Rhodes College

The Honor Code: It's great. Period. It's pretty comprehensive ("We will not lie, cheat, or steal.") but since all the students know what they're getting into when they come here, there aren't that many violations. If there is a violation, we go before a panel of our peers because it's student-run rather than being enforced by the faculty or staff. Anyway, what's great about it is that there are so many benefits to having the code. We leave our backpacks by the front door of the cafeteria, never lock the doors to our rooms, leave our laptops in the library while we go get coffee, and have take-home closed-book exams somewhat regularly. So yeah, I love it.

We're small: So we have small classes (I'm in a class of only 8 right now) and get to know our classmates and professors really well. All our classes are taught by full professors (no TAs) so whether you're in an intro bio class or an advanced neuro class, it's going to be taught by a professor (most likely a PhD). They also genuinely love students. Nearly all my of my professors have given me either their home or cell phone number and told us to use it if we ever need anything. They have an open-door policy so you can drop in and talk about the class, your academic plans, or anything else. (And I mean literally anything. One prof and I talked about South Park for 15 minutes). Many of them also make a point of going to their student athletes' games at some point in the semester. One professor freshman year actually found out that my twin brother and I wouldn't be going home for Thanksgiving break and invited us to her home for dinner. Another thing I really like about the small campus is that you know a lot of the people you pass on your way to class.

Financial Aid rocks: I can say that because I pay for school myself and pieced together scholarships, work-study, and ROTC money to be able to go here. Sure, Rhodes is expensive, but they'll do their best to make it affordable for you and your family. They make a point of learning about you and your family's situation when it comes to paying for school and will do their best to give you a good package. My package actually made it cheaper to go here than to a large public school I applied to.

There are some things to be aware of about Rhodes though. As you noticed when you visited, there's a fence running around the campus. this of course makes the campus very safe but it also can make it easy to forget that there's a whole city to be explored outside the gates. The effect is called the "Rhodes Bubble" by students but it's easy to burst if you make sure to get out, go to Beale Street, go to the zoo, head to Overton Park, tutor in a local school, eat some food in Midtown, just go DO something. That said, though, there are many students who are satisfied just to get involved in a lot of things on campus (club sports, intramural sports, student groups, Greek life).A note on Greek life: We're a 50/50 split between Greeks and Independents. I'm not in a fraternity, but I don't feel hindered by that at all. The houses are non-residential, meaning that everyone lives in the dorms with everyone else. Because of that Greek life doesn't seem to overwhelm the social scene, and what parties the frats do throw open up to everyone at about 11pm anyway.