Elon University
Reviews

Diversity? What's That?

Elon seems to want to pride itself on seeking out diverse new students. It seems to me that aside from a few random minority students here and there, everyone is a cookie-cutter rich snobby white girl.

Campus Dining

Lots of dining options. Really nice dining facilities. Food is very good.

Great Parking for All

Elon offers Bio-Buses that run for many hours of the day that go to various apartment buildings and areas on campus. Those who do not have a car can easily use this. If you live on campus it is not difficult to get a parking pass and unlike other schools, your parking spot is a reasonable distance from where you live. Those that live off campus can buy commuter passes and park in central campus locations.

Most Beautiful Academic Campus

I transferred to Elon University to get more individual attention from professors and have gotten all I wanted. The professors are very invested in making sure the students learn and are very involved. The courses are challenging which allows students to learn even more. There are internships, service learning courses, and research opportunities thorughout all departments at Elon. The campus is AMAZING, rated #1 most beautiful.

Pretty Decent

Pretty decent number of on-campus dining halls, which have different food every day.

Elon Is the Town

Elon is basically the town of Elon. It seems as if the only reason the town exists is for the university at times. Even the cop cars are maroon and gold, our school colors. The restaurants for the most part take "phoenix cash", there are tons of apartments and houses off campus where students live, and theres everything you need in town. Burlington is really close though and it definitely has a lot to offer. If your a freshman like me, you can take the bio bus to a mini mall with target, old navy, and a plethora of other useful places, and you can also go to Alamance crossing, which is more like an outdoor mall with select stores like sephora and american eagle that college students would probably like more. There isnt a clubbing or concert scene AT ALL, NO CITY LIFE- so if you are into that beware. But the town of Elon's small charm just adds to the feeling of community.

Housing

Housing priority is based on your gpa. If at any point you must cancel your housing assignment they will defer your housing until they've placed all the freshman. Elon is very serious about improving their residence halls. They've built 3 new res halls, 5+ Greek houses and are currently tearing down old halls to build new ones and also creating a junior/senior housing slightly off campus. The newer dorms like Colonnades are the nicest, but i've lived in the older dorms and they aren't bad either. The only downside is that because of this construction tuition will most certainly go up.

Transportation

The Elon Biobus is amazing it takes you downtown Burlington and around great shopping areas!

Drinking Is a Way of Life at Elon

Alcohol is HUGE on campus here at Elon and dominates the drug scene. Frats and other parties make alcohol easily accessible to underaged minors, who (trust me) take advantage of the opportunity. Not choosing to drink, I have had a hard time enjoying Elon's social scene, which I believe is quite unfortunate.

Other than alcohol, marijuana is the most common drug used.

Campus Strictness

The number one concern is campus safety. Safety is not a campus issue. If you participate in criminal activities you may be written up. If you harm someone else in the process, it may result in a suspension or expulsion.

All of our Resident Assistants (who are students) have "rounds" that they do on the weekends. Basically they go from building to building making sure everything's okay. If you're being loud and obnoxious they may knock on your door. If you're caught drinking and you're underage, they have to write you up.

Example situation:

You open the door and an RA is standing there. There are five of you in the apartment. One person in the apartment is over 21, and there're two beer cans on the counter. You tell the RA you haven't been drinking.

Result: The RA will assume you are telling the truth and the 21 year old drank the beer

Example Situation 2:

You open the door and the RA sees a ton of empty alcohol bottles and beer cans all over the place.

Result: Obviously the 21 year old didn't drink it by their self...so everyone gets written up

Example Situation 3: You try to run

Result: Campus Security will probably catch...the RA obviously knows your room number and will have no difficulty figuring out your name...AND you will be written up and receive a harsher punishment.

Example Situation 4: You're OBVIOUSLY drunk

Result: They have to write you up.

The punishments start out with warnings, fines, and possible one page reflection papers. As you are written up more, you may have to pay larger fines, complete restitution hours (community service), or take an online class about alcohol safety.

Since RAs are students...they have lives they'd rather get back to. They don't WANT to write you up. Basically don't be loud and obnoxious. Especially if your building has paper thin walls (which is only in the on-campus apartments). If they don't hear anything...they won't knock on your door. They have set hours for rounds so you know when they're gonna come through. Hide your alcohol...don't leave it in plain sight. AND don't let the drunkest person open the door!

Basically. BE SMART about it

Dining Options

We have three main dining halls on campus, and overall twenty-two options for dining.

