Willamette University and Schools Like it?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a high school Junior looking into colleges, and I think that Willamette seems ideal for me in what has to offer: it has a liberal arts focus, is in the Western U.S., offers many of the majors I'm considering (Including Japanese, film studies, art studio, and several related to English), offers creative writing, seems fairly selective and, is set in a mid-sized city. </p>

<p>The only real problem I have is that it rains in Salem; a few days, I can handle, but not constantly without becoming pretty depressed. I don't know if Willamette has any sister colleges OR any universities that are pretty simular... but, if you can't help me find a simular college, maybe at least offer an honest opinion on Willamette?</p>

2

<p>I live in Salem, and was recently accepted to Willamette, so perhaps I can help…</p>

<p>It is hard to beat Willamette for Japanese. They have a sister school, Tokyo International University, in Kawagoe, where a lot of students go for a semester. I think they also help with JET program placement. I think they also just put in a new theatre.</p>

<p>They have some writing classes, but I don’t know they compare with other institutions.</p>

<p>Some positives:
I’ve visited Willamette, met with some of the faculty, talked to the admissions people and financial aid people, and they are all wonderful and accommodating. They love to give merit aid. The campus is quite beautiful. The campus location is downtown Salem, right across from the capitol building. Downtown Salem has a mall, a nice cinema (Cinebarre…check it out, offers a bit of a different cinema experience), and it is close to things like the Reed Opera House (a historic building with lots of cool shops). Downtown also has a few coffee shops, a good indian restaurant, a good Greek restaurant, and some other things.</p>

<p>Some negatives:
A lot of the students are very insular. At least, that is the general perception among the people I know in Salem. They don’t leave the school a lot, and while some do volunteer work and such, they don’t really socialize out in town a lot. If you’re going to live there, then it doesn’t really matter, I suppose.</p>

<p>Salem, honestly, kinda sucks. Not a lot to do in the town. You can, of course, go to the beach, or up to Portland (less than an hour away). Portland is awesome.</p>

<p>On that note, a college you may want to look at is Lewis & Clark in Portland. Not as strong on the Japanese side, but they are frequently compared to Willamette in terms of selectivity and academics. I’ve visited that campus too, and it is quite beautiful. And it has the benefit of being in the middle of Portland. I haven’t had as much interaction with the staff, but the ones I have talked to have been very nice as well. They do encourage students to study abroad. Co-ed dorms too, I think.</p>

<p>Salem and Portland both get a lot of rain. A lot. But it isn’t like a downpour…more of a constant drizzle. Summer isn’t so bad, but fall/winter it gets pretty monotonous. Days and days of rain.</p>

<p>On the plus side, winters aren’t too bad, nor are summers. If you like nature, it is hard to beat the Pacific Northwest. There’s forests, deserts, beaches, mountains (for skiing/snowboarding/etc) all within a few hours. There’s clubs at both schools for all sorts of outdoorsy things.</p>

<p>If you have more questions, let me know, and I’ll try to answer them.</p>

3

<p>You could go east of the mountains where it’s much sunnier (and colder in the winter) and there’s Whitman in Walla Walla, WA. The town is much smaller than Salem, but it’s been getting more interesting lately with many wineries in the area and it’s about 2 hrs from Spokane. I don’t know about the disciplines you’re interested in, but they are a strong LAC. </p>

<p>LACs are not my strength, but others in the no so rainy West that come to mind are: Colorado College, the Claremont Colleges, Occidental and Chapman.</p>

<p>I live about 20 minutes from Salem and agree with what Malkil says about Salem and the PNW.</p>

4

<p>I agree with the previous posters about the climate.</p>

<p>I’m up in Seattle but have family in Oregon. It isn’t the rain up here – we actually get a lot less in inches than many major cities. It’s the number of sunny days, which is quite low, that can get depressing. It’s actually possible to spend a LOT of time out doors in the Pacific Northwest, and many do, year round, doing all kinds of activities. The outdoors stays accessible – and green – unlike locales that get a lot of freezing temperatures and snow. But if lack of sunshine sounds like it might sour your mood, you should probably find someplace else.</p>

<p>Where do you live now?</p>

5

<p>The PNW drizzle from November to April is quite conducive to studying :), with few sunny distractions outside.</p>

<p>I found the Willamette campus pleasant, but it’s flat. L&C is dramatically beautiful in comparison, on hills overlooking the Willamette river. Not that this should matter so much.</p>

6

<p>Occidental is a sunny alternative. Similar feel, more selective and less generous with money but I do believe that it’s easier to get depressed by weather when you are a student living at your own home than it is surrounded by thousands of friendly, interesting smart people. Not saying your family is friendly, interesting or smart , just that a college campus is a lot different than your bedroom :)</p>

<p>Willamette is wonderful!</p>

7

<p>Thank you so much, everyone ^.^
I’m definitely going to take this all into account.
(By the way, to answer your question, Seattle_mom, I live in nothern Nevada; in other words, I know that I’m fine with cold, snow, wind, and dryness, but rain is virtually non-existent where I live, so I’m not quite sure how I would hold up with a lack of sunlight…)</p>

8

<p>You might also check out Whitman, Clark or U. Puget Sound. The Claremont Colleges may get Southern California sun but they also have terrible smog problems. </p>

<p>You can search for colleges by criteria, like size, location and majors at a variety of sites, for example at the College Board: [College</a> Search - Find colleges and universities by major, location, type, more.](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board). Since I’m putting off work I did a search and came up with a list of 15 colleges–most of the ones not already mentioned are art schools or ones I haven’t heard of: [College</a> MatchMaker: Results](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>