Lewis and Clark College
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: Biology
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: Caucasian Female
Summary
I do rock climbing, and the school provides transportation to the bouldering gym twice a week. I’m also in a club called Pugilism which teaches Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing.
Background
Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
High School Experience: Public high school in the San Francisco Bay Area, with 350 students in the graduating class. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Biology
Minor: None
Extracurricular Activities: I do rock climbing, and the school provides transportation to the bouldering gym twice a week. I’m also in a club called Pugilism which teaches Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
I could talk about Pugilism Club for hours. I didn’t even know what Brazilian jiu-jitsu was before I came here, and I wasn’t expecting it to be terrible influential in my life, but it was. It’s awesome trying new things that keep you active. I really enjoy boxing too, and I wouldn’t have tried either on my own.
Academic Experience
Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
Freshman year I had class three days a week with a lab. The homework was more problem sets. This year I have problem sets but no lab. We usually have two to three midterms and a final. If there’s a lab component, there will be a scientific component. The homework is a fairly small part, and participation is part of the major grade too.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
I think the labs last year in the Biology introduction courses were really cool because we worked with flies and bred them throughout the weeks to find specific mutations. I had never done a lab that worked with live creatures over the whole semester. I also took a lab where we had to walk around the park near the college. It gave me a hands-on experience which I enjoyed.
How accessible are your professors?
At the beginning of the semester, they make their office hours clear. They’re also often available to talk outside of office hours if you make an appointment.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
I’d say it’s very collaborative. Many classes are lecture-based, but they’re also many that are discussion-based. A lot of the Introductory to Biology classes are in a big lecture hall, but my Biology classes this year are smaller. We’re starting to have smaller groups and discuss things. There’s not a big competitive atmosphere. [The average class size is 17.]
Do you feel that people are open to multiple schools of thought in the classroom?
I don’t think anyone has ever been angry about opposing viewpoints. In a lot of my discussion-based classes, people have definitely had different viewpoints, but not at completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
Why did you pick your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I looked through a lot of the Biology classes and they sounded incredibly interesting. I took AP Biology in high school and found some specific areas I was interested in and enjoyed learning about. Beyond the introductory classes, I’ve been able to take an introduction to neuroscience class which was really cool. I’m thinking about doing Neuroscience as my minor, so I’m happy with my choice.
Reasons to Attend
1) I love the location near Portland.
2) I genuinely have enjoyed many of my classes.
3) The people are so cool. There are so many people who have cool hobbies and interests.
Reasons Not to Attend
1) Since it is a smaller campus, we don’t have a whole lot of food options which bothers me on occasion.
Around Campus
Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: Ponderosa Hall with one roommate
Sophomore: Alder Hall with one roommate
How was transitioning from your hometown in the Bay Area to Portland, OR?
It hasn’t been too difficult. There is a little more weather in Portland, especially during the winter. I enjoy that it snows, and personally the rain and overcast skies don’t bother me a whole lot. I know it could bother some people, but there are ways to get around that. I love being in Portland, and we’re not in the middle of downtown which is also nice.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I feel completely safe on campus. The Pugilism Club ends at 10 PM so I’m walking through campus in the dark and I’ve never been afraid. It’s a pretty small campus and there are emergency lights spread out around campus.
Social Opportunities
What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
I like going downtown with my friends. We’ll find something to do in Portland, there’s the farmers market. A lot of times we’ll go to a coffee shop in Portland and do homework. We also like going climbing, and sometimes we drive to fun hikes around where we are. There’s a good number of parties off-campus. Since they don’t have a Greek system, there are sports houses.
How happy are you with the weekend options? Is there anything you would change if you could?
In most cases, Lewis & Clark doesn’t allow freshmen to have cars on campus. There’s a free shuttle that goes downtown every hour, but Portland is a big city so if you don’t have a car it’s hard getting to a variety of places.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
Lewis & Clark has a club called College Outdoors. Throughout the year, it organizes outdoor trips for students. At the beginning of each year, it has new student trips led my college outdoors leaders. I chose to go on the Backpacking the Cascade Mountains trip and met two of my closest friends there. My other closest friends, I ended up living with the past two years. I’ve also made a couple of other close friends in classes.
How would you describe the overall social scene at Lewis & Clark?
I really enjoy it because it’s not very cliquey. There are groups of friends, but there’s lots of overlap and less of a hierarchy. I don’t know if this is due to the more “chill” atmosphere of Portland or if it’s because we don’t have Greek life. The majority of the people are super friendly and super nice.
To what extent do you think people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
Some of the appeal to Lewis & Clark is that it’s in Portland, which is a very accepting city for LGBTQ. There’s lots of diversity of sexuality within friend groups, which is something people tend to feel comfortable sharing, which is cool. Unfortunately, Oregon, Portland, and Lewis & Clark all have a larger White population than the Bay Area does. I wish it were more racially diverse, but the friend groups do mix. [The undergraduate population is 61% White, 5% Asian, 3% Black, and 12% Hispanic.]
How would you describe the student body?
Everyone is fairly laid back and friendly. People are both introverted but outgoing in an interesting way. Everyone gets along very well.
How do you like the size of Lewis & Clark in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How was transitioning to a school with [about 2,100] students?
It’s quite small, which I like because a lot of my classes are all small. For my freshman English classes last year, we were able to have full class discussions easily. On the other hand, that means the campus is also small and you can get cooped up.
Careers
Have you learned any computer programs or computer languages that will be helpful professionally?
For one of my Introduction to Biology classes, we used R which helped us analyze data from a semester-long project we did.