[RWebb]

I second LWJ and Garrett's comments. I would avoid a CC. You are simply not going to get the challenge there in the all important 1st year.

I am a former Biology Prof (never at UO tho) and have a JD from UO. I live in Eugene and hang out in the UO Science and other libraries a lot.

Eugene is an odd mix of urban sophistication and rural, country stuff. It is either big town or small city - the largest city between Portland and SFO. It is a countercultural hub - and that includes several different counter-cultures. It is a running and bicycling mecca, the place where Pre made his marks, and the home of Ken Kesey - who among other things brought muscularity and sports (wrestler and later a wrestling coach) to the 1960s counterculture. That sort of odd, but accomodating, mix typifies Eugene.

UO is the liberal arts univ. for the rel. small state of Oregon. The engineering programs are at OSU (not a high quality school rel. to virtually anything else in the PAC10 - have an MS from OSU). The sciences at UO thus lack that engineering bolster they might otherwise have. You need to find out what fields are of interest and look at it from that perspective. Eco/Green approaches permeate everything at the campus, including some very innovative designs for teaching labs in the Chemistry Dept.

UO used to be called UC at Eugene but most Cal. students vanished when tuitions became more equalized. The quality of the student body is medium. The faculty are much better than one might expect. UO may be involved in selling its soul to Phil Knight and Nike to advance its major sports. But, track is BACK - and I consider that good.

pm me if you want to chat about anything