No problem. It's suuuuuuuuuuuper long and rambling, but here goes!
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OK well, I went to WSU for undergrad, so I can't speak too much about what graduate studies are like there. The graduate population is significantly less than the undergrad pop -- about 2,000 students compared to 16,000 students. But grad students still have a powerful voice on campus, I can promise you that. For example, recently when I was still a student there, there was a student vote for whether fees should be raised a few dollars a semester to increase the number of city buses and bus routes (WSU students use the bus for "free" by showing student ID). In order for the new fee to pass, the majority of undergrads AND grads had to vote "yes." An overwhelming majority of the 16,000 undergrads voted yes, but the majority of the 2,000 grads voted no, so the new bus routes didn't go into effect. I remember undergrads being quite upset over the power the grad students had in this particular instance, when they comprised such a small part of the population, in comparison. But hey, it goes to show WSU cares about making sure the grad students have a say in what goes on around campus, even if there's not too many of them!
So here's some info about the town:
Pullman, WA is a small town in the middle of nowhere. Where are you from? I'm an L.A. native, so it was a completely different world to me. Pullman is in the southeast corner of Washington, right on the Idaho border. The population is probably around 25,000 people or so, most of which are students and practically all of whom depend on the university's presence in the town to survive. So if you stay in Pullman during Spring Break ever, it's like a ghost town. The closest "big" WA city is Spokane, about 80 miles north. Seattle is a 5 hour drive west, and Portland is about the same distance, too. Pullman itself is totally surrounded by rolling wheat fields and hardly any trees and if you've never visited Eastern Washington, forget everything you think you know about WA based on Seattle, because Eastern Washington might as well be a different state. Summers are hot (several 100 degree days in a row isn't unusual in July), but it's not humid and the air is as clean as can possibly be, so the heat is never stifling or sticky. Winters are cold. Probably not by Midwest standards, as the temperatures in the coldest parts of winter usually hover around the 20-degree mark, but it can get to sub-zero temperatures (it was -8 one year when I was there, but that was a fluke). It does snow a fair amount, and the weather is totally unpredictable (so it can rain, hail, snow and be clear and sunny all in one day). It snowed in June this past year! But that's also somewhat a fluke.
OK so all of that probably sounds totally unappealing, right? But the fact is, all of it is actually really charming. WSU and Pullman has one of the fiercest senses of community you'll ever find, and it's a true college town with a ton of passion for the school. Everyone is friendly beyond belief, from the students, to the faculty, to the local residents. With very, very few exceptions, everyone is there because they WANT to be. WSU may not have the brand-name appeal of our cross-state rivals University of Washington, but WSU is a fallback school for hardly anybody who winds up attending. Believe me when I say Cougar pride runs deep! A lot of that has to do with the fact that the school is so secluded. People really become a tight-knit group because of that. And things like Pullman's crazy weather is part of the fun of going to school there, and you'll find that people have a great attitude about it all. The hot summers are an excuse to go to the nearby rivers and go cliff-diving, or camping or anything outdoorsy. The crazy winters are something everyone jokes about and even though people will complain when it's still snowing during Spring Break, you'll also find people hiking to the top of the wheat fields and hills (the town is FULL of hills, and you'll have super toned calves by the time you're done at school -- we call them Cougar Calves and joke that you can tell what year someone is by how defined their calves are) so they can snowboard, sled and ski down them. And the snow isn't nonstop, either. It'll snow for a week, then it will rain or be really sunny and everything will melt away for a week. And repeat. So it's really not unbearable at all (and that snowing in June thing I mentioned really was a fluke...just a few flakes out of nowhere that caught everyone off guard) and is kind of what makes the area so fun.
Also, Pullman is 8 miles from the Idaho border and from the University of Idaho. There are a lot of partnerships between the two schools, and being so close to another major university means that there's twice the amount of things to do. If you need big city shopping, you can go to Spokane (and those 80 miles fly by very, very quickly...it's a straight shot up the highway), or if your needs are serviced more simply, Moscow (next door, where University of Idaho is) was a strip-mall right next to the Washington border that has a Wal-Mart, Old Navy, Macy's, PacSun, Staples, Ross, and some other smaller stores, too. Moscow is also a small town, but it's slightly larger than Pullman and features a great little main street, and there's some surprisingly good coffee shops, restaurants, and wine bars scattered about. Pullman has a younger vibe to it, but both cities feel like an extension of each other, and students will hang out in both. There's a free bus that takes you in between the two, or the drive is only 15 minutes and zooms by as well.
So that's a bit about the area.
WSU's campus itself is really gorgeous. It's all brick and granite and glass, and looks really collegiate but sophisticated and modern. There's one main street that goes through the middle of campus (Stadium Way), and then a few smaller streets here and there but central campus is a pedestrian only and very cool. The Mall is the name of the main walkway, with the football stadium, library, and student union building on one side, and then the history/business/anthropology buildings on the other side. You'll always find people hanging out on the mall, free concerts going on, exhibits or displays, and lots of other random stuff. Really, campus is quite stunning. I'm sure I have tons of pictures if you ever want to see, and I'd be happy to share them with you. The library was one of my favorite spots on campus, and as a grad student, I imagine you'd spend a lot of time studying there! It's several floors built into a hill so the main level is the top level and on the roof is a grassy field that overlooks our football stadium and parts of town. Inside the library, the back walls are all glass windows and face out to a great view of our football stadium and practice fields, and there's cubicles that line the length of the windows for people to study. The library was definitely one of my favorite places to go.
I can't really speak for much beyond the English department, personally (although I know a bit here and there about other departments because I was a campus tour guide and office of admissions representative). I am confident in saying though that WSU piles resources onto its students, no matter the department. It's a school that truly cares about the successes of its students. We also recently got a new university president. At least among us student tour guides, President Elson Floyd really won us over when he joined the administration because you'll find him walking around campus, high-fiving students, sitting among us during basketball games and events, and really truly listening for our feedback. It's kind of a change from our last president who I don't think the students (or faculty) connected with very well.
Oh I should also mention that the cost of living in Pullman is VERY inexpensive and housing is generally easy to find. I lived in a brand new, spacious 1-bedroom apartment for $495 a month. I'm a serious student and I needed a quiet place to study, and it was perfect. There are, of course, the party apartment complexes, but there are lots of great places to live, too. If you do decide to go and what more tips on housing, let me know!
Alright I feel kind of dumb now because I didn't realize how much I typed until I just scrolled up to look. I don't even know if any of this helped you or if I've totally overwhelmed you with too much to read. But hopefully this helps even a little bit, and if you have any more specific questions, please let me know! It was my job to help new students before, and even though I've graduated, I'm still passionate about helping out a fellow Coug (even a prospective one)!
Yes! I applied to Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, NYU, Emory, CUNY, UC Davis, Northwestern, U. of Chicago, U. of Penn (lol i went a little overboard with applications). I'm an international from Egypt, I graduated from the American Uni. in Cairo with a double major in Comp. Lit and Sociology. I also have an MFA from Columbia in Fiction. I hope to focus my research on Middle Eastern & North African Literature. Heard back from Davis and I have a Skype interview with them today (TERRIFIED)!
