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mom61
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Posted: Mon Feb 12th, 2007 07:45 pm |
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My husband and son are visiting Willamette today. They arrived in Salem on a Sunday afternoon. It wasn't raining so they took advantage of the weather to walk around the campus. They were both disappointed to see that the campus appeared deserted. There were a few males out kicking a soccer ball but that was it. The campus is small but quite pretty. The town not to exciting. My son made the decision that he would go today but didn't think Willamette was for him.
They had an early morning. They were expecting to do a tour but the admissions office had set them up with a full day. The first appointment was with the Office of Students with Disabilities.
The Office of Student with Disabilities serves LD and ADD students. They were helpful, positive and extremely kind. They had his SAT scores and said that based on looking at them alone could see he has LD's. They will still need documentation but it appears like they are reasonably easy to work with. They told my son that tutors are available in all subjects. He would come to them with is writing assignments. They would help him each step of the way with writing of papers. She said some students utilize this service the entire 4 yrs. She asked him what ADD meds he was taking. She said they set him up with someone in town to prescribe the medications. There is a shortage of psychiatrists in Salem so this might be a nurse practitioner. They do have people on campus available for therapy. She said some students end up suffering from depression due to the weather. She also said that his SAT scores were above there average and even with his GPA she felt he should be admitted. Obviously she isn't the one making that decision. She also talked about the town, school and the faculty. She felt that Willamette was a great place for the LD student. She had ADD herself. It appears they are very proactive in making sure that the student is successful.
They also have him set up to observe 2 art classes and a philosophy class this afternoon. He will also have a tour and and interview this afternoon. He hadn't set up an overnight but they are willing to try to arrange something last minute.
I will hear more tonight as to how he liked the classes.
This is clearly a case where first impressions can be wrong. I won't be surprised if after the day he would consider Willamette if admitted.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Mon Feb 12th, 2007 08:39 pm |
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Mom61,
My daughter, a friend of hers, and I toured Willamette on a Saturday morning, and they both came away with the same impression your son did: too quiet and not for them. I suspect a lot of that had to do with it being a weekend visit, but they both felt that the campus was too compact and didn't like its location. (The trains along the edge of campus really bothered my daughter). Willamette is a great little school, though, so hopefully sitting in on some classes will give your son a broader perspective. Let us know!
Carolyn
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mom61
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Posted: Tue Feb 13th, 2007 04:33 am |
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He ended up sitting in on 2 classes. One art and one philosophy. He enjoyed the philosophy class felt the teacher was interesting. Classes at Willamette are small.
He wandered the campus and met a few students who invited him back to their sorority house. He has some time to kill before meeting back up with his Dad. The students he spoke with all spoke well of Willamette. Though several mentioned to him that instead of going to Willamette he should attend the local UC in our town.
Students are required to live on campus for 2 yrs. The dorm they visited was nice but old. My son enjoyed the food in the cafeteria. Recreation is popular. If you join the ski club there are weekend trips to local mountains. There is also an outdoor club that plans adventures. Some students do go to Portland on the weekends.
He interviewed with an admissions representative. She actually asked him did he want an interview or a question and answer session. She interviewed my son for about 30 minutes and then called my husband in and spoke with them for another hour. She was a vibrant young african american female who had graduated from Willamette.
They had a great experience at Willamette. Everyone they interacted with was friendly, helpful and smart. Son liked the people he met, enjoyed the classes he sat in on. The biggest drawback to Willamette is Salem, Oregon.
I will be interested to hear from him if the pros of Willamette outweigh the cons.
This was his first college visit. He has a few more to do over the next few months.
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Overseas mom
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Posted: Tue Feb 13th, 2007 05:41 am |
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My daughter is a senior and since we live overseas, we visited colleges last summer. We limited D to the west coast since my son and in-laws live in San Francisco. Another limitation was that D wants to continue her Chinese language studies and we were looking primarily at LACs. This narrows it down quickly.
