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The only criteria I can get from her so far is she wants 4 seasons, lots of sun, but also near enough to mountains to go snowboarding on weekends.
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This describes most of the colleges in California - both northern (bay area) and southern. LA is next to the San Bernardino mountains and lots of students snowboard on weekends. Even San Diego is only about 2.5 hours from a ski area. There are some students who'll go surfing on Saturday and snowboarding on Sunday.</p>
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I'm glad to hear that the Jesuit schools will allow for study of world religions to fulfill requirements. She has a true interest in the subject, but is very put off by the statement of Christian faith app questions at some schools (Pepperdine, for one.)
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<p>If religion classes are a potential turn-off, be sure to ask the specific requirements at each school. Not all will allow them to be fulfilled this way, some will also have chapel/mass requirements, some will have particular course requirements, etc.</p>
<p>Full disclosure: Non-Catholic who went to a Catholic HS and took 8 semesters of mandatory theology courses, some of which were incredibly valuable/enjoyable (World Religions) and some of which guided me toward my college major + post-grad plans (Religious Philosophy, Catholic Ethics). If your D likes a religious school but dislikes the sound of a theology requirement, find out exactly what the requirement is, see if she can find some non-[whatever religion] or non-religious students to ask questions of, and/or have her consider sitting in on a class during a visit.</p>
<p>As a former Claremont student (Scripps), I'd say that cronie's characterization of Pitzer sounds pretty good. Lots of character, laid back feel, very flexible curriculum, lots of very bright + engaged students but not too many stereotypical academic-types, particularly strong in the social sciences, lots of diversity for a LAC, lots of activism + social/global consciousness, good weather (but SoCal isn't a 4 season type of place), good location (though the town of Claremont is pretty quiet...I liked it, but not everyone does...the campuses are very residential), etc.</p>
<p>Best of luck on the road trip :)</p>
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<blockquote> <p>We did visit UC schools but after finding out that aid for OOS students is nonexistent are crossing them off the list. <<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>If one of the UCs appeals to you I wouldn't reject it out of hand. OOS students certainly have to pay more than CA residents, but their acceptance rates are about the same. For some UCs the OOS acceptance rate is even slighly better than it is for CA residents.</p>
<p>DD is a junior at Santa Clara. There are a TON of religion courses to choose from. We are not Catholic. She feels the school is very ecumenical in its views and choices. There is no required worship at all. School has a great engineering program, and business school. It's a very small university with the feel of an LAC. They just opened a new library/learning commons, business school building, and the aquatic center is being completed right now. The facilities are top notch and the campus is gorgeous. DD is a student ambassador so if you want more info...or if you venture that way, send me a PM...she has been very gracious about meeting CC parents and students there.</p>
<p>My understanding is that as a resident of the Pacific NW, your child would be eligible for the WUE/Western Undergraduate exchange-"wiche"/Western Interstate commission for Higher education (it includes Alaska, Arizone, California, Colorado,Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Nevada). with this program you pay 1.5 times what a resident of that state would pay to send their child to their public state colleges/university. This is considerably less than a private school such as Santa Clara. I do not know much more about the program, but I do know some of my daughters friends have taken advantage of this-maybe it will make UCSC more palatible. (frankly I do not know if the UCs participate, but may be worth looking into).G'Luck-APOL.</p>
<p>Here is a small anecdote about Pitzer: when D was looking at Pomona, she sat on a language class at 10 or so in the morning. Out of the 9 kids in the classroom, only one was a Pomona student. The rest were from Pitzer. I guess Pitzer students are not too lazy to wake up for a 10 am class :)</p>
<p>I worked with a few Santa Clara alums. They all were very positive about their alma mater.</p>
<p>Catholic universities, particularly Jesuit schools, are not like Catholic high schools. There is not one that I am aware of that has required worship.</p>
<p>None of the UCs participate in the Western Interstate Exchange, only a handful of Cal States:</p>
<p>Definitely check out USD. Although Catholic, it's not really an overly religious school at all.</p>
<p>For some reason, I recall Chapman as being a commuter school, with not so many kids living on campus. Am I confusing it with another school? I can't tell from their website....</p>
<p>We visited Chapman. Like many other small schools, many upperclassmen live off campus. Most of the underclassmen lived on campus. Those students living off campus are considered "commuters" but in reality, they are not living with their families...they are living in off campus housing. Check to see if that is what is driving the "commuter" statistic. </p>
<p>BTW...DD loved Chapman and if their sciences had been stronger, she would have applied there. Their humanities and especially their arts programs are terrific.</p>
<p>Just wanted to comment on UCSC and the stereotype posted above. I hadn't heard it before and it was not my experience in the 80s when was a student at UCSC. Some of my friends were wealthy...I certainly wasn't...but none of us felt entitled. I think the "entitlement " vibe is alive and well on many campuses these days because so many of our kids were have been endulged emotionally and materially in ways we never were. </p>
<p>Case in point, I worked for the food service and remember vividly the young man who asked where the hollandise sauce was for his vegetable. When I explained that we didn't serve it he was incredulous and demanded to know HOW he could be expected to eat his veggies without it. I remember it because that kind of attitude was rare then but I imagine you see it more now at large universities and at small LACs. I am sure it is not universal anywhere.</p>
<p>I love UCSC. You get the small college feel with the residential colleges yet the offerings of a large university are there for you. </p>
<p>I also want to give a shout out for St. Mary's in Moraga for all the reasons others have given. My nephew attends and is loving it.</p>
<p>Sonoma State has a lot of the earthy green vibe that your D is looking for too</p>
<p>Cal State Monterey Bay may be worth a drive by. It's about 45 minutes from UCSC, has a faboulous outdoor program w/ rock climbing, hiking and kayaking trips plus lots more. about</a> ~ Rec Heaven</p>
<p>^^^history, thanks for this post. I didn't know about Cal State Monterey Bay, and am glad to hear UCSC isn't necessarily full of slackers :)</p>
<p>CSUMB is a relatively new school - about 5 years old - being built on the former Fort Ord. Great location, growing student body and and interesting place to go to school if they have the right major for your DS/DD. School has been building lots of new facilities - the latest being a beautiful library... Well worth the visit if there is interest in a midsized school (probably 4000 kids)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, CSU Monterey Bay only meets 22% of financial need, on average.</p>