NW Oregon Visit Report

<p>and easier to dash between buildings since it sometimes rains in the PNW. ;)</p>

<p>About U of Oregon funding - I haven't heard of any state cuts, and when the university set out recently to raise $600 million they overshot the mark by a wide margin. $100 million from Bobby Knight and $75 from Lorry Lokey alone.</p>

<p>and sometimes it snows in April in the PNW</p>

<p>my son has been admitted to whitman but he seems to think it is "not for him" but he has not visited. he is conservative but bright. help!!!</p>

<p>should he visit whitman if he thinks he will not fit in or is it worth the trip?</p>

<p>JaneyPT </p>

<p>so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow</p>

<p>glazed with rain
water</p>

<p>beside the white
chickens.</p>

<p>Sorry, 6th grade is covering William Carlos Williams..... but it does all depend. What are his other choices? How much would it cost for him to visit? Drive from Seattle, clearly yes. Fly from one small airport with limited choices to another if funds are very limited... maybe not.<br>
There are more liberals in the NW than conservatives - if that would really bother him and he has other equally good choices then no. If no other good LAC has sparked his interest, then maybe yes.</p>

<p>is deceiving. The North side is the Capitol complex and parks. On the South side is the Pringle Park, Bush's (US Bank founder) Park, and the Hospital Complex. And the West side (5 blocks is the Willamette River Park) These parks are very large. Willamette also owns several city blocks that are probably slated for future expansion.</p>

<p>Back in the stoneage when I attended UC Davis (5200 acres) I didn't think twice about campus size. As I recall my movements were very limited due to lack of transportation, but I do not recall having little to do on weekends. D who is at Willamette seems to have more than enough to fill up her weekends and, much to my dismay, still hasn't made it out to Silver Falls state park!</p>

<p>I'm not sure what you're getting at... but I have a guess. I shouldn't have used the word "ghetto"; that has racial connotations. I should have used "run-down", "poorly lit", or most explicitly, "NOT AS GOOD/SAFE-LOOKING/INVITING AN AREA AS THE ONE AROUND PUGET SOUND'S CAMPUS.". I apologize if anyone inferred something from my last post. </p>

<p>Nothing to do with Tacoma, just the difference between two schools.</p>

<p>I don't recall saying what high school I attended, although 75+ percent white could describe the populations of most high schools in WA/OR not in Seattle/Tacoma/Portland.</p>

<p>Janey--re Whitman: Probably worth it if you can afford it, even if just to rule it out. There are some very conservative students who thrive there and I think you just have to be on campus and in Walla Walla to truly get a sense of what the school is like---alot will depend on his areas of interest and sense of the academic departments.</p>

<p>For 16 years he was home and within 2 hours of 15-20 waterfalls. Yet, he first has to see Falling Waters, in Western PA. Then he comes home to see local waterfalls (many because of rain and mountains) and fountains (few because we have waterfalls.) </p>

<p>Then he goes to other countries, so what does want to do? Go see fountains (many because of cities) and if possible, waterfalls (rare because of development).</p>

<p>Janey - visit Whitman if your son can. There's no other way to get the feel of the place. Overnight with students and walk all over the campus. He'll know how he feels after that.</p>

<p>my oldest went to Reed in Portland.
She is not so much an outdoor person although she does love to ride ( horses and bikes) we ski,and camp every year and she loves the northwest.
Reed</a> owns their own cabin on Mt Hood- which is available year round for students.
I don't think she has ever been.:(</p>

<p>When she initially was interested in Reed, they sent a CD with quicktime movies of campus & the Portland area. Because my vision is not so great- I clicked on the movie of the Timberline lodge & thought it was the one for the ski cabin.
No wonder Reed was so expensive ;)</p>

<p>Whitman is an A+ school. Our D was accepted there in 2002 with some merit $$. She wanted to go to the East Coast and ended up (after a miserable semester at BC) at Middlebury College. I really believe that Whitman is the Williams, Middlebury, Amherst's equal for the NW. It is worth a trip!</p>

<p>Beware the NW winters. Even after 10 years living in Portland I still think that the climate sucks big time. Things I hate the most --- there is absolutely no variety. It is either gray and overcast, with short days and low hanging clouds 7 months of the year, or sunny with endless days for another 5 months. No, this should not be a primary consideration when choosing a college, but it better not be neglected either.</p>

<p>Just to give people some idea of a baseline, I think that the climate in Chicago is just fine.</p>

<p>I will agree that grey is much more depressing than cold.
But there is a lot of variety- and it usually is in the same day!
It could be in the high 50's in the bright sun, clouds roll in, starts snowing, then the wind kicks up and it is sunny again.
all in April! ;)
This winter was pretty mild in Seattle. While I did drag out my long underwear for my hort classes where I was outside for 4 or 5 hours, sometimes barely moving ( for an ID class), I only wore my long wool coat once & I think even all my D's soccer games ( which go into December) they had decent weather.
Portland also gets different weather than Seattle ( and Seattle is different than Bellevue) Portland can be much hotter or much colder because of where it is situated in the valley.
My younger D wants California- but bay area- we like our cloudy weather- you can still get your vitamin D if you are outside & it's important to be outside everyday I think no matter what the weather, so it's good to have a climate that you can get used to.</p>

<p>Ah-yes, I do take a lot of vitamin D just to get my level up to normal! However- don't forget that we have less actual rain than Chicago (Groovy Geek I grew up in Ind. and know the Chicago wind! but really like that city) but we do have lots more days of rain. PNW is a drizzle. Umbrellas not usually used at all. Everyone owns gortex type jackets. But the green trees-now that is what I would miss. Plus good skiing. My S wants warmer sunnier for college-which is why I keep asking about UOP. Will also look at U of SF.
We had hard hail yesterday (now that was a really fun track meet that last over 7 hours). Today grey, cloudy AND blue-nearly all at the same time.</p>

<p>Personally, after 37 years on the east coast, I'd seen enough snow and ice for a lifetime and more. (Heck, the Blizzard of '78 alone turned me off snow for years.) Our brief stay in California persuaded me that relentless sunshine is no good either. 15 years in western Washington and I still love the weather.</p>

<p>Except for the last two days, when it has snowed, sleeted, been warm and sunny, rained, and hailed... at about fifteen minute cycles. All of it while I have HAD TO BE OUTSIDE in it. This morning it was sunny when I turned onto a 3-mile-long road--and by the time I reached the other end of the road, there were two inches of snow on the road. I just called to check--and they tell me the snow has already melted.</p>

<p>But with the weather beware of lumping spots together - Seattle, Eugene, Salem - yes a certain gray similarity. But Whitman (Walla Walla) or Whitworth (Spokane) have more of a Bend climate - lots of sunny days, very little gray, and snow in the winter rather than rain. If you're able to think ahead and can afford two visits, do one in January or late November and one in April or May - you'll get the full effect. EXCEPT of course in strange years like THIS one - today there were snowflakes at Willamette!</p>

<p>I have to laugh at these Pacific NW weather posts. I grew up in western Oregon, and have also lived in Bellevue and Spokane, so your posts bring back many memories. We now live in the sunny and snowy Rockies, and I do not miss the Oregon rain and oppressive gray, but I certainly do miss the people. "Finest kind" :)
We will be taking DS to visit a number of schools in the NW over the next year and a half including U of O, Willamette and Whitman. I think he'll like the Whitman weather best. I'm looking forward to seeing the college, I've never been to Walla Walla. Does anyone know how far it is from Whitman to decent skiing?</p>