Whitman’s Administration Building
Greetings from Portland, Oregon. I am here with my high school senior visiting three small liberal arts colleges. The first school on our tour was Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. Whitman is a terrific school for the outdoor enthusiast. The students seemed uniformly happy and friendly. The word our tour guide used to describe the atmosphere on campus is “collaborative.” There are activities for everyone on campus, but outdoor activities appear to be the biggest draw. We were there during the four-day fall break, and much of the campus was empty. Our tour guide said that rather than go home, most students were on a variety of outdoor trips. In fact, he said that the ubiquitous Outdoor Program (OP) has trips just about every weekend.
In terms of academics, Whitman has a pretty traditional curriculum with distribution requirements in a variety of disciplines. According to our guide, students are required to write and defend a thesis by the end of senior year. For the outdoorsy and academic student, Whitman just may be perfect. The only two negatives I could find are:
1. Its physical isolation. At four to five hours from both Seattle and Portland, it is difficult to get to. This probably explains why the majority of students are from the West C
oast.
2. There are rumored to be strained relationships between the school and the town.
If you are undaunted by these drawbacks, you may just want to check this school out!
