<p>Hey Cocoyam,</p>
<p>You bring up some really good questions. IMS is a fantastic program, and although Claremont is a suburban setting, our proximity to LA means that IMS has loads of internship connections. They’ll also give you course credit for media internships, something most internships require because most media internships are unfortunately unpaid. If IMS is a program that appeals to you, it’s probably worth it to take a closer look at the Claremont’s (which you’re obviously doing here).</p>
<p>Our acceptance rate has fluctuated between 33-43% in the last couple of years, which means that Scripps is selective but certainly not impossible. Women’s college applicants are a pretty self-selecting group; a full 50% of the population are ineligible to apply, and some women will disregard women’s colleges immediately based (mostly) on misconceptions.</p>
<p>As a campus tour guide and admissions intern, I’ve seen a lot of capable students underestimate themselves. It sounds like you’re a capable, solid student. On the application there’s a section that asks “please let us know anything else relevant” which is your chance to let Scripps know that your school only offers CP classes and that your studying independently for certain AP tests.</p>
<p>As for your ECs, they are well-angled as opposed to well-rounded and that is totally okay. It shows passion, follow-through, and relates to your interest in Media Studies, which is cool to see. Editor-in-Chief is nothing to scoff at- it shows leadership as well.
(Speaking of journalism, I took an awesome Arts+Culture Review Writing class here at Scripps, and there are tons of neat writing classes scattered throughout the colleges!)</p>
<p>Coursework- It’s all about balance. It sounds like dropping out of IB was an important decision you made to restore balance to your life, and planning college classes is all about keeping that balance. Personally, I think it’s easier to manage college coursework because you have so much more of your own time to organize; instead of classes taking up a 7 hr block of time every day of the week, you may have only 2 or 3 classes each day. You usually have blocks of time in-between classes to cram in reading you forgot, most classes don’t start before 10 am (exceptions: math, science, language) so you can stay up late for an assignment and still get enough sleep. In fact, most people I know have never pulled an all-nighter here. You could temper a reading & writing intensive class like Intro to Media Studies with a project based class like Digital Imaging. Balance a studio class (which take up large chucks of time) with a language class (for the language requirement) which usually meets for 50-minutes 4-5 days a week, but you spend a lot less time on homework. And after your first year and a half, most students have the flexibility that they can schedule all their classes on Tues-Thurs or on Mon-Wedn. so that they can use the empty days of the week to either study and do work, or travel into LA for an internship.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you’re from, but if it’s at all possible I would really suggest coming out to visit. It would be the best way to determine if you would be happy here, get the feel of the colleges, sit in on some IMS classes, or others that might interest you, talk to faculty, etc.</p>
<p>If you have any more questions, let me know! ~</p>