Isolated and Rigorous...

Introduction
This is a wonderful school for students that can deal with an isolated location. The town is small and has a few restaurants and bars, but for the most part, everything happens on campus. I chose it because the atmosphere reminded me a lot of home, so I immediately felt good when I visited, and I find I have plenty to do, but someone that likes living in a city (or less than 4 hours away from one for that matter) should probably stay away from this school. It is particularly welcoming to liberals, outdoorsy types, artsy types, and any combination of those.

Campus Life and Social Life
Sports, to me, are not as prominent as they are at other schools. We are aware of big games and playoffs, but generally we don't get too worked up over our sports teams. The partying scene, though not huge, is very popular and very accepted in the community. Cops are very lenient; normally if they get called they just tell you to turn the music down, and the campus policy on alcohol is very loose. Academics
The academics are pretty rigorous; I don't know of any easy majors. Strong departments include Science, Politics, and Theatre. All classes are taught by professors; we don't have any TA's, and the workload amounts to anywhere from 1-4 hours of homework for every hour of class.

Student Body
Students kind of come from all around. Most students are from the general region, Seattle and Portland, some from San Francisco and all the surrounding areas. There are also quite a few people from the Midwest and East Coast, and there doesn't seem to be a strong divide between them and the West Coast people. A typical student is liberal, politically conscious, if not active, and fairly accepting of others. Perhaps the biggest criticism I hear on this campus is that we are too nice or too polite and unwilling to stand strong for anything.

In Closing...
I always look forward to coming back to Whitman after a break.