Upcoming Pacific Northwest College Trip

Parents Forum
1

<p>First let me say that the residents of the PNW are so blessed with the great choices in college that are found there! I am very envious.</p>

<p>My DD and I are planning a road trip to hit the ones that interest her. She will be Junior next year and is planning (for now) to be a history major. She took Honors World History as a Soph and will be taking AP US History this upcoming year. Really has sunk her teeth into the subject</p>

<p>Our itenerary will be-</p>

<p>Spokane: Whitworth, and maybe Gonzaga,</p>

<p>Tacoma: U Puget Sound-maybe</p>

<p>Portland: U Portland and Lewis & Clark</p>

<p>McMinnville: Linfield</p>

<p>Salem: Willamette.</p>

<p>Any comment/advice about these institutions would be appreciated. Also, any colleges that I missed? She already has been to Seattle U and Whitman when she tagged along on her brother's college visits</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>Pacific Lutheran U. is a fine school for the right students.</p>

3

<p>I second Pacific Luthern, it’s an awesome school. For me, The Evergreen State College is my favorite. Although Evergreen is smaller than many colleges, it’s always listed in the top smaller schools in the US. I went there myself and my neice is in her Sophomore year there and loving it! DD has no inclination to go there and is looking at Southern California.</p>

4

<p>If your D likes small urban colleges, she might want to take a look at Seattle Pacific University.</p>

5

<p>Here is a link to a similar post that I made last year - while the thread wanders a bit, there are some really helpful hints in here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/560633-pacific-northwest-roadtrip.html?highlight=pacific+roadtrip[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/560633-pacific-northwest-roadtrip.html?highlight=pacific+roadtrip&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Some of the schools you might also want to include - Seattle Pacific, Reed, George Fox</p>

6

<p>kunitedad: Have a blast! I loved all of our college visit trips but the PNW trip has the biggest corner of my heart.</p>

<p>Make sure you go to the McMinnamin (sp) hotel in McMinnville and have a meal and/or a beer on the roof. We ate at Joe’s Crab Shack in Port. b/c the girls got to pick . Joes is actually on the other side of the river in Vancouver WA. You can sit in the window and watch the action on the river…very cool. In Salem we ate in a cool little Italian place like a spaghetti factory. It was yummy and reasonable in price and right on Commercial so easy to find.</p>

<p>As far as the schools go my impressions are all really positive</p>

<p>UP felt like home to all three of us. Got special treatment from the pre-vet advisor who shared his research with us and give us a tour of the science building. Kids wise it seems a bit more conservative than Willamette but not significantly so…it’s still a college campus.</p>

<p>Linfield was my DD’s #2. Open warm lovely kids who made her feel at home on her overnight. Superior hands-on emphasis. I loved it too. I especially like the emphasis on student activities. Low and no cost fun stuff abounded on that campus If it was closer to home I think she would have picked it. </p>

<p>WU…sigh…the road not taken. I never really knew I had a favorite until my other DD decided not to attend. Like Linfield it fosters a warm and friendly community. The student body is quite varied but the overall style seems to be more sweat shirts and jeans. Not to granola not too prep.They offered excellent performing arts ops for the major and the dabbler alike and superior outdoor activities programs too.</p>

7

<p>Western WA U - absolutely stunning campus - highly regarded public
The DUB of course - UW (University of WA) - large but highly competitive</p>

<p>and if you stray as far as Idaho and Montana - check out Carroll and College of Idaho - both very warm and welcoming - guaranteed merit aid - beautiful campuses. I liked these 2 very much but S decided to go the Polytechnic route.</p>

8

<p>MSU is good. Its in montana</p>

9

<p>Reed, just outside of Portland. It’s a very highly regarded LAC.</p>

10

<p>We are from CA and a few years ago visited all these colleges (except the Spokane and other Eastern Wash ones) some more than once, and my daughter is currently a senior at Lewis & Clark. She applied and was accepted with merit aid at Linfield, U of Portland and Pacific University in Forest grove. Didn’t care for Seattle University, too much in the middle of a city, and felt U of Puget Sound was too far away. Also very cold and rainy that day!</p>

