SUMMARY
One of the top private liberal arts universities in the nation – Furman University attracts top students from around the nation as well as from around the world. Located about 5 miles from downtown Greenville, SC – Furman is also the oldest private institution in the state of South Carolina.
ARTICLE
Founded in 1826 – Furman University in Greenville, SC is a highly competitive and very selective liberal arts college. It is South Carolina’s oldest private institution and currently has about 2,500 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Almost 2/3rds of the students who graduate from Furman go onto graduate school at a number of universities throughout the nation.
Furman continually ranks among the top universities in the nation and receives awards accordingly. It was even ranked 4th among undergraduate research programs in U.S. News. The university was only behind MIT, Stanford, and the University of Michigan in this ranking.
Located about five miles north of downtown Greenville, SC – students live on a beautiful campus that itself has received a number of different awards. The campus has a large lake in the center of the heavily wooded, 750 acre campus. Nearby are plenty of state parks that offer recreation and relaxation to the students as well as downtown Greenville which has a number of options for students looking to take a break from their studies. From the West End historic district to the Peace Center for the Performing Arts – Furman University students enjoy a number of different arts and entertainment, shopping and dining options within close proximity to their campus.
Furman University does sport a number of athletic teams which compete in the Southern Conference of the NCAA Division I-AA league. Their mascot is the Paladins and they have won various championships in their divisions. The Furman football team has competed in the Division I-AA national championship game on 3 separate occasions. They won in 1988 and lost in 1985 and 2001. Despite its relatively small size compared to the Dukes and the Universities of Michigan, Furman is also the only liberal arts college to be ranked by Sports Illustrated in its Top 100 America’s Best Sports Colleges. A number of Furman athletes have gone on to compete at a professional level.
Even though Furman competes regularly on a national level in sports – it truly is their academic programs that separate Furman from other universities. Furman University has a strong academic tradition which results in the high number of graduates going on to masters and PhD level programs. Their psychology, chemistry, and computer science departments are highly regarded by organizations and other academic institutions as being among the elite in these fields.
Many of the colleges 270 faculty members make Greenville, SC and the surrounding cities and towns their homes. Students and faculty alike participate in a number of community events throughout the year including various plays, recitals, and lectures sponsored by the university. Furman University is a real treasure for the Upstate region of South Carolina as it attracts top students to the area – many of whom go on to live and work in the region following graduation from the university.
Updated: January, 2010