I plan to fly into Seattle most likely with my son. I want to see Whitworth, College of Idaho, Williamette, Linfield, Evergreen State and U of Puget Sound. We live in Phoenix, so we are very familiar with a huge university (ASU) and can get that at home for a lot cheaper. He is finishing his sophomore year and doesn’t really seem to care about this road trip. That is frustrating, but he is a typical boy. He plays football. He does karate and is an Eagle Scout, doing both activities for several years. And he’s part Asian. He has a 3.4 unweighted GPA in all honors classes at a very rigorous college prep school. He did average on the PSAT. So I don’t know how much his score will increase. I’m looking at schools where he can get generous merit aid. I think schools like Whitman or Reed would be reach schools for him. Should I be resigned (as perhaps he is) to him going to a large university in state? What schools do you recommend? I would prefer a school that is more liberal than conservative. How can I plan the driving route for this road trip? Please help and thank you!!
I forgot to add one thing. He has no idea what he wants to major in. But he loves to argue and is pretty good at it. I’m a public defender. So he thinks that he’ll go to law school. He would like to minor in music and continue to play guitar. But he wouldn’t major in music.
Can you let him decide which of those schools to see, and cut the list down a bit (add some vacation activities instead)? Some of them are in the Fiske Guide to Colleges so he could read those write ups. His GC may have it, but you may find it to be an excellent resource to buy one.
His response to going on the trip was “that’s fine.” He doesn’t seem to grasp that it takes vacation time for me and money and planning to put this together. I have to put in vacation request now. So I can’t really wait for him to get his butt in gear and participate. Part of me just wants to dump the trip. But I’m also hoping that the trip itself will provide motivation for him. I really like College of Idaho because he can dabble in a few different areas of study. I have close friends who live in Seattle so we need to swing over there.
I can’t say what will work for your S, but mine was patently uninterested in doing college tours sophomore year. It worried me because I like to plan ahead… junior year we hit just a couple. It wasn’t until senior year that it got real for him and he WANTED to see schools. I’m not sure that doing a college tour that early in the process would have helped him at all. Doing a vacation with a few schools sprinkled in the mix… that might have been good. If you are going up to the Seattle area anyway, Puget Sound is right there and a good example of a small LAC. If the trip is just to see schools, can you visit a smaller school close to home instead? Good luck!
Reed and probably Whitman aren’t happening for a guy with a 3.4. Since he’s not extremely intellectual Reed is also almost certainly a poor fit even if he could get in. If you’re going to spend time in Portland and want to see colleges, Lewis & Clark and University of Portland are far better alternatives.
OP, you said you want to see Whitworth, but then mention Whitman. Since you also mention that you are preferring a liberal leaning school, I’m thinking you don’t mean to see Whitworth (a very conservative Christian school), in Spokane, but Whitman, in Walla Walla.
The trip you list will involve a LOT of driving. Whitman is about 4.5 hours out of Seattle. I would recommend taking I-90 over the mountains, and hang a right at Ellensburg, as that is the fastest way. It is a beautiful drive. Then from there, I have no idea where college of Idaho is, but getting back to Oregon from Walla Walla has got to be five hours, and not the easy route. Evergreen State is in Olympia, about an hour (not including our terrible traffic) from Seattle. UPS is maybe 40 minutes from Seattle, in Tacoma. I think it might take a little longer to get there, I seem to remember it is a bit of a drive away from the freeway.
If you want to see Puget Sound area schools and then Oregon schools, I would think that is more manageable in one trip. Portland is a pretty easy three to four hour trip from Seattle. I think @whenhen is has a good idea about seeing Lewis and Clark.
How long is your vacation? Because if you don’t want to spend whole days driving, I would think you would want to see UPS and head South to Evergreen, then on to Oregon for Lewis and Clark, Willamette, and Linfield.
University of Portland is a good school, and we hear good things, but FYI, it is a Catholic school. I would say that Catholic schools in Oregon and Washington could be described as leaning left. So if you wanted to see University of Portland, then maybe you should check out Seattle University in Seattle as well.
You might consider flying into Portland which is a smaller airport than Sea-Tac. We just did a trip similar to yours. Flew into Portland and spent the night. Next day saw Lewis and Clark and Reed. Drove up to Tacoma, spent the nightl Next day saw U Puget Sound and U Washington. Drove back down to Oregon and spent the night in Salem. Saw Willamette the next day and drove back up to Portland to fly home. It was all very easy driving and didn’t seem at all rushed.
Hate to throw another school in the mix but Western Washington is north of Seattle and could be a perfect academic match/safe school for your son to consider. They do give merit aid, although not sure how generous they are with merit aid, but worth looking into.
Have you heard of the “Colleges That Change Lives” roadshow/event? They will be in Phoenix late August. I HIGHLY recommend you and your son attending. The presentation is a wonderful intro to the college process and features a number of schools located throughout the country (many of which are already on your list).
http://ctcl.org/info-sessions/
If you can get him onto 3-4 campuses this summer, and then hit the CTCL event in your home city, he might start his junior year with a little excitement for the process… or not… but perhaps a casual, broad, low key intro is what he needs to spark some enthusiasm.
lr4550 has some excellent suggestions! FYI, WWU is about two hours North. The campus is beautiful, and in the woods (as is Evergreen State). Skiing and water sports are nearby. WWU has some notable majors, I keep hearing that comp sci is strong there.
OP should DEFINITELY check out the CTCL event, that would certainly add a lot of information to the mix.