We visited U of Pacific, U of Oregon for their honors program, Willamette and Lewis & Clark. We considered visiting U of Puget Sound, but it seemed a little too far north since were driving from San Francisco. We had never been to Oregon before and thought the mountains were breathtaking. We took the Oregon coast back down to California and that was beautiful, too. After visiting, Willamette was my and D's first choice by far.
All of these schools except Willamette make the rounds of international schools in Asia and visit D's school, so all were familiar with where she is coming from. Willamette used to do the same, but has shifted its recruitment policy and has not come here in several years.
However, the admissions counselor we spoke with at Willamette used to come here so knew D's high school. She had even heard of the small island (Republic of Palau) where we lived before moving here for D's junior and senior year. The admissions counselor was very warm and she and D have exchanged some e-mails since then.
The campus is small, but the millstream running through it and the "star trees" give it character. There are some small garden spaces as well. We were only in Salem for an afternoon, but had dinner downtown before heading up to Portland. We did not check out Salem as much as I would have liked. Salem's location between Eugene and Portland is convenient, though.
Anyway, D applied to Willamette EA, was accepted with a nice merit award and it is likely she will attend. Her impressions and mine are that generally the students are motivated and engaged, that there are opportunities to work closely with professors, the Colloquium that kicks off the freshman year sounds great, a lot of effort goes into helping freshman get to know each other and become familiar with campus resources. We both feel good about it.
I wish we lived closer and that D could attend the upcoming weekend for students admitted EA, just to confirm what we feel.
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mom61
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Posted: Tue Feb 13th, 2007 02:29 pm |
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Overseas Mom
Can you please write up a review of University of the Pacific. That is another school my son is considering. He has not yet been accepted to Willamette but has been to UOP with merit money.
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Overseas mom
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 06:47 am |
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Glad to oblige.
What did your husband think about Willamette? I wish we could visit when school is in session, but it's just too far away. How does your son feel about it now?
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Overseas mom
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 06:53 am |
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| Mom 61 - I noticed that your son has already been accepted to many colleges. Why did he want to see Willamette?
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mom61
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 04:28 pm |
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OverseasMom- His preference is a small college on the west coast. He applied EA to Willamette but his grades are all over the map due to ADD and LD so they wanted to see his mid year grades before making a decision.
My husband was impressed with the people at Willamette. Everyone they met was helpful and made them feel welcome. He liked how the admissions office was as interested in sharing with him about the school as they were with my son. He also was pleased that they want to help the LD student succeed.
My husband was less impressed with the town of Salem. He is also concerned the weather will be depressing for my son.
They both walked away from the visit thinking that if he is accepted it will be a strong contender.
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bumpyroad
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Posted: Fri Feb 16th, 2007 01:44 am |
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I have some knowledge of Willamette because my son goes there every summer to an arts camp on campus, and my step-father went to school there. Some comments:
1. The dorms are pretty basic, but the food in the cafeteria is quite good, assuming that the summer food service is run by the same folks as during the school year.
2. The campus is small but pretty, especially in the spring and summer, with a nice stream running through it.
3. Salem is dull, unless you like politics (the capitol is across the street). On the other hand, you're an hour from the beach, an hour and a half from skiing, and an hour from more interesting towns in Portland, Eugene, and Corvallis.
4. Probably the most important issue - several friends have had children go to Willamette, and they uniformly had good things to say about the attention their kids received at the school. Classes are small and the teachers want to teach.
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outwest
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Posted: Sun Apr 15th, 2007 05:02 am |
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We drove along the Columbia river gorge coming from Walla Walla, through Portland and down to Willamette in Salem, Oregon. Salem is 35 trafficless minutes from Portland and seems like a great little city. This is another gorgeous campus. We have not seen an ugly campus anywhere in the PNW. They are all amazing.
An information session, a tour, lunch and a class. This was a full afternoon. A wonderful college (first in the Western States) located right across the street from the Oregon State Capital. Because of that they have strong programs in law and politics with many internship opportunities. It is also known for music, opera and art.
