Evergreen U in Washington

Parent Cafe
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<p>WUE is Western Undergraduate Exchange <a href="http://www.wiche.edu/sep/wue/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wiche.edu/sep/wue/&lt;/a> , a program that gives reduced tuition rates for out-of-state undergrads from participating states, 150% of in-state rates. Unfortuntely, Texas is not one of the states.</p>

<p>Evergreen is very good for the things it does -- it does cutting edge research in phage biology, or example, but those things are limited. </p>

<p>You might also want to look at Western Washington University (WWU), their Fairhaven College, in particular. It's also big on interdisciplinary learning, self-direction, etc.</p>

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<p>I just looked up Western. This got my attention:</p>

<p>international reputation in the area
of alternative fuel research,</p>

<p>He'd be interested in that. Which opens up the question of which OTHER schools are noted for alternative fuel research...</p>

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<p>It just never ends, does it? One idea takes you to 47 other places!</p>

<p>Another quirky college you might explore is Deep Springs. Men only, two years only, but they go on to places like Harvard, Brown, MIT, wherever they want, it seems. I think tuition is free. It's a working ranch in the high California desert, definately not for everyone, but supposed to be a great foundation for further education. Total enrollment is around 25, and a very long and selective application process.</p>

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<p>re substances- once you realize that college students are going to party at times- some schools where the social activity is drinking heavily have a different feel than schools where kids are equally likely to smoke pot- because its been my impression, that you just dont smoke pot till you puke and pass out.</p>

<p>My D did drink somewhat- and doesnt smoke pot- at Reed you could socialize without substances being involved quite easily and it was my impression that was equally true at Evergreen
possibly because some students are older as Mini noted.</p>

<p>Evergreen isnt as large as other area schools and so it doesn't have the political clout that the UW for instance does, although it has gotten publicity for political viewpoints- see Rachel Corrie and Mumia abu-Jamal</p>

<p>We didn't actually ever see the labs , it wasn't part of the tour even though we asked to see them, so that wasn't likely to give us a positive opinion. Also their library in the past has been considered poor, although that can be less critical with online subscriptions and library exchanges.</p>

<p>while I still like Evergreen a great deal & will try and have my daughter look at it- these are the things that turned her sister off from Evergreen as a choice 6 years ago.</p>

<p>When we attended an admitted students panel discussion with profs, on a Saturday morning, we both felt that they were less than articulate in describing their programs and answering questions.</p>

<p>Flakiness was exhibited a little stronger than we wanted to see- organized protests against daylight saving time for instance- although we weren't sure if it was tongue in cheek or not, we had seen enough indicators that may have suggested otherwise.</p>

<p>Grammatical and spelling errors in the student newspaper and in student made signs around campus. If they were obvious enough so that I could notice them, we were concerned that students either didn't know/or didn't care.</p>

<p>We also realized that although they undoubtably have some strong programs- I think you would need good advising and a strong focus to stay on track and get a meaningful degree rather than just taking the programs taht sound good at the time.
She decided she needed more external structure for required courses</p>

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<p>He'd be interested in that. Which opens up the question of which OTHER schools are noted for alternative fuel research...</p>

<p>are you in ca? you should look at calpoly</p>

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<p>Wow, no kidding about all the other possibilities opening up...</p>

<p>No, we're in Texas.</p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestion about the all-male school, but no way would he go for that. He likes girls too much. ;-) He won't even consider a school with more males than females! And I don't blame him - dating is an important part of his education!</p>

<p>--</p>

<p>Thanks, Emerald. E's starting to lose a bit of its shine. Still in the running, but no longer a 'perfect' dream school.</p>

<p>Ironically, the closest any school has come to being perfect is the one in our back yard...UT Austin. It seems to have the best of all worlds. But, dang it, they have tests and grades...and no snow!</p>

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<p>Now that my son has gotten excited about possibly moving to WA (where there is SNOW), I've started looking at others...</p>

<p>Anyone know anything about Whitman? I'm looking at the CTCL site.</p>

<p>Yikes, is it ever expennnnnnsive. Only reason I'm still looking is that they seem to seek URM students.</p>

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<p>See how I can help.</p>

<p>Drug use - not in the top 5 in Washington State (Whitman, for example, is higher.) And alcohol use is much lower than average. Much of this has to do with age-range, and with self-selecting student body. (By the way, I LOVE Whitman, but it is a very different school.) </p>

<p>At work, my "quantitative assistant" is a 'Greener computer science guy, with a counseling/psych masters degree as well (I work in the substance abuse field.) (He now also coaches the women's crew team.) Evergreen is definitely NOT UW in this regard, but there is quite a bit going on (as would be true in all public uni's in the northwest.) They WOULD create a specific program around a student's interests (they do that all the time - it is rather more the norm than the exception); if, on the other hand, your s. is looking for a list of courses, he'd be better off at a large flagship state u. like UW or UT.</p>

