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UPS dad
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| Joined: | Mon Mar 6th, 2006 |
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Posted: Thu Mar 9th, 2006 08:31 pm |
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My son wound up at UPS fall of 2004. It was a tough call between his top 3. He picked it over Whitman ( money) and Lawrence U ( location). His Dorm room was spacious compared to others we had seen. His roommate was a good match. Both kids only children. Many of the same colleges for application and science oriented rural kids. His room mate got very homesick after Christmas break and dropped out of school ( returned this year) and that was the only time S seemed home sick. Almost as if he thought he should
The UPS week long orientation is impressive and has three parts. *Passages that put the kids together for 3 gays doing outdoor activities that run from nature walks to a three day backpacking experience chosen by the kids. *Perspectives where students tour Tacoma and learn about community volunteer opportunities where to find snack food and restaurants for when your parents are buying. and *Prelude where student's take a short class and write a short paper, Meed their advisers and register for classes. S got tired of Ice breaker games and his student counselor turned out worthless but gave everything else a thumbs up winding up his in Soph year as a passages leader.
He has found his coarse work challenging and rewarding. Likes the easy access to Profs and their willingness to help. He only has given one an F in his first two years.
He has found kids friendly and activities plentiful and the food ok if boring. He is happy having an on campus house with it's own kitchen and 3 house mates this year.
I feel safe saying he has fallen in love with UPS and has no regrets
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outwest
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 4th, 2007 |
| Location: | CA |
| Posts: | 540 |
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Posted: Sun Apr 15th, 2007 01:05 am |
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Returned late last night from our whirlwind PNW college tour. We had a wonderful time and did a lot of driving. I enjoyed seeing the PNW for the first time and I couldn't help but feel drowned in beauty. Both Washington and Oregon are gorgeous. There was the requisite gloomy overcast weather and slight drizzles in all but Whitman (which is in a different climate zone).
University of Puget Sound:
We flew into Seattle airport in the early a.m. (8:30) and drove straight to University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. They had a nice folder waiting for DD with her scheduled class visit, tour, free meal ticket and bookstore discount. We took a catalog, flyers and what not from the table.
Food:
It was almost lunch time so we went to the commons. Excellent food with a good variety, extremely veggie/vegan friendly and had labels on the food like "heart healthy""vegan", etc. , but also good choices for us meat eaters. There were flyers all over of things to do and a table set up with a congressional internship person talking and handing out flyers to interested students. There was also a table selling luau tickets and another with a student selling handmade jewelry for a fundraiser for some club. There was a warm area with couches and chairs for students and a coffee place with chairs. Students were engaged in conversations all around us. Food was all you can eat without the points thing that many schools do.
Students:
One thing immediately hit us coming from Southern California (LA County) and never having ventured into the PNW; it was so homogenous! It seemed everyone was white. We saw a handful of people of any color the whole time at UPS and they were eating lunch together and not mixing. It was really eery to us, but since my DD has grown up with diversity we did not put a premium on finding it in a college and it wasn't a statistic we cared about. We were surprised how odd it felt to us. Within four days of seeing mostly caucasian people we began to notice people of color. That kind of creeped me out and I can't explain the feeling except to say that by the fourth day my oldest DD, who went along for the trip, was saying, "I will never live here." My youngest who is doing the college search and I are keeping an open mind. She is caucasian and I told her there really is nothing wrong with being caucasian! It was an odd, odd conversation. but I digress.
On with my tour info-
The girls seemed to have minimal makeup and were very healthy, good looking, clear eyed and vibrant. The guys were the same. I have never seen so much North Face clothing in my entire life. Everyone looked pretty outdoorsy in appearance. There were lots of blue jeans and tennis shoes. It was chilly to us at about 55, but a lot of the students were running around with short sleeves. They were saying Hi to each other and chatting a lot. They looked happy and engaged. I did not see anyone smoking. They were very friendly with us, also. I found myself liking the students. They did not appear competitive or intense in the least. They were relaxed and focused.
The stats are below the averages of the other colleges we looked at, but the students seemed a good bit above average to me! Actually, the students seemed better then a couple schools we saw with higher stats. I don't know why that would be. A lot of the students are from Alaska and Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. There are a number from all over the country. Our tour guide was from Missouri.
Academics:
She sat in on a class called Anthropology of Food. I think she said it had about 10 students. She said it was great and the students were discussing things easily with the professor. The class let out early because they were all planning to go over to the professors house for something or other having to do with the class. The professor asked my DD to stay and she said spent a half an hour talking to her about UPS and everything it had to offer. He asked her questions and she asked him some, too. I thought that was just awesome. He talked about research and going to China or something like that.
