Hendrix College
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: Biology
Minors: English and Film double minor
Student Self Identifies as: Latina Heterosexual Female
Summary
I was an athlete my freshman year but then decided to quit. I’m a senator in student government, I’m part of my residence hall’s council, and I’m part of Organization of Latino Expressions (OLE).
Background
Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Latina
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
High School Experience: Private high school in Little Rock, AR with a graduating class of about 120 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Biology
Minors: English and Film double minor
Extracurricular Activities: I was an athlete my freshman year but then decided to quit. I’m a senator in student government, I’m part of my residence hall’s council, and I’m part of Organization of Latino Expressions (OLE).
Have any of your extracurricular activities had a particularly big impact on your experience?
Being part of the senate, I meet with the dean and the rest of the senators once a week and it gives me the opportunity to talk about what’s impacting my constituents on campus and get to communicate that to everyone around me. I also get to vote on the big changes we have here. I feel like that has impacted me in that I’ve learned leadership skills and gives me a sense of importance and purpose on campus.
Academic Experience
Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
Right now, I’m in Zoology, which is the weed-out course for Biology majors at Hendrix. I have lab for that class for three hours a week and I also have lab for Organic Chemistry three hours a week. A lot of my course work in Zoology includes going to the lab on my own, so I’m in lab for about 10 hours a week total. I don’t have as many problem sets this semester because I’m not in as many math classes. In Organic Chemistry, I sometimes have word problems, but the only other weekly coursework I have are lab reports. The major graded assignments are exams. But, for the Zoology class I’m in now, the lab practicals are worth more than the exams, so the labs are pretty intense.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
Since Hendrix is a small liberal arts college, we get the benefit of having really close relationships with the professor. That’s a big difference because I know that I can go to any of my Biology professors and get help, whether that be emotionally or academically.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
That might be one of the downsides of someone shy coming to Hendrix. Our academic environment around the sciences is particularly competitive. I pretty much knew everyone’s score on my last Zoology exam within like five minutes, whether because they told me or I found out what their score was through someone else. It’s competitive in the sense that people want the highest grade, which I think is good because it pushes me academically, but I know other people might not like it as much. I have yet to be in a class that’s graded on a curve, it’s just competitive because we want to do better than each other.
How accessible are your professors?
Most of my professors are pretty accessible. I can go into any of their office hours and pretty much any time of the day that they’re in their office they’re willing to help you.
Do you feel people are open to multiple schools of thought in the classroom?
Yeah, 100%. Hendrix is a very liberal campus and all of us have varying opinions. Like, in my Film Studies courses, people are pretty open to say what they think. It’s really cool and fosters a good discussion. Hendrix is a lot of students who went to conservative schools or have lived in Arkansas and had a very conservative experience and wanted to come to a very liberal campus. So, sometimes I think we have an overload of liberal opinions, which I personally don’t mind because I align myself with a lot of them, but we just don’t have many conservative opinions here.
Why did you pick your major? Are you happy with your choice?
My parents have been in science their whole lives. I came into Hendrix and got a feel for the different science departments and loved how Biology tied together with big concepts of life on an atomic level. I also love that I could compare things I learned in my humanities classes and concepts I learned in my Biology classes, so that cross-section is what made me choose Biology. I love my major so far. It can be challenging, but all the professors are so welcoming and encouraging so I really like my choice so far.
Reasons to Attend
1) We’re a small liberal arts school, so you’re forced to take classes outside of your major that make you a more well-rounded person.
2) We have a lot of student groups that we can be a part of.
3) People at Hendrix accept you as you are and meet you where you’re at.
Reasons Not to Attend
1) If you love Greek life, maybe the fact that we don’t have Greek life might deter you.
2) The fact that we’re so small.
Around Campus
Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: Galloway Hall with one roommate
Sophomore: Galloway Hall with the same roommate as freshman year
How happy have you been with your living situations?
I love Galloway Hall. We have hardwood floors and sinks in our room and we’re one of the oldest dorms so we have a homey vibe and it’s pretty traditional. I like it.
How was transitioning from living in your hometown in Little Rock to Conway, AR in terms of location?
