<p>Did anyone attend it ? I live in CA and my parents were unable to take me at this time due to work. I really want to see the campus. I also got a 50,000 scholarship so I wanted to consider it. My parents really don't care about the school.. Is there anything good about it? What can I say to convince them ? I feel so hopeless. I doubt they will let me visit also... :( Please help me out.</p>
<p>What do you mean, “is there anything good about it”? You applied for a reason, right? I hope you didn’t send in an application without knowing what the school could offer . That would have been a waste of your time and the time of the Willamette admissions office.</p>
<p>My suggestion is for you to spend some time exploring WU’s website. I happen to believe it is an excellent school, but to your parents I am a random stranger and my praise shouldn’t do anything to convince them either way.</p>
<p>You need to come up with a list of what you like about Willamette and why. What programs are suited to your personality and learning style? What can you experience there that you can’t at other schools? And most importantly, how will you make the most of a Willamette education?</p>
<p>The scholarship is nice, but only covers a portion of the total COA. Both you and your parents need to know that it will be money well spent.</p>
<p>Willamette has hosted multiple accepted student days in prior years. See if one of your parents will go to the one in April. The school also travels and does short presentations and a question and answer session for those that cant travel to Salem. It would be a good idea to attend.</p>
<p>Thanks! Money isn’t a problem for us so they are not factoring it in at all. I am trying to explore but hearing from people who know things about it is more interesting to me. I want to go in April. I love the school - don’t get me wrong. I applied because I got an email encouraging me to apply, and I appreciate that I have gotten in. Its one of my top choices right now. I just don’t know what do on how to convince my parents. I know there are so many things that are good about it - but I just don’t know because I haven’t visited…
thanks !!</p>
<p>When my son applied two years ago, we also didn’t factor money in, and we considered Willamette the safety school. He was admitted to several other schools that were higher on our (the parents’) list, including Emory University, UC San Diego, Boston University, Trinity College, CT. But after visiting everywhere, he preferred Willamette over any other school. We parents visited the campus TWICE to make sure we agreed with this decision, and we came around. If you are looking for a good liberal arts education in an environment with small classes and a friendly, supportive student body, Willamette is a great place.</p>
<p>One thing in particular really impressed us. During the summer after our son’s admission, Jerry Houser from the Career Services department emailed all the admitted students and asked them to develop a resume. He explained about Willamette’s Job Board, encouraged students to begin looking for work, and offered to provide feedback on each student’s resume. My son did this, and the next day Jerry called our house and talked with my son for about 15 minutes, discussing ways to strengthen the resume and opportunities on campus and in the area. My son is now a sophomore at Willamette, and last summer, after an internship with a nonprofit agency, he sent out applications to several organizations for this upcoming summer. He was a finalist for one government agency, an alternate for a State Department internship, and he also landed a full-time internship with an international public relations firm that has an office in Southern California. He’s looking forward to working in a PR firm! I give Willamette credit for giving him the skills and confidence to go after these opportunities. He has a lot of friends in the University of California system that are struggling to find things to do over the summer.</p>
<p>Some good things:</p>
<p>Always getting the classes you need/want. The summer before freshman year my daughter tried to register for a foreign language class. It was full so she put her name on the waiting list. A few days later she received an email that 30 ( I might be mistaken on the exact number) students in that class would not be an ideal learning situation so they opened a new section. They checked her schedule and put her in the section that did not conflict with her other classes. I think the class has between 16-20 students. She did not have to email/ beg professors for a spot, nor did she have to camp out and hope for an opening the first week of classes.</p>
<p>Writing. There are four required “writing intensive” classes required for graduation. However, you will be writing papers in many of your classes, even the science ones. Three plus semesters in and she has not seen a scantron. She is pretty sure she will never take a fill-in-the-bubble multiple choice exam.</p>
<p>Students: engaged, friendly, happy, collaborative versus competitive.</p>
<p>One caveat, it rains ALOT. But, on sunny days the green grass and trees, the glistening mill stream, the red brick against the blue sky are absolutely beautiful.</p>
<p>What exactly has your parents hesitant about the school?</p>
<p>@kelliebeff:
thank you. that sounds awesome
I’m from california so i think they don’t want me to move away and I think they feel like the school has no name (which I clearly disagree with! ) .</p>
<p>@calalum
thank you also for your input. i appreciate it.</p>
<p>Willamette is a great liberal arts school well know in the Pacific Northwest. Their classes are small and they have many fantastic professors. My son’s best friend passeds on Stanford to attend Willamette and she is very glad she did. She had already had a paid internship at NOA, and she will be working on a research project/paper with one of the professor for which she will be listed as one of the authors of the study/report and she is just fishing here second year. She loved it. My son also loved it. He is going for a double major in Philosophy and Politics. You should consider your major if you know what field or fields you may major in. At Willamette about 15% of student double major. The most popular academic majors are Biology and Politics, closing followed by Psychology, Environmental Science and Economics. But even their small program majors are very strong with great professors. I graduated from UCLA with honors and I can tell you from my own experience that in my opinion my son is getting a much better education at Willamette than I did at UCLA.</p>
<p>Sorry for all the typos. etc. I failed to review before I posted.</p>
<p>Are you sure about a $50K scholarship to Willamette? We know lots of faculty, staff, and students at the school and have never heard of a $50K scholarship there. A financial aid package worth $50K would certainly be a possibility though.</p>
<p>^ The $50,000 scholarship offer probably refers to the amount of the award over 4 years. Merit scholarships at Willamette can be lower or higher than this. In 2010, my son’s merit scholarship offer was expressed in an official letter as a set amount per year over a 4-year period. To keep the scholarship, he has to maintain a gpa of 2.5. That seems to have been the standard requirement two years ago, because other students received similar offers.</p>
<p>It has to be 1/4 of that over 4 years, and part of the basic merit upon admission. The largest scholarships with separate apps (Mark O. Hatfield and others) were only due on Febrary 15th and OP was posting about the 50k much earlier on a different Willamette thread.</p>