Agnes Scott College

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: International Relations
Minor: Artificial Intelligence
Student Self Identifies as: Black Heterosexual Female

Summary

COSMO is an umbrella club for all the multicultural clubs on campus for all of the historically disadvantaged students. I participate in a lot of diversity and inclusion related events, and I’m instrumental in making sure everyone here has a safe space to discuss things related to their identity.

Background

Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Black
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

High School Experience: Public high school outside of Atlanta, Georgia. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: International Relations
Minor: Artificial Intelligence

Extracurricular Activities: COSMO is an umbrella club for all the multicultural clubs on campus for all of the historically disadvantaged students. I participate in a lot of diversity and inclusion related events, and I’m instrumental in making sure everyone here has a safe space to discuss things related to their identity.
What impact has your extracurricular had on your experience?
It’s impacted me more in terms of the culture outside of Agnes Scott – in the real-world culture – and making sure what I’m teaching and learning here I bring outside of campus. We’re a small school, so it can be easy to get caught up in all the issues we have here on campus.

Academic Experience

Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
International Relations has a lot of pathways you can go down, which is what I like about it. You can really choose what you like about the major and focus on that. For example, there’s economics, political science, and gender studies within the International Relations umbrella. You can take courses specific to those subjects if that’s what your concentration is. When you declare, that’s when your coursework is going to increase because there are multiple classes outside your pathway that you have to take. The graded assignments are mostly papers.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
They do a good job of making sure all international relations students get to study abroad if they’re interested. It’s important to get international experience with that major. They really hold your hand throughout that whole process. In terms of poorly, they should include more regions you can study in the major. Right now, you can really only study European or Asian studies, and there isn’t anything outside of that. Not having other concentration options like studying Africa, the Caribbean, or South America is probably the worst part about the major.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
It definitely depends on the major. We have an environment of STEM and non-STEM majors here. it’s more collaborative in STEM because the coursework is a lot harder, so you really have to learn how to collaborate and study together. Here at Agnes Scott, it’s preferred if you collaborate with other people. Non-STEM majors can be competitive. When we’re talking about current issues of our time, sometimes people who may know more about current events can get competitive on who knows more and who’s smarter in that regard.
How accessible are your professors?
They’re very accessible. Since most of our class sizes are under 30 students, they don’t have as many students to keep up with and they’re a lot more close-knit. It’s easy to get in touch with them and their office hours are pretty reasonable too. [The average class size is 16 students.]
How has going to a historically female college impacted your experience?
I came from a predominantly male background. I have all brothers and male cousins. The point of me coming to an all-female school was to learn more about myself as a woman and how society’s stigmas against women can be really broken down here. Since we’re historically female but there are people who identify with different genders here, I wouldn’t say we’re all-women currently. One thing I had to learn more about was different sexualities and gender norms, and really learning how to break down the stereotypes and be accepting of all identities.
Do you feel that people are open to multiple schools of thought in the classroom?
Our professors are extremely neutral for the most part. I don’t know of any professors that are super left or right-wing and reflected their views in their teaching. Most professors I know of don’t make their views very prominent in the classroom. In terms of student life, I’d say this is a very liberal school so a lot of students have very left-wing ideas and liberal perspectives. Some people have conservative views, but it’s almost seen as a bad thing here because of how the conservative views are represented in our government and society. We’re currently working on making sure no one feels misrepresented or disrespected here because of their political views.
Why did you pick your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I chose it on a whim. I used to be a Computer Science major and I changed it because the Computer Science major here isn’t very concrete yet, it’s kind of up in the air. Freshman year we go on Global Journeys, which is a week-long study abroad opportunity included in the tuition. Some people have gone to Europe, the Caribbean, and South America. I went to Martinique in the Virgin Islands. After that, it made me realize how I value the importance of international work and working with people from all different places, perspectives, and languages. I really wanted to have a major that reflected that in the global aspect I was interested in. I’m happy with my choice. It’s not for everyone for sure, but I think it’s a great fit for me and people that are interested in other cultures from an economic standpoint.

