Hmm, sounds like the experience of the 5Cs might depend significantly on which direction you approach them from. Maybe enter from the Pomona side if that’s what your kids are looking for. From the Scripps side, the first thing you’ll see is Mudd, which may not be what your kids are looking for, and that end of campus doesn’t have the business district that is close to the Pomona side.
Sounds like a great trip and there is great advice on here. I know this isn't a vacation but if you have time to drive over to Coronado just to experience the bridge and do a drive by of the hotel and beach it is something. First time we literally did a drive through and it was still great. Spent time there walking on beach/lunch the next visit. But only go if you want her to fall more in love with San Diego.
Agree, students are 100% in or out when it comes to 5 Cs. Mine wouldn't get out of car either, drove around a lot turning in every parking lot or drive of every campus, but no go. Another eventually did the tour at Pitzer but way too small, suburban and quiet for this one.
You are seeing some very different schools - it will be a wonderful time with your student.
@ACollegeFan I’ll be the contrarian. If you don’t feel up to a night drive on LA freeways - and having a lot of folks come in from out of town express the same concern, I am sympathetic, I’d say go for the Radisson (if it’s not too pricey.) That way you will get a great sense of the USC campus (some love, some hate, but it’s good to know where your kid falls) And if you are able to motivate early, you’ll get some traffic in the “downtown corridor” (no way around it really, most any time of day/night) but then you’ll be going “against traffic” once you get out on the 10/60 east. It will be busy and you could get an accident slowing you down, but you’re only going 40 miles and the 10 or 60 will both get you there so you have good options.
Check Waze + Google maps. If it takes more than 1.5 - 2 hours it would be a shock, and you’ll be fresh for the drive, It will probably take closer to 1.5 and it will be daylight (and hopefully there will be snow on the mountains still - I did basically that drive this morning at 6 am to a swimmeet - sunrise was gorgeous on Baldy and Pinos.)
Eiither way will work, but if you feel more better about daytime driving, your are, at worst, adding 1 hr to your drive, and probably more like 20-40 minutes.
And I’ll be the contra contrarian. I expect it would add an hour to the drive, but it’s more than just the time. It’s the stress of driving in rush hour in unfamiliar territory when you’re on a tight schedule.
Unless you have a vision issue with night driving, I’d strongly recommend avoiding rush hour traffic.
And later in the day, Augies has the most amazing ice cream!
One reason classes all run on similar schedules at the 5Cs is because students cross register so regularly. My kid has taken at least one class on one of the other campuses every semester except the first semester freshman year. As an aside, they also have common finals schedules so there aren’t conflicts there, either. It is a pretty great combo – I hope your kid like Scripps & Pomona and applies to both. 
Stepping back from my recommendation on AM versus PM travel. The Radisson on Fig is very nice with expert service.
Typically when I visit the Claremont Colleges it is for a midday business meeting or lunch with a student and I just take the San Bernardino Metrolink line out and back. Then I Uber it to LAX.
I have given up on car rentals and driving in LA in the past couple of years. Too time consuming and expensive.
Yes the ice cream at Augies. Is not too far but might not fit time wise: Univ of Redlands. Years ago a CC student found a good fit when merit aid at USD wasn’t enough. Our son almost lived at Redlands Augies (original) as a student.
@sherpa unless there is an accident it won’t add more than 30 mins, unless the OP is leaving really late at night. 8 pm there will still be some traffic going out of LA to Pomona.
@ACollegeFan It’s individual preference of course, but if you are uncomfortable night driving, again, it’s only 40 miles. (think about it - even if you were driving 20 miles an hour the whole way, you’re only going to take 2 hrs. and it won’t be that slow the whole way.)
It would take a real accident at the wrong spot to mess you up too bad. There are a number of places (605, some decent sized surface street cutthroughs) to get between the 10 and 60 if you got stuck with an accident. The worst it will add is an hour. Most likely it will be an hour and 45 in the morning versus an hour and 10 or so at night.
If it was me, I’d do it at night, just 'cause I don’t mind night driving, but I wouldn’t freak out too much if I had to do it in the morning. If you have a 9 am tour, leave by 6:30 am and you’ll have plenty of time to find it. park, probably stop for coffee etc.
@lamom, there is an Augies in the Claremont village.
Sorry for the confusion. I first mentioned the Augies in Claremont since OP would be there. Original Augies is in Redlands, they are also now in Riverside and Temecula. The first time I went (Redlands) I ordered 3 drinks and price was so low compared to Starbucks I said " but I ordered 3 drinks". I couldn’t believe the lower cost.
Thanks everyone for the great advice. I think I’ll probably make the night drive. I’m sure I can find a hotel near USC, if I’m just not feeling up to it that night.
The Claremont Colleges are her first choice right now. She had great interviews with alumni and they were so enthusiastic. @intparent She’s already applied to Scripps and Pomona. I’ll be disappointed if she doesn’t like them!
@blueskies2day We will make the trip to Coronado. We will have the most time in San Diego because we are only visiting one school there. I told her that USD was very near her fathers new office, which I thought was a selling point, she did not agree.
@ACollegeFan if you’re worried about a USC hotel, check the Radisson cancellation policy. Many hotels are 24 hrs. and some are same day so if you’re organized, you can always book now and decide once you land. (Also, if you can stomach the price, the “big” hotels downtown will almost always have rooms are reasonably close.) The night drive really won’t be bad - 10 and 60 are reasonably OK freeways - but I do know some folks (my mom, for instance, who has no problem driving the Jersey TP or Garden State at 10 pm) who don’t like to drive LA freeways at night.
