Interested in the Claremont Colleges but a little unsure as to the differences

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pitzer College
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<p>I have been looking at all of the colleges a bit but I am unsure as to the strengths of the individual schools as most seem to have the same majors. In the future, there are a few things I am interested in doing. I love chemistry so that is one option. I am also interested in pursuing medical school or doing another science major such as environmental science. I am currently a female junior and I like that the colleges have d3 soccer and lacrosse, which I play.</p>

<p>That being said, my unweighted gpa is 3.89 and weighted is 4.08 I believe. I haven't taken the SAT yet, although I am not expecting to do very well due to attention issues and that sort of thing. I believe I got a 176 or so on the PSAT.</p>

<p>Next year I am most likely taking Spanish and Chem at either Reed, Lewis and Clark, or Portland state and only taking 4 or so classes at my high school. This is because I am have exhausted the classes in these.</p>

<p>Besides these things, I volunteer at Outdoor school, which is a program where high schoolers teach middle schoolers environmental science in an overnight program. I also work at a kid's camp, am an elementary teacher assistant, play in band, and am involved in photography.</p>

<p>ANYWAYS, I want to know the slight or large differences in between the Claremont schools. Pitzer appeals to me due to the test optional piece. Pomona seems out of reach due to the fact I am not going to get a 2100 or above on the SATs. I have the gpa, just most likely not the test scores. What school do you think would suit me, and that I would also have an ability to get in to? Thanks so much!</p>

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<p>I would definitely say Pitzer is your place. It is generally a less competitive atmosphere than the other but keeps great classes and environment. Be aware that you can take classes at any of the claremonts if you want to so you have access to a great resource and range of academic classes.
To generalize the strengths of each school:
Pomona is generally strong in most areas, most selective for admission, best financial aid, amazing and diverse students with a wide range of interests, beautiful campus has a snooty reputation
Claremont McKenna is generally strong in political science and other similar humanities . Looks for leaders and hard-workers who have proven themselves as driven, motivated, and class leaders within high school. I don’t know much about the campus, has a “bro” reputation Selective, but not so much as Pomona. </p>

<p>Harvey Mudd is of course engineering and science focused, but requires a strong and varied curriculum within the liberal arts. Selective, but attracts highly sciencey students strong in math. Has a socially awkward reputation. Campus is dull and ugly in my opinion, some like it.</p>

<p>Pitzer is sort of the watered down but still great version of Pomona but you add in an environmentally conscious focus. I’ve heard classes are less rigorous, but a Pitzer education is still outstanding. More of a laid back atmosphere. </p>

<p>Scripps I probably know the least about, but has an amazing campus and attracts incredible women who are intelligent and focused. I think Scripps has a great english department and humanities.</p>

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<p>Acceptance rates for the Claremont Colleges last year:
Pomona: 15%
Claremont-McKenna: 17%
Harvey Mudd: 23%
Pitzer:26%
Scripps: 39%</p>

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<p>Pitzer acceptance rate for class of 2016: 15.7%!</p>

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<p>It looks like Pitzer is getting waaay harder to get in to! I got a 29 on the ACT is April so I might be able to get it up a few points. What would you guys suggest that helps to get into Pitzer? I might not be able to visit(unless after possibly being accepted), so I am curious as to how I should go about showing my interest.</p>

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<p>Check to see if there is a road show near you. I did a search and found that all 5 colleges will be in our area in August and registered DD. We have visited one of the schools, but she will probably apply to multiple colleges and she needs to show demonstrated interests.</p>

<p>Also Harvey Mudd has a FAST application for diversity students including women. We applied to that program just to show interest as well. Not sure if she will be selected, but it sounds like an interesting flyin visit. It would be nice to have her interact with actual students and she can get a true view as differences between colleges.</p>

<p>I think her favorites are claremont and scripps, however not sure if she will apply to others.</p>

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<p>I noticed just the other day that they also have one in my city in August. I am definitely planning to go as it will be a good idea to show I am interested as well as learn more about the colleges. It says there will be time to speak to each college, would that be the time to go to Pitzer and ask questions. What sort of questions should I ask? I want to appear informed but also seeking info.</p>

