My child grew up in the suburbs between San Francisco and San Jose. Walla Walla is a small town, lacking in amenities that he is used to at home. E. Washington state is colder and dryer than most of the SF Bay area. These are the two minuses from his perspective. He likes the academic and social aspects of the school.
I was not overjoyed when he joined a fraternity first year. He is tiring of a greek society that revolves around alcohol, and he is re-considering his involvement. IMHO I don’t think that Whitman is different from most schools in re: parties that depend on alcohol.
This is just a theory, but I’m guessing one of the reasons for the recent surge in applications to Whitman and the associated drop in admissions rate is the dramatic simplification Whitman made to its common app supplement. When my daughter was considering applying (fall of 2011), Whitman required THREE supplemental essays, including some pretty tough ones along the lines of “What does a diverse education mean to you?” and “How do you think and express your thoughts?”. For my daughter, when it got down to crunch time, the sheer labor involved in filling out the Whitman app was a deal-killer, since she had a lot of other schools on her list that she was quite excited about.
They’ve replaced all that with one very open-ended and fun prompt requiring a mere 250 words (less than half a page). I’m guessing their yield took a hit, but I’ll bet that tipped the balance for a lot apply/don’t-apply wafflers.
Now that we’re on to kid #2, I’m looking forward to a visit to check out Whitman next fall. Seems like a terrific school, and potentially a great fit for my son.
The Class of 2019 has set a new record for the number of applications submitted. The acceptance rate was 40%.
I am glad there are schools like Whitman, where getting admitted to an exceptional college does not involve a ridiculously low acceptance rate.
https://www.whitman.edu/newsroom/whitman-class-of-2019-sets-new-record-for-applications