Pacific Northwest Tour - University of Puget Sound

On a day when my colleagues and students at Eleanor Roosevelt managed to have, what turned out to be, a false alarm snow day, I was out of the office participating in day one of the Pacific Northwest Five Consortium Tour. We got the chance to see the University of Puget Sound, located near Seattle in Tacoma, Washington.

Gorgeous atrium by UPS alum Dale Chihuly.

UPS is one of the schools added to the more recent edition of Colleges That Change Lives list. These are schools that consider themselves to be places of transformation and where students can bank on lots of personal attention. With stunning views of Puget Sound, Mt. Rainer, and Craftsman style homes in a residential section of Tacoma, this is a lovely school with 2,400 undergraduates. Their identity is rather sporty/outdoorsy (not a huge shock given the geographic location) and there is access to pre-professional majors like Business that are deeply rooted in the liberal arts. There is a core curriculum that is writing heavy and lets students delve deeply into seminars that span from topics like The Third Wave: Rock After The Beatles, to Imagining Blackness, and Exploring Bioethics Today. They are testing optional

My largest takeaways, from a college counseling perspective, have to do mainly with ways that UPS doesn't always follow the herd. For example, they have a practice of not maintaining a significant waitlist. This means they don't string students along or keep a cushion of 'courtesy waitlists' of students the have no intention of later admitted. Instead, their waitlist might contain 20 students, those that they truly might end up reaching out to if a space arises. They also have a relatively tiny international population (though they admittedly are looking to grow it). They have approximately 2% of their students identifying as international, something that I find refreshing at a time when so many schools seek out up to 20% of their class from full pay international students as a way to increase their operating budgets. Also, while they have Early Decision, it is not a huge enrollment stream, so Early Action and Regular Decision students still get a very fair shake.

I was thrilled to be able to have breakfast with Audrey P., ElRo Class of 2016 and current UPS senior. To me, it seems she is thriving. I was most impressed by her senior Capstone project where she is looking at the influence of pregnancy on incarcerated women as it intersects with race/ethnicity. It sounded like a fascinating topic and I'm so glad to see her doing well and representing our school on this campus!

In closing, I want to share how struck I was by the inclusive and welcoming climate for LGBTQ+ staff and students. It seems that the entire community was committed to helping all incoming and continuing students feel welcome and comfortable enough to be themselves. Not to say their work is done or that any campus is perfect, but the conversation appeared to be ongoing and at the forefront of the campus consciousness.

Tomorrow: Whitman College!