Pitzer--the good and the bad

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pitzer College
1

<p>My daughter is a junior at Pitzer. There are some good things and some not so good things about the school</p>

<p>People: The best aspect for her has been the people and the social scene. She feels that she has found a lot of like-minded people with whom she's become friends, and that although there seem to be a lot of rich kids at the school, she's found a diverse mix of friends. She also loves the fact that her identity is a Pitzer student, but she has friends at all the 5Cs. She would never have chosen Pitzer if it weren't connected to the other schools--it would have felt too small and claustrophobic.</p>

<p>Speaking of the social scene, there is a lot of drug use and a wide variety of drugs easily available. Our daughter tried various things, but by the end of her sophomore year, she felt like she was done. What was tough was finding social settings where drugs were NOT used. She also had to break with some friends because the basis for all the activities was drugs, and she was tired of it.</p>

<p>Academics: The worst part has been the academics. She has found that the 5-6 classes at Pitzer that she's taken have been way too easy (more like 9th and 10th grade high school classes) and the professors expect very little (but were very nice). Luckily, Pitzer kids can take classes at all the 5C's, so most of the classes she's been taking have been at Claremont and Pomona. She said she would have transferred after her freshman year if she was stuck with only being able to take Pitzer classes. Horrifying as a parent to think about tuition dollars being paid for sub-par classes.</p>

<p>People and staff in general are extremely friendly, but some offices are pretty incompetent:</p>

<p>Financial Aid Office: All three years the financial aid people have lost or misplaced various documents, sent panicked emails, and delayed financial aid awards. It all gets worked out eventually, but causes lots of stress for us and for her. Also, what everyone says about Pitzer is true--financial aid awards are low and don't cover need. We have another daughter who will be graduating from an Ivy League school; our cost has ended up being the same as what it would have cost if she had gone to our in-state university. I know Pitzer doesn't have the kind of endowment that an Ivy League has, but that's not comforting when we write the tuition check.</p>

<p>Study Abroad: Pitzer really touts the quality of its study abroad programs, but do your homework. My daughter and her friends went to the presentations, which sounded amazing, but then talked to many current and former participants in the Spanish-speaking programs and in Botswana. All reported boredom, not enough planned activities, poor organization, and directors of the programs in the countries quitting in the middle of the program. You must talk to a lot of participants before signing up. The second issue was that two friends could not go to the program of their choice because the study abroad office mismanaged their paperwork and submitted it late. My advice for parents: Let your kids handle all the administrative details of learning about and applying for study abroad (they are college students after all and you don't want to be a helicopter parent), but have your kids cc you on emails so that you have a sense of what is happening and can step in quickly if needed. </p>

<p>I'm not trying to scare anyone away. Just want to say that it's a mixed bag.</p>

2

<p>Hey guys,
I’m currently a sophomore here at Pitzer and while I appreciate j2slmk input, I feel it necessary to intervene a bit before some misconceptions arise.
I definitely share her sentiments regarding the people and social scene: at Pitzer I have come across some of the most genuine and happiest individuals which fosters a wonderful sense of community here. That really shouldn’t be taken for granted because ultimately your college experience is really determined with how happy you can be for the four years you attend.
I’d have to disagree slightly however, with your stance on drug use. </p>

<p>*While Pitzer admittedly partakes in its share of drug use, I would never classify it as excessive based on the experience I’ve had visiting friends at other schools and the stories I’ve heard of their respective undergraduate social scene. Rarely do you see a flood of drunk/drugged people completely blacked out outside their dorms or causing any kind of belligerence when other people are attempting to sleep. The social scene in that sense is very relaxed and is the former is much more present at some of the neighboring schools like cmc. I actually play a club sport where the majority of the players are cmc students, and I’d argue drug use is much more prevelant there but isn’t as vocally commented on because of the already heavy alcohol use around campus. (no hate on cmc, great school! just some observations) In addition to that, I know people from all the 5Cs including myself who don’t drink or do drugs while in season, but continue to go out most weekends and have fun. </p>

<p>Academics: I’m also going to have to disagree with you on this issue. The three Pitzer classes I’m currently taking are absolutely kicking my butt. Sure there are breeze through classes I’ve taken, just like there are at every college. Just look through rate my professors!
There is no reason to question your tuition dollars on our courses. Pitzer also fosters a great intellectual community that isn’t quite as in your face as Pomona or Uchicago but one where engaging conversations are still abound.</p>

