<p>It's not like I've been accepted anywhere yet (I'm still a junior) but I'm considering applying to these schools in my home state: </p>
<p>University of Washington
pros: cheap for in-staters, well-regarded, great education for a state school, Seattle is awesome
cons: dorms are bad, I don't want to sit in a huge lecture hall with 500 other people, prevalent Greek system</p>
<p>Whitman
pros: relatively prestigious LAC, fantastic education, people are "happy"
cons: expensive, difficult to get into</p>
<p>the Evergreen State College
pros: no Core classes, great education (from what I hear), good location, cheap for in-staters
cons: not "prestigious", many regard TESC as a "hippie" school, not very selective at all (but maybe that's a good thing!)</p>
<p>as a fellow washington state resident, i'd choose UW over those schools any day. sure, UW is a huge state university and yeah you'll have to sit in some lecture classes but the upside is that in a place that big you'll eventually find your niche. for example, if you're admitted to the honors program, the education you get is equivalent to that of a prestigious LAC or even certain Ivies.</p>
<p>being a minority, i know i wouldn't be comfortable at whitman. frankly, it's a very racially homogeneous place with a lot of rich kids because financial aid at whitman isn't all that great considering their high tuition. sure, the students there might be "happy" but that's probably because many of them have similar socio-economic backgrounds.</p>
<p>as for evergreen, i know i could never go to a school that experimental and unconventional. </p>
<p>going to UW would mean that i would have to live at home, but the complete package it can offer is far and away the best out of the three.</p>
<p>I'm at UW myself...and I wouldn't have chosen any other school in WA.</p>
<p>Whitman's in Walla Walla...'nuff said. Haha, but seriously, I wouldn't be able to stand it living there, there's like nothing compared to Seattle.</p>
<p>Oh, I assume you mean UW-Seattle and not Tacoma or Bothell.</p>
<p>The Greek system isn't THAT large actually. Sure I'll see a few booths up for frats or sororities in Red Square while I'm going to Kane Hall, but I'm rarely ever even approached by a frat member (I'm a guy).</p>
<p>And your class sizes depend on your class subject. For instance if you take Gen Chem 142, you might be in a 400 person class...but an English comp class has like 25.</p>
<p>Um...the honors program isn't THAT great. I'd never compare it to an Ivy. The program itself isn't what makes it good, it's the individual honors classes. You don't have to be in the program to be in the classes. And besides, there are departmental honors. (Doing the program vs departmental depends on a variety of factors...might wanna talk to a counselor about that). I took Physics 121 (Mechanics) honors and having never taken physics in high school, it was definitely hard. Even though I eventually dropped it, I really liked it, especially the professor. The class was about 60 people, and the professor knew my name, so it definitely wasn't one of those large lecture hall classes. On the other hand, my roommate took an honors math 124 (first quarter calc) class and it didn't seem too hard. A lot harder than the regular math 124, but not too bad...they did a lot of delta-epsilon limit proofs.</p>
<p>And just no to Evergreen, lol.</p>
<p>So yea, if you're staying in WA, UW-Seattle all the way.</p>
<p>A word about Evergreen. We've had such good experience with Evergreen students in our grad program that we've come to look favorably upon their applications. They tend to come to us as fully mature scholars, and are very self-directed in their learning and research. I don't know how they do it, but I wish they could bottle it.</p>
<p>well, to qualify my previous statement about evergreen, i just meant that it's a learning environment that isn't the best fit for me. i have heard great things about evergreen though--it didn't make it into Loren Pope's "Colleges That Changes Lives" for nothing.</p>
<p>and about my UW-Honors comment, that was based on what i heard from one college counselor...and she had ties to the UW so there's bound to be some bias there. </p>
<p>one other big benefit of being a washington state resident and the UW is something called "Husky Promise" which just came out this year. if you're a low-income student, your tuition is all covered under it.</p>
<p>i'm a prospective whitman student and absolutely fell in love with it. academically, i think it's the best on your list (UW is great for grad school) but walla walla isn't for everyone. i personally didn't mind it and i'm from houston, but i second ferrisbueller that if you're "academic and outdoorsy" it's definitely the place to be.</p>
<p>I haven't visited Whitman's campus, but from what I hear, it's very "homey" and comforting. </p>
<p>heh...although I do appreciate nature, I wouldn't consider myself to be all that outdoorsy. Hopefully the ability to hunt/fish, etc. isn't some sort of requirement :P</p>
<p>Hopefully, I'll be touring Evergreen's campus on Friday. It sounds like an amazing, yet unconventional, school at a great price. I'm surprised more Washington residents don't go there.</p>
<p>As a fellow Washingtonian, I personally would choose Whitman. I visited the campus in November and, though Walla Walla is pretty lame, it's really a great school. Everything the guidebooks say seemed true, in terms of engaging/personable teachers, excited students, reaallly good food, nice dorms. I'm biased also because I want to go to a small school.</p>
<p>Living about a five minute walk from the UW, I take it forgranted a lot. It's a great school if you want something larger. Also, I think it's good if you know what you want to go into because you can focus yourself early and get to those smaller classes sooner and take advantage of the resources the huge school can offer you. Seattle is amazing though, if the city will sway your view.</p>
<p>I have a friend at Evergreen who loves it, but it's very unconvential. Teachers are very supportive and willing to help you get wherever you need to go, though. But I do think it'd be harder to get a job straight out of evergreen than the UW, or even Whitman, but that it'd be great to help you succeed in grad school. That's just my observation.</p>
<p>So yeah, I'd pick Whitman, but that's because it works best for me. All three are good schools, but may fit very different people. And Whitman does give merit aid, so if you have any special talents you might try applying for one of special application scholarships (music, etc).</p>