The Facts
sau
Web site: www.southern.edu
Location: Collegedale, Tennessee 100 miles from Atlanta and Knoxville
Environment: small town in wooded hills of the South
Undergraduate enrollment: 1,939 46 percent male, 54 percent female
Annual cost for tuition, room, board, fees: $19,400 (add about $900 a year for books and supplies)
School year: two semesters late August to late April
Call for more information: 1-800-SOUTHERN
Nearest Taco Bell: 3.7 miles
Squirrel population (rough estimate): just right--enough but not too many
Famous local event: SonRise Easter Pageant
Tons of salad sold annually in Southern's cafeteria: 16
More than 300 kinds of trees and 400 varieties of plants grow near Southern--more than anywhere in the world except central China.
Way down south stands a university with white pillars and caring teachers.
Here's a quiz for you:
Which university is located only minutes from Lookout Mountain, the place where miniature golf was invented in 1926?
Which university is home to Little Debbie snack cakes?
OK, did you ace the quiz? So you took a hint from the Southern shirt I'm wearing in the picture above.
The first time I visited SAU's campus, I noticed two things: gorgeous fall leaves and Southern architecture. Elegant brick buildings with tall white pillars dot the hillsides. And everyone kept telling me that the dogwood blooms look incredible in the spring. Sounds like the perfect spot for lying on the grass in April while you procrastinate on studying for finals.
Bring good walking shoes to Southern, because you might have to climb quite a few stairs to get to your classes. You can use the same shoes to log some miles on the running track, tennis courts, racquetball courts, gymnasium, and playing fields on campus.
College Guide
Compare & Constrast
Southern Adventist University
Way down south stands a university with white pillars and caring teachers.
Here's a quiz for you:
Which university is located only minutes from Lookout Mountain, the place where miniature golf was invented in 1926?
Which university is home to Little Debbie snack cakes?
OK, did you ace the quiz? So you took a hint from the Southern shirt I'm wearing in the picture above.
The first time I visited SAU's campus, I noticed two things: gorgeous fall leaves and Southern architecture. Elegant brick buildings with tall white pillars dot the hillsides. And everyone kept telling me that the dogwood blooms look incredible in the spring. Sounds like the perfect spot for lying on the grass in April while you procrastinate on studying for finals.
Bring good walking shoes to Southern, because you might have to climb quite a few stairs to get to your classes. You can use the same shoes to log some miles on the running track, tennis courts, racquetball courts, gymnasium, and playing fields on campus.
You'll have lots of time to get outdoors, because the weather at Southern is hardly ever too hot or too cold. I visited on a sunny November day when the temperature hovered right around 60 degrees. (At home in Minnesota we're usually digging our cars out of snowbanks by that time, so I was amazed.)
Not far from campus you'll find all kinds of fun. The nearby Ocoee River hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics white-water events. Civil War battle sites, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the Appalachians can be reached in an hour or two. Just remember to take it easy on your feet. While Tim Lale, former Insight associate editor, was attending Southern, he once hiked 25 miles in one day. ""It just about killed me,"" he says.
About 20 minutes from Southern you'll come to Chattanooga, a small city voted one of the 10 most livable places in the U.S. Whether you want a new CD, a sweater, or just a milk shake, you'll probably find it at Hamilton Place, the largest mall in Tennessee. Other attractions in Chattanooga include museums, a zoo, the Tennessee Aquarium, Southern Belle riverboat, the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo, and a 3-D IMAX theater.
If you're looking for great concerts and pro sports, you can head south to Atlanta for the evening. In the other direction you'll find Nashville, country and Christian music capital of the world.
SAU offers dozens of different majors, but some of their programs attract an especially large number of students. Are you interested in the growing field of nursing? With more than 225 students, SAU boasts one of the largest nursing departments in the southeastern U.S.
Many students also major in education, religion, and business. The newest programs on campus are wellness management, long-term health care, and a master's degree in education. And SAU's journalism department coordinates exciting internships and invites the Insight staff and other communication professionals to their annual communicators' workshop to hobnob with students.
The newest undergraduate programs on campus are international business, biochemistry, and mass communication. You can even go on for a master's degree in software engineering, business, education, counseling, religion or nursing.
The SAU students I met say that uplifting spiritual activities abound on campus. On any given Sabbath you can choose to attend one of 25 churches in the area--English, Korean, or Spanish large or small formal or casual. Every week students run their own Sabbath school and church called The Third service. In the afternoons they join up with CARE (Collegiate Adventists Reaching Everyone) to visit shut-ins, conduct puppet ministries, and give lawn concerts.
And listen up if you have a flair for acting: SAU's Destiny Drama Company might be able to use your talents. This innovative group travels all over, portraying the power and personality of Jesus to their audiences.
So what about the money? Actually, SAU offers one of the better financial deals in Adventist education. You see, besides all the usual avenues available, they have scholarship endowments totaling about $14.4 million. From this money given by lots of people, the earnings keep on helping students who can't quite afford the full cost. They might even have something for you.
And here's a great tip: you can test-drive SAU for free. In their program called SmartStart, new students get free credit and free fun for four weeks in August.
Call and ask them about it. If you like it, you might even want to stick around for a few years.