<p>So much of this is personal and gut reaction type stuff. Willamette was really quiet the day we were there, tour guide was a jock/science major, two things my daughter is not interested in, and the school just did not click for her. Linfield was very nice but the town is very small and quaint, and so much like home (small town in the Napa Valley) that she couldn’t see herself there. U of Portland seemed too religious for her, although I’m sure you can be involved in that part of the experience or not, but it is a Cathiloc school and she said it didn’t feel like “home” (in spite of being raised Catholic!).</p>

<p>The locations of these schools vary tremendously. In the end that was the main factor for my daughter. Linfield and Willamette were not close enough to a real city for her. As I said we live in a small town about 1 1/2 hour north of SF. After growing up in a small town and going to a high school of only 500 kids she really wanted to be close to a great city. My daughter loves SF and visiting the city. The city of Portland is like a small SF with a great music/concert scene, great restaurants and cool shops. My daughter loves that Lewis & Clark has an amazingly beautiful, lush, forested campus but is only 10 min. from downtown Portland. The school runs a shuttle bus to and from downtown every hour until 2:00am on the weekends. They also run shuttles to the airport before and after school breaks like Christmas and Thanksgiving and the airport is only about 1/2 hour away. Linfield is a good hour from Portland and not much going on in McMinneville. Salem is also at least an hour away. If your daughter will be flying home for breaks you might want to consider close proximity to Portland or Seattle airports. It has made our life easier.</p>

<p>Lewis & clark is very strong academically. It was the toughest school my D got into. Also the only school she applied to that did not offer merit fin. aid. But it was by far her favorite so we went for it. It has been great for her as she wanted a small school. She is majoring in Sociology/Anthroplogy with a minor in Latin American Studies. It is important with these smaller schools to really check out the dept. that they are interested in. Some are so small it is tough to get the classes you need as they are not always offered. Also there may only be a few profs for that dept. Each school has strong and weaker depts. </p>

<p>L&C is not very preppy, more academic and a bit quirky. Although my D’s roommate sophomore year was on the swim team and they did very well, sports are not a big deal there. The student body is genarally laid back and not too into school sprit and rah rah type stuff. My younger daughter (who is a freshman at UCLA this year) said she thought it was a perfect school for my D but was to "hippie-ish for her!). The school is very good at personal attention, close relationships with profs and study abroad programs. We have been very happy with it for our D but it is not for everyone.</p>

<p>My advice to you would be to do a initial visit to each school in the summer as you are doing. We did the same thing summer of Junior year. Then go back in the fall or spring to the ones she liked the best. It is absolutely imperative that you visit these school when school is in session and there are students on campus. Narrow down your choices and be prepared to go to a fall open house event if you can (These smaller school really like to see that you have visited and showed interest come application time). My D did this and we went back to Linfield and L&C for admitted students visits. At L&C she got to spend 2 nights in the dorms during a 3 day admitted student event. That way they really get a feel for the school and know what they are getting into.</p>

<p>Sorry for the log post. It’s just that we visited most of these school and got definite impressions. Let me know if you have any more questions. Good luck! </p>

<p>PS The PNW weather can be grey but also gorgeous and if your D skiis or snowboards than it’s a plus. My D actually teaches snowboarding at Mt. Hood weekends during spring semester!</p>

11

<p>oh and kumitedad I would def put UPS on the for sure list. I couldn’t get my kids interested but it is a great school. A good friend of mine has a D there and she has had a great freshman year.</p>

12

<p>My best friend goes to Lewis and Clark–she’s currently a junior finishing up a year-long study abroad in France. She applied to–if I can remember correctly: Puget Sound (accepted), Westminister in UT (accepted, parent works there, so she would have had free tuition), Whitman (rejected), Occidental (accepted). She also looked at and decided aginst applyng to Pitzer. She’s liberal without being too outspoken about it, quite intelligent, fairly involved, funny in an occasionally sarcastic way, very nice, interested in the humanties side of academics.</p>

<p>Her freshman year she was pretty unhappy with the school–roommate issues, lack of student involvement, high student apathy, bad food, mixed classes (some good, some not so much), and prevelance of the partying/drinking culture. She seemed to have warmed up to the school since then, perhaps because she’s just grown more used to the apathic culture. She says classes are good in terms of student involvement and getting to know her professors, but the teaching quality can be mixed. The school is very open to double majors and studying abroad, both of which she’s doing, though the course options aren’t particularly extensive. She had pretty good things to say about L&C’s CORE program for freshmen but the general impression of the academics I’ve gotten from her have been that they’re pretty hit-or-miss. On the plus side, she loves Portland, and she says the school does a pretty good job of getting students there (free shuttles). She also said the campus (especially the mansion) is beautiful.</p>

