<p>I don't see this school listed anywhere in this forum. It sounds REALLY cool! Anyone know anything about it or have attended there?</p>
<p>Its actually a liberal arts college- on the largish side
Evergreen State College
It was my daughters first choice school for many years, as it is instate for us ( a big plus) she received merit aid & it had intergrated course work that seemed like it might work well for her.
We also know quite a few people who graduated from Evergreen and who speak highly of it ( and who are doing quite well)
She eventually decided to attend another school just a little ways south that had a similar feel to Evergreen .
it is one of the colleges that change lives from Popes book
<a href="http://www.ctcl.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.ctcl.com/</a></p>
<p>If you don't mind my asking, what school did your D end up at that "felt" similar to Evergreen? I've read some very nice things about Evergreen & believe it might be a good one to suggest to some students as well.</p>
<p>she graduated this past spring from another "colleges that change lives"
Reed College in Portland</p>
<p>Lealdragon, Evergreen is a public college; out-of-state tuition is $10K more than for in-staters (that is, $10K on top of the in-state cost) .. and there is absolutely NO grant money in Washington state available for out-of-state students -- that is, the only financial aid are subsidized loans and a possible federal Pell grant. </p>
<p>If I recall correctly, you were concerned about costs for your son -- so I figured you might as well know this. My 2 kids wasted application fees on Washington state colleges before we figured that part out. :( My son would be at Evergreen right now but for the money problem. </p>
<p>On the other hand, Evergreen is pretty cool and it is a great bargain for in-staters. One option for a homeschooled kid like your son is to relocate to a state while out of school, get a job and establish residency by living in-state and working for a year.</p>
<p>Thanks, calmom. I did not realize that, so that is very helpful. When we first read about Evergreen, I told my son to not even think about it because it was out of the question. It was only after being encouraged by people on this forum to not limit his options, to be open to the possibility of getting enough financial aid to make schools like this a possibility, that I told him to go ahead and pick 1 or 2 schools that were a reach financially, and we'd see what happens.</p>
<p>Well, Evergreen stands out in so many ways, that now it's actually in a tie with UT Austin as far being as his #1 choice. Thanks for bringing us back down to earth!</p>
<p>Thanks for the idea, but he's definitely not quite ready to move out on his own unless he's at a college, so moving to WA on his own is not an option at this time.</p>
<p>Question to the person who ended up at Reed: in what ways do you consider Evergreen & Reed similar? What stands out most at Evergreen is the unusual curriculum, the evaluation instead of grades, and the interdisciplinary system of classes. I did look at Reed but I don't recall them being nearly as unconventional as Evergreen. Can you elaborate?</p>
<p>well= they take similar students- ultra liberal and quirky ;)
Students have often looked at both- sometimes transfering to Evergreen from Reed ( not so much other way around)</p>
<p>they also don't give grades- but Reed not as far as Evergreen - Reed students can make an appt with advisors to see grades- and if they are having difficulty in their classes, advisors will show them their grades as part of helping them develop a plan to get back on track.
<a href="http://encarta.msn.com/college_article_GoingWithoutGrades/Going_Without_Grades.html%5B/url%5D">http://encarta.msn.com/college_article_GoingWithoutGrades/Going_Without_Grades.html</a></p>
<p>Both Evergreen students and Reed students have small classes and lots of attention from faculty and they are treated like the adults they are, not big teenagers that need "adults" to put a lot of rules in place to monitor their behavior.</p>
<p>and certainly both schools are distinct enough that you love it or hate it, and it really is advised that you visit to see which one you will be.</p>
<p>I live in Olympia, my d. spent a year at Evergreen (as part of "high school" - we are homeschoolers - she studied ethnobotanical medicine and helped create a demonstration project on the Skokomish Reservation), and I know a very large proportion of the faculty, and the college prez attends my Quaker Meeting. So if you've got specific questions, feel free to write.</p>
<p>One of the major differences between Evergreen and Reed is the age of the students. Most students at Reed are in the 18-22 year range. Evergreen is the more "normal" college these days, with students from 16 up to 60. You've already noted the difference in the organization of the curriculum. </p>
<p>Another major difference is the integration of Evergreen with the town. There is a student theatre, but many of the students are active in the five theatre companies we have in town. Instrumentalists play in the Olympia Chamber Orchestra or Olympia Symphony (or in my own little symphony group - South Sound Orchestra); singers participate in Opera Pacifica. </p>