If you’re looking for generous merit aid knock Reed off the list. They only offer $2K to NMFs. Nothing else.
We’ve done the drive that Ruby suggests, but, then drove to Portland from Walla Walla. Taking I-84 from Portland through the Columbia River Gorge is much better than Seattle to Walla Walla. It’s shorter and takes less time since there’s no driving over the Cascades on a mountain road. If my S18 wants to look at Whitman, we will either fly to Portland or Pasco but not Seattle.
I wouldn’t write off Reed based solely on GPA, especially if your son hasn’t even taken the SAT yet. They are very holistic and will overlook a low GPA if other factors are strong, and if the student seems a good fit. There are no sports teams, but the students seem pretty outdoorsy. The need-based aid is very good, but no merit aid.
I concur with the additions of Seattle U, WWU and U Portland.
WWU participates in the Western Undergrad Exchange (WUE) program which put tuition at in-state plus 50% for out-of-state students. The size is more manageable too, at just around 10k students.
Depending on how much time you have and how much you really want your son to see U Idaho,
I would postpone a visit to the more eastern part of the state for another year or so.
It’s just too long a drive to make with a student who really doesn’t have his heart into it yet.
Visiting more schools closer together seems preferable. As the two of you get a better idea as to what type of schools he’s leaning toward, you’ll have a better idea of where to do future visits.
Here’s how I would arrange the itinerary with 4 days, with a range of small and medium,
as well as city, suburban and rural schools:
Day 1: Fly into Seattle> visit Seattle U. Spend the night.
Day 2: Drive to Tacoma > visit U Puget Sound in the am. Drive to Olympia > visit Evergreen in the afternoon.
Spend the night in either Olympia or someplace on the way to Portland.
Day 3: Drive to Portland > visit U Portland in the am > Visit Lewis & Clark in the afternoon.
Spend the night in Portland. Be sure to see some of the hip eating establishments and bookstores.
Day 4: Drive to Salem > visit Willamette in the am. Drive to McMinnville > visit Linfield afternoon.
Drive back to Portland (about an hour). Fly home.
With more time, I would suggest adding in a trip north to Bellingham and WWU.
Another thing to keep in mind is that most schools have arrangements with local hotels for ‘prospective student’ discounts.
Sophomore year seems so early for an intense college tour road trip. That’s probably why he’s less interested in it.
Also, you said that you want to see these colleges and you would prefer a school that is more liberal. What does he feel? Does he want a small liberal arts college (as your tour is focused primarily on those), or does he really want the big university experience? Some students are perfectly content, or really happy, to attend their in-state public - and you have two excellent ones in Arizona State and University of Arizona.
He’s still got a lot of time to get interested in the college process. I would go to fewer schools - 2 college visits per day in 4 days sounds like a great way to burn out a sophomore who already doesn’t really care about the trip. Instead of specific colleges, why not instead focus the trip on different kinds of environments? You can visit UW and/or Seattle U one day, to get a feel for a large or medium-sized urban university. Then pick 2-3 of the LACs (maybe UPS, Willamette, and Lewis & Clark?) to get a feel for what an LAC looks like. That can get him started to think about what kinds of colleges he might like without focusing on specific colleges earlier than he wants.
Lots of good suggests here already. Mine would be:
Fly into seattle and see Seattle U first, then south to Tacoma to see both UPS and Pacific Lutheran University nearby (Forbes rank around 250 - excellent merit aid); then head south for Evergreen state, if you have time, in Olympia. But Evergreen state is state school -and yet not in WUE list (by my recollection), and not great for merit aid for OOS. Then on to Portland for Pacific University (in Forest Grove), Lewis and Clark, then on to Linfield and finally Willamette. Schedule half day for getting to and seeing each. Drive the 90 minutes back to Portland and fly home and leave rental there. My bet with 3.4 GPA (but rigorous coursework) is that PLU, Linfield and Pacific would all be good merit aid options, and perhaps SU as well. Whitman is definitely not generous with merit aid and is better part of day getting to. UPS and Willamette are generous with merit but might need higher test scores/gpa.
As a reference, my D had a 3.37 gpa and 1840 SAT. Also attends a rigorous prep school, has a very liberal bent and applied to many of those schools. Here is what she was offered in terms of merit aid:
Pacific University - $17.5K
University of Puget Sound - $16K
Willamette - $11K
College of Idaho - $13K
University of Oregon - $0
(A lot of other people seem to get more aid from Willamette than U of Puget a Sound, so I don’t know why we were the opposite)
Unless you are set on the PNW, you might also want to check out:
Beloit College - $20k
Lawrence - $17K
Colorado State University - $10.5K (making it the least expensive option overall)
Whitman can be generous with merit aid, it depends on the grades, stats and ECs of a particular student.
Thank you all for your suggestions. I’ve decided to keep the trip on the coast. We’ll go up as far as WWU, then hit Seattle U, U Puget Sound and Evergreen State. Then we’ll go to Oregon and see Williamette, Linfield and Pacific U. I may cut it down further to make it a more relaxing trip. Me being stressed and yelling at him to hurry up will not leave a good impression when S thinks back on the trip. Thank you all for your help!! Feel free to continue posting suggestions.
In case the WUE 150% in state tuition at Western Washington is affecting your plans, please note, from https://admissions.wwu.edu/freshman/freshman-out-state-scholarships:
Evergreen, as mentioned by OP and in Post #15, does have WUE but instead of 150% it’s a discount off OOS rates, maybe $7000 off, to my recollection. I think it is also competitive.