<p>Wendya, Please let us know how it goes. I would be particularly interested in your observations of the students: clothing styles, sense of community, etc. </p>
<p>And, welcome to College Confidential!!!</p>
<p>Carolyn,</p>
<p>Thanks, I have been lurking for over a year and finally felt brave enough to post. I have enjoyed your information/observations. </p>
<p>I will certainly include community feel and clothing in the review. </p>
<p>wendya</p>
<p>Hey Carolyn, maybe you can stop and see us when you are up here, we are 35-40 mins south of UPS. I actually don't know much about UPS as a school but it is a beautiful campus and a good music program. David might know more.
(the other mini) Ellen</p>
<p>Carolyn,
To add more to observations students were very casual, jeans and t shirts but more clean cut then Lewis and Clark, similar to U of A and Pomona students,( using schools I am familiar with) definitely not preppy.</p>
<p>Thanks, Arizonamom, that helps. Would you compare them to Willamette students?</p>
<p>Mini/Ellen, David has already been in touch with his observations about UPS. Thanks for your kind offer - We'll only be there two nights, but one of those nights Amanda will be sleeping at UPS, so I may be able to get down to see you guys. I'll have to see how they set up the visit schedule first. If the tour is early in the morning, I may be free all afternoon and would love to see you both!</p>
<p>my freshman daughter liked UPS alot- chose Willamette instead but it was a close call. We visited both places, plus Lewis and Clark, O of U, Evergreen, and UW in junior year- we went in Feb and saw real winter rainy weather. (We live in AZ too.) Might as well get a realistic look. Went back senior year to UPS, Will and U of O. L&C seemed a little more for offbeat types than Will and UPS. UPS seemed (to me) to be more fashionably dressed than Will- but just a gut reaction. Really not very much different otherwise. There is a higher ratio of f/m at UPS but only slightly so. I think L&C has the highest ratio of women actually. UPS is the largest of the 3. Will was the only place where D spent the night on campus. She felt very comfortable there- one of the reasons she picked it I guess. I liked the fact that it is in the middle of town, even though Salem is not a big city- feels more urban than UPS and L&C- they felt very suburban to me. L&C is very much so- can't even walk anywhere interesting. I did not care for that myself. </p>
<p>I have to laugh because my husband and I were hoping she would chose U/O over the smaller schools but she definitely wanted small- so far she is happy with her choice. PS- she couldn't wait to get out of the AZ sun- spent most of her life here- wanted to go someplace "green."</p>
<p>Westfan, That helps a lot. My daughter initially liked Lewis & Clark because of the high offbeat quota, but then decided that students were maybe a little more offbeat than she wanted. (Meanwhile, she has a close friend who insists after her visit to L&C that it is very, very preppy - we didn't get that sense at all). I loved Willamette, but daughter didn't have the same reaction. (We visited early on a Saturday morning so that may have influenced her somewhat). I have no idea how she's going to react to UPS - she may hate it on sight, or love it. I have long since given up trying to predict her reactions, which often seem tied to something as subtle as seeing a single girl carrying a designer pocketbook or a cute boy with multiple piercings. Not to mention that schools that once were "perfect" sometimes become "less perfect" to her and schools that were "not on the list" seem to sometimes spring back on for no apparent reason that I can tell. :)</p>
<p>We ate at a great Asian restaurant-I think Vietnamese, a short drive from UPS. Rec by someone at admissions- it was great. Right next to a nice bead store. UPS has a classical "collegiate" look to the campus- more so than L&C and Willamette. I know of grads who have been very happy there. Hope your D gets to attend a class or two. That gives you a feel for the kids. When we were there (Feb) we saw many kids studying- I was impressed w/that. </p>
<p>Plus be sure to go the Tacoma Glass Museum- fascinating. There is a state history museum there too- I didn't know much about WA history so it was educational for me. Geared mostly for schoolkids though.</p>
<p>I thought Willamette was a little more preppy , well dressed then Puget Sound but I think it was Fri by the time we got to UPS and students may dress down more on a Fri. The folks I know that go there are very outdoorsy, hiking, kayaking. I got a more earthy feel at UPS.Many however are not into those activities, so you can find your nitch. Willamette was well liked by my D, would have been her choice if it had less rain and she also liked Pepperdine and USD. Willamette is definitely more casual then either of the others. I would campare UPS students with Trinity students(Texas) again I am just using the schools I visited. The school is a good size, a little bigger then the 1200 size liberal arts schools but still small enough to have the personalized touch. Let us know what A thinks.</p>
<p>The pedestrian footbridge with the cool Dale Chihuly glass sculptures that I mentioned earlier is next to the Tacoma Glass Museum and WA State History Museum.</p>
<p>Just back from our whirlwind visit to UPS (we live in Portland so we drove up and back today). We were on campus from 10:30am -3:30pm on a Saturday so didn't see as much as on a school day. </p>
<p>The students were dressed very casually, pajamas, jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts and athletic gear. Hard to tell the sense of a community from such a short visit, but our tour guide (we were the only ones on the tour) said that students tend to be involved in multiple activities and that the Greek and non Greeks mixed well.</p>
