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Whitman has seen a 25 percent increase in prospective student
visits this year, and more students have applied to Whitman
in each of the past several years.
Students considering a college develop some kind of list
or matrix so they can compare and contrast the college they
are evaluating. We strongly encourage students to do this
and especially to visit for a couple of days and go to classes,
stay a night in a residence hall, talk to advisers and coaches,
interview current students, see how accessible the faculty
is, sample the food, find out about the culture and social
life, and get “the feel” of the place.
Whitman College is plainly not the right school for everyone;
no place is. Whitman is primarily for those who are already
serious about learning and have developed disciplined study
habits. Our admission committee places a lot of emphasis on
excellent writing skills — a factor that often determines
who is or is not admitted. Here are a few of the key factors
I emphasize when talking to high school students and their
parents. I explain Whitman’s strength and challenge them
to compare and contrast us with their other top choices.
- Graduation rates: Whitman’s most recent graduation
rate was over 85 percent (for the class of 2000, which entered
in the fall of 1996). Only five colleges or universities
west of the Mississippi River matched or exceeded that record
— none came close in the Pacific Northwest. The national
average is about 52 percent.
- Faculty quality and accessibility: Whitman has a student-faculty
ratio of about 10.5 to 1 — one of the most enviable
in the nation — and the faculty were recently praised
as the most accessible faculty in the nation by the Princeton
Review Guide to Best Colleges. We’ve added 13 new tenure
track faculty positions in the past few years, all intended
to strengthen the academic program. Faculty ask a lot of
students here; yet they ask a lot of themselves too, and
they create a culture where students can learn and excel.
- Quality of library, labs, and facilities: Whitman
has invested about $80 million in the past decade to upgrade
the library, labs, academic buildings, and residence halls.
The campus is very well wired and keeps its library and
computer labs open 24/7 during the academic year. A new
campus center has just opened, new athletic fields were
recently dedicated, and a new science building will open
next September.
- Average class size: Whitman has an average class size
of about 15 students. Some introductory science courses
have a few dozen students in them, but we work hard to keep
classes small.
- Alumni support and loyalty: 50 percent or more of our
alumni regularly contribute to Whitman’s Annual Fund
drive. The national average is less than 30 percent. Hundreds
of other alumni volunteer as admission recruiters or help
in other alumni activities. Whitman students stay and graduate
in record numbers, and once they have graduated they care
enough to stay involved and support the College. No other
college or university within a thousand-mile radius has
enjoyed such alumni loyalty.
- Well-rounded student body: Whitman has 30 athletic teams
plus impressive intramural athletic programs, 20 musical
groups, a championship debate program, national champion
skiing and snowboarding,
an outstanding outdoor program that sponsors kayaking, rock
climbing, wilderness and camping trips, and much more. Whitman
has an opera-singing baseball pitcher, a basketball star
who performs classical piano concerts, a varsity tennis
player who also competes in intercollegiate debate, and
other uncommonly well-rounded students.
- Location with advantages and charm:
Whitman is, some of us believe,
“centrally” located halfway between Tokyo and
Paris, halfway between Seattle and Boise, halfway between
Portland and Missoula, halfwaybetween the Cascades and the
Rockies, and halfway between Touchet and Kooskooskie (local
communities). Okay . . . we are off the beaten path for
most people; yet this has advantages too. We don’t
have rush hours here, and rarely a rush minute; no smog,
no congestion; and we are very close to good mountain biking
and fishing and skiing in the nearby Blue Mountains. What
happens on campus, not in nearby big cities, is what creates
a great college experience. Whitman students and staff have
created an especially rich campus life with extensive speaker,
film, and music series. Whitman is an amazing community
with a vast array of activity and opportunity on campus.
Walla Walla has dozens of art galleries, restaurants, and
wineries — and its attractive downtown is just three
blocks from the Whitman campus.
- Community: Whitman is a place where collaboration, cooperation,
and study groups, rather than competition, are emphasized.
We encourage, not an atmosphere of winners and losers, but
teamwork and a community where everyone can make progress,
grow, and learn.
- Value and reputation: Whitman is widely regarded as one
of the West’s leading liberal arts and sciences colleges.
It has earned outstanding recognition in its accreditation
and notable praise in books such as Colleges That Change
Lives. Value and reputation matter a lot when students apply
for internships, fellowships, graduate schools, and jobs.
- Campus beauty, trees and acreage: Whitman is blessed
with an almost storybook picturesque campus. With extensive
new ball fields and two wilderness campuses and over 22,000
acres of nearby farmland, Whitman boasts three to four trees
per student and 16 acres per student, a ratio few if any
colleges can match. It is a remarkable campus that serves
the College well.
We especially welcome the help and support we get from scores
of alumni and parents of current and recent Whitman students.
Alumni, parents, and friends: please help us recruit; do nominate
candidates for our prospective student mailing list. You can
reach our admission office with a new toll free number 877-462-9448.
You can reach our Northern California admission officer Tim
Allen, ’00, at 510-407-1153 and our Seattle/Bellevue
area Whitman admission officer, Peter Lewicki, ’00, at
425-646-9205.
President Tom Cronin
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