College Tour Oregon and Washington
 

We are taking a spring break trip to Oregon and Washington to visit colleges. Daughter is hoping for a smaller school (maybe around 5000 students) in a pretty town - of course, this all sounds like private expensive schools to us - but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Her list for us to see:
Whitman in Walla Walla Washington
Evergreen State College in Olympia
Saint Martins in Lacey near Olympia
University of Portland
Lewis and Clark, Portland
Linfield, McMinnville, OR
Willamette, Salem
Oregon State Univ (yes, we know this is big)
Western Washington, Bellingham (also big)
Anybody have comments on these schools or
suggestions for other ones in the area.
Thank you!

there is an interesting school in seattle called Seattle U, I think with a catholic affiliation of some sort

Isn't Reed College out there somewhere in orgeon?

Although to me whether the town is "pretty" or not shouldn't be near the top of the list in deciding a college, the area around University of Portland isn't all that pretty (it's on the river, but that's a fairly industrial part of the river). North Portland (University Park neighborhood) is changing and improving but some might still find it a bit gritty. Lewis & Clark is in a much more pretty, quiet setting in SW Portland - lots of trees, beautiful campus, not very urban, but close enough to downtown Portland to be near neat stuff.

McMinville is a neat town, fairly quiet, about an hour from Portland. I don't know much about Linfield, though.

That's a good list. Whitman is an excellent college and highly selective---the kids applying there are also aplying to Pomona, Stanford, and the Ivy League schools. Reed would be in that catagory too, but I see she hasn't included it. The campus is beautiful---you might take a look as long as you are in Portland.

Kids I know who have gone to Western Washington love their school---it has a very high "loyalty factor." It's a popular choice for Washington residents, but I don't know what it costs for out-of-staters.

Does your daughter have any idea of what she wants to study? That may help in her decision.

As a graduate of OSU, I can chime in on that:) Yes, it is a larger school than the others, but it really does have a small feel to it. One thing that is nice about it is that you do not need a car to get around at all. The campus itself is not too spread out, and there are all sorts of living options right around it. The dorms, greek system, and individual houses/apts are all around the perimeter, so it is easy to walk all over. There is even a large grocery store (Fred Meyer) within walking distance. I did not have a car there until my senior year, and even then I rarely needed it. Very strong Greek system here too, if that interests her. Beaver fans are quite loyal too.

I am down at Linfield at least once a week. Very small campus, many students involved in athletics, short walk to the main downtown area, good Greek system here too. The Greek advisor is a friend of mine, and one of our friends daughters is a student there. So we tend to hear lots of positives about this school.

Willamette is a fine school, but the town is not as centered around the university as others are.

When we lived in WA, several teachers we knew went to WWU and really liked it.

How about University of Puget Sound in Tacoma? It's a good school in a very nice part of the city, beautiful campus and my daughter could see Mt Rainier from her bed her first year. We are from CT and did a similar, though more limited, tour to yours.

Comments, for what they are worth, on the ones I have heard about:

Evergreen State College in Olympia - Alternative curriculum. Student must highly motivated and self-starter or will get lost. I don't think there are grades. Many classes are multidisciplinary.

Lewis and Clark, Portland - Pretty campus. Good law school with emphasis on environmental law. (obviously not relevant to your daughter)

Linfield, McMinnville, OR - Very good for kids who have learning challenges. Personalized.

Oregon State Univ (yes, we know this is big) - Yes, Big.

Western Washington, Bellingham (also big) - Second to UW in Washington.

Do you live in a western state? There is a compact between many western states so that students get reduced out-of-state tuition in many majors in the state universities. (I believe they pay 150% of the in-state tuition.)

Thank you! This is getting very exciting!
At the moment,Daughter wants to be a 4th grade teacher so looking at majoring in English with possible minor in Education.
Lots of kids from her school went to Reed last year which is a reason she doesn't want to go there!

