I’ve recently been admitted into both schools. I thought I had my heart set on Scripps but my entire family has been encouraging me to consider Smith. Both schools offer very different experiences in my opinion. I like Scripps for many reason but I feel pressured to look into Smith (better ranking, prestige, name recognition and similarity to Wellesley college). I wouldn’t want to attend a school for the wrong reasons. Can someone help me choose a school/give me more details about each school?
My D attends Scripps and loves it. I don’t know really know the other schools so I can’t compare, but the obvious difference Scripps has (and IMO great benefit) is the Claremont Consortium. This, of course, means that while you are getting a women’s college and experience some aspects of that you still also get a co-ed experience. (This could be a plus or minus depending on your viewpoint). But it also means a lot of other resources at your disposal while still having a small school experience (best of both worlds).
Well, I sure wouldn’t go because a school is “similar” 'to Wellesley. Have you visited Smith, and if not can you do so before deciding? Smith has a string vibe of its own – it is great for some students, not for others. Personally I prefer Scripps – you can’t beat the power of the 5Cs consortium for easy cross registration and social opportunities. Better weather, too. 
If you can, go to accepted student visits at both. But in the end, you are the one who has to attend for four years and benefit from your choice for the rest of your life. Unless there is a significant cost difference that matters, attend the one you like best.
I wouldn’t say that Smith is similar to Wellesley other than that they are both women’s colleges in the Northeast. They have different vibes, different locations, different student bodies. If your parents want you to go to Smith because they think it’ll be like Wellesley I think they’ll be disappointed and that’s not a great reason to go.
It sounds like you want to go to Scripps. Scripps is a really excellent college. Ranking and prestige don’t really matter as much as people think they do, and for the people who matter, there’s not much of a prestige difference between Scripps and Smith anyway.
Don’t forget that Smith is part of its own 5 college consortium: Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Amherst, and UMass!
For me, it would probably come down to major–there are some majors at Smith that Scripps simply can’t compete with. If you want a major in which the schools are comparable, then things like weather/location/fit might be the deciding factors, but if, say, you want to study art history, Smith’s a no-brainer…
Yes, but the 5 college consortium Smith is in really isn’t very practical for a lot of cross registering. The shuttling takes up time – my sense is that most students might take a couple of classes on other campuses during their tenure, but they don’t usually do a lot because of the hassle factor. The 5Cs are really all together, like lego blocks put together into one bigger campus. My kid has taken one, and sometimes two classes at other colleges every semester except her first while at a 5Cs school. That means that for a major like history, for example, the OP would have Pomona, CMC, and Pitzer classes to draw on, as well as the Scripps classes.
You could also argue that since UMass is in the Smith exchange group, the student gets both the big school benefits (big D1 sports, concerts, almost every class imaginable) and the small school if she so chooses. My daughter decided against Smith, but there were a lot of things that made it hard to pass up. Because they can eat at any of the schools, a student could go to Umass or Amherst for an entire afternoon of classes. Not that much difference than going to a large University and having classes at one end of the campus and having to get all the way to the other side or an annex campus, or living 20 minutes from campus which many students do.
But really – how often do students do that? We have made several visits to schools in that consortium (multiple kids), and asked each tour guide about cross registering. None of them had taken more than 1 class at another college, and didn’t know anyone who had taken more than a couple. It can be done, but I think the reality is that it is infrequent.
Perhaps that’s an indication that they don’t feel the need, that Smith offers what they want and doesn’t cut corners and expect them to make up the difference at other schools? (Perhaps not, of course, but since we’re speculating…)
“better ranking” (in reference to Smith)
Not everywhere: “The 610 Smartest Colleges,” Business Insider.
“similarity to Wellesley College”
This would imply (I think?) that Wellesley is an aspirational peer to Smith. Personally, I don’t view the schools in this way.