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<p>There may be tons of people there, so not the perfect time to ask super in-depth questions. But, please don’t ask silly questions like “will a 2000 SAT get me in?” Ask things specifically about Pitzer like what makes it stand out in the Claremonts, what types of facilities does the school offer etc. also… Ask why the admit rate was so low?! I mean 15.7%! Come on! That’s ridiculous. Haha.</p>

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<p>It’s not ridiculous at all. When a school’s reputation is rising rapidly, more and more students apply for the same number of places, and the admit rate falls. Pitzer’s has been falling year after year as people realize what a great school it is.</p>

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<p>Uh… That was a good ridiculous, not a bad. Yeesh, I know why Pitzer’s admit rate is dropping, clearly more people are applying. :stuck_out_tongue: Pitzer is a great school! Don’t be so defensive! And I wouldn’t say admit rate is exactly equal to reputation. Pitzer is a great school, it has had that reputation for years. It has also been known as test optional, more free thinking, less rigorous than the other C’s, environmently friendly, etc. Lighten up. The admissions officers would hopefully take it as a joke if someone asked something like my question. :D</p>

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<p>From an article</p>

<p>Cmc Pomona and pitzer are all on this list. And they have all had ther rates drop</p>

<p>We reached out to the roughly 150 most competitive universities in America to figure out who had the lowest acceptance rates this year. The list includes only schools that offer a traditional, four-year undergraduate experience.</p>

<p>Here’s the top 20:</p>

<p>Pitzer College: 15.7% <-------------
Washington University — St. Louis: 15.4%
Northwestern University: 15.3%
Vanderbilt University: 14.2%
Swarthmore College: 14.0%
University of Chicago: 13.0%
California Institute of Technology: 13.0%* (*Last year’s rate: current year is unavailable)
Pomona College: 12.8%
Claremont McKenna College: 12.4%
University of Pennsylvania: 12.3%
Duke University: 11.9%
Amherst College: 11.9%
Brown University: 9.6%
Dartmouth College: 9.4%
M.I.T: 8.9%
Princeton University: 7.9%
Columbia University: 7.4%
Yale University: 6.8%
Stanford University: 6.6%
Harvard University: 5.9%</p>

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<p>Ya, it’s amazing Pitzer is on that list. It’s admit rate dropped incredibly far from last year, it’s ridiculous ie. shocking, surprising, astonishing.</p>

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<p>My daughter noted that all the students she lunched with at Pitzer’s admitted student day had either founded or were highly involved in a service organization. She also had visited the summer before her junior year and made a point to meet with the coach of her sport and the department head of her intended major. Pitzer is a small place with and I think personal connections matter in a school this size when it comes to admissions. Although test optional she chose to submit her ACT. Finally, the online video interview is a great opportunity to show your personality.</p>

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<p>I have a question about the majors at the different colleges. Lets say your college offers the major you are interested in, however another college offers something similar but better suited to your interests. For example, if you are interested in studying economics, but you like the economics major/courses offered at Pomona or Claremont Mc Kenna because they are a little more focused on finance. Can you still choose to take the majority of your econ at another college (more than 1/2 )? Or, if you were interested in an econ-accounting major, and that major is only offered by CMC, would you take that major fully at CMC? Pitzer seems to be the school my dd most prefers, but Pitzer econ major is a little less of a fit for her interests.</p>

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<p>So freshman year-second semester through sophomore year you can take courses at another school, 1 max. After that you can take up to 2 courses at other schools (1/2 all of your courses) according to major requirements. So conceivably you could pretty much take 1/2 or more of your major courses at a different school.
<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/academics/curriculum/consortium.aspx[/url]”>http://www.pomona.edu/academics/curriculum/consortium.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>There is a place for stereotypes, at least as one element of a discussion.</p>

