Hi everyone! I hope y'all had awesome weeks/weekends! My week was a pretty busy one with school, and I have another busy one coming up: I have a paper draft due Wednesday and a Physics midterm coming up as well, and I'm also applying for a research grant! I'm definitely starting to feel the end-of-semester pressure creeping up a bit, and I'm trying to remember to set aside time for self-care.
Yesterday my friends and I drove out to our last football game of the season in McMinnville. It was a pretty drive, even though the weather was gloomy. Then we headed back into Portland and got some amazing Thai food at Thai Square, in Sellwood. Sellwood is a very fun area of SE Portland, and the Pio (our free student shuttle bus) just started a stop there on the weekends!
For this week's post, I want to talk about why and how I chose LC. My process of choosing was a little unique because I never visited the campus before committing! Due to busy schedules and some delays in my applications, I ended up submitting my deposit before I ever saw LC in person.
But even with that, the choice was a pretty easy one. I knew that I wanted a liberal arts school in Oregon, and I preferred one closer to the Portland area. I wanted to remain in Oregon to stay close to my family, especially my mom, who has some health issues. I don't drive currently, and having access to easy public transportation was important to me. I also spent a decent amount of time in the Portland area growing up. I felt familiar and comfortable with the area already, but also felt that it was unfamiliar enough to me that exploring it would still be a bit of an adventure! I also got an excellent financial aid package from LC. As a student from a lower-income background, the amount of financial aid I would receive was a big deciding factor in where I would attend.
On top of that, the photos of LC I saw were beautiful, and I loved its location, near downtown Portland but not *in* it, and right next to a gorgeous, wooded state park (Tryon Creek). I grew up doing a lot of outdoorsy activities, and LC seemed like the perfect compromise that would allow me to explore outside of a small-town environment while also being close to natural spaces.
I chose liberal arts because I was very drawn to the small size, the opportunity to build close relationships with my professors and peers, and the chance to take a broad range of gen ed classes as well as focus on my major. As an English major, small class sizes were especially important to me. I went to a very small high school, and the class discussions in my English courses were what really made me want to pursue the subject.
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| An ~aesthetic~ photo I snapped during my first visit to campus. |
I was definitely feeling a little nervous when I visited campus for the first time- I was going to be seeing the place I would be spending most of the next four years in person for the first time! However, the sense of belonging I felt was almost instant. I visited on a beautiful, sunny April day when campus was in full bloom. My tour leader was so friendly, and so were all the other students we ran into. I was able to sit in on a 300-level English class, which gave me a better idea of what to expect from a college class. I felt instantly welcomed by both the professor and the other students. I also remembered really loving seeing everyone's creative outfits! LC students are definitely very into showing off their unique styles. Overall, the campus just had such an inviting vibe. I really felt it was a place where I could belong and went home that day knowing I had made the right choice.
Campus visit opportunities look a bit different right now due to COVID, but in-person tours have resumed. I highly recommend visiting LC if you're at all considering attending here. It's truly an enchanting place with a great, inviting vibe that has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. You might just fall in love with it like I did :)
Here's a little bonus photo of my friends and me at the football game before I sign off:
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| That's me in the middle! |
I'll talk to y'all next week!
xo
Ashleen