<p>Alright, looking at financial safeties and have a few questions about these two schools.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Which would give a better over all academic experience, especially in regard to the liberal arts and the honors college.</p></li>
<li><p>Which would likely give more money for a 3.95GPA, 33ACT In-state Team Captain?</p></li>
<li><p>Is WSU really as much of a party school as it's reputation says?</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>For general liberal arts, I think most people would say that Western will give you the better experience. (For some fields, especially agriculture and journalism, WSU is the better choice.)</p></li>
<li><p>They both give academic merit money; my guess is that your competition for those scholarships will be stiffer at Western than at WSU.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I can’t address your first two questions, but I’d like to make sure that you know these are two very different places.</p>
<p>Western has a strong rep as a laid-back, hippie, vegetarian, granola type of place. It is under two hours to Seattle and Vancouver BC, and near the beautiful islands in Puget Sound. WSU (pronounced Wazzu, if that helps you with the party image question) is waaay over by the Idaho border, and is much more of a traditional large state school with football program, good for veterinary and agricultural, among others.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of the WSU honors program. I’ve heard of the one at Western (Fairhaven maybe?) as being similar to a small liberal arts school.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>D applied to WSU for her in-state safety. She looked at both. Won’t consider UW at all. No one gets that!</p>
<p>WSU has a left over rep as a party school from years ago when the drinking age in Idaho was 19 and the partiers were drawn there because of the quick trip across the border. They still have kids that like to party. So does Western. They like to go across the border to Canada. Most universities deal with those issues. </p>
<p>We have close family and friends at both. WSU has frats…Western does not. Some drink a lot but others drink moderately or not at all. D likes the school-spirit/traditional feel at WSU. (Like Seattle mom said,) WWU was too hippieish for her. They recently got rid of football altogether.</p>
<p>The honors program is good for liberal arts at WSU. She didn’t like that there is a prescribed first year sequence at Western honors and that they do not have their own study abroad programs. WSU has that plus many honors activities and nice suite-style honors housing, as well as small classes in which to get to know peers, vs large lectures. She also likes the idea of the major university environment…(students that are in engineering, pharmacy and vet programs on campus) while still pursuing the liberal arts.</p>
<p>Watch the deadlines. They are coming soon. You would probably get a 4k scholarship automatically at WSU. I believe you would get the same if you were admitted to WWU honors, otherwise I think it’s top 1%. WSU has regents and diversity scholarships and others. Not sure what’s still available.</p>
<p>I don’t know why competition would be stiffer at Western. The profiles of students is about the same. Most of D’s friends at western are there primarily to stay on the west side of the state. She likes the idea of being in-state but having more of a growth experience, if she stays, by going to the east side.</p>
<p>You really ought to visit to decide. You might be pleasantly surprised by WSU. We were the first time we visited Pullman, especially. It’s mostly a matter of personal preference. I have a hunch that with your stats you will end up somewhere else. Still, a safety needs to be a place where you will be happy and successful, as well as doable financially. I’m sure you know that by now!</p>
<p>Good luck in your search.</p>
<p>Why not apply to both and see which gives you the most money? Especially if deadlines are approaching and you’re not sure which one. If you only apply to one, and then later find out that you would have liked the other one better, it will be too late. :(</p>
<p>I can’t imagine that either one would have a lengthy app or scholarship app process. So, I say…I apply to BOTH!!! :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the help guys. </p>
<p>Critter: I’m just like you’re D, in that I refused to even consider UW. I DON’T want to live in a big city…period. </p>
<p>Mom2collegekids: I probably will end up applying to both the more I think about it. I was just trying to see if I could avoid paying one of the $50 app fees. Scholarship deadlines for both are Jan 31, and I should have everything sent away by the end of the week, so I schould be fine on deadlines.</p>