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I chose this school primarily because of the location in downtown Seattle. I am not interested in the "traditional college experience," and will take advantage of the city for journalism opportunities and take advantage of its amenities for recreation. So to be honest, I did not put a thorough amount of thought in to the aspects you mentioned and really could care less about a liberal arts cirriculum and more interested in challenging myself intellectually through cultural opportunities in the city.
Yep, it just kind of sounds like your criteria in selecting a school was a bit flawed for your particular tastes, and in selecting your school primarily on its location, you neglected to consider that the overall atmosphere could be a dealbreaker for you. It doesn't really sound, from what you say, like it's an atmosphere you're going to get a lot out of or enjoy very much. You may find that the fit just isn't good. There is more than one school in Seattle; you may find that another suits your preferences better. I will say that choosing a school without giving any attention to curriculum is not the best plan, as far as determining a worthwhile fit.
Basically, what you're doing is being frustrated that the college you chose is not changing the way it operates to suit you, rather than having examined this going in, and chosen a place that's a better match for your personal priorities and tastes.
hmmm, this particular college may not be the right fit for you. I would give it a shot for a semester, but if you read this story, some of these colleges may be more in line with the type of experience and collegians you are looking for.
Thanks for the link, but I am romantically attracted to seattle so it may be difficult for me to leave, regardless of the cultural ambience of the school.
Yep, it just kind of sounds like your criteria in selecting a school was a bit flawed for your particular tastes, and in selecting your school primarily on its location, you neglected to consider that the overall atmosphere could be a dealbreaker for you. It doesn't really sound, from what you say, like it's an atmosphere you're going to get a lot out of or enjoy very much. You may find that the fit just isn't good. There is more than one school in Seattle; you may find that another suits your preferences better. I will say that choosing a school without giving any attention to curriculum is not the best plan, as far as determining a worthwhile fit.
Basically, what you're doing is being frustrated that the college you chose is not changing the way it operates to suit you, rather than having examined this going in, and chosen a place that's a better match for your personal priorities and tastes.
It is difficult to specifically assess if the social ambience will suit your preferences until experiencing it for a little while. I would also like to think that I didn't choose the school solely for hedonistic reasons but rather because I want to grow intellectually while living in the city. There are two other main schools in Seattle, UW and Seattle Pacific University. I have been to both campuses and UW has a dominant frat scene while SPU has too strong of a religious vibe for my taste. I took the fact that my school has no greek life into consideration under the assumption that there wouldn't be as much superficial community jargon. As I said, it's difficult to assess the environment until you experience for a while. Maybe the orientation did not serve as an accurate portrayal of the social life... I'm hoping so anyway.
I doubt that you chose a school that accepts 75% of all applicants, unless you were a poor student in highschool. I'm sure you took care to select a good school. Why would you have chosen an "easy" school? If I were you, I'd be spending my first days and weeks at college looking forward to all the new experiences and to course registration, instead of focussing on the negative.
Judgy much?
As someone else already explained, acceptance rate is merely a supply and demand statistic - it should not be used to assess the quality of a school's student body. For that, you need to look at the incoming SAT/ACT scores and GPA. CSU Long Beach, for example, has a 33% acceptance rate (since they receive a LOT of applicants), but the SAT/ACT scores are relatively low. On the other hand, a smaller specialty school such as Missouri S&T has an acceptance rate of 90% with much higher SAT/ACT scores.
Regardless of all of that, there's a lot more to college than just getting in for crying out loud. If you select a school based purely on the difficulty level of getting in, you're missing out on a lot of great schools...
Last edited by ryanst530; 07-11-2013 at 05:42 PM..
As someone else already explained, acceptance rate is merely a supply and demand statistic - it should not be used to assess the quality of a school's student body. For that, you need to look at the incoming SAT/ACT scores and GPA. CSU Long Beach, for example, has a 33% acceptance rate (since they receive a LOT of applicants), but the SAT/ACT scores are relatively low. On the other hand, a smaller specialty school such as Missouri S&T has an acceptance rate of 90% with much higher SAT/ACT scores.
Regardless of all of that, there's a lot more to college than just getting in for crying out loud. If you select a school based purely on the difficulty level of getting in, you're missing out on a lot of great schools...
It really is just a pretty well educated guess. Your points about acceptance rate are valid but you'd be hard pressed to find a quality school that accepts 75% of applicants. The poster already said he didn't put much care in academics so I don't really think he's going to take much offense.
