<p>you seem to know your stuff...
1. do pepperdine students have active social lives?
2.lets talk dorms....size? locale?
3. whats the academic courseload like?
4. how far from the beach/LA/and hollywood?
5. would a gay guy have trouble fitting in at this christian school?
6. how often do students see celebrities?</p>
<p>caliboi
I am just a mom, but we did a lot of research and so I willl do my best to answer your questions!
1. / 4. Yes, but depends what you are looking for, my daughter seems busy and happy. She did join a sorority...different than most schools, no greek houses. They do plan things ie: bowling, parties, formal dances, songfest...a musical competition that they work on in the spring...frats and sororities work together. She also does things with her suitemates and the dorm she is in has ahd bbq's. The beach is a big draw, day and night. (you can see it frm the campus, but really need a car or bus, due to hill. There is also Santa Monica 20 minutes, Hollywood, 30 - 40 minutes. Occassional trips to Santa Barbara, especially Halloween.
2. Dorms...pretty nice freshman and some soph are in the suites 4 rooms up to 8 suitemates with a cental sitting area, and a bathroom with 2 sinks and 2 showers. Small but nice. Common area cleaned by cleaning crew. Nice views either ocean or Mountains. After that are the Towers and Apt. for upperclass and some soph. (go online for more detail)
3. Again for the couseload, check out the website. My D has been pretty happy with her classes...nice sizes...only one "lecture hall" class and that doesn't even compare to the enormous classes at the UC campuses. Teachers very helpful...personal touch. She is challenged, but feels supported.
5. HAHAHA 2 of my daughter's best friends are gay, everytime she meets a cute guy, he turns out to be gay. So yeah...you can fit in! I think there are some who may have different perspectives, but you are gonna find that anywhere. Pepperdine is conservative, but not like southern christian belt.
6. Hahaha again....are you kidding me, are you really from California, because, we don't really care about celebrities!...But here goes, she has seen several at the beach (Tony Danza & ???, one in town in malibu (from LOST). one in Santa Monica (Australia actor, name escapes me). Some other kids have spotted celebs at clubs and supposed Pamela Anderson has run their track. Oh and 2 students are clebs that I know of, a girl from LAGUNA BEACH and a boy from another show. Sorry, not good at remembering who these people are!<br>
So there you go. It really is a beautiful campus and a warm atmosphere, but it is not a super party school.</p>
<p>caliboi:</p>
<p>Pepperdine has actually one of the highest gay populations. Heard this first hand by Chancellor's Runnel's grandson, a current student at Pepperdine.</p>
<p>I'm a current student right now, here's my 2 cents... I've seen two celebrities at Ralphs (David Hasselhoff, whose nephew I've heard plays water polo at Pepperdine, so he comes to some of the games, and Brad Garrett), and I saw David Duchovny at Subway. Ralphs seems to be where a lot of people see celebrities, I know Britney Spears and Brad Pitt have both been seen there. A friend saw Adam Sandler in Santa Monica, someone saw Mathew Perry at the local movie theater, someone else almost ran over Paris Hilton one night... Oh, and I'm not sure who the girl from Laguna Beach is, but Clayton Snyder (Ethan from Lizzie McGuire) is a student here. From what I've heard, Tahj Mowry is a student too, but he's doing an international program right now.</p>
<p>In addition to the common area, the bathroom in the suites is cleaned daily as well.</p>
<p>haha wow those sure are some randomfacts...but thanks! anyone else know of any celebrities; oh and i think the laguna beach girl youre referring to is Kasey. anyone else have comments on gay life here? or just the atmosphere in general?</p>
<p>Occasional celebs go to the basketball games, mostly sports figures (Kobe was at the Gonzaga game last year), but some of the "neighborhood" wanders in. I saw Arsenio Hall twice this year at the games.</p>
<p>Pepperdine has an awesome International Program. Many sophomores study overseas: Europe, South America, China.<br>
They have a great theatre where there are student performances from theater, music, and opera depts. In addition, ther are professional performances scheduled regularly.</p>
<p>As far as the gay life, my perception is that many of these young people come from very strict christian families and get to campus and "come out", so some are struggling with their image at home and their image at school. I think all students go through this to some degree, but I know my D has felt really bad for some of her friends who are struggling with hiding their sexual preference from their families.