The academics seem good and lots of study abroad. They have a strong Asian studies department and have a program between one of the Asian countries and them. I can't remember in the flow of info. which country it was because DD was not interested so it didn't register. They have multiple language offerings including Chinese and Japanese and all the classics (Latin, Greek and some other one). Seems it would be good for International studies. Maybe all this focus on other cultures is good in this homogenous environment. The students seemed to be doing a lot of collecting for underpriviledged people and other socially consicous things.
Great outdoor program, environmental science, too. We did not ask about the other departments. Sports are there, but not heavy with many doing outdoor activities instead of organized sports.
Finances:
They give merit and need aid both.
Housing:
We took a tour next and we saw a large double dorm room. Very roomy and nice by dorm standards. Different dorm choices are available (single, triple, double, coed). The students in the room were friendly and happy to answer questions about their room. To do lists lined the walls. Some live off campus and there were a lot of cars in the parking lot and lining the street, but we had no trouble finding a place to park. They had mailed us a nice brochure and parking pass before hand. There is a very low key greek system. They live "on campus" in a row of beautiful, big old houses adjacent and owned by the school. The greek system seemed just fine to us and nothing like it is on a large campus.
The campus is self contained and mostly all red brick. It feels a little small, but spills over into the surrounding neighborhood. It is in a suburban neighborhood that is safe. It is well maintained, a little monotonous with all that endless brick, but very pretty.
Tacoma is a nice city and beautiful.
My DD's final thoughts (and , yes, I did ask her if I could post here) was that it just didn't feel quite right. Maybe the homogenity got to her or maybe it was the drizzly weather or maybe all that North Face.
I think it would be a great school for many students. It seemed to be ultra friendly and tuned into the students. I think a student would get lots of professor attention there and the tour guide said as much. The administration seems very engaged with the students, too. It seems to be a school that puts students first. Over all, I think this is a gem of a hidden school.
Last edited on Sat Mar 22nd, 2008 03:13 pm by outwest
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emeraldkity
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| Joined: | Fri Jul 27th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 17 |
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Posted: Sun Jul 29th, 2007 06:40 pm |
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Great review- thanks so much
I had heard a lot about UPS and was aware that they have strong support for LDs which we are interested in.
However- I was hoping it was more diverse- we live in Seattle which is fairly Caucasian, but D attends an "inner city" high school, and really wants a diverse college
I love NorthFace- my oldest still uses daily a backpack that I used 15 years ago. It is faded but in great shape- youngest also has two fleeces and a sleeping bag that are TNF- its a local brand.
But I know what you mean- it is very amusing that the uniform at her "inner city" ( in parenthese- since I dont think Seattle can be said to really have an inner city) high school, is a black NorthFace fleece- which makes finding yours on the soccer pitch rather difficult
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Descartes
Super Moderator
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Posted: Sat Mar 22nd, 2008 05:54 am |
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We (S and I) finished a PNW college tour in the past few weeks, too.
Outwest's review is excellent, so I'll use our impressions of UPS only to add or amplify.
--Tacoma is a very liveable city. I do read disparaging remarks about it from time to time, but I enjoyed our visit. It suffers, perhaps, by comparison with larger and more cosmopolitan Seattle, next to which it is has a more “industrial” vibe, but it certainly was a comfortable place to be. We had no problem finding good Thai and seafood restaurants while visiting.
--Previously unbeknownst to me, Tacoma seems to be a “hot bed” of glasswork (pun intended) and features the Museum of Glass, to which I recommend a visit. The exhibits were moderately sized but superb (one featuring highly instructive comparisons of the various approaches to and properties of glasswork) and the busy professional glass studio was engrossing. In particular Tacoma is home base to glass artist Dale Chihuly, a UPS alum, and you can see much of his sculpture on campus and around town.
--There were lovely cherry trees planted near the student center to commemorate the Nisei students of UPS whose education was interrupted by their internment in WWII. They were in early bloom and a thoughtful tribute.
--Sitting in the cafeteria and walking across campus I have to agree that the surface impression one gets is homogeneously Caucasian (self-disclosure: like me) without too much individuality even within this demographic. I did see one instance of bright-green hair, but otherwise nothing caught my eye.
--As with the students, so with the campus. I began to realize on this trip that I prefer campuses that are not strictly rectilinear in their layouts, and UPS’s definitely favored a “squared up” approach. This combined with the ubiquitous red brick, general openness of the grounds, and similar architecture of many of the buildings created an overall pleasant but subdued experience for me.
--Our tour guide was a senior business major whose presence had the advantage of reminding all of us that UPS, unlike many LAC’s, did offer a business option. However for me she did not project a real interest in and respect for a liberal arts curriculum and left me with a lower opinion of the intellectual atmosphere on campus than, perhaps, the admissions office would intend.
--There was no info session, so I am afraid I took that opinion away with me.
--One paradoxical comment our guide made: pointing out the lack of “blue light” stations around campus, she observed that this was because the campus was safe and not in need of such devices. Quite a contrast to other guides we have had who use the presence of stations as evidence of a safe campus.