<p>There is a new science building with new labs - I haven't seen them. Cutting edge research in biology, but don't know about other science areas (although apparently, as I noted, they have a cadre of successful pre-engineers.) </p>

<p>It only snows here once a year (but we are within easy reach of both the Olympics and the Cascades.)</p>

<p>What's to do in Olympia? Four repertory theatres; two symphony orchestras; an opera company; lots of art studios and alternative theater; many bookstores and craft stores; big alternative music scene; lots of political activity (we are the hometown of Rachel Corrie); government internships (especially for computer people). (Tons of homeschoolers - and home of a notorious one - me!) Skateboarders! Religiously diverse - from Quakers to Latter Day Saints to African-American Baptist to the local mosque. Restaurants and clubs. All in a town of 70,000. (In case you haven't noticed, I love my town!)</p>

<p>Whitman is basically a west coast version of Williams. Nice campus, very rural, fine faculty, lots of drinking, athletic, pre-professional, good art history department, lots of happy students. Financial aid, from what I can tell, tends to be iffy. And yes, they are rather desperate for URM students (virtually all the minorities in Walla Walla are congregated around the big state prison there, and has been a source of contention.)</p>

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<p>What's UW? University of Washington state school?</p>

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<p>Yes..........</p>

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<p>Both of my sisters attended Evergreen way back when (for years, my favorite shirt was a baseball shirt with a geoduck on it).</p>

<p>One sister graduated with a degree in history, while the other dabbled and never graduated. I've known some people to have a wonderful experience. I've known others to receive some of the most bogus degrees I can imagine; for instance, one friend graduated with a BA after making up literally his whole curriculum out of what appeared to be whole cloth. </p>

<p>I never got the impression of a particularly rigorous academic curriculum from anyone I know who attended, but it might have changed.</p>

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<p>I would agree with that, but would note that it is at least as rigorous (and certainly more studious a place) as the other state universities around here, if for no other reason than students (when it works) are fully invested in their educations. (Some of that comes with age, of course.)</p>

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<p>Reed "similar" to Evergreen? I don't think so...</p>

<p>Reed is an intensely academic, very competitive school. Evergreen doesn't fall into that category at all.</p>

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<p>Olympia is all about the "music scene," actually.</p>

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<p>Well, I know that at the U.W. I couldn't earn my BAs in Anthropology and English Literature by writing a major paper that didn't reference a single outside source.</p>

<p>On the other hand, that's how my friend at Evergreen earned his degree.</p>

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<p>I know of UW grads that didn't write a single major paper. (and then they try to come work for me.)</p>

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<p>2incollege: What's the music scene like? as in, genres of music...big concerts or small underground metal shows...etc.</p>

<p>to everyone else: It sounds like the academics at Evergreen are being questioned. I read about E. in both Kaplan/Trent & Seppie's Unofficial Guide to the Best Colleges and in 'Students' Guide to College' - both of which claim to ONLY review excellent, reputable, highly-ranked schools. They both say that anything in the list is already a given as far as being academically excellent.</p>

<p>So...now I'm a bit confused.</p>

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<p>*Reed "similar" to Evergreen? I don't think so...</p>

<p>Reed is an intensely academic, very competitive school. Evergreen doesn't fall into that category at all.*</p>

<p>I'm somewhat aware of the "feel" of Reed- afterall my daughter graduated recently from Reed, with a degree in biology and still lives in Portland.
We visited both several times before she made her decision, and I have visited Portland about 3 or 4 times a year for the last 5 years, sometimes even stopping to see friends in Olympia :)</p>

<p>Granted this comparision was not made during finals week at Reed, when the students don't go back to their dorms to sleep, let alone take a shower ;)</p>

<p>Portland of course is a much bigger city, if Olympia can even be considered a city considering the population is about the size of the university of washington- that also makes the atmosphere on campus at Reed, different than in Olympia.</p>

<p>However, both my daughter and I agree that they have similarities for the reasons mentioned earlier. I didn't say they were * identical* I didn't say the curriculum was similar, although Reed also has the Hum110 class that has discussions and lecture across disciplines and I didn't say that the education received was the same. But I have known siblings who have gone to one or the other, I know those who have attended Reed and transfered to Evergreen and I know several with degrees from Evergreen who would have also fit in at Reed.</p>

<p>But they do attract students who politically are similar & where else are you going to find such a high concentration of white kids with dread locks?</p>

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<p>Well, I'm sure they exist.</p>

<p>I'm still far less impressed with Evergreen than many seem to be, and have met more solid students from the U.W. than I have have from E.C.</p>

<p>Having said that, I discouraged my own kids from applying to U.W. because I didn't want them to attend a 35,000 student school; I was never impressed with the quality of my advising there and really did my own thing completely. Both my sons attend small LACs, but Evergreen never would have been on the table, and I say that having a son who attended a very left and liberal high school that did not give grades.</p>

<p>I would have been happy to see either attend Reed or Lewis & Clark.</p>

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<p>Lewis and Clark?</p>