I’ve been working for the admissions office for three years. There’s no formula for why a person chooses a school. I recently did a survey for current freshman and found that the overwhelming majority of them cited their visit to campus as a key reason they chose Whitman. The confusion therein is that there are so many factors: their tour guide, overnight host, classes they visit, how nice the receptionist is when they walked in, how the weather was the day they visited…it’s impossible to know. Most of them can’t really pinpoint it themselves but use words like “feeling” and “fit” to describe their visit experience. For the typical liberal arts student, I’d say that it makes sense that “fit” comes to mind more easily than, say, academic or athletic programs. I always tell my tours that there is more than one right college for everyone, and that it’s 50% choosing a college and 50% attitude once you get here. I honestly think the attitude part is more important.

I think the most difficult thing about admissions for prospective students is this: how do you know what you want from a college when you don’t really understand what college is? Your life is turned upside down freshman year, and until you’ve had that experience, how could you possibly know what to look for? Whitman isn’t just school: it’s an experience that has to be lived and breathed, and how can one possibly articulate that to a prospective student? Working for the admissions office, I always try to talk to students one-on-one and be as honest as I can about my individual experience. My statistics and facts are helpful, but my experience day in and day out is much more indicative of what the Whitman experience is really like. I tell students there are three things they should do at every school: read the newspaper, eat the food, and talk to the students. The daily stuff is the stuff you’ll be dealing with for four years, so get a feel for it. Statistics can only take you so far.

– Contributed by Alex Thomas