--S attended one class (which he found engaging) while I self-toured the library. Again I can’t recall any outstanding features of the library save that it was relatively new and not in heavy use by mid-morning on the day we visited.
--I also self-toured the music building and theater. The campus is in the midst of a 25-year renewal plan which, we were told, will eventually refurbish most buildings on campus. However, both of these facilities were “venerable” and their age left me to think that the performing arts were not where UPS currently wanted to put its resources.
--S related to me that he did not find anything during our visit that would motivate him to investigate further. Personally, I was left with neither favorable nor unfavorable impressions of UPS, and hence my summary word would be “nondescript”—a pleasant but not intriguing place for S to attend.
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Canadian
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Posted: Sat Mar 22nd, 2008 08:00 am |
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We visited UPS last spring. A few random notes:
There is a dorm for outdoor enthusiasts that even freshmen can live in. The students there help set up trips.
The science building is very new and hypermodern and tucked into an otherwise red brick quad. Definitely the most interesting building on campus.
Along with the business program, there are other pre-professional programs including (I think) medical related like PT. Hence, the school is a university though still very small.
The day we visited, there was a group of Japanese students having a class in the student center, so UPS did not feel quite as homogeneous as some of the other PNW schools.
The admissions staff were very welcoming and helpful despite S being in grade 11 and gave him an interview on campus. S enjoyed an overnight with an honours student who lived in a special honours house. The school set him up with an appropriate environmental studies class..........which was studying geography that he had already covered.
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Descartes
Super Moderator
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Posted: Sat Mar 22nd, 2008 03:48 pm |
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I do recall the exterior of the science building: part of a small plaza quadrangle, as I remember. And you're right - it was achitecturally interesting.
Edit: I realized after I wrote this that it could be mistaken as sarcasm for "ugly". I didn't mean it that way, and simply meant that it was a little different than the rest of campus.
I believe UPS has grad programs in occupational and physical therapy. There was a clinic on campus. We walked by a "lesson" in which it appeared a student or staff person was instructing an older woman on how to swing a golf club. The buildings linked to these programs had the feel of post WWII "temporary structures". I think our guide indicated that they were slated to be replaced soon as part of the campus master plan.
Last edited on Sat Mar 22nd, 2008 07:37 pm by Descartes
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safisher
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| Joined: | Sun Apr 1st, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 29 |
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Posted: Sun Mar 30th, 2008 12:45 am |
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Last stop on PNW tour UPS:
- Gorgeous campus in residential area of Tacoma. Great facilities.
- Larger (2500+) than most LACs which does lead to more classes and opportunities.
- Combo of respected music school and business school leads to eclectic student body.
- Tacoma nicer than expected, pleasant surprise.
- S felt very comfortable, had lunch with a student.
- Biggest question as a parent, UPS seems to have so many great attributes why is there not more of a "buzz", may be school on the rise.
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GladHi
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| Joined: | Wed Jun 21st, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 41 |
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Posted: Mon Mar 31st, 2008 03:54 am |
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I did see one instance of bright-green hair, but otherwise nothing caught my eye.
The buildings linked to these programs had the feel of post WWII "temporary structures". I think our guide indicated that they were slated to be replaced soon as part of the campus master plan.
Descartes, that first comment made me laugh. I believe you spotted my D's housemate that day. My D herself has bright orange hair at the moment, so they make quite a pair. I keep hoping that my D will return to a "normal" hair color but your remark reminds me that I should appreciate her individuality.
UPS was a great choice for her (she would only consider schools in the PNW, she turned down Lewis & Clark and Willamette mainly because of their smaller size). For the past 3 years she's lived in a theme house on campus that she helped to create. She majored in English Lit, minored in Asian Studies, and both departments are excellent. She spent last spring studying in London with a program in which UPS and 4 other Pacific NW LACs participate--a wonderful experience.
My H and I are both UPS grads and had great experiences, too. To Safisher's question why isn't there more buzz about UPS? I think in part it's the location, and also it has been a relatively short time since UPS changed its focus from a University with off-campus programs, a law school, etc. (I'm also a UPS law school grad), to a liberal arts college. UPS does maintain its nationally-known programs in OT/PT, and it has a highly regarded Business Leadership Program. Also strong in the sciences.
The architectural aspects are personal taste. I like the way UPS has kept buildings adhering to the "Tudor Gothic" style, and love the look of the new science building. Also, like the way the campus is largely self-contained, with few roads crossing through its grounds.
As to the second quote, those buildings (which were painted a hideous pink for many years) are in fact post-WWII temporary structures, and have been the bane of the OT/PT school since before I was a student. At last, the program will be housed in a new Health Sciences building.
I just realized seeing the first post that UPSDad and I will see our kids graduating together in May. The rhododendrons should be in bloom then, and, cross fingers that the sun will be shining on them and us.
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