Little Rock is more of a city – as city-like as Arkansas can get – and we have more to do. Conway has a lot of places to eat, so we go do that a lot. The transition of not having many places to go do things was tough, but at Hendrix, you can always go find something fun to do.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
Hendrix is really safe since we’re such a small school. You pretty much have seen every face you come across. That sounds daunting to a lot of people, but I think it gives our campus a big sense of security. I know most of the security officers by first name.
Social Opportunities
What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
We have a really fun party environment. It’s really safe and I never have any worries about things going awry. Hendrix is pretty focused on academics, so people just go out on the weekends and not on the weekdays. I am under 21, so my nightlife happens on campus, but I know a lot of people who are over 21 go to bars on the weekends too. We don’t have Greek life, so the parties are oriented around dorms, which sounds weird but is super fun. A lot of the boys’ dorms host parties. There are also parties that are put on by the school.
What is an alternative to going to a party or a bar that you like for a night out?
Hendrix has a really fun athletic environment, so I go to a lot of games. We also have a club called SOAR that puts on alternative events for every party.
How happy are you with the weekend options? Is there anything you would change if you could?
I’m really happy with the weekend options. It’s a nice way to get away from all of our schoolwork. It’s also not a place where I feel like I’m missing out on a party every night when I’m studying, it’s just a weekend thing here which is nice.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
I was an athlete my freshman year, so I made a lot of friends through that. My other friends have trickled along through science classes, which is nice because we share the same interests.
How do you like having Hendrix have many single-gendered dorms?
I’ve really loved living in an all-girls dorm. It’s facilitated a great environment for us to all get to know each other. We did this event at the beginning of the year called Shirttails where the freshmen in each dorm put on a dance at the beginning of the year. That was really fun and I go to meet a lot of friends that way. There are also co-ed dorms that people can live in and are good for non-binary people.
How would you describe the overall social scene at Hendrix?
Since it’s a small school, it’s really easy to meet new people and get involved in a lot of groups. Socially, I think Hendrix is one of the best places to go to college because it’s so easy to get out there and you have the opportunity to meet everybody you want to meet.
To what extent do you think people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
Hendrix is super inclusive. I don’t think your race or your gender or sexual identity would be something that would deter you from having a friendship with someone on campus. We have a lot of racial clubs that have outings and events together if somebody wants that. I’d say that it’s common to see diverse groups of friends.
How would you describe the student body?
We have a very diverse student body. Pretty much everybody at Hendrix is really sociable, wants to get involved, and has an activist state of mind. Social justice has always been a big conversation on campus, whether that be about including the people on the Hendrix campus or ways we can be active in the Conway community. We also recently joined the climate protests that have been going on, so people try to be active in that way too.
How strong is the Methodist affiliation at Hendrix? How has it impacted your experience?
I went to a Christian high school and going to Hendrix I wanted to get involved with a Christian group on campus. Recently, the Methodist church came out with some statements that Hendrix doesn’t necessarily agree with, so the affiliation isn’t as strong. You can be as involved as you want to be. It’s not something that is every pushed up on anyone or often brought up in open conversation on campus.
How do you like the size of Hendrix in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How was transitioning to a school with [about 1,200] students?
It’s one of my favorite parts of being at Hendrix. I can directly correlate every positive experience I’ve had here to the small size, whether that’s getting to know everyone in my dorm by first name, getting involved on campus, or being able to go to a professor’s office and have them know me. I think it’s one of the best parts of Hendrix.
Careers
What have you used the career office for? How helpful are they?
Hendrix is a big pre-med and pre-law campus, so a lot of us have the goal of going to graduate school. That’s something we’re always helped with on campus. Sophomores have something called Career Term where we go through mock interviews for our specific career goals, write our resume, and do all of that. I recently shadowed a doctor through Hendrix’s shadowing program, so they do a lot of career help. [About a third of students plan to attend graduate or professional school immediately after graduation.]
Have you learned any computer languages or software that will be helpful to you professionally?
Being a Biology major, I use Excel in Organic Chemistry and in lab. We also use a statistics program called Jamovi. But, I haven’t done that much work with either of them.