Hi all,
I am a first-year undergraduate student looking to transfer for personal reasons you can read about here (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17954948). I have a few questions about Whitman and I was hoping some students/alums/parents could fill me in.
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How LGBT-friendly is the college? If I came out, would students be accepting? Can I obtain gender-neutral housing?
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How good is the financial aid?
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I know Whitman doesn’t have a Neuroscience major (which is a bummer for me), but are the sciences in general strong and supported?
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What are the disability services like at Whitman? I had no trouble transferring my learning disability accommodations from my high school to my current institution - is Whitman a supportive environment for people like that?
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How is the campus vibe? Is it laid-back, high-stress, preppy, hippie, or something else? What kind of students does Whitman usually attract?
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Is alcohol/drinking prevalent on campus?
Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
Deepseafish:
I am a parent of a sophomore, so I will give you my impressions based on what I have seen and heard (not as good as a student, but better than nothing). There are not a lot of Whitman students who visit CC regularly.
As for LGBT, my impression is that Whitman is very accepting in general. My D’s roommate last year was gay and she seemed very happy with the school. I don’t have any knowledge of transgender feelings, but in general Whitman has a very progressive student body and admin policies around sexuality issues.
Financial aid was good for us, one of the reasons we chose Whitman over some better known schools. I do not know the policy for transfers, but in general it seems that they are pretty generous around need and merit based aid if applicable.
My D is a biology major. It is a rigorous program and the sciences are definitely well supported. There is a BBMP major (Biochem/Biophysics/Molecular Bio) that most pre-meds prefer. I would say the sciences are more important at Whitman than the average small liberal arts school.
No knowledge of disability services but they do have excellent student support services (as do most high level small liberal arts schools).
The “vibe” is more laid back than some…in keeping with the Pacific NW locale. However, academics are front and center and there is a lot of work to do. I would say it is more “collaborative” than laid back actually. The students do not seem to be overly competitive with each other and in general the place seems more “happy” than many others.
There is a “greek” scene that about 1/3 of the students belong to. It is again more “laid back” than many greek scenes and there is a lot of fraternization between the greeks and independents. The greek scene provides a fair amount of alcohol opportunities on the weekend, but there are many who do not partake. My D is an independent and drinks just very occasionally. There is no pressure to drink.
Hope this helps. I think Whitman is a great school and provides a rigorous, accepting, collaborative atmosphere in general.