<p>Does anyone have any advice for chooaing between these two schools? What are their respective strengths and what makes them different?</p>
<p>Major: Undecided (something within the liberal arts)
Extracurricular interests: Greek life, liberal/feminist groups, intramural sports (softball and ultimate frisbee)
Hoping to study abroad</p>
<p>Also interested in:
Math programs/clubs - I love math, and I’m a hands-on learner!
Russian cultural groups</p>
<p>Which campus would you say is more academically focused? Politically active?</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I know almost nothing about Chapman, but as a recent alum of SCU, I can give you some answers about that school. </p>
<p>Liberal arts: Pretty good selection of majors. Classes are very small. I think my largest classes were the intro econ sequence (1, 2 and 3), which had maybe 35 kids in it per section. Professors are accessible and all around very good. I don’t think I ever had a truly bad professor. </p>
<p>Greek life: SCU doesn’t officially recognize any Greek fraternities, save for DSP and AKPsi, which are co-ed business frats. I think about 10% to 15% of the student body population are in a frat or sorority. It’s a pretty small and laid back scene and you certainly won’t feel excluded if you decide not to rush. </p>
<p>Liberal/feminist groups: SCU is pretty politically apathetic. It’s pretty conservative considering it’s a Catholic college in NorCal, but please note I’m not using the word “conservative” to mean homophobic or racist or anything like that. The university funds a group called SCCAP. Not sure if the acronym is correct, but it’s a well funded organization that seeks to advance Catholic social values like immigrant rights and worker protections. </p>
<p>I knew a few people in the women’s studies program and it’s very close knit and somewhat active. They put on a pretty big production of the Vagina Monologues each year. </p>
<p>Intramural sports: SCU definitely has this covered pretty well. Even though are sports teams are nothing to write home about, the campus is pretty athletic and you’ll definitely find someone to casually play with.</p>
<p>Study abroad: Really good options here. SCU only runs a few programs, but we work with a lot of vendors and other schools that run programs. I took a CIEE trip and it was very well run, both by that organization and by SCU. There are also week long immersion trips over breaks and the summer, which can be kind of expensive, but are a good value and experience. </p>
<p>Gripe – SCU is one of few schools that counts your study abroad grades towards your GPA. I think it’s very unfair, since a class abroad doesn’t necessarily align well with the work required at an SCU class.</p>
<p>Math programs/clubs: The math department seems small and also close knit. There’s a pretty strong engineering school, so I think there will be options for you here. </p>
<p>Russian cultural groups: I have no idea about this. My guess is going to be that SCU doesn’t have a lot to offer in this category. </p>
<p>SCU kids are pretty academically focused. The people I know who went right into grad school got into great programs. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any other questions.</p>