The student body looked nice, but again really all caucasian. My daughter was not impressed by the students in her class, though. She said they seemed high schoolish and not very bright. She was disappointed because the campus, again, was terrific. I think it may have just been the class she visited (a freshman level class) because I know other great students who have gone there. If she applies there it would be worth another look at another class. There is a little river running right through the campus. They had a group of giant sequoias on campus. That was cool. The food was decent and the dorms were okay, too, but not nearly as nice as Whitman or University of Puget Sound. The rest of the campus was terrific.
Dorms were okay, food was okay, campus was gorgeous, buildings were fabulous. There is sculpture and a glass clocktower. The people were very, very nice. Our tour guide was from Alaska. She was bright and informative. The admissions staff were friendly and helpful. It was a nice day on a beautiful campus that seemed to have good opportunities for the right student. It seems to be a very supportive school with tutoring and things like that available. The students seemed very happy there.
They give merit aid here, too.
I thought this was a really nice school with good opportunities for study broad and a decent outdoor program, but I think my DD being above their statistics showed at this school where it didn't at University of Puget Sound. I think being across the street from the Oregon State capitol is a major draw. It has a religious affiliation, but it was not mentioned one time! I do not think the religious aspect is at all pervasive. They are also right next to the train which blasts through every so often and is very noisy!
giant sequoias on campus:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b17/outwest5/P1010083.jpg
the sign:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b17/outwest5/P1010088.jpg
Last edited on Sun Apr 15th, 2007 05:19 am by outwest
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emeraldkity
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Posted: Sun Jul 29th, 2007 07:00 pm |
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I am so impressed with how many schools you were able to visit- did you get a chance to look at Western?
I think your daughter must have higher stats than mine- although I think mine will do well in a rigorous setting, she doesn't test well.
Willamette is another school I want to look at-but again D wants a diverse school- and while I recognize there is diversity outside of skin color, it does feel different.
Thanks for the info
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safisher
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Posted: Sun Mar 30th, 2008 12:17 am |
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Second stop on our PNW tour, Willamette Univ.:
- Most enthusiastic admissions office to see our S. Really made us feel at home.
- Smallish campus, but some nice use of space and natural features to make it interesting, Mill Stream, Japanese Garden, tree ring.
- Nice vibe on campus in coffee shop and library. Small campus may be a benefit in creating a feeling of "productive" activity
- Closest campus, perhaps anywhere to a state capital building, right across the street. Great for internships if into politics.
- General feeling that they go out of their way to help students and see them as individuals. Secretary at admissions office knew tour guides roommates. This may not seem like much, but if you come from California and deal with the UC system, its huge.
- Salem not a college town. Got the feeling Willamette was cultural center of Salem.
- Services easy to get to, close to campus.
- S felt very comfortable here. Will apply.
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Canadian
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Posted: Sun Mar 30th, 2008 03:50 am |
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A few comments from our visit last year:
I want to second that Willamette had the nicest & most accommodating admissions personnel of anywhere we visited. S managed to forget his interview on the day after his overnight. The rep arranged a later time, and I believed her when she said his oversight would not affect his app. (She sure got a nice thank-you note from S!)
S also managed to get separated from his overnight host and spent the evening partying with kids he did not know. His host saw this as evidence of S's great independence and maturity (??) and said he would give him a stellar report.
The trains drove me crazy even at my well-insulated hotel, but did not bother S.
Strong Greek system, but our guide said things are pretty self-selecting at the frats and most people get in where they want. Don't know about sororities. The frats do a lot of public service.
Salem gets a strong thumbs down from me, worse than Walla Walla or Tacoma, and I'm not sure why as it has it's share of cute shops and restaurants, all walking distance from the school. Something grim about it to me. We arrived on Easter, and literally the only places open were a multiplex cinema and a head shop at opposite ends of town.
The school is pretty and quite compact. However, there is a second area of the campus which I did not see and which houses a large number of Japanese students and a Japanese eating area, too. Willamette has some kind of ongoing exchange program (I think--I hope I am not making this up).
Willamette is ranked higher than UPS and L & C, and I'm not sure why there is not more buzz about it. More conservative than L & C in feel, somewhat similar to UPS. Probably not a fit for artsy, edgy kids. There is something soft about it in a positive way, and I'm betting they are as supportive of their students as they are friendly to prospects.
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