<p>Stereotypes:</p>

<ul>
<li>Pomona: well rounded, academically inclined geniuses</li>
<li>CMC: more conservative, pre-professional, really smart but not as academic as Pomona students, more outgoing than Pomona students</li>
<li>Pitzer: Social causes are <em>really</em> important before and after arriving. Almost opposite of CMC. Do not bother to apply if you cannot speak passionately to something you are trying to do to change the world for the better. Not really non-conformist, but actually very conforming to the notion of making the world a better place for all.</li>
<li>Mudd: angular geniuses, math and science + possibly music.</li>
<li>Scripps: Hmmm… can’t really comment, don’t know.</li>
</ul>

<p>So, OP, to answer your question, you need to appreciate what makes Pitzer different from the other four colleges, even if you are able to take a good portion of your courses at the other college. If you don’t appreciate that distinctive quality of Pitzer, that will be apparent to the admissions committee, and you will be at a disadvantage to all the other academically prepared, social-change passionate applicants.</p>

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<p>@Justhangin</p>

<p>You mentioned that “[your] daughter noted that all the students she lunched with…had either founded or were highly involved in a service organization.”</p>

<p>Are there any other observations of note that your daughter made about admitted Pitzer students that differentiate them from other schools’ accepted students that you can think of? That community service statistic, for example, is very telling of the student body there; while many colleges can claim that they choose students who are dedicated to community service, they don’t necessarily prove it.</p>

<p>You also mentioned:</p>

<p>“She also had visited the summer before her junior year and made a point to meet with the coach of her sport and the department head of her intended major. Pitzer is a small place with and I think personal connections matter in a school this size when it comes to admissions.”</p>

<p>How will other applicants be able to demonstrate their interest when they are out-of-state? For example, I am a potential transfer student, and from what I’ve researched of it so far, I absolutely love it. Pitzer, however, like many other small liberal arts schools, prefers that you visit, but the thing is, I can’t since I’m all the way on the East Coast.</p>

<p>If you email your intended majors’/minors’ department heads, though, will admissions take that into account? In other words, do the department heads actually communicate with admissions about who demonstrates some real interest?</p>

<p>I am definitely going to request an online video interview like you advise. Which did your daughter personally use, Skype or LikeLive? I’d prefer a Skype interview since it’ll feel like I’m actually interacting with someone and can thus build off of them, but I’m not sure if it’s the best idea. Do multiple people review the Skype interviews, or does only on person review them? On the other hand, are LikeLive interviews reviewed by multiple people?</p>

<p>And last set of questions (haha, sorry for the barrage of questions…): What were the questions like? Are the interviewers actually trained or simply alumni interviewers who ask basic questions?</p>

<p>Thank you so much!</p>

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<p>@Prdmom- She can take CMC courses, but she cannot do a CMC economics major. If PZ offers the major, students cannoy take it off campus. However, she can take some of those CMC Econ courses to count towards her PZ major.</p>

<p>With regards to Accounting at CMC, that major is not offered by PZ so they can major there. But unless you are a CMC student, the accounting classes are incredibly difficult to get into because of how few of them are offered and the number of students that want to take the classes. </p>

<p>@PAGrok- Those are Pomona’s requirements, PZ has different ones. However, I will mention that most first and second year students at Pomona do not take classes off campus, in part because the Pomona requirements do not allow them to. But going back to PZ, you can take up to 1/3 of your classes off PZ’s campus. But that’s classes that are offered at PZ. So if you wanted to take intro to psych, every school offers it, so if you take it at CMC then it counts against your 1/3, but if you take Japanese at Pomona, because PZ doesnt offer it, it won’t count against your 1/3. </p>

<p>@DunninLA I don’t think that you should tell people not to “apply if you cannot speak passionately to something you are trying to do to change the world for the better.” I think if the student identifies with the values of the college, even if they have done many little projects/things that show this, it doesn’t have to be one difinitive thing that is going to change the world. The world can be changed by little steps too. Prospective students need to look at the curriculum, the campus life, social and academic life, core values, among other things that make PZ students unique and see if they fit in with what PZ is. </p>

