Evergreen, Western Washington

Parents Forum
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<p>*"We also looked at Fairhaven, but decided that if the interdisciplinary approach was one that she was interested in, Evergreen offered much more."</p>

<p>Can you explain what you mean by 'much more?' *</p>

<p>Because at Evergreen the whole program is interdisciplinary & Fairhaven is just a small part of Western-
We didn't really look into it that much</p>

<p>While D was interested in Evergreen and senior year it was her first choice, by the time she got closer to actually attending college ( she took a year off)she was more interested in more of a conventional structure- where the department laid out your requirements for your major and even distribution requirements so that you had a balanced program.</p>

<p>I had known a grad from Evergreen for example, who said they never took a single history concentration, however since I didnt ask them to explain, it may have been that while they didn't consider it to be history, that someone else would say that actually a great deal had been studied. ( Incidentally, she was accepted to Cornell and decided on Evergreen instead to her parents um * concern* )</p>

<p>When we went to Western, it was on admitted student weekend, but she had already recieved her admission and package from her first choice school- so we were leaning pretty heavily that way. ( we hadn't toured Western previous to D applying)</p>

<p>However, I hadn't been to Western since I attended a boyfriends graduation in the 70s and we were keeping a friend and her mom company- it was nice to get out of town and have a "girls" weekend.</p>

<p>We did split up however, and attended the discussion groups that she would have been interested in if she was going to attend- Fairhaven & biology.</p>

<p>To be frank, her 1st choice college had a pretty high bar & Western didn't do anything to change our mind- however, if we had toured earlier in the process, I don't think I would have had quite such a jaundiced eye- I think it is an excellent school & I hope that my younger daughter will consider it.</p>

<p>While those schools are instate for us, I think Western in particular would be more attractive for younger D if it was out of state.
Instate, isn't as glamourous, but it is in a decent size city, close to Vancouver ( which is a fantastic city- and will be hosting Olympics), and has some strong programs, both academic and sports etc.</p>

22

<p>We have a wonderful school near us - UT Austin - but it is so huge. If he leaves Texas, he'd like either WA or CO - but U of CO is maxed out on housing, just a lot of negatives like that. WA seems just right - some snow, but not AS cold as CO, from what I understand. (Not that those are the deciding factors, but when they're both great schools, then those little issues do come into play.)</p>

<p>That's really funny about the girl choosing Evergreen over Cornell!</p>

<p>It sounds like the 'design your own major' could be a double-edged sword.</p>

23

<p>No question about the climate. Except for the clouds (yuch), the climate in western Washington is really pleasant. Daytime temps in mid-winter are typically in the low 40s, and nights below 30 are unusual. In our nine years here we've seen measurable snow once or twice a year. It never clamps down below freezing for weeks on end like it can in Colorado. Although, they sure get a lot more sun...</p>

24

<p>I have the impression that one needs to be very self-motivated at Evergreen. Because there is so little structure, you can just sort of drift without a focus if you don't have one within yourself. Western (even Fairhaven) seems to have a more traditional class structure.</p>

25

<p>One consideration, Evergreen does provide merit awards. I don't know about WWU.</p>

26

<p>Yeah, that might not be good for him. He is thriving right now in his classes and seems to be doing better when he's held accountable, than he did with homeschooling. (Well, to be more accurate, he thrived with unschooling on the subjects he was interested in, but not with the structured subjects like algebra.) So more structure might suit him better in some subjects and less structure better in those he is interested in.</p>

<p>Ah, I can't figure it out. The more I think about it, the more I think it really could go either way. It could either be the perfect place for him, or not.</p>