I’ve heard so many great things abut Whitman. However, I’m a bit wary of the surrounding area. Is it actually in the middle of nowhere? Also if anyone could elaborate on their experience there (visiting or actually attending) that would be a huge help!
@heyitsnaynay I have read good things about Walla Walla. Great college town with over 30,000. Access to outdoors recreation, wineries, etc. And students really love Whitman. See the CC link below which leads to dozens of threads about Whitman, and some will pertain specifically to Walla Walla.
Hi heyitsnaynay, my son graduated from Whitman in 2014 and we visited him over those 4 years a couple times a year. The “middle of nowhere” description is a bit misleading because Whitman is in the middle of a small city. Students can walk to the lovely downtown in a matter of minutes. Grocery stores, Macys, small clothing stores, restaurants, and coffee shops are two or three blocks from campus. Because there is a thriving wine industry in the area and Walla Walla is a favorite destination for tourists, the restaurants are good, the downtown is charming and well maintained, and the locals are friendly. There are beautiful old houses and trees in the surrounding neighborhoods. As you get further out from the center there are bigger chain stores and restaurants, and movie theaters. The campus is gorgeous and there is always something interesting happening, the administration brings a lot of visiting musicians, authors, speakers, etc. to campus. There are amazing outdoor opportunities to kayak, hike, climb, bike, ski and backpack which the award winning outdoor club helps students take advantage of. So Whitman is not literally in the middle of nowhere.
It is, however, not near a major metropolitan area or an airline hub, there are plenty of people who think those two things are the only criteria for being somewhere. There are direct flights daily from Seattle to the Walla Walla airport, and many flights a day from lots of other places to Pasco, which is 45 minutes away. Students also get together to carpool from Portland or Seattle. The travel can add time and expense, depending on where you are coming from, but the students help each other out quite a bit.
My son really loved Whitman and Walla Walla and we loved visiting. Whitties are a close knit happy community and the academics are excellent.
Its a very reasonable flight to Seattle on Alaska Airlines…I have seen it as low as $39 one way. There is cheap light rail from Seatac to downtown Seattle.