Lewis & Clark College

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School Says - General Information
On a stunning campus in one of the most exciting and progressive cities anywhere, the next generation of global thinkers gathers to discard conventional thinking, civic complacency, and outmoded preconceptions. Leaders, visionaries, and problem-solvers, we come together to explore new ways of knowing through classic liberal learning and innovative collaboration. At Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, we welcome all who are alive to inquiry, open to diversity, and eager to shape the new global century. Through our undergraduate programs in the arts, humanities, and sciences, and through our graduate and professional studies in education, counseling, and law, we undertake original research, interdisciplinary studies, and community service. We push beyond what is known in order to discover something new every day. Reflecting the College's national and global reach, approximately 81 percent of Lewis & Clark's 1,900 undergraduate students come from outside Oregon, representing nearly every state and 51 countries.

School Says - Student Body
With over 40 student organizations, there's never a lack of things to do at Lewis & Clark. Cultural events include lectures, symposia, art exhibits, plays, musical events, and dance performances. Athletics play a big role on campus, where 19 varsity teams, eight club teams, and numerous intramural sports keep students physically active. Nature-lovers will enjoy the College Outdoors Program, which offers activities such as hiking, backpacking, rafting, skiing, and kayaking in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. There are also plenty of opportunities for volunteering in and around the Portland area. Lewis & Clark is committed to residential education, to creating a community dedicated to the exploration of ideas, values, beliefs and backgrounds, to the discovery of lifelong friendships; and to collaboration, both formal and informal, with peers, faculty, and staff. There is no Greek system at Lewis & Clark. About 67 percent of undergraduates live on campus in residence halls; most of our residential space is co-ed. Along with personal living space (usually shared by two to four students) are several community venues within the residence halls, including coffee houses, convenience stores, art centers, outdoor basketball courts, recreation and fitness centers, lounges, and game rooms.

School Says - Academics
A liberal arts education at Lewis & Clark connects classical learning with fresh inquiry and exciting research that pushes the frontiers of knowledge. Lewis & Clark considers the following elements essential to a liberal arts education: 1. Mastery of the fundamental techniques of intellectual inquiry: effective writing and speaking, active reading, and critical and imaginative thinking. 2. Exposure to the major assumptions, knowledge, and approaches in the fine arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. 3. Critical understanding of important contemporary and historical issues. 4. Awareness of international and cross-cultural issues and gender relations. 5. Application of theory and knowledge to the search for informed, thoughtful and responsible solutions to important human problems. The curriculum combines structure and freedom. Depth and breadth of subject matter are highly valued, but equally important are creativity and critical thinking. There are many opportunities for students to take their learning to a higher level, such as honors projects within academic departments, independent research, and internships. Two 15-week semesters make up the academic year, and each semester students normally take four 4-semester-hour courses, and one or more activity courses. The average student course load is 16 credits per semester. The requirement for graduation is 128 semester hours - approximately eight classes each year.

School Says - Admissions
Commitment to academic excellence and personal and intellectual growth is imperative for successful Lewis and Clark applicants. Lewis and Clark is very selective, and every part of the application matters: academic records, essays, involvement in activities at school and in the community, leadership, and the strength of recommendations. Students are encouraged to visit our campus. Interviews are available but not required. The best-prepared applicants will have had four years of English, four years of history or social science, three or four years of mathematics, three years of laboratory science, two to three years of foreign language, and one year of fine arts. Required credentials include: an essay; an official transcript including senior grades from first semester; a counselor recommendation; and one academic teacher recommendation. Lewis and Clark requires the SAT or ACT, except if the student is applying via the Portfolio Path (see www.lclark.edu for details). Students can apply on-line from the College's web site or via the Common Application (on-line or paper). The $50 application fee is waived for students applying via either on-line option. Keep in mind these deadlines: November 15 for non-binding Early Action (notification, January 15) and February 1 for Regular Decision (notification, April 1).

