreciated. Thanks, Susie No, but every since I read Colleges That Change Lives and Looking Beyond the Ivy League by Loren Pope, I've been fascinated with the school and my ears perk up whenever I meet someone who attended there. Have you seen the Colleges that Change Lives website? They have college advisors and admissions reps that do a tour around the US, and Centre is one of the schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie-Knits Posted March 11, 2008 Author Share Posted March 11, 2008 about them on the website. And they will be in our little TN town this summer - just outside Nashville. I just wondered if any hsers had any experience with them. My 10th grade ds has received mail from them twice now and my interest is peaked! ha I have yet to meet anyone who has gone there. So fishing for any info. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilary Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 My daughter was accepted there last year and was offered a generous scholarship (12K per year for four years). She was tempted, but eventually decided to go to Transylvania, which also offered a good scholarship. Centre and Transy are both excellent, small liberal arts colleges, IMO. Living in central Kentucky, I know many Centre alumni as well as professors and current students. The main disadvantage that my DD saw with Centre is its location in a small town. Danville is a gorgeous, friendly small town, but my DD wanted to go to school in a larger city. Transy is in Lexington (which is our hometown), but she lives in a dorm and has more access to all that the city has to offer as well as the University of Kentucky, which is also in Lexington. My DD was also concerned that the social life at Centre might be dominated by frats/sororities. This is what we've heard. Transy is about 50% Greek, but it's been her experience that you don't HAVE to be in a sorority to have a social life. This may sound a bit negative about Centre, since I'm giving the reasons why she didn't choose to go ... but I do think it's an excellent college, and the small size and relaxed atmosphere would probably be ideal for a homeschooler. I almost felt as if my DD was tossing a coin between Centre and Transy. I should add that although Danville is small, if the student has a car, Lexington is only 45 minutes away. And the Norton Center for the Arts in Danville brings in fantastic, world-renowned musicians, actors, etc. I think Yo-Yo Ma was there last week. It definitely gives the students exposure to "higher culture" ... and I believe they get in free to all the performances :) If you have any other questions, let me know. We have professors, students, and alumni from Centre attending my church, and I'd be glad to pass your questions along to anyone who might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 The campus is beautiful. I believe they have fielded a large number of Rhodes scholars, proportionate to the size of the student body. Many past high-ranking government officials claim Centre as their alma mater. The student body history is pretty impressive, overall. Class size is generally small. They have an acoustically perfect concert hall that attracts many world famous performers. Danville is quaint (with a cool, old bakery on the square and we drive there just to eat from it). The town hosts a brass band festival every summer, as well as other major get togethers. Perryville re-enactment is every October, with some years national events that draw tens of thousands. Distance to Lexington is 30-40 minutes. It can take me 30 minutes to drive across town. I don't think it's at all too far to run back and forth for shopping, weekend sports events, etc. I would not rate it as a conservative university by any means, faculty-wise. But I do think the faculty is excellent. Last time I read comments from students, they stated that they liked to party to defeat small town boredom. Most are in fraternities and sororities and ranked drinking high on their party list. You can find the same at a large proportion of US universities. In 2006, I think, it made number 44 on US News' top 100 liberal arts colleges. Other similar schools in the same general vicinity of the country: Davidson (NC) #9; Oberlin (OH) #20; Grinnell (Iowa) #11; Washington and Less (VA) #15; Sewanee (TN) #40, tied with U of Richmond (VA). It is on our short list. Regena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie-Knits Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 We are just beginning college search and Centre just keeps coming up again and again. The dual degree offered - 1st liberal arts degree in 3 years then on to Vandy for engineering degree in 2 years- really peaked ds interest. He is a mathie kid who loves things like Art history and literature and... history! haha But will probably end up in "Applied" math. He is not into a drinking/partying scene so maybe this isn't a great fit in that way but the small, quaint town and small school would be a great fit. I think we will definitely attend the College that Change Lives night near our home this summer. Maybe I will have something to report back then. Thanks, Susie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 We just toured Vandy in the fall, and I hate to say that I was really disappointed with the campus and discouraged by their scholarship policy. They don't seem to offer much other than various forms of "financial aid" that still leave one heavily in debt upon graduation. And they seem to have become a commuter campus, so I would assume there's not much campus life. They are moving to require all freshmen to live on campus full time as soon as new housing is completed (which will be off over by Peabody; not centralized). Then they plan on revamping the rest of the student housing and making everyone ultimately live on campus..... Regena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie-Knits Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 I had heard that things were being revamped as far as housing at Vandy. It is a "local" school for us since we are just down the road a bit in Franklin, TN. There is so much to consider! :tongue_smilie: Susie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilary Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 My daughter had an overnight visit at Vandy last year and didn't have a good experience. I, OTOH, thought the campus was gorgeous and the city wonderful. I'm still going to encourage my older son to visit. We were there in January for my DH's cancer surgery, but older son was home taking care of the house and pets. My daughter has a friend who got a free-ride merit scholarship to Vanderbilt, but I think those are few and far between. It's a REALLY expensive school! One aside, when my daughter did her overnight stays at Vanderbilt and Centre, both student hosts (freshmen) had alcohol in their rooms! My DH and I were pretty shocked. I'm not so naive to think there's no underage drinking on campuses, but wouldn't you think the student hosts would be a little more discrete? I guess at least I should be thankful that my DD wasn't actually OFFERED alcohol. I have a friend who says her son was offered alcohol at virtually every overnight stay he made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie-Knits Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 Well, I would think hosts would be "advised" by the institution on such things as underage drinking etc... Like you, we know it is out there but not into it. Yes, I think that the full ride is so hard to receive from Vandy - we just thought it was interesting that Centre had this agreement with Vandy for the dual engineering degree. We are just trying to narrow down to a few schools to visit next year as well as narrow down what ds wants to study. So many decisions in high school years ... exciting and .... daunting too. And I taught at a college before kids! haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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