The difficulty of getting into a school is a key factor. The end game for most is a job and companies like to recruit where the smart kids go.
Thanks for the link, but I am romantically attracted to seattle so it may be difficult for me to leave, regardless of the cultural ambience of the school.
There are 3 universities in Seattle, and several colleges. Finding a better fit for yourself wouldn't necessarily entail leaving Seattle. Surely you're aware of that....?
btw, how do you plan to challenge yourself intellectually through the city's cultural opportunities, as you mentioned earlier? What does that mean? The liberal arts curriculum that you'll be required to follow should provide plenty of intellectual stimulation and challenge.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 07-13-2013 at 08:11 AM..
It is difficult to specifically assess if the social ambience will suit your preferences until experiencing it for a little while. I would also like to think that I didn't choose the school solely for hedonistic reasons but rather because I want to grow intellectually while living in the city. There are two other main schools in Seattle, UW and Seattle Pacific University. I have been to both campuses and UW has a dominant frat scene while SPU has too strong of a religious vibe for my taste. I took the fact that my school has no greek life into consideration under the assumption that there wouldn't be as much superficial community jargon. As I said, it's difficult to assess the environment until you experience for a while. Maybe the orientation did not serve as an accurate portrayal of the social life... I'm hoping so anyway.
No, the UW doesn't have a "dominant" frat scene. The vast majority of students are oblivious to the Greek system on campus. There are fewer frats on campus now than there ever were, because several have been banned, due to violent crimes resulting from excessive partying. If your school doesn't work out, you might reconsider the UW. There is no "superficial community jargon". You're really projecting a lot of fantasy onto situations.
I wanted to bring this subject up because I was somewhat shocked by the dynamics of the incoming freshman orientation seminar I attended recently. In a nutshell, I felt like the same generic statements were repeated over and over again and it seemed like they assumed freshman were extremely incompetent. The "effective study habits" schpeel was delivered so frequently that I thought I was back in high school. I would assume that as young adults it should be expected that a fundamental grasp would already be in place and ideally extensive tutorials on this subject shouldn't be needed. A certain amount of assistance is appropriate but I truly felt as if they assumed the worst from the freshman. I think subconsciously this causes people to feel inadequate although this effect is not intended.
Furthermore, the efforts to get the students "engaged" with each other reminded me of something out of an elementary psychology handbook. Games that were similar in style to telephone/duck duck goose etc (except more awkward and intimate) were imposed on everyone for no apparent reason besides a weak effort to integrate students socially. It should be taken account that these infantile social rituals are not for everyone and thus creates a somewhat uncomfortable environment. I think young men and women should be treated like young men and women and not late adolescents that still need their hand held when entering a new environment.
Lastly, being so sentimental about the liberal arts education/spirituality and community/getting involved/etc, is not necessary and should mostly be negated. I'm personally very efficiency minded and if some of this non essential dialect was taken out my seminar could have been reduced to an afternoon rather than two days.
This is just some food for thought for those of you in charge of coordinating these efforts. In no way do I mean to attack or spread malice, I just think some of these suggestions could be taken into consideration.
It's just a kind of HR department for student life. People actually get degrees in student life and student counseling and so on, then they put on these stupid things that most people don't benefit from at all. It really has little to do with the school, except to suggest it's not very creative. Same old same old. I remember being similarly disgusted by some silly game we had to play at my own college orientation over 30 years ago.
The really sad part is that sometimes you get a job when you're much older and then they do the same thing to you as an employee. As a newly minted PhD I remember feeling just sick over being made to play a balloon bouncing game with my colleagues and supervisor at a "professional" development workshop. What we need is to find the morons out there who are teaching these HR people to do this stuff and lock them up in some deep, dark hole where they can't embarrass anyone ever again.
It's just a kind of HR department for student life. People actually get degrees in student life and student counseling and so on, then they put on these stupid things that most people don't benefit from at all. It really has little to do with the school, except to suggest it's not very creative. Same old same old. I remember being similarly disgusted by some silly game we had to play at my own college orientation over 30 years ago.
The really sad part is that sometimes you get a job when you're much older and then they do the same thing to you as an employee. As a newly minted PhD I remember feeling just sick over being made to play a balloon bouncing game with my colleagues and supervisor at a "professional" development workshop. What we need is to find the morons out there who are teaching these HR people to do this stuff and lock them up in some deep, dark hole where they can't embarrass anyone ever again.
Perhaps the department was trying to get some people out of their intellectual stuff and into something absurd for a change.
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