There're sub shops, salad bars, buffets, fine dining (salmon, crab-cakes, steak, etc), pizza bars, grilles, chick-fil-a, smoothie bar, sports bar, breakfast/brunch options, fresh-made sushi.

We're adding a global themed dining hall. It will have Morrocan food, traditional hispanic food, etc.

The food is delicious. As a vegetarian, I find no difficulty in finding food on campus.

There're also about 40 off campus venues that will take our meal swipes, phoenix cash, or meal dollars (given to students for free with a purchase of a meal plan).

After freshman or sophomore year (if you have a kitchen) it's best to get a "Block Plan" if you plan to utilize your kitchen.

The dining halls stay open until 9. There're three places (one of the sub bars/coffee shops, sports bar, pizza bar) on campus that stay open until 1AM.

Working on It

We could really use a bigger library and a MUCH bigger music building! Our theatres are nice, but there are only 7 practice rooms for the entire school! As a music major, I am sick of fighting to get a room and having to sit outside waiting for people to leave for hours on end. Also, some of the dorms aren't so great but they were recently torn down and new ones are being nuilt which is a plus! An expanded communications building is also a must-do. Since Elon IS working on all of these things, I'll give them a C+ but since the music building won't be re-done for at least 10years, I won't see that change which is the most dissappointing to me.

Pretty Safe

I feel as if the campus police have a large presence on campus (must to the dismay of some partiers) but there have been a few issues with safety in terms of break-ins and "flashers". However, the University does an excellent job of notifing students after such an incident and at doing their best job of keeping us safe. There is no more of a safety issue than you'd expect from any other college.

Diversity

Ehh, Elon can do better with their diversity. Yes we have a diverse population in terms of geography, activities, clubs, religion, academics, and characters; however, what about racial diversity. I'm not talking about just bringing in more African American students, we need more ethnic groups.

Nightlife at Elon

The atmosphere of the Elon completely changes at night. It doesn't matter the age of the student, everyone ends up having a good time, whether is partying or just hanging out.

The Social Scene

Elon is a very social school. The students take pride in their parties, organizations, and other social programs. Besides the social scene, Elon has an amazing study abroad program. Every student is encouraged to study abroad at least once in their 4 years at Elon.

It's a Search

Elon is a great school, I will not deny that. Being a girl who loves the city, people, noise, and shopping, Elon is not where you would want to be. Besides this, Elon is amazing. The people are friendly, and area is safe, and the education is amazing. There is not a lot of culture, unless you go 20 or so minutes down the road to Greesboro.

Drug Scene at Elon

There are some drugs on campus, mainly pot, but drinking is the big thing here. Like any college, there are those who do more hard core stuff like e and coke, but its not very popular.

Those Who Attend Elon

There are a wide variety of white people here at Elon. You will see girls who range from kinda a boho, international vibe to those who could possibly in a Lilly ad. The majority of girls are good looking. Elon is a pretty fit campus, most people are skinny to normal weight. The guy population is a different story. It is quite polarized. You're either in a frat and most likely an ass, or no, and therefore most likely normal. People are pretty nice though. I personally have a wide range of friends and you can find atleast someone here who fits into your life style. The majority of minority students come from athletics or are international students, but Elon is working very hard to expand its diversity, which is respectable.

Weed and Blow

Weed is extremely common, many students smoke on a daily basis, if not multiple times a day. Cocaine (coke) is also pretty commonly heard of and there is a large number of students who snort coke mostly on the weekends.

Upperclassman Have It Made

A lot of great options for upperclassmen. Underclassmen still have a fair amount of options, some even single dorms or suite options but not new construction.

Eh, Its OK

There is usually something going on every night, usually the frats will have good parties, non exclusive. Some good bars and clubs in Burlington, not many.

Fairly Good Finaid

My school is private and very pricey. I got a little bit of financial aid but my parents are still going to squeeze pennies to send me there and I am taking out a few loans.

Small Town - Lots to Offer

The Elon area is small, we frequent in Burlington because that is where all the restraunts and shopping is located. I love small towns and the rual areas so if you don't like that this is not the school for you. Elon is definitely a college town. I love it here, our campus is so beautiful. I wouldn't want to be in school any where else! This place has always been a dream of mine and it is perfect! I am so happy!!

Beautiful

Our whole campus is beautiful inside and out which is one of the main reasons I came here. All the facilities are clean and a good size for a smaller campus.