On
the whole, ASC is a very good college. Despite its
average ranking according to USNWR (#61 as of 2006), the
academic courses are fairly rigorous and the quality of thought,
effort and enthusiasm expected of students is high. Most professors
are kind, helpful and want to see students succeed as
much as possible, and are usually very accessible outside of
class. The campus is very beautiful. To the point in
which for the past year construction workers, cranes, dust and
paintchips have been blanketing the main classroom building (Buttrick). Students
joke often about the “million dollar grass” and how their
$32,000 tuition fee goes straight to the grass. In all
honesty, everyone appreciates the constant beautification of campus, though the
noise of construction has been irritating.
The student body is
quite diverse, racially, geographically, in terms of sexual orientation etc.
The vast majority of students are quite polite and helpful
towards others. This being the South, there is still a
sizeable group of students with more conservative views for a
college population, though the majority of students seem to lean
towards the left politically.
The downside to ASC: anually
increasing tuition— is the cost to attend ASC worth the
education and environment provided? It depends on whether the heavy
workload and quiet, small, admittedly sheltered college atmosphere is preferable
to the student. ASC has a high transfer rate after
freshman year, with more students draining out after the second
year. A women's college in a small city outside of
Atlanta is not everyone's idea of the typical “college experience.”
As with any other college, drug use and underage
drinking is common. Though Princeton Review might consistently rank ASC
as having low drug use and low consumption of alcohol,
I can only say that perhaps Agnes Scott girls are
simply better at hiding it. Substance use/abuse is not rampant,
but it is prevalent. Adderall is also a large problem.
It was not uncommon to come across students using and
sharing/selling it.
While students here are polite and mostly helpful
to each other, there is a rather large number of
young women who have tendencies to brownnose and suck up
to professors. Professors are often likely to let students rewrite
papers if asked enough. This is a sheltered environment in
that aspect. Students might be a little spoiled in their
ability to speak personally with professors and see results in
their favor. That said, students are NOT cutthroat or overcompetitive.
To ASC women's credit, competition among students is not prevalent
almost at all.
The worst times to be at
ASC are during the final weeks of the semester, in
which the mounting pressure of exams and papers culminates in
a devolution to grade school snippery and pettiness amongst students.
Overall, ASC is a solid college. If an all-women's
college appeals to you, please check it out. On the
whole, the student body and the professors are solid and
helpful.