Evergreen State College Admission
Evergreen State College Undergraduate Program
Evergreen State College Application

The Facts

Evergreen State College is a completely different college experience. They have no grades, no tests, no required courses, no tenured professors and no large lectures. Sounds crazy no? However, Evergreen offers an incredible out of the box experience for students who are longing to have a truly unique college experience. All degrees are given out in the liberal arts rather than in any specific area, and rather than enrolling in specific classes, students enroll in a program that is team taught by several professors in a broad area such as “imaging the body”. These programs are interdisciplinary and can be anywhere from a quarter to a full year. The school is known for its strength in visual arts (Matt Groening, the creater of The Simpsons is an alumnus) as well as environmental science (the school has its own nature preserve including a beach and wetlands).

Because there are so few applicants and the school is so specialized, pretty much everyone who applies is admitted. Last year, 1,521 students applied and 1,422 were admitted. The school houses about 3,500 undergraduates. The Class of 2004 had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1000 to 1240 and an average ACT cumulative score ranging from 20 to 26, as well as an average high school GPA of 3.15.

The classes are usually well under 25 students, and students and teachers are on a first name and quite personal basis. Instead of the traditional letter grades, students write a self-evaluation and the professors combine that with a very detailed written evaluation. For students who wish to transfer or continue on to graduate school, the school does have a method of converting the evaluations to letter grades.

Evergreen is located just outside the Washington State capital of Olympia on a gorgeous and natural 1000 acre campus that even includes an organic farm.

Student Life

Students at Evergreen are known for their environmental sensitivity, and while most students commute to school, they do so in carpools, on bikes or by public transportation. On weekends students explore the lush natural campus, hang out on the beach, bike or jog. On campus, drinking is not really a popular activity, however, students say that drugs are readily available and quite popular in many student circles, mostly in the form of marijuana. There are no fraternities or sororities, and students generally snub the idea of non-inlcusive organizations. Students also joke that a popular weekend activity is protesting, as most students at the college are extremely politically and socially active.

The guys and girls both tend to be mellow, open-minded earth-children who will accept everyone with open arms....

What’s Good

“We have such a groovy relationship with our teachers. They really help to change our perspectives and ultimately our lives.”

“The surroundings are amazing. As an environmental science major, I couldn’t hope to be anywhere more relevant.”

“Although we are really in the boonies, Seattle is only an hour north, so we can go there to get more of an urban experience.”

What’s Bad

“Sometimes the lack of structure can be really frustrating. You just want a teacher to give you a syllabus or something.”

“Everyone here is a pothead, and pretty spaced-out all the time.”

“There isn’t really anything to do in Olympia. Just a lot of trees really.”

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