<p>Today had I had the extreme luck of getting off the Brandeis wait list. The school that I was accepted at is Scripps. I really like Scripps, but maybe I should go to Brandeis. I just don't know, but they want a decision by Monday. I'm going to try my best to go to Brandeis this weekend to check it out. Unfortunately, since Scripps is over 7 hours away by plane I won't be able to visit. Persuade me, please.</p>
<p>Do you have any questions?
I can tell you a little bit about the Boston area, since I'm from there, though I don't know Brandeis other than as a "Oh, look, there's Brandeis". </p>
<p>My d. is heading to Scripps this fall and we did attend the accepted students program. </p>
<p>Positives about Scripps:
- Beautiful campus, beautiful dorms
- Warm weather
- Academically solid, and the ability to attend classes at other fine schools in the consortium.
- The consortium is real - you can walk from one end of the campuses to another in about 15 minutes. In one presentation, a professor encouraged you to take specific classes at other campuses to follow your interests.
- I like the idea of the Core - my d is an "integrated" thinker, so Scripps in general, and the core in particular, work well for her.
-The seniors we talked to at Scripps were all doing interesting theses and got really animated when discussing their work. They were also doing a wide range of majors, some of them customized.</p>
<p>Possible negatives
- While the town of Claremont is really nice, it's not a city enviroment. (My d. was looking for a city). Brandeis is also in the suburbs. Either is about 1 hour away from their respective cities. </p>
<ul>
<li>My d. happened to meet a few people who were seemingly elitist about appearance/boyfriend/personal background. This soured her a bit at first, but we also met some really neat people. That's so hard to assess from a 1 day event. </li>
</ul>
<p>Other things to check - these were helpful for my d. in making her final decision. </p>
<p>Go look at the course catalogs, and make sure there are interesting offerings in the topics you are interested in.</p>
<p>If you aren't absolutely sure of your possible major, make sure the school also has good offerings in some possible other interests.</p>
<p>Let us know if you have questions.</p>
<p>I had a fantastic experience at Scripps, but I know very little about Brandeis and have no business trying to "persuade" you to attend a school that might not be right for you. So, to echo chaucers_pal: any more specific questions/comments/concerns? You say "I really like Scripps, but maybe I should go to Brandeis." Why the worry?</p>
<p>You obviously see some good in both options, and no matter what happens, you're choosing between two great places :)</p>
<p>ETA: Have you been able to visit Scripps at all?</p>
<p>Unfortunately I haven't been able to visit Scripps at all since I live in Florida, and it takes lots of time and lots of money to get to the other coast.</p>
<p>Also, anyone who's a student at Scripps, I've heard mixed things and I was wondering what your take was.</p>
<p>I'm not really into drinking or drugs or heavy partying. Is this going to be a problem. I've heard people swear that it won't be and people swear that because of their wish to not party there is nothing to do on the weekends.</p>
<p>I really didn't drink or party much at all in college (nor did I do any drugs), and I had virtually no trouble finding a niche at Scripps. That said, I'm something of a homebody, so I was generally content to do hall movie nights, play a game, whatever...or to spend the afternoon/evening with friends (going to the village/mall/dinner/beach/Pasadena/Disneyland, whatever) and then entertaining myself at night if people were going out. If I had wanted to be part of the mainstream Fri-Sat night crowd without partying, Claremont would not have been ideal. </p>
<p>When I did go to parties, big or small, I can honestly say that I was never treated weirdly--at all, ever--for not drinking. The social scene varies across the campuses, so there are generally a lot of options if you do want to go out (and I mean "go out" in the after-9-or-10-pm-party sense, b/c afternoons/evenings offer plenty to do). One campus will have a bunch of people standing around a keg, but another will have a themed dance party, a third will have...I don't know, bounce houses or foam...you get the idea. Even I'll admit that some of the themed parties are a lot of fun, and I was never surprised to run into other not-big-into-party-going friends while I was out. It was a fun, but very comfortable scene. Stick me down in a stereotypical frat party and I will be out that door like you can't even imagine; stick me in the middle of your average Mudd party and I'll find something to entertain me. That's not to say that the scene is "lame"...just that it is, on the whole, quite inclusive.</p>
