Westminster College
About Me
Intro
Not to brag, but I'm the kind of school that you'd want to parade in front of your ex. You may have heard of me…I'm something of a winter sports star. I'm in Salt Lake Valley, after all—nestled right up against the Wasatch Mountains. Around the corner, you'll find seven world-class skiing resorts. Hate snow sports? No biggie. When the snow melts, you can hike or climb in Southern Utah's desert canyons (which are stunningly beautiful I might add).
But there's way more to me than my stellar ski butt and amazing rock-climbing biceps. There are brains behind this brawn.
U.S. News & World Report ranks me as one of the top Master's colleges around, and I'm especially known for my business and education programs. Not to mention my class sizes cap at nineteen. Weird number, I know, but consider what that means to you. Your professors might actually learn your name.
Scary, right? Nah, it just means they care more and they'll have a lot more energy to devote just to you. And I'm all about that.
Name
The Griffins
Hometown
I'm in Salt Lake City. If you've heard of the Sundance Film Festival, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Ballet West, the Winter Olympics in 2002 or 2014, or Ty Burell, you probably already know/love/wanna be around me.
Birthdate
1875
Body Type
Petite, but fierce. I have a little over 2,000 undergraduates, and 800-ish grad students. So you can say I'm pretty small, but so are teacup pigs, and they're amazing.
My small size helps keep my teacher-to-student class ratio at an intimate 1:9, and my campus isn't overcrowded, either. I take up a little more than two blocks on the Salt Lake grid—about thirty-two acres. It's pretty much the best thing ever when you can wake up at 8:20AM for an 8:30AM class that's on the other side of campus.
Current Living Situation
First-year students and sophomores are required to live on campus (unless they're locals). It's a great way to build friendships with your fellow students. Plus, you get to choose what kind of dorm experience you want.
Geared up for the classic college setting? Center-campus dorms are all set up for partying like it's 1999. Showering in flip-flops not your thing? You can always opt for the apartment-style dorms on the south-campus green.
Most upperclassmen choose to move into the surrounding Sugar House neighborhood (or "Sugar-Hood"), a well-established neighborhood with a bit of a hipster vibe.
Speaking of a hipster vibe, the student cafeteria makes a huge effort to use organic, local ingredients, and there are always vegan options if you're not into the whole carnivore thing. Yep, I like keeping my students healthy—the freshman fifteen is pretty much non-existent here.
Relationship Status
I don't really have any close friends or rivals…mostly because Utah state schools don't seem to know how to handle my East coast vibe/West coast attitude.
The only weird relationship I have is with BYU. The missionaries that founded me were in strong opposition to BYU's ideals, but it's all behind us now.
Religion
I started as a school founded by the First Presbyterian Church of Utah as an alternative for students not of the LDS faith. This was a pretty big deal here 140 years ago.
I tried changing my specialty a few times and finally became a liberal arts college in the 1940s as the culture in Salt Lake changed. Eventually, in 1974, I completely cut ties with my Presbyterian affiliation. Now, the only relics of my religious origins are my school's name and my honors building, which used to be the chapel. (My students swear it's haunted.)
Politics
I'm well-known for being liberal. Many Utahns (not Utahans) that aren't from Salt Lake comment on how the campus feels like it's a piece of New Hampshire that got dropped beside the Wasatch front. I've got a feminism club on campus, several environmental activist clubs, and the LGBTQA community is very outspoken and well-supported.
You should apply to me if...
you're someone who wants the whole package: a great education in an amazing city with incredible professional and all kinds of recreational opportunities.
Website
http://www.westminstercollege.edu