<p>We're from the NYC area. My D has narrowed down her choices down to five: Wellesley, Smith, Carleton, SUNY Binghamton, and Scripps. After the (similar) fin. aid offers came in, we OK'd her choosing any of the five, but we know the least about Scripps in particular and the Claremont Colleges in general (D apparently is the first kid from her HS ever to apply to Scripps; one or two kids at most have applied to Pomona/Pitzer each year over the past ten years or so). </p>
<p>Here's my question: The Fiske Guide, which we found helpful for our research, has this to say at one point in their otherwise very favorable description of the Claremont Colleges: Unfortunately, the Claremont colleges . . . are among the most underrated in the nation.</p>
<p>Underrated by whom? Grad school admissions offices? Employers? Do you agree with this statement? Is this something D should be concerned about? </p>
<p>I'd appreciate any thoughts about this issue from people who know the schools, esp. Scripps.</p>
<p>I know this isn’t the technical meaning of the word, but I just think it has to do with the fact that they are relatively unknown among the general public. Having said that, none of the schools your D is looking at are remotedly household names – my D is going to Wellesley, arguably the most famous of this group, and trust me, plenty of people haven’t heard of it, or at most have a vague Hillary Clinton association and that’s about it.</p>
<p>Awareness among the general public is of very little concern, IMO. People who know better will know the Claremont colleges as excellent schools. I wouldn’t sweat it if I were you.</p>
<p>I agree with Pizzagirl. Scripps college is ranked by U.S. News and World Report as #23 among U.S. liberal arts colleges, tied with Oberlin and Colby. Pomona is ranked #6; Claremont McKenna #11, Harvey Mudd #18, and Pitzer #46. Among undergraduate science and engineering schools, Harvey Mudd is a top-ten school.</p>
<p>The Claremont colleges are highly regarded on the west coast. I agree with Pizzagirl that it’s the general public (especially on the east coast) that is not aware of this fantastic consortium.</p>
<p>Most people don’t know colleges, period. Those who need to know will know Claremont et al.</p>
<p>That being said, both my nieces moved to SF after college. One was a grad of Colorado College and the other Kenyon. They reported that in SF when looking for jobs no one knew their schools. They said all they knew was Stanford, Berkeley. YMMV.</p>
<p>Right. Which is why, so often, those on the west coast don’t really get that Berkeley doesn’t have the “share of mind” that it does out there. Which is no reflection on Berkeley - just a continued manifestation of the mantra that it’s almost all regional. I know my own biases are heavily influenced by having grown up in the East Coast and coming of age in the Midwest - which is why I know, and think highly of, a bunch of colleges that elicit “huhs” here in the Midwest.</p>
<p>They are underrated in general name recognition. Most LACs are. Williams College which many consider the absolute LAC in the country is not recognized by most people. In the academic world, this colleges are well known. </p>
<p>A lot of this is a local thing. In this area, for instance there are schools well regarded that people even in the college search do not know.</p>
<p>They are underrated bcos they are geographically-challenged, i.e., not on the east coast. However, if your D is truly seeking the all-girls experience, Scripps will be a lot different than the others. Pomona is generally considered top-dog at the Claremonts has some of its own priority classes. (CMC and Mudd are tops in their specific fields.) Most classes allow cross-registration, so they may include plenty of guys.</p>
<p>I know many Claremont alums and students. It is an outstanding consortium, providing first-rate educations, and its students do very well in grad school applications and careers. Fiske just means if you stop someone on the street in Boston and ask them about Scripps College, they won’t know what you’re talking about. But the academic world knows. And here in California, all of Claremont’s schools are deeply respected.</p>
<p>Unknown among people on the East Coast does not equal geographically - challenged. I submit the people who think the rest of the country doesn’t contain actual people, colleges, businesses, and opportunities are the geographically-challenged ones.</p>
<p>Signed, one who grew up thinking the country was indeed like the famous New Yorker poster with nothing west of the Hudson til LA :-)</p>
<p>We often send a kid or two to Claremont Consortium, and , in fact, our headmaster’s daughter is there. The schools are not well known among the general public, but they have plenty of rep where it counts - such as grad school and academia. All of the consortium schools bring top employers in as well.</p>
<p>Sorry to disabuse you of all the East Coast snarkiness- but Scripps is not well known in California either.</p>
