Any thoughts?
Weather is an obvious one. We’re from So Cal and she says she’d like to go to school on the east coast, clearly having never spent a winter in Philly…
Scripps has the 5C, Bryn Mawr has bi-co, tri-co, etc. I would suspect that both fall into the “wasn’t considering any women’s colleges until I visited” category for many students.
I can confirm the “Wasn’t considering women’s until” category is certainly true for Scripps. Very few of my classmates applied to women’s colleges other that Scripps. And yes, weather is great. Is there anything specific you are wondering about?
Thanks @Scrippsie
I’m wondering about the vibe and fit for those who are not necessarily hardcore feminists or social justice warriors. Not to imply she has anything against social justice or feminist causes, but they may not be her focus.
@juillet any thoughts on these two?
CORE is required for 3 semesters, which is analyzing various social justice issues through several different lenses. CORE I is standardized for all first-years, so that class is sometimes difficult if you don’t have a background in social justice issues (but as in study hard difficult, not impossible difficult). But CORE 2 and 3 have options, so if you find a lens you like, it becomes much more enjoyable. For example, I love math, so my CORE 3 of “Mathematics in Our Culture” which addresses social justice issues and representations of math in the humanities was delightful, even though CORE 1 was a bit of struggle for me.
Beyond that, Scripps requires a gender & women’s studies GE and a race and ethnics studies GE. But again, she might be able to find some interdisciplinary course which makes those topic more interesting to her.
Other than that, as long as she is respectful of those who are passionate about social justice issues, it’s generally not a problem for people.
Bryn Mawr is not free of social justice & hardcore feminists.
The 5Cs are easier to navigate to attend classes at the other colleges.
Can she go to accepted student visits at both?
@intparent I’d actually expect to find just as much (if not more) at BMC. Again, she’s got nothing against social justice or feminism.
We’re visited both, but BMC was over the summer and Scripps was on a Saturday. We are trying to get her to admitted student visit at both schools. We’re in So Cal, so Scripps is easy. BMC is a little more effort, but I think that the only way to get a really good feel for the schools.
She’s funny, she hates to ever miss school. I have to remind her that getting into college was why she was working so hard in the first place…
Yes… this is way more important than any school day or EC.
My daughter attended Bryn Mawr and I also researched Scripps for a different daughter. I love both schools so you’re not going to hear any negatives from me. 
They are both beautiful schools! I really liked the girls I met at both places.
The Haverford/Bryn Mawr bi-co is one of the easiest consortiums to navigate. The classes are not difficult to get (I think they are more open and available than the 5Cs from what I’m hearing lately) and the distance is about 1 mile between campuses. There’s a blue bus that travels frequently between the two schools and it’s an easy bike ride. D worked at H during the year one year and biked over from BMC all the time. Many of the activities are bi-co activities. While Swarthmore and Penn are also part of the consortium, it’s more challenging to take classes there. D had friends who managed Penn, even though their schedule isn’t neatly aligned with the other schools, but it took planning. It’s nice to have Philadelphia nearby. I think it’s easier to take SEPTA into Philadelphia than it is to get to LA from Claremont.
The 5 Cs are great! I loved that the campuses were so fluid and that campus life flowed across college lines. I also loved the idea of being able to take classes across the 5 colleges. Be careful to make sure that cross-registering outside of Scripps is doable though. One of my girls was considering Scripps very seriously. There was a lot of concern that popular classes would be unavailable or have limited availability outside of the college offering the class.
One thing that was very different between the two-at least when my D was there-was the strong sense of traditions at BMC. If you have a kid who isn’t into Lantern Night and May Day (I have one who loved it all and one who would have refused to participate), BMC is not the place for you. I can’t speak for the current cohort of women at either school but I can tell you that the vibe at Bryn Mawr was not overwhelmingly anything. It was very much a mix of different types. Same with Scripps.
The weather in SoCal is beautiful! I loved visiting in February.
I hope this helps a little.
Most of my senior teachers in hs pretty much expected that they would be losing kids left and right to various college admit days. It’s not that big a deal to miss a day at this point, unless one of her teachers decides of be a jerk.
The other option is if she has some odd day off, she could do an overnight instead of admitted day. She misses out on a lot of programming, but could then get a better idea of a typical day since admitted weekends are just crazy (usually the amount of students ends up totaling almost the entire size of our college). Personally, I did admitted day and that made my decision, so I would obviously recommend that, but if she refuses to take a day off, an overnight is always a possibility.
As far as 3girls3cats’ comments about course availability, I’ve never had an issue cross registering. I might have a problem next semester, but we’ll see when class registration actually happen how that goes. In fact, I’ve even jumped people on a waitlist once since the professor didn’t have any Scripps students and wanted more college diversity :). I occasionally hear people complaining about certain subjects, but not nearly as much as my friends at other colleges. And if your major is only offered through that college, they pretty much have to let you in.
My understanding that computer science and economics are difficult. The problem with the thinking that they have to let you in if it’s your major and only offered at the other school is that you don’t declare your major early on. I’ve also been told that there are girls who have had problems working with advisers from two different schools and getting their requirements worked out.
None of this is a deal breaker of course! There are reasons to want the Scripps education and the Scripps experience. I’m a big believer of going in with open eyes and realistic sense of what to expect. When my daughter and I visited the 5C’s every single school tried to sell the easy cross-registration appeal. It sounded so fantastic and there are aspects of it that really are that wonderful. But when we asked the concrete, closer questions, we learned that there are some pitfalls to be aware of.
Most admitted days at schools these size include overnights.
Great info, thanks all!
Sent you a PM @arc918. Basically I think she can’t really go wrong; it’s all about cultural preferences. For a young woman interested in business, Scripps might have a slight (very slight) edge because of the slightly greater opportunities offered by the 5Co, particularly with Claremont McKenna (economics+accounting major; there’s also an organizational studies major with Pitzer, which seems to be a mix of business + economics + social sciences). But both are great places with potential for good recruiting and excellent post-college outcomes.
My mother went to Scripps (very late in life) and my daughter is currently a 2nd-year at Bryn Mawr (also having wanted to get away from Southern California and go East), so I can be cheerfully enthusiastic about both. But based on a few years of reading CC, I’d say that juillet’s insights - on pretty much any topic - are consistently thoughtful and reliable.
I’ve recently visited both with my D, who liked them both. I would say that they are both great colleges. The vibe/lifestyle is different, so if you can visit both when they are in session your D might have a strong preference for one over the other. I would also suggest looking at the Scripps Core and required classes, since they are more than just the typical “freshman writing seminar.” Often kids are either enthusiastic about what the read or they aren’t… that can be another way to narrow down her options.
Lots of good information here–I’ll add one thing on post-college outcomes. If you look at the statistics on colleges with the greatest number of students going on to do post-graduate study, you’ll find that BMC ranks quite high. Some anecdotal data–my D is a BMC grad and among her group of 6 close friends–all but one of them has gone on to grad school. Few examples: MIT (city planning), BU (Social Work), Yale (MFA), Penn (Architecture) and Brown (MFA).
Look at the career websites for each school, they should give you a more specific picture for each. Anectodes are great, but there may be some data out there that is helpful.
Found the article I mentioned above in post #16.
http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-colleges-where-phds-get-their-start/
Thanks for the great input everyone! She’s visiting BMC for an overnight & admitted student event in a couple weeks.
I think Scripps being so close to our house makes it feel like less of a “college experience” to her. We’ll see how she feels after visiting BMC and go from there.