@BekahMitts_ and @disney4cam - I have no idea when the reception is this year, sorry! I seem to recall it being end of March or early April? I personally did not go to the reception and I can’t remember the exact dates, but I know that we had a few weeks in between decisions and the reception. I heard from others that the reception was fun, but it’s definitely not necessary. Good luck to you both!
I looked on the school calendar and the Malibu reception is listed on 4/6. Is the reception worth attending? Does it help in finalizing a decision?
@disney4cam It depends on how sure you are that you want to go to Pepperdine…I didn’t go because I already knew I wanted to go there 100%. If you’re on the fence or have never actually been to the school, it would probably be helpful to go.
Thanks @coco55
It’s actually for my daughter. We did visit and she loved it, but there were a few things we wanted to revisit (pre-professional studies, convocation). As of now it’s her top choice, but unless she gets substantial merit aid, we can’t afford it. Plus LMU has moved up a bit for her, so we thought about revisiting at the same time (same concern about merit aid, too)
So, you are happy there? I appreciate your feedback above. My biggest is worry is the religious aspect. We are Catholic and I wonder if that will be a challenge.
@disney4cam I hope things work out for your daughter! I love Pepperdine. I’m not a Christian by any means and I will admit that the religious aspect (convocation, specifically) can get to be a bit much. Convocation can be a bit “preachy” (in my opinion at least), but I want to study Religion in grad school, so I take each event with a grain of salt and learn what I can from them. I do know that there is a pretty reasonably sized Catholic population on campus, though! If I’m not mistaken, I think they hold some Catholic services as convocation events.
I was wondering what tips you have on getting accepted into Pepperdine as an out of state student? I scored a 1220 on the sat and have several extra curriculars but I just want to know what will really influence the admissions office to accept me?
@coco55 Catholics are Christians.
@cathtakescollege Not to speak for coco55, but even though Catholics are Christians, it is very different. Sitting through that worship session at admitted students day was a different experience. lol
@cathtakescollege Not to speak for coco55, but even though Catholics are Christians, it is very different. Sitting through that worship session at admitted students day was a different experience. lol
No I know. It’s just a pet peeve of mine that’s all. There are lots of Protestants at my school that always make things up about Catholics (ie. we worship Mary and the Saints even though all we do is ask them to pray for us) and claim we aren’t Christians because of it.
@cathtakescollege Oh, okay, so you are Catholic? I thought you were Church of Christ for some reason.
Good luck to you at Pepperdine! My daughter is pretty excited. From the moment she set foot on that campus, I think her mind was made up. 
Oh, I know that Catholics are Christians. But you should know that at Pepperdine, the Catholic community is entirely separate and considered very very different from the Church of Christ or other Christian kids.
@autumnspring Be very involved in meaningful ways! Don’t do a thousand extra curriculars that are all bs. Do a few things you’re very passionate about, and do them well. Make sure that passion shows in your essays. Also be active in your faith community if you have one, but don’t fake it if you’re not religious.
@coco55 and @fayellen We are not planning to send our daughter with a car for the first year. How far does the shuttle take you off campus? How much does it cost to get to the airport? Do kids carpool to the airport usually? Are campus jobs pretty available? How much spending does a typical student need for spending money? I’m not talking about the kids whose parents are paying sticker price. lol I mean for those of us barely able to afford tuition. I am hoping her job will be enough and I will only have to pay for Pepperdine itself.
Thanks!
@disney4cam I didn’t have a car my freshman year and I honestly never used the shuttle, so I’m not entirely sure exactly where it goes. As long as your daughter makes some friends who have cars (and odds are she will), she’ll be just fine. I found I didn’t have much time to go off campus anyway so I would just catch rides with friends when I needed to. I took private shuttles to the airport if I ever needed it, and I know that some students split ubers too to get to the airport.
And I’ve had no problem finding jobs! Tell your daughter to be proactive in looking for work and pick something she likes, there are plenty of options. In general, I would say the money she makes at her job should be enough for spending money (especially since she won’t have a car so she won’t be paying for gas) but it honestly depends on what she likes to do and who she hangs out with. If she ends up with rich friends who like to go out to eat at nice restaurants and shop, she’ll obviously have a harder time than if she likes to party or if she likes cheaper or free activities, like beach trips and ice cream outings.
@disney4cam I always take the shuttle around campus, and the ones on campus only loop around the campus (including the graduate campuses) while there is a shopping shuttle that will, at certain times, go to the nearby shopping center (here is a link to information on both of those: https://community.pepperdine.edu/businessservices/transit/schedule.htm). I do not have a car and I admit it is very difficult because I like to get out and explore, but many, many people bring cars and are more than willing to drive you places. Lyft is also a good tool, it is normally cheaper than uber and they come faster to Pepperdine. There is a lot of carpooling to the airport, an uber ride can be around $50 alone.
As far as jobs, there are tons of on campus jobs through Handshake, though most are for work study recipients (which is a LOT of students). Just start applying the first couple weeks of school. You have to be very mindful when it comes to spending money, because it can be so easy to pay for an uber, go to dinner and pay, go shopping and pay, go buy groceries, etc., so using meal points for food on campus, driving with friends, being frugal with shopping etc. are all ways to combat this (though there is definitely a culture of going and doing fun things on the weekend that always cost money). I most definitely could not afford the Pepperdine sticker price, and even with the Regents’ scholarship I have loans (not necessarily wise but to each their own) and only went home for Christmas, things like that to save money, so I know exactly where you are coming from.
@autumnspring From my experience as an out of state student, there really is no specific preference because it is not a public school so they do not need to cater to California students as their first priority - about 50% of students are in state, and that is mostly because statistically more Californians apply since they may want to be closer to home or they have heard of Pepperdine at all. Your chances are very holistic - if you have the best test scores and no EC activities (or volunteer experience! they are big on that) then they do not necessarily feel you are the best fit for the campus. Of course it is a competitive school with a 35% acceptance rate for fall 2018, so academics are a priority, but not the only one. I am a Regents’ scholar, which is top 10% based ONLY on academics after consideration of my extra curriculars, essays, etc., and I had a 33 ACT, 4.0 GPA, 7 APs, top public high school, etc., so the other 90% of students accepted had less “impressive” statistics and were still given substantial aid or, at the very least, acceptance! (:
@coco55 and @fayellen Thanks for the info. The shuttle seems pretty limited. I expect her to want her car there sooner rather than later. I heard (through some girl’s youtube video) that parking is pretty bad, though.
My daughter is pretty good with money, so I don’t see her going to crazy on spending. I just wanted to make sure it was reasonable to expect her to be able to cover spending money with a job. I also don’t want her to compromise her studies trying to work more hours to spend more.
@disney4cam Parking is absolutely awful. However, it will be better for your daughter if she lives on campus and only moves her car a few times a week as opposed to commuting to campus every day (which she may do eventually if she moves off campus junior or senior year).