<p>I was the first female to go to college on either side of my family…and had a military transient upbringing. Didn’t get into Wm and Mary OOS (we had no idea that OOS was even a challenge because neither of my parents knew anything and my guidance counselor was a graduate of Bob Jones. (!!). I ended up at Furman University which was a beautiful place with caring personal classrooms and very devoted teachers. It was also too white, too conservative, and definitely too religious for me 35 years ago. I spent a good bit of my freshman year in tragic poses with transfer papers but my parents were completely uninterested in assisting me in any way and wouldn’t have known how to anyhow. My personal journey there led to scores of friends who have lasted my lifetime, close relations with my professors who enjoyed that I was different, and a faculty medal at graduation. Furman was good to me and I ended up giving a lot to life at Furman via volunteer leadership and other means. Furman is much less conservative now and has divested itself of any religious denomination as did Rice, Wake Forest and Richmond.<br>
I have no idea if the OP’s daughter also feels a bit stifled by Pepperdine’s conservative culture. Only conjecture.
Here is my idea: Make friends, dig in, find teachers that are special–they are there!, and go abroad Sophomore year instead of Junior year. (Many LAC students leave for a year to compensate for the claustrophobic aspects of an intimate campus—I did two semesters off of Furman’s campus). Transfer Junior year into a public university in WA or into a private university should you be so lucky that has a no loans and generous Need depth of field for financial aid. That could be difficult but I can already read the transfer essay about the wish to spend two years out of Pepperdine’s culture after doing her level best to extract good from Pepperdine for her first two years. Vanderbilt would be a school that does take some transfers for instance. And has many many Californians already enrolled.<br>
If I had a nickel for every Duke student I saw on admitted student day who was bemoaning not getting into Brown or the Vandy student who wanted to go to Yale. It is perfectly human to be attached to the reach school that let you in. And no one is more human than an 18 year old.<br>
Actually, both of my sons were admitted as honors students to William and Mary, and I was seriously still in love with the school I was not destined to attend myself. The Human Heart! we love what we love!</p>