Reasons to Attend

1) We talk a lot about social issues here. If you’re interested in politics, government, or societal stereotypes, we talk about that a lot here. A lot of taboo subjects are discussed here like abortion rights and gender equality.
2) Going to a women’s school can be very empowering because your confidence level goes up and you’re encouraged to speak your mind and have a strong head in terms of what you know.
3) The network is awesome here, especially in terms of alumni. We have a lot of major social activists who have gone here. [See distinguished alumni here.]

Reasons Not to Attend

1) If you really want to go to a party school or one with a huge student population.
2) If you’re very closed-minded, I wouldn’t come here. We discuss so many different things. It’s important to accept new ideas and perspectives that you haven’t been exposed to before you come here.
3) Our STEM environment is really limited. There is a place for you here, but it’s not super STEM-focused. It’s more liberal arts and social science-focused.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: Walters Hall with one roommate
Sophomore: Agnes Scott apartment assistant with one roommate in a four-person apartment
How was transitioning from Atlanta to Decatur, GA?
I live about an hour away. It’s been a pretty smooth transition since I’m already familiar with the area. I attribute that to always being around this area and knowing it well.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
It’s a very safe campus. We have public safety and we always see them around. There is the blue light system if you need to call campus security fast. There’s a really good sense of safety here, especially considering we’re close to the city and it’s an open campus.

Social Opportunities

What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
We don’t have Greek life, so sometimes people will go off campus to other colleges to get involved in that big college energy. A lot of times, we’ll hang out down the street in Decatur Square where the restaurants are. We’ll go to other schools or just stay and enjoy Agnes Scott’s campus too because there are a lot of events meant to make students feel comfortable and have fun in safe spaces. We tend to go to other schools in the Atlanta University Center Consortium. There is also Georgia Tech, Georgia State, and Emory. Most of the time we’ll Uber, or sometimes we take the train downtown.
What nights of the week do you regularly do things? Are there regular places you go or things you do on certain nights?
It’s typically Fridays through Sundays. A lot of times most students here don’t have classes on Fridays.
What’s an alternative to going to a party or a bar that you like for a night out?
It’s normally hanging out in the city, going down the street to a different restaurant, and a lot of my friends and I live close to home so we’ll go back to where we’re from and hang out there. A lot of times, we’ll stay on campus and in our dorms for a movie night.
How happy are you with the weekend options? Is there anything you would change if you could?
When I was looking for schools I specifically didn’t want to go to a huge party school because I didn’t want too many distractions or social pressures. There’s always going to be some type of pressure, but I’m happy with it not being too crazy here. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. If you want to hang out in the library or dorm, you can. Everyone here is really into their studies and most of our communities maintain our grades well. We know how to turn it on and turn it off. Having that balance is really good.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
I lived next to my closest friends in the dorms. That’s kind of a pattern at Agnes, where you get close to the people you live closest to.
How would you describe the overall social scene at Agnes Scott?
It depends. The identities here are so diverse, there are a whole bunch of different places you can go to. I feel like everyone has a group. In terms of parties, it’s not that crazy. It’s very academic.
To what extent do you think people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
People mix pretty often. There are always going to be different places for people to go and have a level of separation, but the longer you’re here the most comfortable you get with other identities. Diversity is important and emphasized here and people are comfortable mixing. [The undergraduate population is 12% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 29% Black, and 35% White.]
How do you like the size of Agnes Scott in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How was transitioning to a school with [about 1,000] students?
I like the size a lot. I think it’s very close-knit and everyone knows each other and has an idea of their friend group. It makes it a lot easier to focus on academics and finding people to study with and maintaining those same people throughout your experience. I think it just makes everything a lot easier for me.
What is the impact of going to a historically female college on your social experience?
It makes me a lot more accepting of a bunch of different identities I’m not used to. It’s definitely different from what I grew up it, but it makes you a lot more confident in yourself as a disadvantaged group when you’re around a whole bunch of people like you.

Careers

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, accommodating was the office to your needs?
I’ve been to the financial aid office a few times. One thing I would say about financial aid is it’s understaffed. A lot of times they are unavailable, so it can get difficult.