<p>A liitle OT, but being as I've been on the cheapsites all aA.M. trying to find airfare to the Claremonts, would either of you like to elaborate on why Claremont schools were viewed in such a negative way by your kids?</p>
<p>With engineering programs there is very little room for exploration or free time of any sort. The first year or two are full of difficult math and scinece which causes many students to switch majors. I would look carefully at the engineering admissions requirements, they are typically significantly higher than the general population and may even be divided into subsets, mechanical engineering, civil engineering etc. I would also look at the engineering retention rates. Also make sure she discusses the feasibility of music participation with the engineering faculty as well as the music faculty. Just because she is allowed to doesn't mean that she will find it feasible.</p>
<p>c-mudge:</p>
<p>in our case, we have friends who live in Claremont, so we we spent the 4th of July with them. 1) All schools closed in summer, so nothing to see. 2) It was a holiday, so nothing open, and no one around. 3) It as a cool 104....which is HOT for these parts, and our friends don't have a/c, so it was a LONG day. 4) S really wants to "go away" to college, but says its too close to home. Just BAD timing, IMO.</p>
<p>OTOH, I've been out there in Jan for meetings at the grad school, and I will say when it was 75 degrees, and kids walking in shorts in the evenings, it looked (to me) like a great place to go to school. Son's GC recommends he tour in Sept when kids school is in session.</p>
<p>D of BlueSon's advisement teacher is starting as a Frosh this year, and is extremely excited. She also checked out the usual LAC suspects in the midwest (family from Ohio) and east, but chose Scripps. I'll see if I can get an early report from her mom after Frosh check-in.</p>
<p>If Southwest Air is nearby, they usually have great rates into John Wayne (35 miles from campus), or Ontario (~5 miles from campus). Other cheap airlines into town is AmericaWest thru Phoenix (of course).</p>
<p>cur- also OT, but I can understand how the Claremonts can be viewed negatively. Remember the hilarious post a few months ago where a kid described the campus buildings (one of the schools) as being designed by the same guy who did the restrooms along the beach bike trail? The kid said he saw 10 kids (the SAME ten kids) on each campus. It was a funny post.
That said, one of S's good friends is heading to Pomona and chose it over a lot of top schools, including Williams and Davidson. She felt that it offered a lot more than Davidson, and simply did not want cold weather (another Texan).</p>
<p>104 is hot anywhere, blue. I think I may be smart and head her north instead of LA way. Since I like Scripps, I want her to see it at it's best. I figured August wouldn't be it but.....104 AND the smog? Gee.</p>
<p>MOWC , I do remember and it was hilarious. It was the similarities between HMC architecture and the state toilet facilities, right?</p>
<p><strong><em>Sorry. Back to our regularly scheduled posting.</em></strong>****</p>
<p>August will be miserably hot, and September not much better, especially with the Santa Ana winds. Late fall is far better.</p>
<p>JetBlue flies into Long Beach, I think. Might be an option.</p>
<p>NOW back to the regularly scheduled programming...</p>
<p>the Mudd buildings are definitely butt-ugly, particularly for a private school. Remind me more of Devry Institute.</p>
<p>now, let's all get back to Thumper's post. LOL</p>
<p>Thumper, S's Jesuit HS sends several kids each year to Santa Clara. It's highly thought of. I think the Jesuit education philosophy is amazing. I disagree with the poster who said she should consider more reaches. Respectfully, I ask...why? If she loves Santa Clara and it's a good fit, go for it, especially because it has EA! S felt the same way about BU.</p>
<p>This is different for me with DD than it was with DS. With my son ALL of his colleges were number one on his list at some point in his search. Before his applications went out, he really hadn't "ranked" his choices. With DD...she is VERY sure that Santa Clara is number one. Re: more reaches...she is not the risk taker in this family. She would prefer to apply to "reachable" schools than apply to schools with a lottery flavor. Her reach (Lafayette) IS a reach...but it's not totally impossible like say, Stanford or Yale would be for her. Also, she feels strongly that one reach is enough, and that five (maybe six applications) is plenty. She has friends applying to more than a dozen schools and she thinks they are nuts.</p>
<p>fwiw:</p>
<p>a neighbor's D is at Santa Clara law school, and just loves it. She has a PT job working with the undergrads and thinks highly of them. She's Jewish, btw, and feel extremely comfortable there.</p>
<p>I have a friend studying music at Santa Clara (piano and/or harp, I believe; she's also double-majoring in accounting), and she loves it!</p>
<p>thumper1 - as you know, S also looked at SClara. H and I pushed it as H believes (and knows) that Silicon Valley is a great location for budding engineer. SCl is also a great school for anyone whoe might veer away from Engineering after a semester or three. Can't beat the Jesuit education.</p>
<p>No one has mentioned, but I think (altho can't prove) that geography will be a nice plus for you. S was heavily "recruited" for Santa Clara- he did have higher SAT/GPA and is a male, but I still think geography was part of it; female and engineering may be a plus.</p>
<p>Re not iding engineering as field in your app - at SClara, this raises another complication, as they are female heavy on their ratio and want to up the male %. So, as a female, targetting engineering <em>may</em> be a plus.</p>
<p>At this point, altho I hate to see someone focus their life on testing, getting those SAT's up could be very valuable.</p>
<p>OP's class rank looks pretty darn good, too. Is it a tough grading school - 8/191 is quite high, so maybe the GPA is "underinflated?"</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Is it a tough grading school - 8/191 is quite high, so maybe the GPA is "underinflated?">></p> </blockquote>
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<p>If you are taking honors and AP courses, the grades are NOT inflated. DD has worked very hard for her GPA and class rank, taking as aggressive a courseload as they offer (and she can get in her schedule at a smallish school...that's another story). Let's put it this way....she's 8/191 and her weighted GPA is 3.85. I believe there is only one student in the class with close to a 4.0 and NONE who have a 4.0. The top decile of students are taking honors and AP courses which are rigorous. This is not a prestige school...just your basic little semirural/suburban high school. They have only sent TWO other youngsters to CA to college in the last 10 years (one to Pepperdine, the other to Occidental). The GC hasn't heard of most CA schools...I can't believe he'll be any help at all.</p>