For Bellevue College students who are interested in attending Washington State University, Amanda Sperry, an admissions counselor at the WSU Tri-Cities campus will have a table set up in the C building Friday, April 23. Sperry will be there from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. She will be answering questions about majors, financial aid, scholarships and applying, as well as any other inquiries students might have. Sperry can also be reached online for questions or comments before she visits Bellevue College Friday.
Cassandra Ridley said that the appeal of attending WSU Tri-Cities rather than the main campus is how much smaller the Tri-Cities campus is, both in physical size and attendance. Ridley also said students were a little surprised to know just how many programs and degrees WSU Tri-Cities offers.
The Tri-Cities campus is located in Richland, Wash. It offers 18 bachelor’s, 10 master’s and six doctoral degrees, along with other sub-programs and certificates. Bachelor’s degrees like computer science, nursing, business administration, psychology, and elementary education, are all accepting applications.
With a student to faculty ratio of 15:1, and a total student count of just 1,426, the community is small by university standards. The campus is also veteran-friendly, and about 10 percent of the students are veterans. The location of campus also allows for several internships thanks to the proximity of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as well as several engineering firms.
The newest addition to the Tri-Cities campus is the Wine Science Center, which will be open this fall for students to use in their study of viticulture and oenology, or wine science. The school is also going to start offering a Hospitality Business Management degree this fall. Sperry explained “this degree also offers a Wine Business Management option – the perfect bridge between Wine Science and Business Administration – and WSU is the only university in the nation that offers this program.”
Being situated in Richland, the campus is about three and half hours from both Seattle and Portland, and about four and a half from Boise, Idaho. Three major rivers are near the school grounds, the Columbia, the Yakima and the Snake. Richland also gets about 300 days of sun a year.
Washington State University Tri-Cities has a smaller campus size than any of the other WSU campuses, a variety of degrees to choose from, and a multitude of outdoor activities in the surrounding area. Sperry will be available Friday in the Cafeteria if there are any questions.