I'm a Linfield grad, so I'm biased. Small schools can give you more opportunity to do activities. McMinnville is a pretty town, only an hour from the "Big City" of Portland. Lewis and Clark might suit her as well. In my days at Linfield, I knew many education majors.

I'd say there's a big difference between these two schools and Reed College. Reed has a reputation for being the "liberal" school, not just liberal arts, but liberal/progressive in politics. Are your daughter's friends choosing it for that reason? Does she have a liberal bias as well? Something as traditional as Linfield/L&C may not suit her.

My older daughter is a senior at Lewis & Clark...only one more month!

She didn't want to tour till she'd been accepted, so we visited Reed, L&C, and Willamette.

In the end, the three schools were summarized by my daughter this way:

Reed- the classic Ivory Tower school. Extremely liberal (think naked kids with green hair sunbathing on the lawn). Beautiful campus, rigorous academic program, but not what you'd call a down to earth school. Easy access into all the coolness of Portland.

Willamette was very small and of course Salem is not known for being a hip and wild town. My daughter described it as "too nurturing". The administrators and the tour guide students were all incredibly nice and kind, but I also felt it seemed just too sheltered and too small. Most students are pretty conservative here.
They offer lots of $$$.

L&C was just perfect for my daughter...Big enough to have things to do on campus and a good selection of courses, but still small enough to know all your instructors. Somewhat liberal environment, but most students are pretty grounded. My daughter was a math major, and found the school quite challenging. The foreign program is big...lots of foreign kids on campus and something like 80% of the students do some sort of study abroad. Mine went to India for a semester. Overall, we've been very happy with L&C.

My niece and her DH are both teaching at Portland State, and say it is becoming a really good school- and in a nice urban neighborhood. You might look into it

My friend's son went to Evergreen and left after the first year, "Too weird". I know several kids at Whitman who seem pleased.

And as a former OSU Beaver, I'll have to say I had a lot of fun there. Corvallis is your classic college town!

Thanks lcuy - good info!
I got our air and car booked last night so
hope to book the college tours today.
We'll add Portland State to the list.
We're excited!

Portland State (called PSU by the locals) is right in downtown Portland - it's not really in a "neighborhood" and the campus doesn't distinguish itself much from the rest of the city. You can drive through it without realizing you just drove through a college campus. Part of it is on the south park blocks, a pretty area, but it still feels little like a college campus.

I think a lot of PSU students are commuters who live off campus or older students continuing their educations. Not to say PSU is a bad school at all, but it doesn't seem to fit the kind of classic college campus your daughter seems to want.

I think Reed should definitely be on her list, though, if only because it's so close to L&C and an easy visit. The idea that a lot of people from the class before her went to Reed seems like a silly reason to keep it off the list. Is that going to matter in her college experience 5 years after she graduates? Highly doubt it. It's a beautiful campus, a well-regarded school.

Since University of Portland (a Catholic school) is on her list, unless she is specifically Catholic I'd probably have George Fox University in Newberg, OR on there as well and Concordia University in NE Portland on the list as well. Newberg is a neat little town, closer to Portland than McMinville. I can't speak to the quality of its educational system, however.

And since Oregon State is on the list, why not University of Oregon? To me, Eugene is your classic college town (yeah, certainly far from a small school) and feels very different from Corvallis. I guess if you have only a short time it might seem out of the way but Eugene is about an hour from Corvallis, FYI.

What about Pacific University in Forest Grove (west of Portland)?

Sorry, I guess your calendar is already pretty full here!

So many good suggestions! I've got the map out right now and we were going to drive
from Walla Walla to Seattle nonstop but I am now intrigued by Central Washington U in Ellensburg. Any thoughts on that one?
Thanks to everyone for your great help!

I will give biases based on the following personal background -

- Attended OSU, but defected to Eugene..
- Bachelor's from U of O
- Taught (p/t - casual) at Seattle U and Pacific Lutheran Univ. (Tacoma)
- Son was accepted to Reed, Evergreen St., attended neither (Pomona Univ. instead.)
- Son's college roomie's dad was bigshot (President?) of Whitman.
- (My) wife graduated from UW.
- Nephew just interviewed L&C, Western WA, Evergreen...
- Recruited (for my govt. employer) at (I think) all the colleges/univs. listed except St Martins.
- Taught at university (in Scotland) for several years... whew.

