Western Washington University

Date: Aug 28 2006
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
Western is a great place for "regular" high school students from the state to attend - good mix of everything, nothing is overwhelming or particularly intimidating. Beautiful location by the water, lots of opportunities for outdoorsy stuff (hiking, kayaking, jogging, biking, etc). Seattle and Vancouver equidistant from Bellingham (about 90 miles). Many opportunities to get involved on campus through clubs and extracurricular activities, and the school is small enough where you'll be able to actually meet people and network effectively. My only negative feelings toward Western is that I don't feel the school makes higher level student achievement (admission into top graduate schools, study abroad programs, national fellowships, prestigeous internships) particularly attainable - you have to be VERY self-motivated and seek out all the resources possible to make things happen for yourself(for example, I am looking into applying for Fulbright and Truman fellowships, and there are currently no program advisors at Western). On the other hand, there are many local and campus opportunities for internships and volunteer work, and Western offers many diversity, departmental, and merit scholarships.