<p>Other than the northwestern "feel", we didn't find Reed and Evergreen all that similar. Oh - there are many former homeschoolers at Evergreen, and being inner-directed helps, though lots of students stay around town for a very long time until they find theirs.</p>
<p>Well, my son should fit in nicely then - ultra liberal and quirky he is, for sure!</p>
<p>He's also a metalhead - is there much of a music scene in Olympia? I know Seattle is nearby - that's a definite plus.</p>
<p>He's a vegetarian straightedge - I read that Evergreen doesn't have as much drinking as many others - he will like that.</p>
<p>And, he was homeschooled. I thought that Evergreen might be more accomodating to homeschoolers since they are so unconventional. He attended cc as dual-credit and will have many of the core curr. classes (Eng. Govt. Hist. foreign lang.) done - will have 38 hours at time of transfer. I'm still a little unclear as to how they will transfer, since they have that interdisciplinary approach. Also the foreign lang. he took is German, and they don't seem to offer German. I wonder how that will work out too.</p>
<p>I am definitely impressed with E.'s cutting-edge approach to learning. Being homeschooled (and partially unschooled) my son didn't have much experience with tests and homework until he started cc (at age 16). Yet, when he is interested in something, he will teach himself. He taught himself webdesign and was webmaster for the homeschool co-op in 9th grade, for example. He is definitely not the 'regurgitate facts for a test' kind of kid, but if he is interested in something he will know every conceivable little detail about it. In this respect, E. seems to be a perfect fit for his learning style!</p>
<p>I think the social scene is just as important as the academics. After all, it's an important part of the student's life. My son does want an active social life. It seems that E. has a disproportionate number of older students. I can see that this would be advantageous, perhaps, academically, but what about socially? As in, dating, social events, etc.</p>
<p>Olympia is probably more alt music than metal
Evergreen was the first place Nirvana played & Sleater-Kinney got their name from a nearby road
<a href="http://altmusic.about.com/od/regionalscenesevents/p/OlympiaWA.htm%5B/url%5D">http://altmusic.about.com/od/regionalscenesevents/p/OlympiaWA.htm</a></p>
<p>I wouldn't really call Seattle "nearby", Portland is probably closer.</p>
<p>Evergreen doesn't seem to have lots of drinking- that is the other similarity to Reed- schools seem either like pot or beer schools to me , not that you have to partake of one or the other, but some schools seem to have substances as a focal point of activities, and others don't.</p>
<p>I don't know how classes will transfer into Evergreen, but some students do have problems if transferring out, that was one of our factors against Evergreen, how her classes would be assessed if she decided it wasn't for her.
Another was that she wanted the opportunity to take single courses, which can be difficult at Evergreen. She liked the abilty to use the art studio at Reed, even if she wasn't taking any art classes ( and of course the difference in lab facilities between a stepchild state liberal arts college and a well funded private LAC is significant)</p>
<p>Depending on your definition, Seattle isn't really nearby. It's about 60 miles away, and I'm not sure how much Evergreen students get up to Seattle.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind about Reed is they only offer need-based FAid, NO merit aid. This may matter to some & was the reason my friend ultimately had to encourage her D to choose Seattle U--they offered $10,000 more in merit aid than Reed was able to & $$$ was a big factor since her ex-hubby is unwilling to contribute a dime toward her education & she can only stretch her income so far. She's having to pay her younger S to attend private HS as well--the ex won't contribute toward that either!</p>
<p>Actually, Evergreen has a "proportionate" number of older students; it is the colleges for 18-22 year olds that are the outlyers these days; the median age for an undergraduate in the U.S. today is 24.5.</p>
<p>Music scene? Several years ago, Time Magazine called us "the most happening place in America". Lots of vegetarians (and two large food coops for 70,000 people.) Not much drinking; drug use is heavily mitigated by the number of older students, and would be significantly lower than Reed (or many other west coast colleges). But it does exist. (I have data on colleges in Washington, as this is what I do for a living. Evergreen's rep is far higher than the reality, and it isn't in the top 5.)</p>
<p>Evergreen is an "alternative" type place, but they also insist on students learning to write well, and, on the whole, there is a major public policy emphasis - lots of folks in government come out of Evergreen, and there are many internships for those interested. Also, there seems to be a cohort of budding environmental engineers (neo-hippy math nerds). There is one at our Meeting, who had her pick of fellowships at Berkeley, Ohio State, Purdue, etc. </p>
