I am a high school senior from Saint Louis, Missouri and I have been accepted to Pepperdine, Santa Clara, and Saint Mary’s college in California. I am having a pretty hard time deciding where I want to go for I believe these are all great schools, and I would like to receive some input from anyone who is reading this.
Here are some things you should know about me
I am majoring in Biology and have an aspiration to get into medical school.
I want small class sizes (I know all of these schools have small class sizes). But more importantly, which school has the best professors in terms of setting you up for success and care about thier students.
I will probably play club lacrosse in college.
I like to consider myself a pretty spiritual person. I come from a Catholic high school.
I want go to a school that is strong in at least one sport or two
I want to be able to have a fun nightlife while in college (LA, San Jose, or San Fran?)
I understand it is important to choose the right school, but I never thought it would be this hard. The number one factor that means the most to me is which school will prepare me for medical school the best. I know all of them have high acceptance rates into medical school but I need more info than that. I enjoy Northern California more than southern which is why Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s appeals to me, but you can’t beat the campus Pepperdine has in Malibu. I am also wondering if reputation is a big deal. Pepperdine seems to be the most prestigious of the 3. I also get a lot of money off from Saint Mary’s (32k+), I haven’t heard from Pepperdine and Santa Clara in terms of merit scholarships yet but I’ll let you guys know when I do. I have till May 1st 2016 to make a decision. If you knowlege about these schools, please let me know what you think. Thank you.
Pepperdine has a gorgeous campus and is super close to LA, so great nightlife. It has a reputation for being preppy and spirited, so it is strong in sports. The proximity to LA also yields several major hospitals for volunteer work and interning, which is essential for medical school. It’s also more religious than SCU; I don’t know about St. Mary’s. I’m from the Bay Area, and I don’t get why you say you like NorCal better than SoCal. There is nothing to do here and it gets stale very fast. I actually live near SCU and it’s a major commuter school. If I were you, I’d pick Pepperdine. But go visit all three and see for yourself!
hmmm, i disagree wtih mdorbust about pepperdine. it’s pretty … but quite isolated. it’s not close to LA at all and the town of Malibu sleeps at night. night-life and LA-life are definitely not reasons to go to school here. if you want to surf, that might tip the scales to Pepperdine.
Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s rank very well in terms of salary after graduation. I know med school is on your horizon but these are some good data points to keep in mind, from payscale (look at the links and observe what other schools these are ranked close to):
i recommend you post your same questions on the forum for each school (but you may have already done that) and ask those folks what they think. They can give you a better feel for what campus life is like, etc.
I agree…having visited Pepperdine last year, I was surprised at how isolated it was. The drive from LA proper takes a significant chunk of time and most of the population along the coast (Hwy 101/1) and Malibu is pretty spread out. If you don’t have a car, you would be pretty stuck.
Thanks for the responses guys, I appreciate it very much hearing all your input. But as of now, I am actually leaning strongly towards Pepperdine. There are a variety of reasons why…
I will have my car all 4 years. I will not be stuck anywhere.
It is more conservative than not. I consider myself this way, so I would be meeting people who share my views.
One of their popular majors is sports medicine, and this is very appealing to me. I might switch from Bio to this, if not I will minor in sports medicine.
I just received all my financial aid packages from all schools and Pepperdine offered a good amount for me, 19k. But Santa Clara offered only 6k, TERRIBLE. All 5 of the private schools I applied to offered at least 16k except Santa Clara. I did some research and they are known to be stingy about financial aid (on the few schools in the country that make you pay the most), this was a huge turn off for me, and made me question the character of the school.
Campus, campus, campus. You can’t beat Pepperdine on this.
I am doing overnights stays and preview days of these schools on the 10th and 11th of April to hash out more questions of have. I will be talking to students, reps, and faculty. After this trip, I will return home and make my decision immediately. I am predicting I will stick with Pepperdine after all of this, but who knows, something could change my mind. I will let you guys know where I choose to go! Thank you!
With your conservatism, I’d strongly suggest Pepperdine. The Bay Area is the total opposite and most institutions here reflect that, even places like St. Mary’s. SCU might as well be secular (and it does not give much aid)–it’s also become an offshoot of Silicon Valley money and direction. St. Mary’s very commuter. My daughter may well end up at Pepperdine as she’s so sick of the Bay Area and its intolerance. She loves SoCal. With a car, getting to Santa Monica, etc is not a problem. There is SO much more to do in SoCal. People talk about SF, but getting in and out of SF is no easier than Los Angeles, and perhaps even harder, having done both of those a lot. Sorry for the rain while you were here!