Erskine College understands that choosing the
right college is a complex task. Cost, academic reputation,
a school’s size, and even safety issues can easily overwhelm
the most discerning student. How do you make sense of so many
variables? At Erskine, we suggest you begin by asking five
crucial questions:
Why not go to the college where the cost
is the lowest?
If cost were the only factor, you would go to whatever college
is least expensive. Cost should be a concern, but not the
only concern. Remember, you get what you pay for. You want
to pay for value.
Most students don’t know much about the differences
in colleges. Some even think that one college class is the
same as the next.
That is not true at all. At Erskine, the average class size
is fewer than 14 students to one professor. Cost effective?
No. That’s one of the reasons why other institutions
have lower tuition costs.
Conducting a class in an auditorium, taught in many cases
by a graduate assistant, is very cost effective. But students
are anonymous and can’t interact with their instructor.
It’s a shame that students don’t ask, “What
about learning effectiveness?” At Erskine, classrooms,
not the auditorium, are used for teaching. And what you see
in state-of-the-art classrooms are Ph.D’s teaching and
interacting with students. Inexpensive? No. But the value
of teaching the old-fashioned way has tremendous payoffs upon
graduation.
What about the size of Erskine? Isn’t
it smaller than many private colleges and certainly all of
the state schools?
You bet. Size is one of our most valuable assets. Go register
at many of the surrounding academic institutions and you are
nothing more than a number. At Erskine, everyone knows your
name — and the relationships you will establish will
last a lifetime.
For generations, we have seen our commitment to individual
attention pay off. But don’t ask us. Ask our graduates.
They enter the most prestigious graduate, medical, and law
schools in the country. Johns Hopkins, Duke, Wake Forest,
UVA, Harvard, Cornell, Georgia Tech, Columbia, Purdue, U of
Penn, Princeton – all have one thing in common –
Erskine graduates getting Ph.D's, medical, master's, or law
degrees. And the list goes on.
But don’t think Erskine is simply a funnel program for
graduate schools.
Our degree is respected throughout the graduate schools, but
for students who want a job upon graduation — Erskine’s
reputation is equally impressive. During the annual collegiate
consortium industry interview competition, 97 percent of Erskine
students were selected. We like to think of that as another
example of the marketplace knowing the value of an Erskine
education.
What about Due West, S.C.? Your academic
village doesn’t even have a stoplight?
And are we thankful! No traffic jams here. But neither is
crime an issue. Two recent crime studies ranked Erskine one
of the safest schools in the nation and the safest school
in the Upstate of South Carolina. When you drive into Due
West, you can get out of your car and walk anywhere. Jog and
bike through the fresh air of the rural countryside where
people actually wave at you. And Due West is 12 minutes from
a great water-skiing lake, 20 minutes to Greenwood or to Anderson,
S.C., an hour to Greenville and two and a half to Atlanta going
south or Charlotte to the north.
Due West is the best of two worlds: a small academic village
atmosphere for daily living with urban and recreational opportunities
just a short drive away. And you can access the whole world
from your dorm room via a click on a hi-speed web connection
to the information highway.
What about athletic programs? Does your
stadium seat 50,000?
No way. While we have excellent facilities and tremendous
athletes, athletics are an integral part of Erskine, not a
dominating force. Almost 1/3 of our students play intercollegiate
sports.
If you are an athlete at Erskine, you are also a student.
No compromises, no exceptions. Can you believe a group of
college athletes (with no one excluded) would have SAT scores
averaging over 1000? You can if you put an Erskine uniform
on them.
In fact, the most recent statistics from the NCAA show that
Erskine has the highest graduation rate of any school in the
state of South Carolina.
What if I want to do something with my
life such as serving others?
Make no mistake — while we emphasize our academic reputation,
our goal is to produce educated citizens who will make an impact on the
world. Elizabeth Dole, former President of the American Red
Cross, thanked Erskine students for their involvement in many
service activities at the college, in the community, and across
the country.
Nice words, but what about results?
Erskine sponsors students to go to the Far East during the
summer. Over the last few years, we have sent students to
Viet Nam, Mongolia, and China as Christians to teach English.
We also have students in relational disciplining, overseas
mission work, Campus Crusade for Christ, Habitat for Humanity,
and a host of other service activities.
And look at our professors. The community EMS and fire services
are staffed primarily by Erskine professors - supplemented
by students. The same goes for Sunday School classes and service
organizations. No ivory towers here. At Erskine, professors
teach Life 101 with the same commitment to excellence as they
teach in their academic disciplines. We believe Christian
commitment is more than just a phrase, it must be lived.
The Bottom Line
Erskine is a college and the college is a community. We teach.
We study. We share our lives. We learn and we’re good
at it. We work hard and we laugh even harder.
We expect our students to:
• establish relationships that will last a lifetime
• serve with their hearts
• make a difference in the world
Erskine College is looking for a few special students who
desire a truly exceptional educational experience.