Be sure, though, that either plan is 100% feasible. And if you go in expecting/thinking the drive is 2hrs, no matter what time of day, you have a decent chance of being pleasantly surprised. Have fun! Hope the snow stays but the rain stop while you’re here. We are having an unusually wet winter. Good for us, bad for visitors!
Augies is the coffee shop, the ice cream place is called a la minute. They’re both housed in the same location, though. A la minute is really good, though a bit pricey for what they give you! There’s also Bert & Rockies, Yogurtland, and 21 Choices for other ice cream options.
For good eats, my favorites in the Claremont Village are Eureka Burger, the daily sandwiches at the Cheese Cave, and the Junction (mex-korean fusion).
And yes- the Claremont Colleges are ghostly quiet no matter what time of the year it is, maybe save opening week and graduation. It’s the same for most liberal art colleges. Keep in mind that we have some 6000 students for a contiguous campus the size of USC, whereas USC has 8 times as many people and researchers/post-docs/visitors/etc. A lot of people who visit take it to mean that there aren’t things to do or people to interact with, which is far from the real experience. But some may prefer a busier, more active campus dynamic.
If she’s curious to see the other campuses in SD, she can drive interstate 8 Eastbound and check out SDSU. If she wants to see UCSD. You can drive up the I-5. Point Loma Nazarene has a nice campus.
We got back from our trip last night and I thought I would update for any future travelers -
Tuesday- Flew in to LAX and stayed at the Jamaica Bay Inn at Marina Del Rey. This hotel was a mistake. I went against CC advice and found this one on my own. Too expensive and not a great place for a first CA impression.
Wednesday - Admission Session and Tour at Loyola Marymount University. We were the only ones there. The admission session was kind of a bust because the power point didn’t work and the admin official admitted he couldn’t remember what to say! Disappointing to say the least. However, we went on the tour and the student guide was fantastic. Beautiful school and lots of happy students were out and about. Impressed by their proximity to Silicon Beach, which they touted as their #1 employer. Next stop was University of Southern California that afternoon - All I can say was it was amazing. Tour ended at 4:30, and again going against CC advice, we got in the car to drive to Claremont. Ha Ha! Close to 3 hours later we pulled into the Double Tree. This hotel was great - thank you CC.
Thursday - Attended admission sessions and tours for Pomona and Scripps. I loved the town of Claremont and the college grounds. Beautiful schools with mountain views. The Pomona admin session was painfully boring. We decided against the tour. Should have gone, I know, but honestly she’s probably not getting in there anyway. At Scripps we were again the only participants. The info session and tour were interesting. However, we didn’t see any students out and about. We kept asking where is everyone? Answer was they stay in their rooms. This ultimately led my D to cross off Scripps from her list. Prior to our trip, Pomona and Scripps were at the top of her list, by the end of the day they weren’t on the list!
Friday - Drove to Orange to visit Chapman University. My D was impressed by the school. However, we are concerned about the quality of their comp science department. No one there that day was able to answer our questions. Loved the town of Orange. We stayed at the Aryes Orange Hotel and it was great. Ate lunch at the Filling Station -YUM. Thanks again CC!
Saturday - Drove down to San Diego and visited University of San Diego. Beautiful campus. Decent tour and info session. D was more impressed than I was, but I kept my opinion (mostly) to myself. Stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn at Old Town. Hotel was fine, but it was a little too close to some sketchy areas for me.
Sunday - Flew home. Thanks to everyone for your help in planning this adventure!
D2 and I did a very similar trip last spring. Trip order was this: LAX-MarinaDelRay-Chapman-Redlands-Scripps-Oxy-LAX. We thought the LA area was great, except for the traffic. Lots of options… beach, mountains, city life. D2 crossed off Scripps for similar reasons. Redlands may be too far out of town for her tastes.
Of the colleges D2 visited on this trip, she’s applied to Oxy, Redlands, and Chapman. Still waiting to hear from Oxy and Chapman.
Good luck to your D! @acollegefan
Thank you @dadof1 good luck to your D2 too!
Glad you were able to make a visit to our part of the country! Sorry about the trip to the Scripps Colleges. My middle daughter also thought Scripps would work for her in 2012; same thing, no one outside. When my other two went for visits they wouldn’t get out of the car.
I went to USD for undergrad. My problem was that there were no central grocery stores nor activities nearby and you really have to have a car.
Just a comment about the “no one outside” observation. My D goes to Pomona. The class schedules at the 5c’s are all synced to make cross-registration easy. Classes tend to run, for example, 8-8:50, then 9:00-10:50, then 11:00-12:15, then classes start up again at 1:15 pm. So between :12:15-1:15 pm you would definitely see a lot of activity around the dining halls. But there’s just no way the 5 C’s or any small school is going to have the constant hustle and bustle of activity that you would find at a big school.
When my D was touring schools we visited UCLA and I remember standing in the student union and feeling like I was at the airport. Some people want that kind of buzz of constant activity and the Claremonts would not be a good choice. But that doesn’t mean that the students at the Claremont consortium spend all their time indoors by any means. It’s southern California and the sun is almost always shining, so trust me they get out and enjoy it.
I gotta agree with Corinthian. I’ve seen the kids sunbathing on the lawn enjoying the weather. But, yes, relatively speaking it can be kind of quiet. It’s not going to make someone happy if they are looking for the constant flow of people a big university has.