My D is deciding between the 3 schools from out of state. She’ll probably be a Physics major or something in STEM fields. She can most likely play her sport at Occidental (15K/yr merit) and Chapman(32K/yr merit). Chapman and Cal Poly cost is similar with out of state tuition and her merit. At Cal Poly she’d do club sports, but she’s really having a tough time deciding. We’re concerned about her having to do 5 years at Cal Poly, not being on the school team, and the large size but the reputation is great and it’s so well-known. Any suggestions?
What’s most important to her? Occidental has the best reputation out of the three and a great research opportunities. It’s also in/near a major big city where Chapman and SLO are more suburban.
Thank you for your response. It’s funny that you say that when other people we know say Chapman and especially SLO have the stronger reputations, mostly from a California perspective. Could I ask where you are from?
Chapman isn’t known for STEM. I would do SLO 1st and then Occidental 2nd.
Hmm, interesting. I’m from Southern California. I’ve seen that Occidental admission stats are much more competitive than Chapman and SLO, and generally on a different academic level than the other two. I also know several students who went to Occidental for STEM and had a great experience - lots of access to professors and unique research opportunities. Curious where others are getting their info?
Chapman is a very conservative campus, Oxy less so, if that matters to your d. I am an Oxy grad, so I am biased, but they have really good STEM and undergrads can do original research.
SLO is a great college experience, but I cannot recommend paying OOS rates to attend. Any other options beside Oxy and Chapman?
Oxy is definitely the higher regarded compared to Chapman academically, though Chapman has a highly regarded film school. I’m from Northern CA. My friend’s daughter went to Oxy, majored in Cognitive Science, and is now finishing her masters in Speech and Language Pathology. Did you know that Obama went to Oxy for his first two years? They like to mention it, it’s a cool little fact 
Physics is the one major at CPSLO that has a relatively high rate of going on to PhD study most years, according to CPSLO’s career survey.
Thank you, that’s what I thought originally but Chapman has a new science center and engineering program, so I think that’s going to change.
Ah, no. Oxy is not ahead of Cal Poly SLO. Perhaps you’re thinking Pomona.