<p>If you have any other questions, I’d be happy to ask her for you.</p>

13

<p>Feel free to PM me or respond here if you have any questions about Linfield. I graduated there in '07 and was involved in most everything.</p>

14

<p>My stepdaughter graduated from Evergreen State College in Olympia many years ago and my S will be a freshman next year. It’s non-traditional, not everyone’s cup of tea, but a great fit for some. Interdisciplinary program, listed in Colleges That Change Lives.</p>

15

<p>D is currently a rising senior at Willamette. When looking at schools she did not want to look further north than OR (but is now considering looking for employment in the Seattle area - who knew). Visited L&C but was turned off (even though she had a good friend going there). Was a tossup between Willamette and the Clarks Honors college at University of Oregon (she even got the WUE scholarship from Clarks that would have allowed her to choose any major and switch majors, something not allowed through the regular WUE program at U of O). Willamette in the end gave her more money and she has been quite happy there. Great study abroad programs (is now fluent in Spanish) and absolutely loves the kids who go there. video some of her friends put together: [url=<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oDXUafh7HA]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oDXUafh7HA]YouTube</a> - Kanek Boyz - I want it that way<a href=“if%20link%20is%20not%20allowed%20google%20Kanek%20Boyz”>/url</a> ;)</p>

16

<p>I’ll be the first to admit that Lewis & Clark isn’t for everyone. Its a bit hippie-ish (as my younger daughter would say) and is definitely not a rah, rah school. But my older daughter loves it. The campus is stunning and the location is great. That said, I think it is very important to know what your student’s area of interest is and to make sure the school is strong in that area. L&C is great for International Studies, sciences, and the study abroad opportuniies are amazing. My daughter has a minor in Latin American Studies and while at L&C went on a 7 week academic summer program to Cuena, Ecuador and earned 12 units, did an “alternative spring break” to Jamaica organized by L&C. A group of 12 students stayed on the southern coast, far from tourist areas, and volunteered at preschools and elementary schools every day. She also did a semester in Valparaiso, Chile. She also was on a committee that organized concerts on campus by outside professional rock bands. So it’s been perfect for her but for someone interested in say, a business program with a strong sports program this would not be the place.</p>

<p>Once again, I hope you and your daughter will have a chance to visit the schools she likes during the school year when students are on campus. It really makes a difference. And be sure to look at the class catalogue to make sure there are lots of classes in her area of interest. This is what persuaded my daughter to go to L&C instead of the other schools she was accepted at. Let us know how your trip goes!</p>

17

<p>^
That’s part of the reason I’m so surprised my friend has been so lukewarm about L&C–she has an artsy-quirky bent, is liberal, not very “rah rah,” internationally-focused, etc. In short, she “seems” like she would be a great fit for L&C and even really liked it when she visited. <em>shrugs</em></p>

18

<p>Sounds like Reed might be a good match, in town, gorgeous campus, not religous.</p>

19

<p>It looks like with all the advice we will be making another trip there in Spring. We will hit the Seattle Area, and maybe some other WA Colleges. For now we will just go to Whitworth and Gonzaga in WA on this trip, and all the OR colleges I listed earlier(or as many as we can fit in), with the rest on trip two. Pacific Lutheran, WWash, Seattle Pacific, and Evergreen are new ones to go into the mix, but unfortuantely not U Dub as she shys away from the really large campuses</p>

<p>It will be an informative trip, even without the students. My S rejected Harvey Mudd after seeing the way the dorms buildings were set up in a somewhat Neo Stalinst motif. He just didnt like the vibe.</p>

<p>So somewhere between 5-7 this time. Any more and it will be an overload. </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

20

<p>Regarding Linfield, what is the surrounding town like? How would you rate it as a “College Town”? My S did not like Whitman because of his impressions of Walla Walla, but that was probably also due to the isolation there as well</p>

<p>thanks</p>