Other than that, they do frequent some of the gay dance clubs in Hollywood. That'sw all I've got on that!
You need to visit to find out if it is the place for you.</p>
<p>thanks! also; does pepperdine have an international relations program? thats what im looking at...</p>
<p>In regards to gay life at Pepperdine, the current issue of The Graphic has an article on the Malibu GLEE (Gays, Lesbians and Everyone Else) Club that you might find interesting, here: <a href="http://graphic.pepperdine.edu/news/2007/2007-03-01-gay.htm%5B/url%5D">http://graphic.pepperdine.edu/news/2007/2007-03-01-gay.htm</a></p>
<p>do you think a personal statement about coming out is going to hurt me?</p>
<p>Yes, the people reading your essays are the conservative administration, sorry, but it is a reality.</p>
<p>Even if my application got special recognition for attending their Youth Citizenship Seminar? Only about 200 students are selectively chosen to attend. If so, oh well... not meant to be.</p>
<p>Ok, umm my D ws just sitting with me as she was packing to go back to campus and I read her this thead. She said, big mistake...sorry:(</p>
<p>Haha, don't worry about it. I really don't think Pepperdine is the school for me. Thanks for your thoughts though, they're much appreciated.</p>
<p>isnt pepperdines volleyball team one of the best in the nation? or am i making that up? also; what percentage of tuition does their highest scholarship offer?</p>
<p>just a quick q- are there rules in the dorms like no guys in a girls dorm after 12 pm? because I seem to remember something along those lines when i visited pepperdine 2 years ago, but then there are co-ed dorms so I was just wondering ! thanks!</p>
<p>caliboi1313 - Our men's volleyball team won the national championship not too long ago (2 years I think), and recently was ranked number 1 (not sure if that's changed in the past few weeks). The highest academic scholarship is 20k a year, and tuition will be 34,580 next year, so that's almost 58%.</p>
<p>divitiara - Guys have to be out of girls' rooms, and vice versa, by 1 am, and out of the dorm's lobby by 2 am. And I'm nearly positive that there aren't any co-ed dorms. I don't know exactly how upperclass living works, but I know freshman housing isn't co-ed at all.</p>
<p>do you find these rules to be a pain or do you not notice them? also do you find a lot to do in malibu? thanks for your reply</p>
<p>HAHAHA. I think my first rejection letter is coming tomorrow. I just got a notice saying my decision was mailed.</p>
<p>Let's see if my personal statement really did hurt me, because I'm pretty sure I'm academically eligible.</p>
<p>I don't really notice them. For people who want to still hang out somewhere together after 2 am, the HAWC is open 24 hours, so they tend to go there (it's the student center, there's some tables and couches there, a tv, ping-pong and pool tables).</p>
<p>There's honestly not a whole lot to do in Malibu itself. When we go out, it's usually to the local frozen yogurt place (where virtually everytime we see fellow Pepperdine students), and we've gone to the beach a few times. The local movie theater only recently reopened, and I've been there once (it has 2 screens). Whatever we do, most of the fun comes from the people I'm with and just hanging out together.</p>
<p>The volleyball team is ranked #1 in the nation right now with a 13 game winning streak. They are pretty awesome! </p>
<p>Yes their is a rule about opposite sex visitors after a certain time in the dorms. Some dorms have no limits in the lounges. The freshman/soph halls are not coed. The towers for soph/juniors have single sex wings. The apts. on campus have coed floors but not rooms. These are for juniors and seniors.</p>
<p>After you have lived in dorms, you will find that the rule isn't so bad, especially if your roommate wants to have guys over all the time! Dorm rooms are small and it can really cramp your privacy.</p>