Willamette University
Reviews

Concerned for Your Saftey - So Be Safe!

The school takes drinking and drugs very seriously, their main concern is the students safety. As long as you drink responsibly you will be fine, if you are being irresponsible you will probably get caught and then go to the punishment bored. Punishments usually are not to bad unless it becomes a reoccurring issue. Once again, their main concern really is your safety.

Just Your Feet

Salem has a good public transportation system. Taxi drivers can give you a ride late at night if you can't drive yourself home, and you charge it on your student card. Since pretty much everything is close by or on campus, you probably won't need anything more than your feet. There are college shuttles to the airport for holidays, so sign up early.

Off Campus Fun

There is a lot going on friday and saturday nights. The majority of the parties are off campus but they are all within walking distances so that is really nice. Mostly the freshman pre game in the dorms and then go out on the town. You can pretty much get into any party that you hear about.

Great Choices

There's a great variety of dorms to pick from. There are large dorms with 100+ residents, small dorms with only 20-30, and on-campus apartment complexes (kitchens available). Singles are easily available if desired. There are coed or separated dorms, substance free dorms, and gender neutral dorms. Men and women are able to dorm together if both consent. If there's a roommate problem, it's not hard to change rooms. All buildings have some kind of kitchen. The bathroom's aren't very new, but they are regularly cleaned. I've lived in a single in Lee House, a 25 person all girls dorm, for 2 years, and have had few complaints.

Fair Amount of Marijuana Users

There are several substance-free dorms and they generally stay that way. Some halls are known for their stoner populations. There are plenty of cases of people being caught with paraphernalia or drugs, and they are usually sentenced to community service. The presence of marijuana is not a pervasive problem, though. People drink, too, but it's not as prevalent on campus as marijuana.

Honest

Willamette gives it's students a rundown of all the Campus Safety reports (whether it be drugs, to suicide scares, to "suspicious" occurrences) in every issue of the student newspaper. The most crime we have is "marijuana paraphernalia" or the smell of pot somewhere on campus. Once or twice something can be stolen, but just be smart about your belongings and campus safety is there for you if you feel unsafe walking home or locked yourself out of your room.

Plenty of Things to Do

There are plenty of things to do for many different groups on the weekend. During the week not so much. Many trips to Portland and clubs to take you somewhere. A couple comics came this year and the university brings people to the campus. Some parties around. Weekends have a great nightlife.

Downtown Food: Within Walking Distance

There are many places that are within a 5-10 minute walk from campus. La Perla is a Mexican restaurant in the Reed Opera House. The restaurant has excellent food for really low prices. Another restaurant, Venti's, has really great wraps. There are also plenty of Thai, Vietnamese, pizza, Chinese, and sushi restaurants around town. They are all great!!

Lots of Variety Some of the Time

The downtown area has plenty of shops and restaurants that are very nice, but most places close fairly early, so there aren't many late-night options for entertainment. That being said, shops are friendly and don't seem to have any problems with students, plus most of the best stuff to do in Salem is within walking distance of campus.

Bistro Is Fun and Student-Run!

The Bistro is the student-run coffee shop and bistro on the Willamette campus. The coffee and food made in-house is a delicious alternative to the usuals at the dining halls. It is also an awesome place to study and see you friends. Every tuesday night, the co-ed a cappella group, Tandem perfoms for a fun, mini-concert!

Overall Good Tech. Support and Computer Access

In my experience, Willamette is a tech savvy campus. One of my favorite parts of electronics here at Willamette is the webprint system, wherein one can print from his laptop to any printer around campus. This proves very useful for students without a printer in their dorm/if in the library without easy access to a personal printer. At the same time, the printing at these webprint stations can get extremely hectic once finals/midterms roll around and people are printing vast amounts of paper.

Typical Pacific Northwest, So Don't Be Surprised

Don't be surprised, it rains and is cloudy for most of the year. However, the summers are never too hot and the winters are never too cold. There is some snow and there are sunny days. If you have a rain jacket and good shoes, you can learn to love Oregon weather.

Low Key and Open to Everyone

Greek Life is a great place to meet new people and everyone in greek life have friends outside of greek life.

Girls!

There are more girls than guys at Willamette and they are the kind of girls that guys want to be around not just because they are attractive but because they have similar interests and because they are smart and funny. They are also for the most part not that bad looking.

Average

The off-campus houses themselves are very spacious and in good condition. The only down side to them is the distance from campus. If you don't have a car walking in Oregon weather is horrible to deal with because of the rain, wind, and cold. Although safe rides is also available if you have the money.

Professors

The professors at Willamette University are awesome! They are always available to help whether that be during office hours, for review sessions, appointments, etc. They are truly invested in your learning and will do anything in their power to help you.

Amazing!

We have 3 dining halls on campus, all of which serve breakfast and lunch, but only one of them serves dinner. Each dining hall has different food options as well, so depending on what you're craving you have lots of options to choose from. Willamette strongly focuses on it's sustainability, which includes it's food production and consumption, so all of the food used for the meals is purchased within an average of 150 miles from campus, and is prepared the same day that the meal is served. Because of this, the food may be a little more expensive, but it is much healthier and fresh than what other colleges may have for less money. The most popular items in Goudy, the main dining hall, are the wraps and sandwiches so I definitely recommend checking those out!

Individually Unique, Together Complete

Even though we are a small campus with a small community, there is still a lot of diversity that is present under our skins and not necessarily just our skin color. We have students from all over the United States, students who were born in other countries, and international students from all over that add to our diversity. Because we have students from so many places that makes our personalities, interests, passions, and beliefs greatly diverse as well. We would not be the Willamette University that I know and love without our diverse student body.

Whatever you want Willamette to...

Whatever you want Willamette to be, it will be. If you want a crazy, party, drunkfest every weekend, you can have it, but your grades will suffer. If you want to graduate magna cum laude with an acceptance letter to Harvard Law, that can happen, too. There are so many opportunities that Willamette will present, and if you make the most of these opportunities you will find your college career very fulfilling.

The Northwest has very defined...

The Northwest has very defined seasons, so you will experience a hot, sunny summer, then a brisk autumn with falling leaves, then a freezing winter—sometimes there’s even snow—and finally it will be spring and the cherry blossoms will be in bloom. It’s only bad if you have pollen allergies.

It’s Oregon—bring a raincoat.

There are a lot of drugs in Salem....

There are a lot of drugs in Salem. Not a day goes by when you don't see some crack head stumbling down the street, yelling incoherently at passing cars. It becomes as normal as seeing the Capitol building every day.

Marijuana use is pretty prevalent...

Marijuana use is pretty prevalent on campus. Meth is prevalent in the Salem community, but not really on campus at all.

Going Greek was the best thing I...

Going Greek was the best thing I could have done. I didn’t really know anyone before I joined a house, and it really helped draw me out of my shell and develop self-confidence. I would recommend it for anyone.

Buying your friends and a...

Buying your friends and a sweatshirt with a big label on it doesn’t sound like a great time to me. Willamette is expensive and busy enough without having to pay to party on top of that.