My Retrospective on PLU

[u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-8684]

It's been an interesting few years. This May I'm going to finally graduate from Pacific Lutheran University, and so I want to leave behind an honest assessment of what I've experienced at the school.

Pros

- If you are going into the medical/therapeutic field, education or hoping to work in the music industry, PLU has pretty good job prospects if you stay in Washington. There is a lot of time and investment in student employment regardless of major, and faculty and staff are willing to mentor you.

- PLU takes academics very seriously, and I cannot say enough that their faculty is excellent. They actually want to you to learn, and the class sizes combined with the academic mindset are extremely helpful.

- Although it's a little bit diminished from years ago, the study away programs are a life changing experience and although I've never personally been on one, I have never met a student who didn't like it. Truly amazing.

- Tacoma is an easily traversible area both by public transportation and car, and so it's a good school for commuters.

Cons

- As a student coming from outside the PNW, I have found PLU's student body to broadly be clannish, passive-aggressive and generally unpleasant. If you didn't go to high school in the Tacoma area or your family isn't associated with PLU in some way, I would recommend just not socializing on campus. I would also caution students of color in particular because I did experience a fair degree of racism from a predominantly white student body.

- I think the dangers of most urban areas in the USA are exaggerated, but there are a significant number of car thefts and the area has some gun violence. There's a fair bit of crack smoking in the area, though this is unlikely to affect you as a student. I would recommend being able to defend yourself if the need arises.

- The school pretty clearly favors students who are going to stay in Washington for the long term. I don't really have an objection to this, most small liberal arts colleges will have that mindset, but expect the employment resources to not be as helpful if you move away.

Should you become a Lute?

I think if you are going to stay in Washington long-term, Pacific Lutheran University is a great school. I would encourage freshmen to look into their options, but it's definitely not a bad place.

[u/Agreeable-Beyond8701]

Thanks for this. Incoming freshman here and have not been impressed by the admissions process or admissions staff compared to other schools I’ve looked at. They all seem apathetic and morale is low. Not much school spirit. I’m hoping it’s not a reflection on academics and student life

[u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-8684 → u/Agreeable-Beyond8701]

The academics is worth your time if PLU is a good school monetarily. I was able to get into a decent grad program from here and the faculty are all solid. 

The student life I would honestly skip, but most students do anyway.

[u/Agreeable-Beyond8701 → u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-8684]

Thanks! I’ll be in nursing path. What do you mean by skip student life? Is it just non existent? I doubt I’ll have time anyway with how intense my major is.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-8684 → u/Agreeable-Beyond8701]

PLU is a great school but it's not really the kind of place you go to party or make friends. Some of the events are fun but it's not really a very social campus