<p>The campus was beautiful. My D thinks UPS is the most beautiful campus she has seen. The buildings are brick with Ivy. The grounds have traditional NW plantings and apparently the students are gardeners as part of work/study. They are building a 50 million dollar science building edition, which will be 4 connected buildings around an outdoor atrium. </p>
<p>The humanities building is also recent (1999?) and they showed us the state of the art electronics in classrooms in that building. (A screen the size of a wall which showed video, or slides).</p>
<p>Apparently 68% of students live on campus, but 90% live within walking distance of campus. One dorm (the newer, fancier one with suites) is reserved for upper classmen. The other dorms allow upper classmen to reserve rooms before the freshmen book rooms, but are mostly freshmen. Greek houses tend to have sophomores (they are required to live there one year).</p>
<p>The school seems a good fit for my Ds many interests (music, tennis, travel abroad, pre-med, pre-engineering). The interview really filled in a lot of her and our questions (it was an hour long half with just her and half with the parents).</p>
<p>We really got a good feel for the strength of the instrumental music program compared to some of the other schools we have visited. They gave us a CD room of sampling of the music department performances. I and found they also have a music network, where anyone can request a musician. (We even saw leaflets posted on campus recruiting musicians for ensembles). Also we heard beautiful music coming from the music building as we walked around campus.</p>
<p>I am sure we will need to visit again (at least for the music audition) and D will want to attend some classes and talk to some students, but is very high on her list.</p>
<p>Thanks so much Wendy. We'll be visiting on October 11, and my daughter will be doing an overnight and sitting in on classes. We did find lots of pictures of students hidden away in the ASB section of the UPS campus. Looks like a mix of students, definitely a little less alternative than some of the schools my daughter has on her list, but not as preppy as she had feared. The campus looks beautiful and she liked what she could see of the surrounding area when we visited the Tacoma visitors bureau (I know Tacoma isn't the world's nicest city, but compared to the towns in the midwest where some of her top choice schools are located, it looks pretty darn nice to us). I'll post a full review when we get back and let you know how it goes.</p>
<p>Carolyn,</p>
<p>Actually there is a nice area around 26th and Proctor (I think walking/biking distance from campus). Lots of cafes, restuarants, a Starbucks, florists, gift shops, etc. We ate at a resturant called East and West which had Thai/Pan Asian food which was recommend by the Admissions specialist and was very good.</p>
<p>Also UPS owns 200 houses adjoining the campus, so the campus feel does extend out for the main campus. </p>
<p>It sounds like there is public transit to get up to Seattle too. Plus there were lots of cars on campus. No limit on who brings a car to campus. So the admissions specialist said kids would go up to Seattle to do things also.</p>
<p>I look forward to hearing your comments.</p>
<p>Wendya</p>
<p>I think that is where we ate also!
Can you NW folks suggest good winter raingear for the winter for my daughter at Willamette? Goretex, or something else? I told her to wait and buy something after she got there. All she took w/her was one of those fold up ponchos- a real desert rat!</p>
<p>I would recommend layers. A polar fleece topped by a Goretex shell (either can be worn alone) works well. Take a trip to the nearest REI store, they will have plenty of suggestions.</p>
<p>You don't need heavy-duty rain gear in the Puget Sound (i.e. Western Washington) region. The rain is often of the misty or drizzling variety. Also, even in winter the temperature can be in the 50s, typically 40s. It will only get cold in the dead of winter for relatively few days. Unless your child will hae regular class seminars at the summit of Mount Rainier (in the Alpine-like Cascade Mountain Range) or in stormy seas in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, save the gor-tex for spring break.</p>
<p>My D is a junior at Evergreen and doesn't own any rain gear or umbrella. She manages in her hoodies. I guess she's got too much California in her.</p>
<p>I live in the NW and have found that a Goretex coat is quite nice to have in this climate. Both my kids and my wife have them. We are originally from the midwest and do not suffer from the denial others do concerning NW rain (humorous intent). Whereas it is true that the common daytime temperature in winter is in the 40's, the evenings are often colder, upper 20's to mid 30's.</p>
<p>The layer concept sounds good- I have seen things for sale in lands end, etc, like that- how about the stuff that is not Goretex but water resistant, ie, cheaper? Is it really worth it to spring for the real deal? Of course I am afraid if she buys a Goretex jacket she will lose it!</p>
<p>No, Goretex is not required and there are sales. There are many good water resistant fabrics. Make sure, however, that the fabric "breathes" so as not to get too hot. The REI online outlet stores typically have good deals. Here is an example (no I don't work for REI): <a href="http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?productId=47895984&storeId=8001&catalogId=40000008001&langId=-1&addon=721984-721985&ext_cat=OUTLET_RELATED_ITEMS_PRODUCT_PAGE&vcat=OUTLET_SEARCH%5B/url%5D">http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?productId=47895984&storeId=8001&catalogId=40000008001&langId=-1&addon=721984-721985&ext_cat=OUTLET_RELATED_ITEMS_PRODUCT_PAGE&vcat=OUTLET_SEARCH</a></p>