<p>I'm not 100% sure about this response, b/c obviously I don't know what my social life would have been like elsewhere, and I want to keep my praise/criticism in perspective. Also, my situation was so personal...I don't want to generalize too much. I happened to make (without really seeking them out) a lot of friends who weren't big party-goers, and some of them had cars, which opened up a lot of options. Did my wish not to party sometimes mean that I had to be more creative in my weekend planning? Yeah, it definitely did, particularly first and sophomore years, when people were more interested in the party scene. But I can't imagine ever claiming that Claremont offers a non-partier "nothing to do on the weekends". That's just nuts! I could count on one hand the number of times I actually felt that way while I was a student (that is to say, I sometimes did, but it was rare).</p>
<p>It gets said about Scripps that you can always come home from a party, and not to a party. That's true, and IMO, a big plus. There's plenty to do around the campuses, and if you want to go out, you're welcome to do so. But if you want to do a movie night, or go to bed, or study, or whatever else, you can. Not all of the college students I knew, even on other Claremont campuses, enjoyed that luxury. So like it or not, the Scripps campus itself is quiet on most weekend nights. There's no doubt there, but that still leaves you 4 good walking-distance options :)</p>
<p>So, to sum up...will it be a problem? Depends on exactly what you want. I did feel like my social preferences put me in the minority in Claremont (less so at Scripps than on any other campus, but even so), but I didn't find it to be a big problem. I just wanted a place where I could choose to spend a night (or a lot of nights) in, and where I wouldn't have much trouble finding people who wanted the same, at least once in awhile. I didn't want to be lonely, I didn't want to feel pressured, and I didn't want to feel judged. It worked out well for me, and at no point in time would I have changed my Scripps experience for all the sub-free, non-party entertainment in the world :p</p>
<p>One final point...</p>
<p>
[quote]
Unfortunately I haven't been able to visit Scripps at all since I live in Florida, and it takes lots of time and lots of money to get to the other coast.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There is a significant difference between going to a school that you can travel to for a weekend, with only a few days' notice, and a school that you haven't been able to make it to at all over the course of 1-2 years of college searching. It might not be a difference that matters to you, and that's fine, but it's worth consideration.</p>
<p>(Still not happy with this response, despite the ridiculous amount of rambling, so feel free to keep probing :p)</p>
<p>Great post, as always, Student615!</p>
<p>What did you end up deciding to do?<br>
Just curious how the story turned out!</p>
<p>I decided to go to Scripps. The admissions officer I spoke to actually did his undergrad at Pomona and was very helpful in me making my decision by reinforcing what I already knew about the two schools. The biggest deciding factor was the fact that Scripps was going to take my college credits (I spent my senior year of high school at New College of Florida) and Brandeis wasn't ( they want you to take "the Brandeis course". Whatever I'm not taking intro bio chem and psych over again). But also, Scripps has a better quality of life and I've really connected with the future Scrippsies I've met so far, and I think I might've been secretly rooting for Scripps the whole time anyways.</p>
<p>Also, I know this is lame, but I liked the facebook discussions better in the Scripps 2012 group than the Brandeis 2012 group. I know that's a terrible reason but I think it factored into my decision a little bit.</p>
<p>Yay Scripps!!! I think you made a brilliant choice :) </p>
<p>And the Scripps Facebook group actually played a part in my decision too, haha. In a group for one of the schools I was accepted to, there were a bunch of people bashing each other. And I just thought, no thank you. The people in the Scripps one just seem awesome.</p>
<p>And the climate is better too! Congrats PP!</p>
<p>On that note, I don't think it's terribly ridiculous that those facebook discussions persuaded you. It's an interesting way to see the kinds of things that interest (potential) future classmates and what they like to talk about, as well as just a general vibe. Obviously, only a minor factor in deciding, but i still think it's a cool tool to get a feeling for a certain student body.
Congrats on your decision, btw! :)</p>