<p>OP- if a college doesn’t have basketball (U Conn or Seton Hall phenomenon, two colleges which are significantly over-rated in my opinion based on their ball playing), or doesn’t win football games, the general public has never heard of them, besides their own state U or alma mater.</p>
<p>I have been hiring and recruiting for over 25 years and have never met someone “in the business” who did not know about Scripps.</p>
<p>There are millions of people in the midwest who think U Chicago is for kids who couldn’t get into UIUC, that kids who go to Beloit were too stupid to apply to U. Wisc at Madison, and that Wash U is in the state of Washington.</p>
<p>Sorry to disabuse you- this is not an East coast phenomenon. (A nephew of mine in a big cosmopolitan city in the Midwest decided to go to Rice. You cannot believe the comments he got from educated people who thought it was a culinary school.)</p>
<p>I think the Claremont colleges are great, and Scripps, in particular, is very underrated. I think in most areas they are actually stronger than Pomona, and, in my judgment, have the best articulated core curriculum in the country, bar none.</p>
<p>Having said that, I think the value of the consortium itself is way overrated. Unlike a college of 6,000 students with a rich set of course offerings, a very large percentage of courses at the consortium are duplicative - with the same or similar being offered at 2, 3, 4, or 5 colleges at the same time. In other words, it is 6,000+ students, with the diversity of offerings of a school of fewer than 3,000.</p>
<p>mini: If similar courses are being offered at multiple colleges then the demand for those classes must be high, correct? Otherwise they would be consolidated. It’s the same as larger schools offering multiple sessions of the same class. At the very least, class sizes would be smaller. I also know for a fact that my department at least coordinated with the departments at other schools to make sure offerings weren’t repeated and were available every semester. Have you actually looked through the class offerings and counted the number of similar classes? And then compared the number of ‘unique’ classes to those of a larger college?</p>
<p>No one said that it was an East Coast phenomenon - most people simply don’t know a lot about schools / colleges, beyond what they hear on ESPN and / or what is in their local area. That’s true anywhere you go.</p>
<p>As the OP, I thank everybody for their thoughts so far. Ive also emailed Fiske & Co. at the Guides website to ask about the Unfortunately . . . underrated comment, which I still find cryptic and a bit alarming. My gut feeling is that if D goes to Scripps shes more likely to wind up living on the West Coast, just like if she goes to Binghamton she more likely to stay in the East. The local employers will be more familiar with the schools. Less of an issue with grad schools. Ill miss her if she goes West permanently, but so be it. </p>
<p>Ive got a busy day at work ahead of me and wont be coming back to CC until tonight, but look forward to reading more.</p>
<p>Well, yeah. SUNY Binghamton is a perfect example of – most of the country won’t have heard of it and won’t have any impression one way or the other.</p>
<p>"Have you actually looked through the class offerings and counted the number of similar classes? And then compared the number of ‘unique’ classes to those of a larger college? "</p>
<p>I did precisely that with my older d. when she was considering Scripps, (which she loved; Pomona not so much) and chose Smith among other reasons because of its deeper curricula offerings, especially in the upperclass years.</p>
<p>I have two nieces who graduated from Scripps so we were aware of the Claremont colleges for a long time.
There is some redundancy of classes partly due to what each college offers as a major. For example Pomona has a PPE major and CMC has a wonderful equivalent that is highly regarded. Classes in your major are not necessarily optional at other colleges. If the program is popular then first choice goes to whatever college you attend. Some classes are by professor permission only. I am sure a student can speak more eloquently to this then I can.
DDs cousins suggested Pomona as the best fit for her and they were right, it was indeed the school she liked the best. Each school is wonderful with differences in strengths and any student attending any of these schools gets a great education and professors who are truly involved and care about their education. It is what impresses me the most about her college experience.</p>
<p>As the second oldest Claremont College, Scripps has a lot of similarities to Pomona tradition wise. It also has an incredibly beautiful campus. It has the best location of any of the Claremont Colleges, with Harvey Mudd directly across the street to the north, Pitzer directly across the street to the east, CMC directly to the south, and within a block of the library to the southwest. It would be very easy to meet students from the other colleges while attending Scripps, moreso than at Pomona where I attended.</p>