Also Willamette, UN-Reno, and Cal Lutheran but really, Chapman and Puget Sound might be the top 2 at this point. We’ll be doing a visit to UPS and Whitman in a couple of weeks, he really likes Chapman but it’s the most expensive option and he likes PNW weather better. We are familiar with St Olaf through a relative who recently graduated… great school, not sure he wants to go that far. Mostly looking for more opinions on any of these schools, esp. for a music major.
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I don’t really know Chapman’s music reputation. However, I have a friend whose son goes there, and the vibe would be REALLY different from UPS. Did you find out scholarship info yet from UPS?
I don’t have a lot of specific info, just one piece of anecdotal data.
My family is not a musical people, but my friend’s daughter is an awesome musician from a family of musicians (earning livings in jobs related to music). She chose Puget Sound and loves it there.
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We did - got it yesterday. He’s getting $35,000/yr there between a dean’s scholarship and a music one so it’s about half the cost of Chapman. Very tempting. Hoping he likes it when we visit.
Vibe-wise… he’s a quiet kid, introverted. Won’t be a joiner with the frat/ sporty types but probably won’t be a joiner with the woodsy/ hiking types either. We have a friend at Chapman with a similar quiet/ geeky personality and she’s happy there even though the general vibe is much more social.
Sorry, but I don’t think Chapman is worth 2x UPS for an arts-related degree. Friend’s son believes the Chapman campus is too image-oriented, but he is from outside CA and maybe is experiencing culture shock. I am holding out hope your son will like the PNW options! Congrats on the wonderful scholarship!
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You might want to post this on the music major forum.
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My son is a freshman at Whitman and loves it. It’s the perfect fit. His top 2 choices were Whitman and UPS, which both had everything he wanted in a school. It came down to choosing the drier weather in a small town vs lots of rain and gray in a small city. He chose the drier, 4 seasons weather of Walla Walla. Both Whitman and UPS are Colleges that Change Lives schools. Whitties take their studies seriously but also know how to make their own fun. My son, who had zero interest in joining a fraternity, surprised us all and joined a fraternity! He’s found a great group of friends, most who are on the tennis team, and they have lots of fun together. They just had 2 weeks of spring break and my son and 12 of his fraternity friends came to Los Angeles (where we live) and stayed in Venice Beach in a hostel for a week. They had a blast. Whitman was definitely the right decision for my son. But I’m also eyeing UPS for his younger brother! Good luck in your decision! If you haven’t already, join the Whitman and UPS parent Facebook groups. Both have very helpful parents. We visited Chapman as we live in LA, and it’s a great school, but no way would I pay double for it over UPS. That’s one of the reasons my son applied mostly to schools in the Pacific Northwest, they were cheaper, better bang for the buck.
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Thanks for the info.
We are actually in Walla Walla now - hanging out in the hotel before driving to the airport. After the admitted student days at UN-Reno (which I didn’t even mention in the original post because I didn’t think it would be in contention), UPS, and Whitman, his top 2 are UNR and UPS. Whitman is a lovely school, but like Chapman it’s 2x the price of some of the others and would have had to have a bigger appeal to overcome that.
He’s going to mull it over for another day or two. I’m rooting for UPS but I didn’t go on the visit to UNR (hubby took him to that one and really liked it).
Not sure what merit aid Whitman gave him at acceptance, but my son got $14k a year which made it the most expensive school out of the 8 he was accepted to. After attending Admitted Students Day last year we came home and he sent Whitman an appeal letter (email) saying Whitman was his first choice (with specifics from his visit), but that it was the most expensive school out of the 8 he had been accepted at, and that our budget was the cost of a UC school (we’re in CA). We attached a spreadsheet comparing the net costs of all 8 schools along with the financial aid awards from each school. 7 days later my son’s merit was more than doubled from $14k a year to $30k a year which put Whitman within budget. I’d highly recommend appealing at both Whitman and UPS. UPS increased my son’s merit an additional $2k a year, unprompted, after the May 1st deadline last year. Always appeal, you have absolutely nothing to lose.
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Thanks to all who chimed in on the thread. D22 has committed to Puget Sound and we are thrilled.
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Congratulations! I hope he loves it there. Tacoma is such a cool city.
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