<p>S and DH visited Pomona, Occidental and Redlands this weekend. S said he could see himself at any of these colleges, but I think his preference was Occidental!!</p>
<p>Anyway, of all the schools on his list, we probably know the least about Occidental. All we know is what we've read on their website and in their Viewbook. Oh, and I've heard it is one of the most diverse LACs.</p>
<p>Besides being a top 30 LAC, what is OXY "known" for? What makes it special?</p>
<p>Occidental is a great school, with very strong academics and a growing national reputation. It's a very supportive school, with lots of faculty-student interaction. It has particular strengths in the sciences and social sciences, but also has a very strong English department, which I know is your son's interest. They would, I suspect, be very interested in your son from what you've mentioned about his background and stats. It would be a wonderful choice for him in my opinion. If he liked Oxy, he has very good taste in schools.</p>
<p>I am from San Francisco and loved Occidental when I did my college searching in Southern California for Spring break as a junior in High School. I also looked at Claremont-Mckenna (however you spell it) and USC. Occidental's campus was really lovely. I was really drawn to the greek architecture and close proximity between everything. So I applied to Occidental and USC.</p>
<p>During senior year I took another trip to Socal for the admitted students events at both Occidental and USC. When I went to Occidental for the second time I was less enchanted. In fact, I was bored by the people there. I still liked the smallness of the campus, but I got a closer look at the students and those admitted. Everyone was really boring, lame, and ugly. I could perceive no social life whatsoever. The school is still excellent. You will get into a good grad school after if you wish and the Columbia law school partnership with Occidental is a great opportunity for students. I am glad I had a second chance to visit Occidental because it was not for me.</p>
<p>Oxy is special because...well, I don't know. It has a good liberal arts reputation. The campus is quaint. I definitely found in to be better than Claremont.</p>
<p>I'm an Oxy alum, class of '72, so I may be a little out of date. I do however get the alumni journal and the LA times. I'll try to go by category</p>
<p>Sciences: Traditionally strong in Biology. Many premeds. Chemistry coming on strong with new facilities. One univ. Chem Prof in my class. Physics doing well also</p>
<p>Liberal Arts: English is the traditional power house. I can't speak fo rthe situation now. At Alumni day I sat in on some classes in Soc/Anthr that were very interesting.</p>
<p>Performing Arts: traditionally Choral Singing and Drama. Many movies shot on campus (Pat and Mike; Star Trek) It's interesting to have been an undergraduate there when watching some movies. The director may chose the front porch of one dorm for the leading lady and man to kiss good night and when the young woman walks through the door she is in a completely different dorm, because the director liked the interior of that dorm better than the one where they kissed good night. My class produced one studio vice president and one Tony award winner. Music is strong. One Opera singer in the class ahead of me. Lots of Choral singers</p>
<p>Sports: Traditionally a track power house. Currently dominating in LAC football. Have had good years in Basketball as well. As there are no athletic scholarships recruiting depends on finding intellectual jocks.</p>
<p>Politics: Very influential in LA. Among Republicans it has produced moderates like Bob Finch and compassionate conservatives like Jack Kemp. Among Dems Obama spent his first two years there. The common theme is service. Very open communications and open debate. Students of every political stripe. Many local politicians are Oxy alums</p>
<p>Summary: a superb LAC experience. Great teachers and a great student body.</p>
<p>FresnoMom,
I just realized that I cross posted with Carolyn and SirWatson. Obviously my opinion is closer to Carolyn's than SirWatson's. PM me your email address and I'll send you a photo and you can judge for yourself if I'm ugly.</p>
<p>Yo triumphe to Mardad (I am also an Oxy alum, '71 and that is an arcane Oxy cheer line authored no doubt when Oxy was originally founded by some Princeton alums (hence the orange and black school colors)....I would echo all of Mardads comments. I have had several friends whose kids have gone in recent years and have heard only positive reports. Definite highs are the multicultural community and community involvement, dedicated faculty that actively develop mentoring relationships with students and help with graduate school connections, and a true liberal arts focus. The campus has a comfortable, protected quality--but you have access to all that makes LA exciting. Academics are strong, athletics are good quality (but not so recruited/exclusive that you can't "start" a sport there). Same with art, theater, and music. Your son will probably have several great options--but the first time I read your posting on him I thought "He'd be a great fit at Oxy." Good luck with the process.</p>
<p>I know one Oxy grad. She went on to grad school at Princeton, so her undergrad education served her pretty well.</p>
<p>Also, there are TWO undefeated college football teams in Los Angeles so far this season: Oxy and some other school. Oxy has a proud football tradition - first fielding a team in 1894, about 35 years before the first time UCLA and USC played each other.</p>
<p>Of those schools, I prefer Oxy as well. It is much, much more diverse than Pomona, which carries over into the classroom itself, and makes much use of that diversity in service learning activities in the local community and beyond. </p>
<p>Now if they only had a women's gymnastics team....</p>
<p>Despite their geographical proximity, there is hardly any overlap between the school bodies at Oxy and Pomona. There is as much commonality between those two as there would be betwen Mt Holyoke and Swarthmore or Smith and Harvard. Among the Claremont schools, only Pitzer might be comparable to Oxy, but it is still a stretch. Simply stated, the schools have to be anazlyzed on their own merits and values, as comparing them is an exercise in futility. </p>
