Davidson College Top Questions

tough

Davidson College is consistently ranked as one of the hardest colleges in the nation. That is not because teachers deflate grades or because tests are impossible. It is because teachers and students care more about the content of the course then about the grade. For students at Davidson, learning the material is far superior to getting an A. As a result, teachers will often assign work and ask questions on tests related to the conceptual understanding of a particular subject rather than a regurgitation of the facts. Add that to the fact that almost every student at Davidson was in the top 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of his or her high school and you can clearly see why Davidson is one of the hardest, but also prestigious, colleges in the nation. Teachers want you to do well and getting straight A's can be done but, no matter what your goal is, you have to work for it. No one is going to give you a B or even a C for that matter just for showing up. Davidson also is consistently ranked either #1 or #2 for having the best liberal arts faculty in the nation. Seriously, the teachers are incredibly smart, caring, friendly, and engaging. I have yet to sit in a boring class. Class sizes are very small, ranging from 15-30.

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Academics are hard. They take work. You can get by without doing a ton of work, but chances are that you won't do amazing. Typically, A's really do reflect excellent work that has had some time put into it. To put it another way, in high school, I would usually be shocked if I didn't get an A on something. At Davidson, I, and pretty much everyone else, is pretty excited to get a solid A on a major assignment. Some people are absolutely workaholics, but there are certainly people who put in near minimal effort (e.g. skip a lot of reading, quickly do small papers etc the night before) and manage to make it through. If a class is not purely lecture (most classes aren't; a lot of classes are entirely structured around discussion), then participation is pretty common. Typically there will be between one and five students (of about 20-33) who talk a lot, and probably half of any given class contributes to discussion somewhat regularly. In my experience, students do not see themselves as competing with each other; the horror stories of students giving each other false info at study sessions and always trying to get a leg-up on others (which was typically associated with Ivy-league schools) does not hold true here. People are always willing to help you, whether it's sharing notes, explaining a concept, whatever. Generally, professors are absolutely wonderful about being accessible and helpful to students. Most professors I've had have been willing to make all kinds of accommodations to ensure that you get help if you need it.

I am an econ major and love it. You have to be a devoted student to make it at Davidson. Professors want to help, and can due to the small size and their focus on teaching instead of research (as opposed to what you will see at bigger schools), but you have to want to succeed and put forth a hell of an effort. I gaurentee you will work harder than you ever have, but you will come out having learned more than any of your peers at other institutions.

Professors are really accessable, and they know the names of their students. Students study a lot, but they still take time out to have some fun. Davidson's liberal arts curriculum and academic requirements enable students to explore many different areas. By having academic requirements, students might discover something that they want to major in that they were not originally considering.

Hope you like to study! As long as you can be passionate about something, and work hard to find that passion, then you'll be alright at Davidson. Expect to stay up late in the library doing research or problem sets, but expect to be proud of yourself for doing it. Academics are at the forefront of Davidson's culture, and people know that when they apply here. The classes are fun, interesting, challenging, and small. All my professors know who I am, and they're ALWAYS willing to help out.

I am kind of shy about communicating with professors, so I often feel as though there are connections I should be making but am not. I know there are students here who are on a first name basis with certain professors. Most professors are nearly begging students to come see them during office hours; they want to be very accessible. Professors always learn the names of all students in their classes. Most students are fairly consistent at studying, but people do sometimes pull all nighters. Class participation is common. Professors try to get everybody talking. The education is geared toward whatever the student wants. If a student wants to get a certain job, someone can help them. Davidson is also a great place for learning for its own sake. Students here try hard, but one does not get the impression they are actually competing.

Hard - terrible grade deflation compared to Dartmouth, Harvard, Colombia, etc. Sometimes feels like more work than everyone else, but it has taught me the basics and I am prepared for the working world. The Honor Code is amazing - we take our finals when we want - but it also inhibits some collaboration because students are so true to it they fear breaking it, and this is a terrible side effect of a great community value. Most departments are very strong, but you can go through Davidson without accessing it's resources/teachers/etc. APPLY FOR GRANT MONEY - the Dean Rusk Program is unbelievable about supporting just about any type of travel as long as you can justify that you are learning from it, and do so in writing or film or some form of communication. Students don't compete with each other in a cut-throat manner, and you are always encouraged to do well because everyone around you is doing well and working hard so they can have fun on the weekends. Intellectual conversations exist outside of class but so do silly ones =) General academic requirements are pretty easy to complete, but take your AP tests so you can go abroad because Davidson feels almost all abroad classes are too easy to count for credit unless you're on an official Davidson program. Education is definitely geared for learning for its own sake - it's liberal arts after all - my best class has been the one I can apply to the real world, one on city planning and politics, but most others are much more abstract than specific, and that should be improved some.

Professors do know my name, rigorous, honor code dominates how students study, which is fantastically moral.