<p>After a week of east coast college visitations, I've decided I would probably be more comfortable going to school on the west coast, closer to home. Does anyone know of some really good LACs over here? I'm also applying to Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and-what else?- BYU. Thanks!</p>
<p>Reed, Whitman, Pomona, Occidental.</p>
<p>Pomona College in Claremont, CA (suburb of LA) is often considered to be the top LAC on the west coast and as good as any LAC in the country.</p>
<p>Other schools in the Claremont Consortium have adjacent campuses and are also excellent, although more specialized:</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd: science and tech
Claremont-McKenna -- poli sci, econ, pre-professional
Scripps -- all female</p>
<p>Reed College in the Pacific Northwest is an an excellent school academically, one of the best in the country with somewhat of a quirky ambience.</p>
<p>Also check out Whitman College in Washington state. Right up there with the top east coast LACs academically in my opinion and consistently ranks high on rankings like USNews & World report. Other possibilities include Occidental College, Lewis & Clark, Willamette and University of Puget Sound.</p>
<p>Not exactly on the coast in each case, but some other good Western schools are:</p>
<p>Willamette
Lewis & Clark
Reed
Westminster (UT)
Colorado College
Gonzaga
San Diego
Whitman
Linfield
Santa Clara
Loyola Marymount
Occidental
Whittier
Pacific Lutheran
Redlands
Pepperdine
Seattle Pacific
Albertson
Puget Sound
Pomona</p>
<p>thanks so much! I don't really care if they're exactly on the coast, just not 6 hours away by plane.</p>
<p>Pitzer is also part of the Claremont Consortium -- academic specialty is social sciences and turning out Fullbright Scholars -- 10 last year!</p>
<p>Isn't Pitzer known for having one of the ugliest campuses around? I know it's strong academically, but in pictures, it always looks terrible. Plus, the fact that they use a shade of orange usually found only in '70s bathrooms on their promotional materials is a bit of a turn-off.</p>
<p>Since people are expanding the list, I will add Mills College (women only at the undergrad level), which I think may be stronger than some of those mentioned.</p>
<p>Two individual datapoints, caveat emptor: I know someone who went to Mills for two years, hated it, came home for a year for JC and will be going to UC Riverside. She's a creative writing/English major and found the department attracted large numbers of "non-traditional" students thirty years older than she was. Otoh, she found most of her age peers were not intellectually or culturally inclined...the idea of going to catch a good movie or sometimes go for a good meal off-campus was completely alien to them.</p>
<p>I just talked to someone home for the summer from Pacific Lutheran the other day. A very bright girl, but not terribly amibitious. She's having a great time there.</p>
<p>Being from Washington, if you don't have to be "on the coast" and you're willing to settle for a 3-4 hour plane ride instead of 6, there are some terrific LAC's in the upper midwest. Carleton, Macalester, & St. Olaf (MN), Grinnell (IA), Beloit & Lawrence (WI). A couple of small universities might interest you with direct flights from SeaTac: UofChicago and WashU, St.Louis. We're from WA and fly 3 hours non-stop to Minneapolis on NWA for one child in MN with a 1/2 hour commuter to continue to Madison for the other child in WI.</p>
<p>Beginning ,Pitzer's grounds are beautiful, students are always out studying on the rolling grassy hills, but the buildings have seen better days and the dorms are (well my D walked out of the tour) but academically it is a good school.</p>
<p>From one of the pictures I've seen (a promotional shot, too!), one of the main welcome buildings kinda reminded me of the state police/visitor center/bathroom outposts along the turnpike in upstate New York...</p>
<p>Pitzer dorms are terrible, but they know it and are at work on a new housing center to open in 2007, I think. As to not liking the building style, you have to decide for yourself how much that will impact your decision. Anyway, I only mentioned Pitzer because it was left off the Claremont list.</p>
<p>I just want to point out that someone who would be comfortable with the student focus at BYU may find the general atmosphere at many secular LACs to be quite different
Both Reed and BYU have honor codes for example- but BYUs honor code includes a dress code- whereas- Reed has picting( nekkid- blue and screaming) during their spring festival ;)</p>
<p>thanks for all your help, guys!</p>
<p>I'm applying to BYU because I can almost definitely get a full-ride with spending money there and because my parents want me to consider it. If I can't get enough aid and scholarships for other schools, then I will probably consider BYU more seriously than I am right now. Although the difference in atmosphere between it and LACs and other schools is huge to say the least, I want to consider other options. I'll be comfortable in environments that aren't so religious and conservative as BYU.</p>
<p>You need some schools in between HYPS & BYU!!!</p>
<p>Scripps, Occidental, Santa Clara would all work as about half way between the schools above.</p>
<p>California is a little light on LACs due to our incredible UC schools. Maybe a couple of UCs would be good. UCSC & UCSD both have 'colleges' within the larger University that give more intimacy...</p>
<p>"You need some schools in between HYPS & BYU!!!"</p>
<p>Not sure what this remark means, but where I live, folks routinely turns down HYPS for BYU, including our last two purely academic admits to Harvard. And in terms of job placements, networking, etc., out here you'd do much better with a degree from BYU - the Ivy kids never come back.</p>
<p>Having looked at virtually all of them, and visited well more than half, my opinion, for what little it is worth, is that Whitman is the best overall LAC on the west coast. It is the one that will most remind one of those on the east coast, has hugely strong networking in the Pacific Northwest, a superb balance of academics and non-academic pursuits, and a magnificent setting in a really nice town. It is slightly less selective than, say, Pomona, but that is almost entirely due to 1) its location; and 2) the state schools aren't yet turning away qualified applicants in droves. Its main downside, if you consider it one, is that -- like many of the east coast LACs -- it is not very racially, ethnically, or economically diverse, in which, among other factors, location plays a major role. On the whole, it is very, very similar to Williams. </p>
<p>If you want a place that is truly more diverse, with fine academics and great commitment to community service, take a good look at Occidental.</p>
<p>mini, I meant schools between "uber-reach" & "a lock." Not trying to slur BYU.</p>
<p>I'm no great fan of BYU. Obviously they are offering a different "product" than HYPS, but one that many HYPS applicants and acceptees are finding more to their liking.</p>