<p>For this reason, it would be pretty easy to pinpoint where and how Oxy does present a good fit for a particular student. As some pointed out in above posts, some might be attracted to the larger diversity quotient, larger number of Pell grantees, or superior commitment to service -whatever that means on an individual basis. Others may look at the resources available to deliver a quality education. </p>
<p>In pure SAT scores, more than 25% of Oxy's student body overlaps with 50% of Pomona's, and 35% of Oxy's student body overlaps with 70% of CMCs. Correct for family income's impact on SAT scores, and the overlap is even greater.</p>
<p>But it is true that neither CMC nor Pomona would accept a large proportion of Oxy's student body. They'd have to offer them too much financial aid. So much for resources....(But, hey, it's their money.)</p>
<p>I agree with Xiggi. The finanical strength and admissions standards put Occidental and Pomona is two different categories. Even the 200 point difference in SAT scores is somewhat misleading because Occidental offers significant merit aid inducements to the top 24% of its freshman class to get their SATs as high as they are.</p>
<p>However, I'm not sure that Xiggi picked the appropriate east coast schools for comparison. Both Mt. Holyoke and Smith have huge endowments and spend heavily on a per student basis -- much more heavily than Occidental. A more apt east coast comparison would probably be schools like Dickinson or Franklin/Marshall or Lafayette compared to Swarthmore or Amherst or Williams.</p>
<p>Occidental has all the earmarks of an excellent school. It would be a very good target for a student with lower than stratospheric "stats" or for a high-stat student looking for a lower-cost merit-discount choice.</p>
<p>But, if a student were accepted to Pomona and Occidental, at close to the same cost, per student spending alone would be a strong reason to select Pomona. Pomona has the second highest per student endowment of any LAC in the country: five times higher than Occidental's.</p>
<p>Occidental certainly has more socio-economic diversity. However, this is not solely the result of "goodness of their heart" as Mini sometimes implies. Socio-economic diversity can be an institutional priority. However, it can also result from the fact that a college can't get as many high-income/high-stat students as they would like. Large merit-aid discounts to middle and upper class students tends to indicate the latter motivation.</p>
<p>In a vacuum, socio-economic diversity doesn't tell you much about a school. For example, community colleges typically have socio-economic diversity.</p>
<p>*In pure SAT scores, more than 25% of Oxy's student body overlaps with 50% of Pomona's, and 35% of Oxy's student body overlaps with 70% of CMCs. Correct for family income's impact on SAT scores, and the overlap is even greater. *</p>
<p>Mini, I do not really understand how you measure your overlaps. What do you mean by 35% of Oxy students overlap with 70% of CMC. That makes no sense at all. No amount of twisting and managing will erase the differences in selectivity between the schools discussed herein. </p>
<p>*But it is true that neither CMC nor Pomona would accept a large proportion of Oxy's student body. They'd have to offer them too much financial aid. So much for resources....(But, hey, it's their money.) *</p>
<p>Well, let me call your statement for what it is: idle speculation on your part:</p>
<ol>
<li>You have ABSOLUTELY no idea if financial aid plays a role in the decision for domestic students at the Claremont Colleges </li>
<li> Implying that students could be rejected by CMC or Pomona but accepted at Oxy for financial aid reasons is pure and unaldulterated BS.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>When you are talking about CMC financial aid and diversity, you constantly fail to check your facts for accuracy and timeliness, especially if they do not support your individual agenda.</p>
<p>I think that what Mini is trying to say is that Pomona and CMC could have a lot more lower SAT students (instead of being stuck with a school full of high SAT/top 10% of their class students), if only they weren't such cheapskates on financial aid!</p>
<p>BTW, it looks like Occidental has started to achieve its goal of enrolling fewer need-based aid students. For the fall of 2004, only 51% of their freshmen qualified for need-based aid, compared to 57% at Pomona. That would be the intent of such a heafty merit-aid strategy.</p>
<p>I-dad, I understand what Mini is TRYING to say. However, that does not make it necessarily true. As far as being cheapskates, I believe I can use my own financial package as proof that CMC is generous to a fault with the students it admits. In addition of being very competitive with scholarships and grants, CMC keeps the amount of loans to a minimum. A difference of $10,000 at graduation is not to be sneered at! </p>
<p>"If I were to apply your standards for "valued" poster, Carolyn would be one of top people on my list for qualifiers. I do not know which post you are referring to, but I am familiar enough with Carolyn's contributions to know that she would never have posted something that would deserve "crucifixion" by anyone.</p>
<p>That said, I have witnessed NUMEROUS incidents in which other either self-proclaimed or other-proclaimed "valuable posters" have engaged in egregiously nasty and arrogant behavior that is then excused by the community for the simple reason that the poster is deemed "valued". </p>
<p>As Carolyn says </p>
<p>Occidental is a great school, with very strong academics and a growing national reputation. It's a very supportive school, with lots of faculty-student interaction. It has particular strengths in the sciences and social sciences, but also has a very strong English department, which I know is your son's interest. They would, I suspect, be very interested in your son from what you've mentioned about his background and stats. It would be a wonderful choice for him in my opinion. If he liked Oxy, he has very good taste in schools."</p>
<p>The past few months have been such an eye opener for me! Just about everyone I know around here applies to 1) City College 2) CSUF or 3) UC. So it's been a huge learning experience getting acquainted with all the various colleges, esp. LACs, out there!</p>
<p>I am not sure where the info about finaid comes from re Pomona or CMC. My S got his best finaid awards from both CMC and Pomona. Some schools such as Emory offered him nothing. Neither of my kids were impressed by their visit to Oxy though I agree it is a great school. I do know that CMC is on a lot of the lists re best fin aid, least debt etc.</p>