<p>* it is literally a 10 minute drive from there to Reed College,*</p>
<p>the only time I found lewis & clark is by accident.</p>
<p>Dmd- I wondered what you meant- I have lived here so long I forgot about the smell.
;)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info. The only problem now is that D's list is getting longer.</p>
<p>Would any of the above mentioned schools have much colder winters than the others? D likes rain, but has always lived in a warm climate, and isn't sure she can do cold weather.</p>
<p>Spokane and Walla Walla have colder winters than the "coast" areas......(I grew up in central WA, and to us, any location west of the Cascades was considered the coast).</p>
<p>I'm a Whitworth alum (grad degree) and love the school. I also think very highly of Gonzaga.</p>
<p>We had a rather strange experience when visiting schools in the NW. After visiting Reed College we called another nearby campus admissions office for directions. A very nice women answered the phone whose voice indicated she may have been more toward the senior citizen age range. She said it was wonderful that we wanted to visit and asked our starting point. I said Reed College, she said, "Oh, that is a much better school," then proceeded to give me the directions. We had a good laugh at that one.</p>
<p>We are planning a trip up to the Pacific North West either over February break or in mid-April. My S wants to see U of Oregon and U of Washington. When is the weather better (or worse, as in, rainier, from my p-o-v), Feb or April?
Are either of those campuses in an urban environment? He wants an urban school but with a campus.</p>
<p>It will likely be <em>warmer</em> in April! :)</p>
<p>University of Portland and Seattle U and U of Washington are "urban". I would not call Eugene urban.</p>
<p>University of Washington has a beautiful urban campus which is only 20 min away from downtown by bus or car. Buses are plentiful, and UW students get a very discounted quarterly pass with unlimited rides on Sound Transit, Metro or Community Transit. A very hip area of Seattle, Fremont (the home of the Troll, Adobe and Google) is also a short bus ride away, and is full of funky little shops and restaurants.</p>
<p>Thanks to all. Sounds like April it is. Both Universities sound like they have the right vibe for him!</p>
<p>We live in the Seattle area and took our son on the following tour last April. He prefers LACs but he needs also to look at more affordable options if financial assistance is not available:</p>
<p>Wa. State - S didn't like, but family bias likely rubbed off
Idaho - ick (good enough for Sarah Palin though)
Whitman - will apply
long drive
Reed - great, but not for him
Lewis & Clark - will apply
PLU - reminded him too much of high school
UPS - will apply
UW - will apply</p>
<p>will also be looking at UofOre, Willamette, and Wester Wa U</p>
<p>If you go to U of O check out the Clarks Honor College. If he is interested at all in environment and engineering, Oregon State is doing some great research in wave energy.</p>
<p>husky82, check out Linfield and Western Washington. If your kid is competitive for Whitman, he might have a great shot at merit scholarships at Linfield.</p>
<p>WWU is a public but has a really nice medium sized school vibe. I have a DD who did UC undergrad and would never have considered a school with the lowly ranking of WWU, yet she took a few summer classes there and felt she got a better education in those classes than the similar ones at the UC- smaller classes and profs speaking English as a 1st language and lots of personal attention.</p>
<p>It is definitely worth consideration. Especially if your student is more "crunchy granola" style. My D was in SoCal and it was not her style, but she adores Bellingham and the PNW. The campus is near enough to walk or ride bikes to downtown and there is lots going on (I hear) in town, but it is still really small and personal</p>
<p>Western Washington University also has a somewhat separate interdisciplinary liberal arts college to which one can apply. Fairhaven</a> College of Interdisciplinary Studies</p>
<p>Echo #52. That was what made me choose Linfield initially. It was cheaper for me to go there than to a state school. Very good merit aid for bright kids.</p>
<p>Linfield is awesome. McMinnville is a nice mid sized town with a charming small historic downtown. What I like about it is that it seems very nurturing and community minded. They offer loads of varied and fun opportunities to get off campus for little or no money with other students for the weekends and really it seemed like a great place for my D to continue to grow and find out who she is going to be. We had an extremely enthusiastic tour guide and a wonderful meeting with the pre-vet advisor. And though the ultimate decision will be hers it is one of my top choices for my D</p>
<p>Thats interesting to hear. Ill keep it in mind for D#2 in case she changes her mind about attending WWU.
D#1 toured Linfield with her junior class & said it reminded her too much of high school- but since it is in a little town and her high school was very urban ( no campus), I wasn't quite sure what she meant/</p>
<p>Son of Opie-question-one concern we have about Linfield is that many students leave campus on the weekend to go home. We were told this by a Junior going there now. He can't leave as he lives too far away, but that was the one thing he doesn't like. What is your experience? Thanks.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for their input. Due to scheduling constraints, we will be breaking this up into multiple trips - starting with Portland next week. On the list for visits are Linfield, Willamette, Reed, University of Portland and Lewis & Clark. I'll be sure to post a summary when we get back.</p>
<p>Good luck, scualum. We did a PNW roadtrip to Willamette, UPS, L&C, & Whitman. I look forward to seeing how your impressions compare to ours.</p>