What are some good colleges in WA? (Seattle, Vancouver: cliquey, 2009)

[Smartie_Pants]

I have lived in a rural part of KY my whole life and I will be a senior when I go back to school in August. I am going to be applying for colleges, and I want to have a few on the list that are from the Western states. CA, OR, WA, CO, etc.

I really want to go to a liberal arts college, and I'm having a hard time finding any in the west that have good reviews from students who have gone there. Here is what I am looking for in a college:

1.) Friendly profs. who are acessable and always there for you.

2.) A friendly student body that isn't super cliquey or super greek oriented.

3.) Relativly small student body. Max. 2000 people.

4.) That I'm going to get the best education possible.

5.) Small class sizes. Max. 20 people.

6.) Not a school that is heavily focused on drinking and partying.

[Jake840]

UPS has gotten bad reviews?

[tindo80]

U of WA is listed by US News as a 'public Ivy'. They are a rival to my alma mater, but I would be lying to you if I did not recommend them as the best college in WA state. Their grads make more on average, they have the highest endowment and the most programs of any other school in either WA state or the tri state NW region (WA, OR and ID).

To get in is another story. Not the easiest place to get admission.

[AzDreamer]

There was an article in the Seattle Times about graduation rates. Below are the top five colleges and their six-year graduation rates.

Whitman College: 86
Gonzaga University: 80
Univ. of Puget Sound: 76
UW: 75
Whitworth University: 74

Education | 41 percent in state don't finish college within 6 years | Seattle Times Newspaper

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by tindo80

U of WA is listed by US News as a 'public Ivy'. They are a rival to my alma mater, but I would be lying to you if I did not recommend them as the best college in WA state. Their grads make more on average, they have the highest endowment and the most programs of any other school in either WA state or the tri state NW region (WA, OR and ID).

To get in is another story. Not the easiest place to get admission.

Well, you can at least take heart that Jake Heaps chose BYU today instead of UW.

Irony: as a Husky myself, while I concur that we're an outstanding school and probably on balance the best one overall in Washington, I don't think it would be a good fit for the OP, even in liberal arts (my degree area, which really isn't UW's strong suit).

1.) Friendly profs. who are acessable and always there for you. At UW those are the exception, not the rule. You don't get much support or encouragement from them or anyone.

2.) A friendly student body that isn't super cliquey or super greek oriented. So-so. It's not too cliquish and the Greeks don't dominate (UW is too much a commuter school for that), but it doesn't start to get friendly until you've been there about three years and know a lot of people. By which time you've already dealt with the difficulty of meeting people.

3.) Relativly small student body. Max. 2000 people. Whiff. 36,000.

4.) That I'm going to get the best education possible. At UW, that all depends on you. You get almost zero handholding, but if you are self-motivated, the tools are there to do just about anything you want but agriculture and allied disciplines. UW is perfect for people with Asberger's who have a monomaniacal focus on what they want to do and learn, and who have a minimal need for support from others.

5.) Small class sizes. Max. 20 people. My largest class had about 850, with Kane 130 (cap. 764) overloaded and people piled in the aisles and on the floor in front.

6.) Not a school that is heavily focused on drinking and partying. Okay on this one. You can easily live away from drinking and partying.

In light of all of the above, plus a few other intangibles, I couldn't in good conscience encourage the OP to apply at UW, as much as I love my alma mater. He or she would probably be a lot happier at Whitman, Whitworth, St. Martin's, SU, UPS, PLU, SPU or Gonzaga.

[Smartie_Pants]

University of Puget Sound did get bad reviews. Here is one of them, written by a student in the 2012 class:

http://www.studentsreview.com/WA/UPS_comments.html

Taken from www.studentsreview.com where the colleges are posted and people that have went there leave reviews and fill out a data form rating the school on everything from campus apperance, to education quality, to safety.

[Smartie_Pants]

Oh, and Whitman is already on the list.

[tindo80]

I have to agree with Jkk. Coming from the huskies mouth, its hard to argue with that. I would add Western WA university and even Eastern Wa U. to the recommendations list. WWU first, because bellingham is a lot nicer to live in than Cheney (not that anything is inherently wrong with Cheney, Bellingham is much larger and has more to do, see, buy, and is closer to Vancouver/Seattle.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by tindo80

I have to agree with Jkk. Coming from the huskies mouth, its hard to argue with that. I would add Western WA university and even Eastern Wa U. to the recommendations list. WWU first, because bellingham is a lot nicer to live in than Cheney (not that anything is inherently wrong with Cheney, Bellingham is much larger and has more to do, see, buy, and is closer to Vancouver/Seattle.

As I see it, no university/college is right for everyone. Putting rivalries aside, there are reasons one might make any given school his or her #1 choice. My own first year at UW, going from a graduating class in double digits to such a huge school, was pretty difficult, so I know how it can be. If one is looking for support systems, and doesn't want to live in the Greek system, UW is generally not the ideal place to look.

[bunnyfool]

Student body <2000? ... ummmmmmmmmmmmm wow even CWU (my alma mada) has like 8000 and that's considered a small one. good luck.