Pomona v. Scripps w/scholarship--need advice

Parents Forum
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<p>Sierra,</p>

<p>D considered applying to Claremont McKenna in addition to Pomona but decided to put all her eggs in one basket with her ED app to Pomona. She felt that if she didn't get into Pomona, she didn't want to be on the same campus wishing that she had been accepted. I sense that you may be feeling tinges of those same feelings.</p>

<p>Scripps is definitely a great school, but if your heart is with Pomona, then you need to follow it. It's more a question of whether you follow your dream and less of weighing prestige against debt.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Thanks to everyone's who posted so far. Your comments have been very helpful! The time everyone takes to help out a total stranger on this board is amazing. </p>

<p>Mini's & AmeliaPeabody's comments stood out especially--
It's really a question of debt after school. If life ended after Pomona, I'd go to Pomona. But I'm worried that the amount of debt I'd have to take out after going to Pomona would limit from going after what I wanted if that was a lower-paying job/career. Going into major debt for a "dream school", as one parent posted on this forum at some point...can limit your "dream life." =/ </p>

<p>(About prestige, Ima, I thought about it the opposite way. Because both Pomona and Scripps are relatively unkown, Pomona doesn't really give a significant boost in terms of name recongition & getting a job in the way, say...Stanford or Berkely or some Ivy League here would.) </p>

<p>So I am...currently leaning towards Scripps. (You have a point, Little Mother, I <em>was</em> worried about having Pomona right next to Scripps, since usually you can forget all about the other schools you didn't go to- not the same with the 5C's. But I figured that once I go somewhere, I should end up liking it and it shouldn't matter after the first weeks if I go in with the right attitude....if I go for Scripps it is beacuse I also love Scripps for a bunch of reasons.) </p>

<p>I made a list to sort everything out. Pomona & Scripps both have "things I want that come with LAC's"-- small classes, good advising, community, etc. And they're both part of the 5C's=expanded options, Claremont Hillel, etc.</p>

<p>Pomona wins on points of being coed, the biggest of the 5Cs, more diverse, more prestige (prestige=easier to get jobs after college, not that I care about prestige per se), possible semester at Swarthmore (other favorite school, waitlisted), and being "the dream school." </p>

<p>Scripps wins on music program (and I'm thinking of a minor or maybe major), the pluses that come with a women's college, less alchohol in the social scene, gorgeous looks-like-paradise campus, dorms--not just pretty dorms, but I've been contemplating the pluses of women's dorms, good food, less debt. </p>

<p>And I go off to deliberate....</p>

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<p>Sierra: As you likely know, the entire Claremont consortium really plays out much like one larger Oxford-style campus. So you will find considerable "diversity" in virtually all your social activities, as well as a sizable proportion of your academic activities, due to cross-registration (especially if you take any sciences thru the Joint Science Center).</p>

<p>Having toured a few of the top New England women's colleges, our daughter originally did not think she was interested in that "less diverse" environment. But then she found Scripps to be a perfect match for her: all the benefits of a top women's college (excellent highly-regarded academics, strong nurturing/supportive community, quieter dorms, leadership options, post-college network, etc.), without the usual isolation drawbacks (the guys are right across the street, unlike at any other top women’s college). Scripps just “felt right” to her. Pomona and Harvey Mudd (her other Claremont acceptances) just didn’t generate that same tingling “This Is The Place” feeling.</p>

<p>Money-wise, with JES Merit and National Merit $$, Scripps works out for us to be about $6K less expensive per year than Pomona or HM, but we think even without the cost difference her decision would have been Scripps.</p>

<p>Very best wishes to you...</p>