University of Puget Sound 2007 (College Prowler)

If you are looking for a school where you will be valued as an individual, yet part of a greater community, you should look at the University of Puget Sound. It is truly a unique institution that will challenge you, forcing you to grow both academically and personally. Students and faculty enjoy a symbiotic relationship, allowing no assumption to go unquestioned in academic conversation and challenge each other to meet the highest standards of citizens in a global community.

Puget Sound’s location in the north end of Tacoma provides an awesome college environment. The quiet residential neighborhood that surrounds the ivy-covered campus ensures a safe atmosphere for students day and night. On the other hand, downtown Tacoma, just a short walk or bus ride away, offers all of the amenities of a city of 200,000 including restaurants representing cuisines from around the world, a waterfront area with shopping and dining, theaters, and cultural museums. The beautiful Northwest offers great outdoor escapes from academia like nearby Point Defiance and Mount Rainier.

Academically, Puget Sound has several significant attributes that set it apart from other colleges and universities. With a population of over 2,500 students, Puget Sound is a unique size for a liberal arts college, exceeding the national average by 1,000 students. This enables the University to offer additional academic programs and bring more engaging and well-known guest speakers to campus. In fact, UPS offers 1,200 unique courses a year such as Islam and its Contexts (Politics and Government), Tourism and the Global Order (Comparative Sociology) and Mars Exploration (Science in Context). Students at UPS can choose from over 40 majors—a very high number for a school of its size. And for the driven student who wants to combine even more academic disciplines into a degree, a special interdisciplinary major is an option.

I hope this collection of student opinions will be of assistance to you in your college application and decision process. While no book can do justice to the unique community and academic environment found at Puget Sound, hopefully it can paint a clearer picture for you.

Russell Knight, Author
University of Puget Sound