<p>Financial Aid: Their office is one of the most unfriendly and yes, pretty incompetent at times. But not generous??? I’m paying close to nothing each year (actually about 5-6K) and some of my best friends would not have been able to attend where it not for Pitzer’s financial aid. Please don’t claim remarks like “they don’t cover need” when this is just blatantly false.</p>

<p>Study Abroad: Still not sure where I want to go and have only visited their office a few times, so can’t really comment here except I do know people who went on Pitzer programs like Ecuador and Nepal and they loved it.</p>

<p>***Who wouldn’t like it here: You’re completely right in claiming that Pitzer is a mixed bag and not right for everybody. No school is. I don’t want to make generalizations, but the people who I personally know (again not everyone) who are not having the best time are some athletes and those who were expecting a kind of rowdy UCSB-ish type school. From experience, athletes are not as academically supported or as socially revered at Pitzer as they are at other schools. And as expressed before, Pitzer does not have the same social environment as CMC which some people might have been hoping for</p>

3

<p>j2slmk, what is your daughter’s field of study? My daughter is a Freshman taking two lab sciences and Intro Spanish (new language for her) in addition to the Freshman seminar and she says feels sufficiently challenged. Of course, the Chem and Bio classes are the same as a student from CMC or Scripps would take.</p>

4

<p>She’s an anthropology major; however, the Pitzer classes she found so easy were not in that field. They were in other social sciences.</p>

5

<p>yep! anthro classes have been great. Just to not seem one sided, many of the social science offerings are great and if you’re passionate about pursuing social issues Pitzer is obviously a great choice
Not the best offerings or place to be however, if you’re a techie (Mudd if of course your best bet for that.
I was also disappointed with the distance to LA and all the music/entertainment resources that come with going to school closer to it, like oxy or usc.</p>

6

<p>j2slmk,</p>

<p>As a recent graduate of Pitzer, I also find it necessary to add to your comments. While I think that your daughter’s feelings are valid, I would note that some of these issues occur at many different colleges, not that they should at Pitzer.</p>

<p>As for people, Pitzer is really a mixed bag. I like to characterize Pitzer in this way: at every college, you have your various sub-groups. Some people are into sports, music, partying, and, yes, drugs. At a larger college, it’s easy to stay within a homogeneous group of people–as a athlete, you may never run into the kids who do drugs. At Pitzer, as it’s a small community, everyone really does know everyone (to some extent) and everything is on the table. That said, I think it’s easy to find friends who fit to your liking one way or another. I would agree that being within the larger community of the 5Cs also helps. </p>

<p>Academics: This is something that I think you’ll find at many schools. Matter of fact, different disciplines are more rigorous at times than others, depending on one’s skillset. I would agree that there are some ridiculously easy classes and/or professors at Pitzer, but there are also classes that require an incredible amount of work. This is true of even the most rigorous colleges–professors choose how to create their syllabus, and to some extent it’s on the student to pick their classes wisely. Additionally, I’m skeptical of “ease” being a good way to evaluate a course. For example, if a course has very few graded assignments but a heavy reading load and participation expectation, the course may be very easy to get a good grade in, but if one truly follows the syllabus and participates actively, they can learn a lot. So, how do you define sub-par? Is it that professors are truly bad, or just that the classes aren’t hard enough? </p>

<p>Financial Aid: I’ll agree, it’s a problem. The former director of financial aid was absolutely terrible to many people. Pitzer also went through a period last summer where it had no financial aid director, which led to many paperwork errors. I’ve heard through the grapevine that things are getting better, but I’m skeptical. </p>

<p>Study Abroad: I still think that study abroad at Pitzer is a strength, but it’s true that the programs are a mixed bag. As for someone complaining that Botswana had a lot of boredom or not a lot of planned activities, I might say that this is what many developing countries are like. No joke, ask a peace corps volunteer about working in a developing country–there’s a lot of waiting around. That said, there are some not-so-great staffers in the Study Abroad office, so it is important to stay on top of them during the process. The experience, in the end, however, can be really rewarding. </p>

<p>So, to sum up, I would agree with the OPs finding that Pitzer is a mixed bag, but add that with some of these it’s not good to generalize.</p>