College of the Day: Davidson

Davidson College

Quick Facts:

Location: Davidson, NC

Established:1837

Students Enrolled: 1,790

Applicants: 4,770

Male/Female Ratio: 50/50

Davidson College is a private, liberal arts college located 20 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina in Davidson. The college has been called the "Dartmouth of the South" because of it's success as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the area.  

The honor code at Davidson is prevalent feature. Students take a majority of their tests and assignments from home, but must sign them with the word "pledged".  Because of the honor code, students feel safe on campus and are not afraid to leave their belongings around without them being stolen.  

Davidson's academics are quite rigorous, but not unmanageable. The strongest programs at Davidson are biology, psychology, english, political science, chemistry, international studies, theater, and history. Professors are known to be easily accessible and very friendly. Because there are no graduate students at Davidson, many students have the opportunity to work on research directly with their professors. Class size is always small and intimate with no class having over 35 students. 

Student Life:

Only 22 percent of Davidson students come from North Carolina; the majority of students are from out of state, and six percent of students are international. Ninety-two percent of students live on campus in either co-ed or single-sex dorms.  Dorms are centrally-located and generally very nice.  Seniors get housing with private bedrooms that are more like apartments than dorms. 

There is great food served on campus, but many upper classmen choose to eat a fraternity or at one of the eating clubs.  The eating clubs charge dues which cover food and parties, as well as campus events. The eating clubs and fraternities provide most of the social life on campus. Ten percent of Davidson men join a fraternity with only one percent of women joining the one sorority on campus. 

Davidson Wildcats have twenty-one sports teams that compete in Division I.  Because of it's small size, twenty percent of Davidson students are varsity athletes.  Davidson has been brought to the spotlight in recent years because of the success of it's star basketball player, Stephen Curry.

Applying:

If you are interested in applying to Davidson College you should have a Critical Reading SAT score of 625-720 and a Math SAT Score of 635-720. ACT scores for all sections should be from 29-32. Davidson typically has at least 4,500 applicants each year with only 25% of applicants being accepted.  

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 Source: Fiske, Edward B. "Davidson College." Fiske Guide to Colleges. Vol. 2015. N.p: 193-196. Print