Lewis & Clark College | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

momo

Class: Alum
Major: Asia/Pacific Studies
Gender: F

High School: Olympic High School
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

Many times I felt kind of isolated on the L&C campus. I guess it depends on the person, but I found it difficult sometimes to get off of campus. The school is located in a beautiful area, but it's kind of far from anything fun. To get downtown you either have to take a car or take the hourly shuttle or city bus. Most people don't have cars, me included, so the bus was my only option to get around. It's not THAT inconvenient but it was impossible to just run to the store or take a short trip when the minimal time you had to spend out was like 2 hours because of the bus schedule, so often I would decide not to go anywhere because of the inconvenience. The shuttle can get pretty crowded at peak times or right before breaks. I thought it was kind of inconsiderate of the administration to not increase shuttle service at break times at least. It happened every year, same as always. My first year I nearly missed my train home for Thanksgiving because there was no room left on the bus and I was left standing on the sidewalk as the bus drove off. It takes some getting used to as I was accustomed to having my own car to get around back home.

Academic Life

L&C has some really great teachers (as well as some really awful ones). I had the most amazing teacher one time who, in a class of over 70, had everyone's name and face memorized by the second class. Once in a while I would take a class that completely changed my world view. The teachers were inspirational and really had an excellent way of presenting their ideas. I don't know how to describe them any better than that, but at the end of the semester (or even each class) I felt like I was a better person. Those few engaging, deep classes are what you'll remember forever. I'm sort of biased and I don't have experience with other college corriculum, but I think that academically, L&C is pretty top notch. I sort of regret going into East Asian Studies as my major. I'm not sure if everyone has this experience, but I got tired of it. Originally I became an EAS major because I already had some of the key classes early on and it seemed fairly simple to complete the major, but the department is interdisciplinary and the staff is divided up between different departments, and each department likes to do things differently. Economics and sociology don't see eye-to-eye. So the department itself felt very divided. So, I would recommend picking a major that has it's own department vs interdisciplinary.

Student Body

For boasting diversity L&C is pretty white. You see a lot of white people, fairly large number of people from Asia or of Asian descent, and then a handful of various others. I don't think I've ever seen any racism on campus though. Majority of the student body is pretty liberal and most people are happy to let people be as they are. Student dress is pretty diverse. I saw everything from suits to pajama bottoms on a regular basis. Standard L&C dress is pretty relaxed, jeans and t-shirts/sweatshirts. It's very "Portland." I'd say L&C students are pretty open to anything. L&C is rated highly in it's non-religiosity. I think that being highly religious (Christian mostly) might affect your experience at LC. You might feel like your views are being challenged in classes sometimes or that your views are at odds with the rest of the student body. I don't know if it would be a bad thing, but you'd definitely have to learn to really examine your belief system and either hold strong or change.