reputation

• "True innovation is a joy to behold. The Evergreen State College has boldly departed from the stale standard operating practices that have come to shape academic programs at most institutions of higher learning."
  — Colleges of Distinction, 2009
• "A public, ultra-progressive liberal arts school" offering what most cannot, "private college amenities and class sizes at a public university price." Evergreen students "have distinguished themselves in a wide range of areas, including academics, community service, art, journalism and science.."
  — The Princeton Review

National Acclaim

Evergreen has a national reputation for excellence in teaching and learning. The college consistently receives accolades as a leader in developing programs for first-year students and for its innovative learning communities and service-learning programs (US News & World Report).

In Colleges That Change Lives, former New York Times education editor Loren Pope wrote "… [Evergreen] is more than unusual, it is unique, because values are as important as learning and public service is strongly encouraged."

Colleges of Distinction noted that the end result of an Evergreen education “is a far more coherent collegiate experience that allows students to understand and appreciate how they have changed and what they have achieved.”

Alumni Success

• Evergreen has the shortest time to graduation among Washington’s public 4-year colleges/universities. Freshmen graduate with a bachelor’s degree in 4.04 years.
• One year after graduation, an average of 84 percent of alumni are employed and 21 percent are in graduate school.
• Nearly half of our alumni eventually go on to graduate school and 85 percent get into their first or second choice of schools.
• The ability of Evergreen graduates to work in teams, communicate effectively, think critically and creatively and address real-world issues leads to success in graduate school and the job market.
• Narrative evaluations give alumni a leg up on the competition for jobs and graduate school. Over the course of their studies, Evergreen students accumulate a detailed account of their work and progress in their narrative evaluations. These evaluations provide a strong foundation for faculty recommendations and a useful and informative resource for job and graduate school applications.
• A quick look at the alumni directory shows more than 1,000 alumni each in arts and media, business, computer science, counseling and social work, environmental professions, health and medicine and science. Another 3,000 are in education.
• Twelve percent of alumni report that they started a business or were self-employed within one year of graduation. Check out our growing directory of Alumni Entrepreneurs.

A Sustainable Community

Sustainability is woven into the fabric of Evergreen’s identity and history. The Organic Farm, Farm to Fork menus offered by Dining Services, compostable dining ware and use of 100% recycled paper in our offices are just a few of the ways we demonstrate our individual and collective responsibility to the environment. And our Seminar II Building, a LEED Gold facility, is a working laboratory and model for sustainable design.

Evergreen has been named one of the nation’s top "green" colleges by Sierra Magazine, Grist.com, The Princeton Review and others.