College Visits

Three days in the Pacific Northwest -- a beautiful trip that may have actually accomplished something.   First stop: Reed College in Portland, a school with a national reputation for academic excellence, a traditional and rigorous approach to education, and a student body with a generally alternative approach to life.  The campus is attractive and our guide was a tiny young lady from Michigan ready to explode with energy.  Reed is intensely scholarly, intellectual, and individualistic.  My daughter did notice that every student on campus lives in some form of a single and that only 20% spend time abroad, both aspects of life at Reed that left her with the impression that it might be more insular than she would like.  I was impressed with its rigor, thought the people we met were delightful, was taken aback by the small percentage of students who go abroad, and left unconvinced by the admissions representative's response to my questions about the Eurocentric focus of its core humanities course.  (More on that in another entry...someday.)  In philosophy and approach, it's a lot like the University of Chicago, where Son the Camp Counselor goes and is extremely happy, except that Reed is a small liberal arts college in a quiet suburb and Chicago is a big research university in the city.  

Reed College  

The next day:  Lewis & Clark College, also in a Portland suburb.  I wish I had known about this one when I was applying to college; if I could, I would enroll immediately.  The campus, originally an estate built in the earlier part of the 20th century, made me think of a Hansel and Gretel setting -- brick buildings with curving walls, towers and turrets; animal carvings and sculptures everywhere; elaborate gardens and views; contemporary buildings carefully designed to blend in with those that were more traditional without sacrificing a nod to the future.  Our guide was an enthusiastic (aren't they all?) young woman from California who told us that she'd be happy to talk endlessly about her semester in Spain -- more than half the L&C students spend time abroad and everything about the college seems to encouarge a focus outward.  The admissions counselor told us that while the vast majority of students in the U.S. attend college within 500 miles of home, at L&C the statistic is approximately reversed.  

  Lewis & Clark Window  

Our final visit was to Willamette University in Salem, the small (135,000 people) capital of Orgeon.  My daughter felt comfortable there immediately; she liked its location in the city and across the street from the capital and its feel of being part of the larger community.  Again, more than half the students study abroad -- this time our friendly and articulate guide was planning  her semester in Spain.  The interior of the campus is exquisite, with a contemporarty library and clock tower overseeing a green space through which a stream runs.  While most of Willamette's students are from the Pacific Northwest, my daughter didn't see that as an impediment, since that's not where she  is from.  She was also happy to hear that the college can arrange good internships in psychology and anthropology, two fields she thinks sound interesting.  

Willamette Clock Tower  

While we were visiting the smaller colleges, a classmate and friend of hers was visiting the University of Washington.  It will be interesting to listen to the girls compare notes with each other and their other friends as school begins.  I'm hopeful that we will see a sharpening of focus sometime in the next couple of months.

Walked:   3.5 miles.