<p>Does anyone know if L&C is better than or comparable to Univ. of Puget Sound? I know it is a subjective questions, but son will get into both schools and we don't know anyone who's been to either school.
thanks.</p>
<p>We visited Lewis & Clark, know someone who goes there and loves it and have heard nothing but good things about it. The campus is really beautiful. S just got accepted EA. U. of Puget Sound we know one very bright kid who's going there from S's HS and he loves it. That's all I know so far. Portland seemed like a wonderful city.</p>
<p>Tacoma and Portland are apples and oranges.</p>
<p>Because I am more familiar with L&C, I would be biased for it. Life science is very good at L&C. Very wooded campus when I visited some years ago.</p>
<p>Tacoma is the "ugly stepsister" to the more glamorous Seattle and now to Bellevue and the Eastside. </p>
<p>Both schools have long roots with "old" PNW families and send a lot of grads to medical, law and business schools. L&C has a law school; UPS sold theirs to Seattle U. awhile ago. </p>
<p>I think L&C has more name recognition here, as does Whitman. I don't bump into as many UPS grads.</p>
<p>S visited both UPS and L&C last April. Did not like the "feeling" of L&C--mentioned that the students looked "exhausted"--and preferred UPS. This preference could be due to the fact that he met and chatted with a personable and helpful teacher at UPS who was quite knowledgeable about S's desired course of study.</p>
<p>Having visited both schools with different kids, I'm kind of neutral on both. It does seem like each attracts a different student than the other. L&C is affectionally called the "hippy school" by kids at other schools. When touring LC it seemed the kids weren't really into any trends, fashions or even the slightest bit worried about having a certain "look". The walls tend to have alot of more liberal or open information about things than some other schools. Now that doesn't make LC bad, but it may not be for someone who is a bit conservative. </p>
<p>UPS seemed alot more "trendy" for us. Alot of similar "fashionable" looks. Students seemed to be a bit more style oriented. </p>
<p>Both are very nice campuses (sp), LC gets the edge on city, Portland is a very nice city. Tacoma and the general area around it has alot of crime and saftey issues. Although UPS campus is in a safer area, you can get some spillover.</p>
<p>Administratively, neither impressed us. Neither at the time believed in merit awards, which for alot of families is going to be the only way to afford either school if you don't have that kind of money lying around. </p>
<p>Neither school placed high on our lists after visists they were both in the bottom quarter. Alot of that was due to finanical aide offers at the time. Neither was competitive with other local schools that had the same to offer.
It's not pleasant to a parent's ear to hear a university offical say
"We don't support merit awards" when your kid has worked their buns off to achieve great numbers. They may have changed their tunes as it has been a few years, but I would check other area colleges as they all pretty much offered a better cost situation.</p>
<p>We didn't visit either school, but have friends who attended UPS ( law school ) and agree that Tacoma and Portland are quite different-
although Lewis and Clark isn't so much in the "downtown accessible" part of Portland.
at least I only ran across it when I tried a new way to get to the freeway. :rolleyes:
We like Portland very much & I believe in general that Lewis & Clark has more name recognition. ( In fact after D graduated from Reed, she opted to stay in Portland)
They also offer some classes that Reed doesn't, like Japanese, that students often go across town for.</p>
<p>I know that L&C does offer merit awards- from their website , when we were just starting to look at colleges, we were surprised to hear a friends daughter had received enough merit and need based aid, to make the cost equivalent to attending an instate public school.
UPS also offers merit aid.</p>
<p>I would definitely look at each before deciding,you can learn so much just stepping onto campus</p>
<p>I know one recent grad and one current student at UPS. Both girls LOVE the school and have nothing but positive things to say about it. In our area when someone mentions Lewis Clark, we think Lewis Clark State College in Lewiston, ID or Lewis and Clark HS in Spokane.</p>
<p>In our area when someone mentions Lewis Clark, we think Lewis Clark State College in Lewiston, ID or Lewis and Clark HS in Spokane.</p>
<p>How quickly they forget</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>Actually L& C have a newish president (Hochstettler- 2004) as does Reed ( Diver-2002) and they both seem intent on while not altering the colleges personality, but enlarging reach and influence.</p>
<p>UPS also has a new president( Thomas-2004) who is also off to a fast start.
I wish we had looked at L&C, it looks beautiful, but once D had seen Reed, she was like " these are my people" & she has always had a good sense of that-</p>
<p>University of Puget Sound also gives merit scholarships. (<a href="http://www.ups.edu/scholarships.xml%5B/url%5D">http://www.ups.edu/scholarships.xml</a>) </p>
<p>These two schools have different feels, and usually students find one or the other is a better fit. I would suggest to the OP, therefore, that if and when her son gets into both schools he visit. It is easy enough to visit both in a three day weekend, as they are an easy drive from each other. That will be the best way to know which is right for your son.</p>
<p>Academically, I think they are fairly comparable, although each has arguably stronger individual departments in certain areas..</p>
<p>We visited Lewis and Clark last spring; the president was very upfront about going head to head with east coast schools to attract top talent. They do offer merit aid. </p>
<p>Kids use L&C as a backup for east coast LACs--I would expect that if L&C is not already getting more selective it will be soon as more and more students find out about it. It has a very high percentage of students studying abroad and a great reputation in life sciences. </p>
<p>I'd go for L&C personally--also if you are in the area look at Willamette. Similar stats to L&C and about 50 miles south. Near the Oregon state capitol so it's a nice fit for kids who are interested in govt.</p>
<p>Well, my D went to HS down the street from UPS and thought it was ugly and awful, was NOT impressed by Tacoma (despite living there for four years).</p>
<p>But PORTLAND she likes so much she applied to both Lewis and Clark (EA with merit money no less) and Reed. L&C has a very pretty campus, good offerings in international studies and an excellent study abroad program, and is about a preppy-moneyish as they come. (It reminded me of Amherst, while Reed reminded me of Swarthmore.)</p>
<p>Fun fact: Monica Lewinski went to Lewis & Clark. :)</p>
<p>My son attends L & C. He is currently a junior bio major. I really had to laugh at dmd's comment about L & C being preppy-moneyish. That is not the impression that I have gotten at all. My son would NOT be happy in that kind of atmosphere and he loves the school. I think the hippie moniker is a bit closer but not exactly right either. When son visited both schools, we both felt that UPS was a bit preppy and more conservative that Lewis and Clark. UPS has frats and L & C is Greek free. The L & C campus is in a very upscale residential neighborhood but that money feel doesn't spill over to the campus all that much. </p>
<p>Son was admitted to both schools and was awarded significant merit awards to both, with L & C offering more money than UPS. Since we live in the midwest I have not spent that much time on campus but I know my son is quite happy there.</p>