@ClassicRockerDad What do you mean by more focused? Like more depth in a specific subject than breadth? But that’s food for thought, I hadn’t even considered Canadian schools as an option. I researched the undergrad tuitions at University of British Columbia and I think it’s interesting that different majors have different costs.
@SlackerMomMD Thanks for sharing, that definitely helps me put things in perspective. I knew the Claremont colleges were hard to get into but I underestimated just how hard, after reading some of the comments here I don’t know how much it would benefit me to even apply. I looked into the LACs you and a few others mentioned and I think they would be a great fit for me, certainly more attainable. Was there anything in your daughter’s application that set her apart that got her accepted? Just curious, as I put my stats into the Cappex chances calculator and I’m pretty much in the middle. Not sure what would set me apart.
@Corinthian What information would you need to know to determine if I’m a fit for Pitzer? I do care a lot about social justice, although I don’t know how much my resume would show that as of right now. I was hoping that college would be an opportunity for me to get more involved in the community in that way. I realize it’s a reach but if I have a shot at getting in by emphasizing something about myself, I would be willing to give it a try. And I think I may just post my question there, thanks for the suggestion!
A few people mentioned that I should have my parents fill out the financial aid calculators for the colleges that I’m most interested in, so I gave them the information they need and hopefully they will do it within the next few days.
@lonerism - I think these schools are “holistic” in looking at students so they may be more forgiving of an imperfect academic record. Most people dislike that word (I’m also not too fond of it). My daughter created a good overall package of herself between her ECs, both schoolbased and outside, and her CA essay. Her final ACT score put her at the 75th percentile for most schools, offsetting her unweighted GPA. Her high school classes meshed very well with her summer programs. In other words, she came across as an interesting, quirky, bright but maybe slightly underachieving student. But to be honest, we both viewed Willamette as a high match and we never considered Whitman or Reed (both would have been reaches, again due to her GPA) because the estimated cost was just too high. We would have been full-pay and we can’t afford $64,000-$70,000 a year.
I think @intparent meant to write that Reed does NOT give merit aid in post #13. Last I checked (when my D applied a few years ago) the only merit aid they had was $2K/year for NMF. All else is FA based on need.
@lonerism, don’t underestimate how much being way out of region will help you at the schools @slackermomMD mentioned. I would be quite surprised, for instance, to see you rejected by UPS or Willamette and I think your SAT scores give you a solid shot at merit aid at both. L & C and Occidental are more of a coin flip but certainly possible. Whitman, as I said earlier, is more of a reach, but by no means out of the question, though merit money from them would be unlikely with your stats.
My son has very similar stats to yours, some strong ECs, and is comparably out of region, and we’re considering UPS to be a very likely admit and hoping for merit money. It’s very high on his list, actually, and he may well end up there if all goes according to plan. By the way, if you’re curious about the vibe at UPS, it has a crunchy, funky feel, kind of like you’re walking around a food co-op. Lots of outdoorsy kids, casual northwest dress, fairly activist/social-justice oriented student body. These are just generalizations, of course, since there’s a pretty broad range of types represented there. It’s also a lovely campus. My quirky, artsy, outdoorsy son loved it. A parent recently wrote a veritable book about why his daughter chose it over a number of other schools mentioned on this thread, and you might find it an interesting read: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1842987-the-wild-rumpus-ends-puget-sound-wins-p1.html
We also visited Whitman, and, while it wasn’t as great a fit for my son for reasons that don’t apply to you, I think it’s a tremendous school, and Walla Walla is as cute a college town as you could possibly hope for. It is far from other stuff, though, and challenging to get to from the east coast.
I’d echo some of the others who mentioned smaller LACs in the Midwest. Many of these colleges give merit aid to a wide variety of students, and really get to know students on a personal level instead of just quantifying them. Plus as someone else mentioned, they tend to cost less than colleges on either coast. I’m a current student at the College of Wooster and found their Admissions process to be friendly and also helpful with aid. Also being out of the region would probably be a plus.
Corinthian - I have to disagree with you - my daughter was admitted to Pitzer and was told at Admitted Student day (which was one of her favorites, btw) that she would have to take her Ceramics classes at Scripps as they received a large donation to build a whole new ceramics facility there so Pitzer was dropping it and that her Creative Writing would be taken at Pomona since the professor there was for pros while at Pitzer the professor taught poetry. Those were (and still are) her two major areas of interest that Pitzer did not offer. In the end she decided that she did not like taking classes at a variety of schools and chose another college to attend. But I honestly don’t see much difficulty in applying to Pitzer and then taking numerous classes at the other schools; except for maybe Harvey Mudd.
@amtc I was mainly focusing on the last part of your sentence where you say “there is such cross-programming that, other than your diploma and living arrangements, you’ll not even know which school you are attending.” I think each school prides itself on having its own focus and mission, and attracting a slightly different group of students. And while a lot of this is stereotyping, I think each student body has its own opinion about what they’re like and what the other students at the 5C’s are like. (This is part of the whole “CMC mold” discussion that was involved in the protests and resignation of Dean Spellman. The “CMC mold” was a reference to the stereotype of the typical CMC student.)
Also it sounds like your D could easily take Ceramics and Creative Writing at Scripps and Pomona because those classes weren’t offered at Pitzer. The ease of taking classes across the consortium does, I think, depend on many factors including what you want to take, where it’s offered, how popular it is, and what your registration priority is. For example, my Pomona freshman daughter wants to take a Spanish class in the Spring at CMC. She had to submit a “perm” request and is still waiting to hear back. She also wants to take a CMC Government class as her 5th class. But Pomona freshman aren’t allowed to register for 5 classes until Spring and then only after grades come out from the Fall (which just happened yesterday) and they can show they academically qualify. So now she’s waiting for the course portal to reopen to request the 5th class,and she’ll have to perm into it and hope there’s room and the prof says yes. (Both of the non-Pomona classes she’s requesting are at CMC which seems to require “perms” more often from non-CMC students than the other schools do.)
The consortium and cross-registration is definitely one of the great strengths of the 5 Claremont colleges, but each school also prides itself on its own character and mission. So Pitzer is looking for students who will appreciate what makes Pitzer unique, not students who really had their hearts set on going to one of the other schools. @amtc I think we are sort of splitting hairs here and agree that the OP should consider Pitzer. I wonder what he/she decided. @longerism give us an update! Where did you apply?