School Says - Campus Life
Founded in 1867, Lewis & Clark College moved to its present location in PortlandÂ's southwest hills in 1942. The 137- acre campus sits on a wooded hilltop just six miles from Portland's exciting downtown, offering stunning views of snow-covered Mount Hood. Portland is a very livable city with an excellent public transportation system that includes buses, light-rail, and the Portland Street Car. In addition, a free College shuttle runs frequently into the heart of the city and back to campus. The scenic Willamette River bisects Metropolitan Portland, which is home to approximately 2 million people. There are endless things to do in Portland: Park space occupying 10,477 acres of parks, 33 music groups, 35 theater and dance companies, 90 galleries and museums, and more than 1,000 restaurants. The city also offers professional baseball, hockey, lacrosse, and the NBA's Portland Trailblazers basketball team. Just 50 miles east of campus rises Mount Hood and its 10-month-a-year skiing and snow-boarding. The rugged Oregon coastline is just 90 miles to the west. Throughout the state lie innumerable hiking, climbing, and backpacking opportunities.

School Says - Cost Aid
In 2007-08, tuition and fees were $31,840 and room and board were $8,380. Students have several meal plan options. Books and miscellaneous expenses were approximately $1,900.During the 2007-08 academic year approximately 75 percent of Lewis & Clark students received some form of financial assistance. Individual aid packages ranged from $1,000 to $40,554. Institutional, state, and federal resources including grants, loans and work-study may be part of an aid package. Eligibility for need-based funds is based primarily on an analysis of the income and asset information submitted on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the College BoardÂ's CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE. Household size and the number of students in college (excluding parents) are also considered in the analysis. Students must submit the FAFSA and PROFILE by March 1 in order to get priority consideration for financial aid.

Students Say - Academics
If you want to learn to think for yourself (and meet other people doing the same), try the beautiful environs of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, a school that "makes a community of its anti-community and is proud of it." The definitively liberal arts curriculum and "self-directed attitude" toward courses of study cultivate "critical thinking and social awareness," and "even lectures tend to include discussions." The academics here are what you make of them, and the course load "can be incredibly simple or very rigorous or challenging" depending on your choices. The school has been placing "an increasing level of importance on multiculturalism and ethnicity," which is reflected in its "wonderful study-abroad programs," but the administration gets a few complaints from students who "don't think that the administration is totally in sync with what the student body believes or wants." The professors, by and large, "are wonderful." They are passionate in both their teaching and their desire to shape students into independent thinkers, which "really shows in the critical feedback they give and the lengths they go to be accessible to students." Says one familial freshman: "I feel like each one is an aunt or uncle." Availability is not an issue for any aspect of the faculty or staff, as "personal appointments are very easy to get with practically anyone." Facilities also get top marks for their environmental-friendliness and overall degree of pleasantness, as does the number of grants for students looking to do research (often with professors, for those looking to bulk up their grad school resume). Rising tuition costs (without corresponding financial aid) are a main concern at LC.

Students Say - Campus Life
Those looking to get away for a few hours take a school-chartered shuttle to downtown Portland where bookstores, markets, and coffeeshops offer some respite. A lot of upperclassmen move off campus, taking them out of "the LC Bubble," and these apartments are where most parties occur on weekends, for those that are interested (and many here are not). "No frats means no one is exclusive. Every party is usually open to everyone!" says a student. Pot usage is pretty prevalent at Lewis & Clark, which leads to a lot of "evenings [spent high out of your mind while watching YouTube videos."] The school provides plenty of sponsored events such as seminars and lectures, though these are usually attended by the underclassmen, and most people take advantage of their location and participate in trips with College Outdoors, such as "hikes on the Oregon coast, kayaking, snowshoeing, or rafting." Between the school and the environment, activities are plentiful, and with such a friendly and "chill" student body, "one cannot get left behind at this school."

Students Say - Student Body
People here are generous and colorful with their adjectives when describing the gestalt of the student body, ranging from "an eclectic explosion of quirky intelligence, green green green, dreadlocks, vintage stores, hipsters" to "extremely atheist, wannabe hippies, that view knowledge as power!" Perhaps this says it all-it's a diverse group of individuals at LC (at least as far as personalities go, as the ethnic makeup is quite "vanilla"), with very few students not finding a way to fit in (they "either accept that everyone here is different, or transfer"). There's also a large international and gay/lesbian student quotient. One student sums up the LC population: "As the Cheshire Cat said to Alice, 'We're all mad here.'" Everyone here is politically active and "open to new experiences and challenging assumptions, with a strong vein of idealism running throughout." Students "constantly engage in academic discussion and debate outside of the classroom," but this is more for rhetoric's sake, as there is an "absence of unhealthily competitive attitudes" at Lewis & Clark.

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