<p>One of my daugheters is off to Whitman this week to interview with the Dean of Admissions "to assess her emotional maturity" in efforts to finish H.S. a year early. We have been a promised "thumbs up or thumps down" decision right after the interview in so far as going ahead with the application process. My daughter has garnered the support of her G.C and asst. Principal, and her parents of course.</p>
<p>She had a mock interview with the local Harvard alum. that does many a year, and she got a hearty thumbs up. But, we will report back after the holiday.</p>
<p>concerneddad, we are planning to visit Whitman this summer, june or july. S is a jr and this is his 1st choice. Interestingly i just came across another parent in my celiac support group who has a freshman s at Whitman now. He says his s loves it(from the bay area). he also speaks very highly of the school and individualized attention and support the faculty give the students. Would love to hear back from you on you d impressions of the school and ad. staff. Just PM if you remember.</p>
<p>Concerneddad, Good luck to your daughter. From what you have told us about her, I have no doubt that she will get a thumbs up if she just lets her real self come through. Let us know how it goes.</p>
<p>Thanks carolyn. That is what we told her: "just be yourself in the interview and you will do fine." It will be interesting to see how she likes the school on a second visit. It is only always what you think it might be. My son LOVED Wesleyan on his first visit, and HATED after his second.</p>
<p>Well, the interview with the Dean was an amazing success. Although he was "cautionary" in saying that there was no guarantee of admission, and reminded my daughter to keep an open mind to the possibility that she might like her "jr/sr" year and wish to change her mind about graduating early, he did indeed give her the "emotional readiness" green light to move forward if that is what she desired.</p>
<p>The interview with my duaghter and the Dean alone lasted about 40 minutes, and then I was called in. By the time all was said and done, we spent and hour and half with the Dean.</p>
<p>As an aside, he is a very warm and engaging man with a true love for the students -- that was very evident.</p>
<p>Also, Whitman passes the "dog-friendly test." I had my Dane "Mamie" with me because we were heading to s show in Spokane after visiting Whitman. I asked if Admission was dog-friendly and they all came out to see Mamie, and then invited us in, where they gave her a bowl of cold water and all the staff and counselors came out to pet her. This just added to my impression of what a warm and welcoming place Whitman and Walla Walla is.</p>
<p>Now on to bug Xiggi about getting his SAT study plan for my daughter!!</p>
<p>I am glad to hear that the interview was successful and now that the school has passed the "dog friendly test", how does your daughter feel now that she has been given the green light. </p>
<p>Is she more excited about the prospect of leaving early in the hope of attending Whitman or do you think now she will want to look at other schools?</p>
<p>sybbie: She is so excited she could hardly contain herself. As the Dean was describing the "typical" Whitman student, she kept saying to herself "That is me" "that is me."</p>
<p>We will be looking at East Coast schools this Summer (Goucher, Haverford, Hamilton, Skidmore, Amherst, Brandies, Wesleyan, Yale) for both girls, but it would -- in my opinion -- take some real spectacular revelation for anothe school to top how she feels about the whole Whitman/Wall Walla experience.</p>
<p>concerneddad, what did you think about Walla Walla? How does it compare to Eugene?