So...

L&C - good school, well known inside Oregon, very little beyond.

Reed - high academic standards but woo-woo reputation can be a deficit depending on post-grad plans.

PSU - big in-city school, some areas of excellence.

OSU - Corvallis is a nice town; the U is more sophisticated than in the past, big college atmosphere in small town environment.

U of Portland - if big city Catholic univ. is desired, then Seattle U has much more going for it.

Linfield - very small and dare I say claustrophobic?

Willamette - conservative, well regarded law school.

Evergreen - High academic standards but definitely a woo-woo reputation.

WWU - good academics, good atmosphere, Bellingham is a nice town (esp. the Fairhaven area where the univ. is located.)

St Martins - don't know a soul who's gone there, can't comment.

Central WA - not in the same league as WWU, Ellensburg is too small a town.

Whitman - gorgeous campus, WW is a great town, but I'd check indicators of student happiness and post-graduate satisfaction. There are some disturbing stories (urban legends?) about suicide rates at Whitman, things like that.

A couple of other places to consider -

Gonzaga, Spokane. Catholic school, high standards.

Southern Oregon Univ., Ashland. Beautiful town, strong education curriculum.

Just to add to some of what's already been said.....

L & C - Better know for its law school, particularly environmental law (who'da thunk?) than undergrad, but nice campus in probably the most affluent area of Portland.

Linfield - Small school in small town. Tightknit. Almost everyone I know who graduated from there is a k - 12 educator or wants to be.

PSU - because of proximity, I think the best business school in the state. But, as others have said, not a real "college experience" here.

OSU - If they were to do a remake of Animal House today, they'd more likely shoot it in Corvallis than Eugene. Good engineering school, though.

Reed - The school's public relations director is a friend, and judging by what I hear from her, many of the students there are too smart for their own good. Up until the last couple years, has had a reputation as a place for non-conforming brainiacs.

St. Martins - For what it's worth, a second cousin went there. He is smart as a whip, but now waits tables in Brooklyn while waiting for his film writer-producer career to take off. One of his shorts recently received high accolades at Sundance, so maybe he's on his way.

U of P - Good nursing school in a pretty neat area of Portland. Best soccer school in the country!!!

Apologize for the sidetrack, but when, and what did you teach at PLU, Gardyloo? You may have had my brother or wife as a student. Go Lutes!

I only taught a few classes (not full courses) in the business curriculum - housing and real estate finance/economics.

Both of our children had a teacher who graduated from Linfield. This teacher is absolutely amazing, and is what every teacher should aspire to. I don't know how other teachers are that graduated from Linfield, but they sure did something right with this person.

If you go to Walla Walla, you might check out Washington State in Pullman (small down, big school) and then head up to Spokane for Whitworth and Gonzaga (small schools, bigish town).

Now I'm wishing we had 3 weeks for this trip! I'm trying to book the hotels right now and really want to try to stay as close to the schools as possible so we get a feel for the neighborhoods. For St. Martins in Lacey, should we stay in Lacey? Or maybe Olympia instead- since it sounds like a fun town.
Thanks to everyone. I will owe you all a huge trip report when we return!

I can comment a big on George Fox Univ. as well. Our son had two teachers that graduated from GFU and they were very good. Newberg is adjacent to my town, and honestly, there isn't much there at all. But I don't know what it is like to be a student there, so take my comments for what they are. My husband is currently finishing up a masters degree at GFU. So regarding the graduate program, he thinks the professors are overall pretty good (had a few idiots, but they are everywhere) but wishes the university would be a bit more selective on who they enroll. For the graduate program, students are assigned groups that they work with for the remainder of their time. DH lucked out and got a great group, but he has had to deal with other groups at times and said he has no clue how they were accepted into the program.