The Evergreen State College Top Questions

No grades, ability to study ANYTHING you desire through independant learning contracts which are easily available.

It's a peaceful community of students. There is a real community between students & faculty/admin. EVERYONE cares for the WHOLE person & are willing to be genuinely humble & helpful. This has provided a safe place to learn without all the unnecessary stress usually between over-demanding, unflexible faculty who work against students at other colleges. Evergeen set the tone & so its students follwed & feel good about what they are learning. And the faculty, although reasonably demanding, are flexible when flexibility is called-for. This has built trust between faculty & administration, & the students in attendance. The faculty & admin. operate transparently.

Evergreen promotes hands on learning, such as the research program I am a part of. It allows for real world experience as a student. This helps to prep students for higher learning and evaluate potential careers.

I'd like to see Alfred Hamilton's Farm Billboard (now Mike's) on I-5 read the following: SAVE THE QUADRIVIUM We created a cult called "Greener." Mariolotry catholicized it and now it's got a creed of its own. RESUSCITATE HOUSE BILL No. 596

At other schools I used to say: " If I don't do this assignment, I'll get a B for te class; OK, I'll take the B." But at Evergreen, you have to work really hard because you are "graded" on effort and improvement. You are also often evaluated on attendance and participation. Some people say you need to be self-motivated at Evergreen, but I found I had to be much less self-motivated than at schools where I could skip class with impunity.

NO grades, outgoing, liberal, enviornmentally aware, relaxed,

I didn't even consider other schools once I read up on Evergreen. It's more like a grad-school than the average college. The interdisciplinary studies are what won me over from the start. You learn how to fit things to-gether and it's so amazing! We have evaluations instead of impersonal letter grades, which can make it complicated for transfers, but I feel they are a lot more meaningful and give students a chance to explain how they personally improved and where they could have done better. We're never graded on a curve.

The fact that there are no grades, merit is determined by your level or growth and work with course work and the ability to communicate well with professors and peers. There are narrative evaluations of students that describe progress throughout the quarter.

The people are very friendly. The environment allows people to really grow.

Evergreen is an alternative learning community where grades are based on evaluations not letters. So you get a lot out of your teachers and the overall feedback is very constructive.