Western Washington University Top Questions

Science classes at Western are well staffed and fill up within the first few days of registration. There is a chemistry minor available from the college, but due to the registration system in the chemistry department the minors are not allowed to register during the first seven days of registration. Because science classes fill up right away unfortunately chemistry minors cannot get into the senior level chemistry classes. However, an english minor is obtainable and a wonderful back-up plan.

I am most frustrated with some of the programs, and their processes. The prerequisite classes are very difficult and a lot of students do not pass these classes even though the equivalent classes at other universities are not as difficult. It is hard to see my friends struggle, and possibly not pursue their passions because the university tries to dissuade people from going into programs that do not have enough room for all of the people who want to get into it.

The dining hall food sucks. It does not have very good variety and the quality is not great either. A lot of food is undercooked (like noodles) and very bland.

The most frustrating thing about my school is that the cafeteria hours are limited on the weekends. This is hard on students who live on campus year round.

The most frustrating thing about Western is that it is so far away from my family. That is not the University's fault, but it is a negative aspect of my switch to their campus. Directly related to Western, I do not like how bikes have restrictions on riding times and trail areas. It is a silly notion, but I love physical activity. I wish students could conveniently ride their bikes through campus without any danger hazzard. These two concerns are very minor- a major reflection on the awesomeness of Western Washington University!

Many students had a difficult time graduating on time due to academic advisors and class availability.

While I’m at Western Washington University, I don’t feel an ounce of frustration. The campus is the perfect size so I know I won’t be struggling to get from class to class. People are very open and friendly and everyone is always open to strike up a conversation. Teachers and professors treat you more like friends than as students. Everyone has considered WWU as their home away from home.

That it is located far away from most major big cities in the surrounding area.

N/A

There is not much racial diversity.

Getting into the class you need before it fills up.

I am not willing to move to Bellingham so I commute to WWU two days a week from Camano Island. It is about a one hour drive and uses up more fuel than if I were to live on campus. Why do I choose to live in my home town over the beauty and life-filled Bellingham? Simply because I'm tied down (married).

Nothing really. The fact that i'm pretty busy? That might be a good thing though.

The most frustrating thing about my school is that there are only 10 minutes between all of my classes.

There really isn't anything I am frustrated with about my school. The only frustrations I have encountered are due to my parents and I have differing views on whether I should run track here.

As with most schools, there is a crawling, glacial institutional memory on campus with respect to student initiatives. Many projects neccesitate more than 4 years to accomplish, so most of our local aspirations are ineffable without constant freshman recruiting. Many a project was fallen to the wayside when its student leadership graduates and moves on. My group's ambition to erect renewable energy producing anaerobic digesters on campus to partially power our university is subject to the peseverence of inspiration and influence of the incoming students of Western Washington University.

We had to get rid of our footbal team because the school culd not afford to have it anymore.

It is very hard to graduate with your degree in 4 years. Many classes have prerequisets that cause you to take more than 4 years of class.

The most frustrating thing about my school is how pushy people are with their opinions. If you don't agree with them they villanize you and try to push their ideas onto you.

As a double-major I encountered many problems with the Registrar accomodating my amount of credits per quarter and every quarter I had to battle them explaining my situation. The other frustrating aspect is the political situations in some departments, however this is something prevalent in every college and in every job-so it was a learning experience.

That it's on a quarter system. On one hand, it lets me study three diffrerent sets of classes every year, but on the other hand it makes summer break different for us than most other college students.

Adjusting to the new city, and trying to fit in with the rest of the crowd becuase the majority in Western are white caucasion students. Also, adjusting to the school itself and trying to find stuff to do. It was definitely hard my first 2 quarters, but after getting involved more in clubs and organizations I felt much better becuase I met new people that were of color and other great people that made me feel at home.

The college where I earned my bachelor?s was a satellite campus, so services were sometimes scarce. My new college I will be attending starting in early 2010 is all online. This causes extra time locating information on the various pages within the college site. Sometimes what may be intuitive to the designers of the site may not be as intuitive to students new to their system. While the information is usually somewhere on the site, it certainly would be quicker if not having to play phone tag or wait for email responses for unfound information.

There are only two groups, the people who party all the time and get high and the ultra-conservative people who will have nothing to do with it. There needs to be a happy medium and the town is really small.

the most frustrating thing about Western is the zero tolerance on late work and make up assignments.

People are all doing thier own thing, there isn't much school spirit or connection.

I'm a transfer and it's hard to make friends living off campus.

Registration can be a frustrating thing about school, especially if you are choosing a popular major. This is generally a problem for Freshmen after their fall quarter and Sophomores, but there are ways around having registration problems. Talk to an academic advisor in the advising center, or find some GURs that you have to take and have a back-up schedule prepared in case you don't get into the classes you want. If you need a specific class, e-mail the professor as soon as possible and ask nicely for an override code, but don't expect anything.

The most frustrating part about Western Washington University is the overpopulation of the students. The University cannot accomodate effectively with the number of students that currently have. Finding a place to sit and enjoy lunch on a rainy day is almost impossible in the dining halls and the market places. The buses and shuttles are full and many students are late to class because the shuttle passed them too full to pick up any more passengers. Students this year had to live in a hotel for the first couple months of school because there was no more room!

The internet connection can be a little unstable at times.

there are two things that I have a little difficuty with my school. First, I am finding it hard to get any financial aid, and since I am paying for college myself it's hard to cover all the costs. Another thing is that since Western is so towards diversity (and don't get me wrong I think diversity is GREAT and I like hanging out with people with different nationalities) but sometimes it's to the point I feel strange because I'm white.

The thing that frustrates me the most at my school is the parking situation. It's terribly limited and expensive if you want to park their. I now live close to campus so that I can ride my bike to class. I guess I can't really complain though, becuase I would prefer less parking to less trees and attractive landscapes. Bellingham also has a pretty good transit system, which, on top of being an alternative to expensive parking, is also beneficial to the environment in many ways.

It is incredibly liberal which sometimes work to its detriment because if you have a conservative opinion, it is sometimes viewed as being a negative thing.

The most frustrating thing is that I feel the number of liberals far outweighs the number of conservatives. And though there are conservative groups on campus to work, socialize, or bond with, you can often feel alone in class when defending your position (as a conservative) on current issues. But even with that in mind, I feel that anyone on campus, student, staff, or faculty would do whatever they could to help you regardless of your politcal and/or religious views.

the financial aid is terrible, and the on campus food kinda has gone down hill. Many times, the administrative offices tend to be very difficult to access and unless you know specifically what to ask for you are generally led down a path that takes twice as long and is very unproductive. also, the offices aren't very explicite about what they offer to students. So many resources go untapped.

It costs A LOT of money to go there.

The fact that it was built on a peat bog, requiring the walkways to be paved with bricks, and that it is sinking at an unequal rate around different areas of the campus, causing myself and others to trip, stumble, fal, or injure their ankle/foot.