<p>I got accepted into willamette university today! How is willamette as a school? Can anyone tell me more about it? How is the bio program? I applied as a bio major.
Also, what schools are comparatively at the same level.</p>
<p>Other schools I applied to:
Boston University, NYU, University of San Diego, University of the Pacific,
Stevens Institute of Technology etc.</p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>
<p>It’s an LAC; the others on your list are not.</p>
<p>NY, are you saying that you knew little about Willamette when you applied for admission? Well, rest assured that it is a very fine college with very good academics and a knack for producing successful alumni. Of course given its Pacific Northwest base, its reputation is strongest in the west.</p>
<p>. . . and it rhymes with “Dammit,” not “coronet.”</p>
<p>^^^^ good one dad.</p>
<p>Its also known for its environmental studies. Nice people, but it rains a lot. Great for outdoors type of people.</p>
<p>Great place. “Willamette may be the best little school you’ve never heard of.” Fiske</p>
<p>Thank you!! Yeah I applied for early action. They sent me a free app and now it might be one of my top choices. Any other info you know?</p>
<p>Division III sports. Near the Capitol building and lots of students from Japan, I think a sister school, making it good for international relations ? as well. 3-2 engineering. Near a train to Portland, and Portland is THE BOMB!. </p>
<p>One of sons top choices, but not too diverse.</p>
<p>If you look under colleges, then loook at W for Willamette there is a Willamette forum on here. You might get more feedback there, or you can read through past posts</p>
<p>DD is a senior at WIllamette. She is double major Creative Writing and Psychology but has a lot of friends in the sciences. All are happy with classes, advising, facilities. Many (more than half I think) students go abroad for a semester, and some for a year. </p>
<p>She loves the area around campus-- close to the river where there is a large park, lots of coffee shops, restaurants, etc.</p>
<p>Internships are encouraged, and required in some majors. Lots of opportunities in the area-- she did an internship for her psych major last semester (10 hours/week) and loved it-- so is continuing this semester at the same place. Unpaid, but great experience</p>
<p>Most students move off campus by Junior year-- there are some campus apartments for juniors and seniors, but most live in close apartments and houses. There seem to be a lot available, and they are reasonably priced</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, yea, I’d also like to see more divesity at Willamette (among other schools). But it seems to be making some strides judging from the last two admitted classes. According to the CDS, the class entering in 2011 had 30 Hispanics, 15 African Americans, 36 Asians, 8 Native Americans (or Native Alaskans), and 5 Native Hawaiins (or Pacific Islanders). Could be better, I know, but showing an increase in diversity and comparing favorably to some other good PNW LACs (Whitman, in particular, where for reasons unknown to me diversity fell sharply for the class entering in 2011). </p>
<p>On the downside (IMHO), Willamette has very few international students who are enrolled as degree candidates, but does have a relationship with a Japanese University that brings several Japanese students to campus, though from what I understand they don’t stay for more than a semester or two, and I wonder to what extent they and the regular students integrate together. Maybe someone can provide more info and insight as to this…</p>
<p>Anyway, S2 was admitted EA to Willamette, really likes it, will take a very close look!</p>
<p>D also applied to and was accepted at Willamette. We did a summer visit and she is going back for an extended visit next month. The school is highly regarded in the PNW and students seem to love it. The school doesn’t make as big a pitch as some others in the area in terms of being “international” (think Lewis and Clark) so they may attract fewer international applicants. It is located directly between the hospital and capitol building which I understand can lead to solid and convenient internship and shadowing opportunities. Taken in aggregate, I think, the student population average out to be kind of “normal”. What I mean is some artsy, some jocks, some really academic, some pre-business/law types, some Greek, some hippy liberal . . . Our impression was there was a pretty representative mix of many types of students rather than being tremendously skewed towards one or two general types. Again, D does not attend as of now, so I could be wrong, but this is the impression and general reputation.</p>
<p>^^ That was my impression too. I’d heard that Willamette students tended to be more conservative than at other PNW schools, which may be true, but the students I saw seemed to be a good mix of all the different types you mentioned without one group seeming to dominate. The readily attainable interships are also a big plus in my book.</p>
<p>Sunmachine, my daughter is a sophomore so I can explain a bit about the Japanese students. They arrive at the start of the second semester and stay for a year. There is some integration, but maybe less than ideal.</p>
<p>My daughter had a very international experience without ever leaving her dorm room. Fall semester, her roomate was an exchange student from England. Spring semester her roomate was part of the TIUA program. Both were randomly placed.</p>
<p>When the Japanese student arrived, her English was very weak. Communication was difficult, but she was extremely kind and friendly. Her English improved over the course of the semester.</p>
<p>The university sponsored social events to get the kids acquainted. They didn’t become best friends or anything, but it was an interesting learning experience.</p>
<p>I highly recommend Willamette for those of you considering it.</p>
<p>I lived in OR and WA and can tell you a lot about Willamette. It’s a good smaller LAC, but is a bit more conservative than others in the region. Someone on the thread mentioned Lewis & Clark and the two are night and day from each other. L&C is more progressive and has a truly international, diverse student body with kids from all over the US, too. Willamette is more regional, although the President is doing a fantastic job at improving the stature and diversity of the school. My S did not want to apply, but many of his friends did. It is currently a safety for the Santa Clara/USC/Whitman/Pomona/CMC bound kids. Bright kids go there, but often Willamette loses admits to the higher tiered/academic schools on the west coast. (so their acceptance rate is higher and yield rate is lower)</p>
<p>It is known for good Poli Sci, business, environmental studies (what NW school isn’t?) and pre-law. I don’t know about the sciences – maybe someone else can answer that for you. Salem is not a particularly interesting city – PDX is far more interesting and COOL. The kids who go to Willamette tend to be west coasters, more suburban (v. urban), fun-loving, interested in the world around them and overall pretty normal all-american types. It’s a solid group of kids, basically. (A NW parent would be happy their kid went there…) A huge plus for anyone considering the school is all the things nearby: the access to great skiing (Bend), unbelievable coastline (OR is awesome), an hour away from the best restaurants (in Portland – a foodie paradise), access to internships at some pretty darn great companies (NIKE, Adidas, Intel, Mercy Corps, etc.). You might never want to leave the Pacific NW once you get there!</p>
<p>But, you need to ask yourself why you’d choose Willamette over some of your other schools. It’s a bit of an outlier compared to your other choices (probably most similar to UofP). Just a thought!</p>
<p>“The school doesn’t make as big a pitch as some others in the area in terms of being “international” (think Lewis and Clark) so they may attract fewer international applicants.”</p>
<p>I mentioned L & C in a previous post, see quote above - in essence, making the point that the 2 are very different with L & C trying to skew towards east coast feel, artsy, international and Willamette being a more middle of the road student population.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone. I am planning to visit. I am asian indian and i hope there are
More people like that.</p>
<p>This is totally anecdotal from D’s friends and others we know, but at her school many/most Asian Indians are applying to name brand schools - Ivy, Chicago, Stanford, Tufts, MIT, CalTech etc. with University of Washington and UC Berkely as the safeties. Willamette doesn’t have the prestige for many Indian parents to allow their kids to apply.</p>
<p>Well i guess different parents value different things.</p>
<p>yep - it’s just an explanation as to why Willamette may not have as much of certain types of diversity as some other schools</p>
<p>As a former Oregonian and growing up in Salem, I can say that it has a great reputation. The only drawback is the location. </p>
<p>Salem has not as much to offer as Portland, but it is close to skiing, the ocean, and Portland. </p>
<p>The campus is beautiful and in a great part of town.</p>