<p>Lab facilities are not what they are at a good private institution, though they've just built a new building. But theater facilities, for example, are much better than they are at Reed or Whitman. We have so many art studios in town that most folks do their art integrated with the art community.</p>
<p>Your son may also be interested in the organic farm at evergreen- which supplies the food for the student run restaurant
<a href="http://www.evergreen.edu/cell/organicfarm.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.evergreen.edu/cell/organicfarm.htm</a></p>
<p>In addition to that, many Evergreen students work with GRUB - an organization that installs low-cost vegetable gardens at homes of low-income community members, and trains them in how to maintain them. They recently received a major multi-year grant from the city.</p>
<p>"and of course the difference in lab facilities between a stepchild state liberal arts college and a well funded private LAC is significant"</p>
<p>Is Evergreen considered a 'stepchild'? So are you saying that they wouldn't have state-of-the-art lab and research facilities?</p>
<p>If that's what you mean, then that would definitely be a strike against them. My son's other main choice is UT Austin - which of course is cutting-edge academically. I think both are really cool in different ways. There are so many factors to consider.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Re the drink/drugs: are you saying that E. activities ARE or are NOT substance-related? I'm not too concerned about my son's resolve weakening - he's extremely strong in his straightedge convictions - but neither do I want him in an environment where getting high is the norm and there are very few people who don't. I want him to fit in.</p>
<p>UT has plenty of drugs/alcohol, obviously, but it is so huge that there are also plenty of other subcultures that aren't like that.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>"Depending on your definition, Seattle isn't really nearby. It's about 60 miles away, and I'm not sure how much Evergreen students get up to Seattle."</p>
<p>Eh, good point. I've been to Portland and really liked it, but yeah, how would the students get there? In Austin, they really don't need cars for most things, because they have shuttles to the action spots.</p>
<p>So that leads to the question: What's to do in Olympia?</p>
<p>And, just how close to the beach is it? (I guess maybe I'm still freaked out about the possibility of a tsunami hitting the west coast...saw too many documentaries about that very thing on tv...)</p>
<p>Olympia is right on I-5 and there are trains and buses to both Portland and Seattle. Portland and Seattle are about 160 miles apart; Olympia is 60 miles south of Seattle, so about 1/3 of the way to Portland. Mt. Rainier is not too hard to get to, nor is White Pass and the South Cascades. </p>
<p>I do not know if Evergreen is part of WUE; assume you are in Texas right? So you might not be part of WUE either; I think NM and AZ are as far east as it goes for that program. </p>
<p>Olympia is on the Sound so not much risk of Tsunami if any. Olympia is a nice little city; it's the state capital and has a couple of colleges, so it's probably about like any other city of 100,000 or so. It's definitely in the "blue state" half of Washington.</p>
<p>"Evergreen's rep is far higher than the reality, and it isn't in the top 5"</p>
<p>Do you mean not in the top 5 of the state? And why do you say the rep is higher than the reality?</p>
<p>I think what got our attention was the radical approach to learning - the evaluations, no grades, the interdisciplinary approach, etc. All of which I think would be a perfect fit for my son.</p>
<p>But, what good is all that if he doesn't get the classes he needs?</p>
<p>The areas of interest you just mentioned sound wonderful...organic farming, environmental studies...etc. but I don't think any of that is of interest to him. (To me, maybe, but not to him.) </p>
<p>The main degrees he is currently considering include Computer Science, Linguistics, Psychology, and Computational Linguistics. He's very interested in Political Science but doesn't want a career in politics - too corrupt - so what else could he do with that?</p>
<p>I didn't see much about Psychology listed in their catalog. I asked about Computational Linguistics, and was told that they would design a program of study just for him - is that true??? But how could they do that if they don't have a faculty member with credentials in that field?</p>
<p>I'm confused. On the one hand it sounds just so awesome, like it was created just for my son, but on the other there are all these other issues...and they're not small things.</p>
<p>Yes I am in Texas. What is WUE?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wiche.edu/sep/wue/%5B/url%5D">http://www.wiche.edu/sep/wue/</a></p>
<p>Schools in the association give discounted out of state tuition to residents of other states in the association. Sometimes there are restrictions as to programs, GPAs, etc. but it's a great resource if you happen to be eligible.</p>