<p>@thisismymingzi- You can email the people you talk to and then in your application you can email your conversation to <a href=“mailto:Admission@pitzer.edu”>Admission@pitzer.edu</a> and they will attach it to your file. To answer your question, it is unlikely the profs will forward a rec if you meet/correspond with them to the Admission Office. They might forward email correspondence to attach to the file. I think meeting/talking with profs just gives students a better idea of the curriculum, professor, school, etc. But I’m not completely sure on that because I don’t read every email between profs and the admission office, so it is possible. Also try to attend any sort of information sessions in your area by Admission Counselors.</p>

<p>Skype interviews and Like Live interviews are reviewed by one person, either an admission counselor or admission fellow (senior interviewers). Like Live interviews I think have a prompt they want you to answer. If you are more creative, I think that might be a better outlet to show your creativity. But if you feel more comfortable doing a Skype Interview you can do that as well.</p>

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<p>thisismymingzi</p>

<p>I tried to PM you but apparently I have not posted enough to do that (and probably never will!) but feel free to PM me if you want. </p>

<p>Are there any other observations of note that your daughter made about admitted Pitzer students that differentiate them from other schools’ accepted students that you can think of?
Her mention that the community service and leadership in social justice by the students was off the charts at her admitted student day was her biggest impression. I am just a parent relaying information but my sense is the campus lives and breaths this focus based on her freshman experience to date. It’s important to her as she wanted to continue her work in this area in college so perhaps she pays attention to these opportunities more. Also, she was a recruited athlete at other schools so she spent many nights on various campus throughout high school so I think she has a good sense that this was a real difference at Pitzer not just a comment in a brochure. </p>

<p>How will other applicants be able to demonstrate their interest when they are out-of-state? For example, I am a potential transfer student, and from what I’ve researched of it so far, I absolutely love it. Pitzer, however, like many other small liberal arts schools, prefers that you visit, but the thing is, I can’t since I’m all the way on the East Coast.</p>

<p>We are from the midwest, but we bit the bullet and made the trip. She gave up spring break trips with friends to make room in our budget. Again, I am just a parent but the trip gave her a great understanding of what she wanted to convey in her essay questions when the time came to write them. I know New York is the second most represented state in the student population so there must be many students who did not do this. Her two best friends don’t seem to have the amped up focus on this area as she does so there is surely a diverse population. </p>

<p>If you email your intended majors’/minors’ department heads, though, will admissions take that into account? In other words, do the department heads actually communicate with admissions about who demonstrates some real interest?</p>

<p>I do not think any of the faculty sent anything to admissions but it gave her a great understanding of the school and I am sure it came through in her essays. </p>

<p>I am definitely going to request an online video interview like you advise. Which did your daughter personally use, Skype or LikeLive? I’d prefer a Skype interview since it’ll feel like I’m actually interacting with someone and can thus build off of them, but I’m not sure if it’s the best idea. Do multiple people review the Skype interviews, or does only on person review them? On the other hand, are LikeLive interviews reviewed by multiple people?</p>

<p>There is a link on their admissions website where you upload a video interview as part of the application process. I have no idea who or how many watch it! They have admissions reps for areas of the country, I would just look up your rep and send them an email. You might get lucky and they will be in your area. I know ours traveled to our state but ironically she was out of town when they visited her school. I always told my daughter to make sure she was getting her questions answered in the interview so it was more of a conversation. </p>

<p>And last set of questions (haha, sorry for the barrage of questions…): What were the questions like? Are the interviewers actually trained or simply alumni interviewers who ask basic questions?</p>

<p>I don’t believe they do alumni interviews which she did many for other schools and we both found lacking in substance. I think they are all admissions reps. I don’t recall her mentioning any unique questions. </p>

<p>My daughter would be horrified I am on CC talking about her, so do PM me if you like!</p>

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<p>Can anyone talk about how campus has changed at all now that Pitzer is a lot more selective? I kind of don’t like it because I think it would encourage people to apply just for the selectiveness and what not.</p>

<p>Also, is majoring in science difficult if you go to Pitzer? I love everything about Pitzer but I have heard it is focused on humanities and social sciences a lot more. And don’t suggest Harvey Mudd haha. I would never get in and I like the atmostphere at Pitzer a lot more.</p>