I’m glad she enjoyed the tour! The clubs, as far as I know, are not competitive to get into, you just join what you are interested in. Good luck!
Can you share thoughts on overall vibe at school - supportive, competitive, ease of getting courses, internships, advising…all those things that are also important!
Can you comment on vibe of campus - as well as ease of getting courses want/need, access to profs, internship availability…anything that can give us an inside look would be appreciated…you know, those things you learn well into the first year! thanks.
Sure, no problem. I’d say the vibe on campus is pretty laid back. The kids study during the week, but then go out and play on the weekends. Mostly outdoor activities, although I think there are a number of kids into gaming too. There is a lot to do within a couple of hours of Walla Walla. They have parties, but only on the weekends. It’s a small campus, so you get to know a lot of the other students. If you want to be anonymous, not the place to be.
Academically, it’s a very collaborative environment, nobody compares grades (like they did at my son’s high school) and kids are more than happy to help others with homework.
First and second years can have trouble registering for some of the popular courses, but my son asked the profs if he they could let him into 2 courses and they both said yes. Not sure this is always true. Also, like most small colleges, not all courses are offered every year, or every semester, so plan accordingly. Access to profs is very easy, classes are small and you definitely get to know them. My older son went to UC Berkeley, the opposite experience!
My son has not tried to get an internship unfortunately, but there is a career center that can help. One of his friends (junior CS major) had a summer internship at one of the top tech companies and already has a job offer after he graduates. Pretty impressive!
Good luck with the college search, glad to be done with it, it’s exciting but also pretty stressful!
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I would say that the vibe is definitely collaborative. My son has had an amazing advisor, with whom he meets regularly and has come up with a plan for a dual major plus a study abroad semester. He had multiple profs working with him to pull this all together. He did experience frustration putting his schedule together for Freshman and Sophomore year and getting all the pieces and parts to fit, but it seemed to work out. At this point, he has planned out all the necessary courses he needs for his major for the next two years and has never expressed a concern for getting the course he needs. He hopes to be able to take a fine arts class as a Junior or Senior; this was not possible for him as an underclassman who was not an art major. As for his internship, he applied during the first round this winter and was notified about a month later that Whitman would fund his summer work.
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This info is so helpful - and echoes what I’ve heard from many folks. Thank you for taking the time - so appreciative!
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I’m so glad to be able to help! As you can tell, we’ve been really happy about the school and about our son’s experience there. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Also, we got a text last night from another Whitman parent, asking us how our student’s experience with the Career Center programs has been. This parent stressed that the school is really working to make sure students get the preparation they need for career planning, and that they want students to know about and take advantage of the programs they are offering. I thought that was cool. Our son hasn’t really utilized the Career Center much yet, as he’s been focused on getting his internship and study abroad opportunities lined up. Hopefully he’ll get involved next year!
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My S23 is heading to Whitman in August - he’s an outdoorsy PNW person and is looking forward to all the opportunities to get out on trips there!
When we visited last year we wandered into the Outdoor Center and had an impromptu chat with the person who was at the outdoor rentals desk - she gave us a schedule of all the upcoming trips (so many) and we got to see all the gear they have for kids to inexpensively rent so they can get outside and try all sorts of different activities. The outdoor leadership programs and wilderness first aid opportunities were another plus in my kid’s book. We also had the impression that it isn’t only clubs that are getting outside, but there are lots of outdoor opportunities happening for all, and that getting out and going for a hike is normal 
My S23 is also looking forward to a liberal arts program and wants to explore before declaring a major, but with a potential environmental leaning…has she seen the Semester in the West program?
https://myocs.whitman.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgramAngular&id=29213
Really looked at Whitman as well, great academics and campus culture, would consider in the same grouping as Reed, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, one of the leading West Coast LACs. Also, the president at Whitman came from Williams and the school seems to be gaining in terms of academic reputation.
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She heard about it on our tour - and was quite excited! Thanks for all the great info. Are you from PNW? Does your son have any concerns about size of town?
Yes - from the PNW, we live in Portland, Oregon; I grew up in the middle of Seattle and still have family there as well, so my set point so to speak is “city.”
Re: size of town. He and I have talked about the size of town piece of the puzzle and both of us feel that there’s more shading to the question for Walla Walla than just the population. Our take is that Walla Walla punches above its weight - being a major viticultural area adds other layers to a small town - e.g. the number of terrific cafés and restaurants that you wouldn’t find in towns of comparable sizes (or even larger ones).
With wine country, and the agricultural and sustainability communities all right there - Walla Walla feels broader than a small college town to me. Contrast that with say, Northfield MN (which we visited last spring) - which felt like a quintessential, quaint college town - and was a little small for him. Visiting Northfield he talked about taking the bus back and forth to Minneapolis to do things, visiting Walla Walla we ate a lot of great food, and with all the embedded outdoor opportunities he felt spoiled for choice and didn’t feel the same need to make plans to go elsewhere.
You can probably tell that I’m excited for him to go there, too! We had a great visit last spring, and after two days in Walla Walla, as we drove away and back to Portland through the Columbia Gorge, he said it really felt like the right place for him to be
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hi guys!!
im an international student waitlisted at whitman and hoping to have good news in the next days :))
does anyone has any tips or comments about previous experiences? my ao said i already did everything i could and now i need to wait but there’s that anxiety feeling around so i decided to come here
when we drove to Whitman - it was from Portland along the Gorge into Walla Walla (all smoke filled unfortunately due to the fires last fall). Drive into Seattle was wonderful - we stayed in the mens and it was great. I like what you say about Walla Walla - and will pass that along. we arrived late, had dinner and then next day it rained (which doesn’t both her but did limit our excursions as no rain coat since we’re from CO). She’s still trying to decide…
Ah, that would be tough to get a read on the place under those visit conditions - oof!
My kiddo is looking forward to less rain than what we get on the west side of the mountains - the east side of WA is much drier than Portland or Seattle. Good luck with your decisions!