Hi everyone! I am a student from Colorado looking for colleges in the Pacific Northwest. I love the Pacific Northwest, especially the green trees and rain. I am looking for preferably a small to midsized school for hopefully under 35k. I wouldn’t qualify for financial aid but I am hoping to get merit scholarships. I want a school that is left politically, but I also want there to be a diverse range of thought and I don’t want student who aren’t liberal to feel isolated.
Demographics
US Citizen
State/Location of residency: Colorado
**Intended Major(s) - biology
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
Weighted HS GPA: 4.5
Class Rank: 41
ACT/SAT Scores: 1390 sat but trying to increase
List your HS coursework
Ap classes:
AP human geography
AP government
AP Biology
AP Statistic
AP Psychology
AP Lang
AP Environmental sciences
English: took all 4 years either honors or AP
Math: AP statistics right now, completed Pre Calc
Science: 4 years of science either honors or AP
History and social studies: AP government, college history course, AP Human Geo
Language other than English: currently completing 4 years of Spanish
Awards
Extracurriculars
4H for 10 years, current president of my club
100+ hours of community service
Internship at the zoo for 7 years
National honors society
HOSA
Track and cross country for 4 years
Chemistry club at my school
Schools
I would like suggestions on schools but so far I like these the most:
puget sound
Pacific Lutheran university
I would appreciate if people could tell me what the vibe of these schools are and whether these are good matches?
I definitely want a scholarship, and will likely need one to afford college out of state
I would appreciate if people could tell me what schools I could go to with scholarships, and which match my criteria! Feel free to ask me any more questions to further match me. Thanks so much
Every year they would be able to afford 35k, maybe 40k. I actually have an interview with one of the admission worked at Whitman. I love a lot of things about the school except the location isn’t my favorite. I still have to visit all of these colleges though so I can’t know for sure. I like willamette, I’m just worried it will be so liberal it won’t allow for disagreement. I could be completely wrong about that, that’s just what I have heard. I have heard UPS and PLU are a bit more balanced. I just want everyone to feel welcome on campus.
Take a look at Western Washington U. Merit-based aid might get you below $35,000. Apply EA. For my D23 (lower GPA and higher corresponding ACT score than you), it was an auto-admit with merit offer, which they increased by the end of admissions season. So if you get an offer, there’s a chance it will improve if you wait till April to make your decision. My D ended up going somewhere else, but a lot of kids from our Denver-area HS go to Western Washington and love it (a lot have also attended Puget Sound).
Another thought – Lewis and Clark. I know they’re generous with merit aid, but I don’t know if it’s generous enough to get costs under $35,000. Worth checking, though. Iknow a few students who’ve been very happy there and could not have attended without a generous merit offer.
So I think it’s going to be potentially tough with the privates. You just need too much but it is possible I suppose. So try. U of Portland is a Catholic school but some have said they will get there ($30K-ish). Whitman offers a pre-read so they’ll tell you what your cost will be - so worth looking there too.
I can’t answer your vibe question and I’m not sure your SAT going up will matter at those two.
I did run the NPC for Puget Sound (you can for PLU) - you’d get $33K. Direct fees at UPS - meaning only tuition room and board are about $83K (this year) - so you’d be about $50K-ish.
You should look at WUE though - that’s going to be your assured bet…in case the others don’t work.
Best of luck!!
In Oregon and Washington, the following will hit under $35K and offer biology on WUE. I just used the west side so left out schools like WASU.
Oregon
Southern Oregon
Oregon State (large so you likely don’t want)
W Oregon
Portland State - big school
Washington
Western Wash U - very popular- not overly large
Evergreen State
Do not forget to check if any of your desired schools fall under the WUE schools. Greatly reduced tuition on some potential OOS schools for Colorado residents.
I agree that you might want to take a look at the WICHE/WUE schools. I will admit that I am more familiar with the graduate/professional part of WICHE, but it might be worth your looking at the undergraduate part of it.
I think that you will find that most colleges and universities have a leftward slant. I understand there are a few exceptions, but not that many.
What are you likely to want to do with a bachelor’s degree in biology?
Check out Linfield, I know they give merit aid. Nearby is also George Fox, religious, but you might jive with the Quakers (though I think their particular denomination is one of the more conservative ones). If they weren’t near Spokane, I’d also say Gonzaga and WSU, but I think you may not like the Eastern WA region. WhitWORTH is also there but is the wrong kind of religious for you. WhitMAN is great, but you should visit the region to see if it appeals to you.
You could run the NPCs of the various privates - Lewis & Clark, Wilammette, Linfield, etc, etc. and compare the offer (don’t count the loan) - just the merit aid vs. cost of attendance. I’m guessing most NPCs for these schools will have merit estimators because they are very hungry for students.
I think linfield would fit, although I have heard students are preppy there which isn’t rly my thing. I think George fox is too conservative and Christian for me. I’m definitely going to look at Gonzaga and Whitman but honestly if it looks just like Colorado I’m not sure I’ll love it.
I definitely like the left slant, especially if that means everyone feels included and safe. I just want that to include students who disagree, unless they are being racist or homophobic.
I have several friends that attended Linfield a while back and it wasn’t overly preppy at the time, but things may have changed since then. The eastern WA region is indeed pretty different geographically and politically from the areas closer to the coast (though most college campuses lean liberal everywhere). You may find it more similar to Colorado than you’d like.
And I do think PLU and UPS are good fits for you if you can make the money work.
Of all the campuses mentioned here that I’ve seen (most of them), Lewis & Clark is probably closest aesthetically to the “vibes” you’re after. They are all lovely campuses, however. It’s a pretty part of the country.
I haven’t visited WWU, but the photos I’ve seen are beautiful.
Honestly, I think PLU, UPS, Linfield, Willamette campuses are quite similar. The same goes for the campuses further from the coast. Definitely nice and pretty, but not as dramatic as Lewis & Clark or (from what I can tell) WWU.