Since the Dean described a typical student at Whitman, what is the "typical" student?</p>
<p>Concerneddad - Your visit with the admissions dean confirms all of the reports I have heard about Whitman looking at the "whole" applicant, not just the numbers. I am so pleased for your daughter and have few doubts that everything will work out for her this year. :)</p>
<p>dstark: Walla Walla is no Eugene -- it is too small for that. There is neither the number or variety of activties and/or resturants, etc. Also, the distance to a major metro area -- 4 hours -- makes Walla Walla feel much more isolated than Eugene. But, as a result, the Whitman students -- for the most part -- stay on campus all weekend and a real sense of community is built -- or so we are told.</p>
<p>The typical Whitman student was described as bright, inquistive, and accepting. The whole school has a laid-back NW "Vibe" to it.</p>
<p>concerneddad, sounds like we were in the same neck-o-the-woods at the same time :)
S did a tour of Gonzaga Friday morning. We had driven through Walla Walla Thursday night and if it hadn't been so doggone late I would've loved to stop by Whitman just to see the campus (although I don't think it'd be a good fit for S....maybe for one of the younger Ss someday).</p>
<p>DrDrewsmom: Too bad we did not know that, we were in Spokane for two days showing at the Interstate Fairgrounds. You could have seen a CC mod. nearly disolve in tears as my puppy won her very first Best of Breed.</p>
<p>Carolyn: Thank you. It is going to be a VERY interesting year. And, oh my, all those check to CB again.</p>
<p>cdad: Whitman was the eye-opening school for our D and us. Having experienced the big unis (public and private) for H, me, our S, and our friends, we hadn't a clue about LAC's. During D's sophomore spring break, we took a detour on our way home to Seattle from Portland to see Whitman just for the heck of it, since one or two students from our school went there each year. Thank goodness we did! Whitman started our conversion to "LACism". While my D subsequently chose Carleton, Whitman is a very special place. D visited again during her senior year and remained impressed with the rigor of the academics, the friendly, unpretentious students and faculty, and the strong comfort/fit appeal. We probably shouldn't be talking about it on CC - the masses will take note. We don't want their applicant pool to increase until after carolyn's D and your D take their shot at Whitman.</p>
<p>Actually, I'd love to keep it "undiscovered" for another 5 years so my daughter (entering 9th grade) would have a shot....My son led us to Walla Walla last summer and we all fell in love with it. He applied ED and was admitted, but is deferring for a year. Among the things I love about the school is how enthused they were about his plans; the retiring president wrote a "year off" should really be called a "year-on" because of how much happens that is good for learning and readiness for college. They really are about developing interesting, creative, open-hearted young adults. I'm glad the visit (and the subsequent canine competition) went well.</p>
<p>I hear what you are saying Maize&Blue, but I fear the cat is already out of the bag. On the other hand, its geography will probably continued to work against it for some whom really want an LAC and still be in an urban/surburban enviornment.</p>
<p>I agree that the cat's out of the bag to those on the left coast, but we're highlighting the secret to those looking for a quality alternative to the eastern corridor coed LAC's AWSHMBVC (a couple of which are in remote locations). That is, if the kids want to come out to the wild, wild west! And I'm not even getting into my rant about the overlooked Midwest LAC gems.</p>
<p>Yes, one on my son's best friends goes to MacA and just LOVES it. It is just hard to get my kids to be so far from a coast. Although my other daughter may find a very good fit at Earlham with her equestrian aspirations and interest in biology/pre-vet. Wel will bring them to the plains, but will they want to stay?</p>
<p>concerneddad: Thanks for sharing your visit with us. We place a premium on the dog friendly test. our giant schnauzer won't be making the trip with us so thanks to mamie for that extra word of approval. </p>
<p>A word about building a sense of community at Whitman due to size of Walla Walla. It was my H experience as a midshipman at the Naval Academy, too many years ago to mention, that being on campus most of the time was one reason for the strong sense of community there. Only they were restricted to the school except on Saturday only for freshman, and Wed if you were older but since you always had to study you never got to leave. At West Point there is no town(Annapolis at Naval Academy) and those guys remain thicker than theives. They look out for each other decades after leaving the Army, never out of a job. </p>
<p>Happy your D did so well and you had a great experience.</p>
<p>SKM: Thank you. It was such a pleasure to see my daughter so energized and alive with the knowledge that college is so close to her reach now. She is so ready, and so excited about this upcoming HS year. </p>
<p>Her GC counselor really helped by saying she wasn't missing her senior year, she was just having it early. It did spark the discussion of whether she would walk with the class of 2006 or 2007. She decided she wants to walk with 2007 so she could still share that with her twin. I like that idea.</p>