<p>so i have a major decision to make... small private or large public? i'm going down to visit both next week, but just wondered if anyone had any thoughts.
i'll be a psych major, and at ucla i'm applying to the honors program. the main advantage that ucla has over scripps is a colorguard (i'm a twirling fanatic!), but scripps of course has soooo many other advantages (small classes, single rooms, beautiful campus, peace and quiet)!
any advice?</p>
<p>My daughter is facing the same choice; she's down to UCLA or Scripps. It's so hard to decide because they couldn't be more different. Each one has "issues" that the other resolves. I think it'll come down to which set of issues you can deal with easiest. UCLA has the greater resources, both academically and socially, greater prestige and name recognition (hardly anyone outside of Calif. has ever heard of Scripps and many people in Calif. haven't either), the lower cost (if you're in state), a much better surrounding area, and some world-class faculty. But Scripps has the "emotional" appeal, the chance of really knowing your professors, nurturing environment, and a close community of women. It's hard to reproduce a small LAC environment in a large public research university. I could see Scripps being the better choice for the first two years and UCLA the better choice for the last two years. I think Scripps would be comfortable right away, but perhaps too small as time went on, and UCLA would have the opposite. I don't know- it's keeping us up at night. My daughter is going to visit both this weekend, and hopefully that will help to clarify the choice.</p>
<p>Scripps has the 5 college consortium. I don't believe that with 5500 students that comprise the 5 colleges, Scripps will ever seem too small. If I were choosing for myself, Scripps would win, hands down.
UCLA is enormous. If you are a very assertive, go-getter, who loves the hussle and bussle of a large city, doesn't mind being one in 20,000, then UCLA would probably be very little adjustment. I don't agree that UCLA has greater social resources. Greater in number,but not necessarily in quality or accessibility.
I see Scripps as the ideal undergrad, and UCLA as being a great grad school experience.<br>
It's great that you both (liyana and shojomo's d) have a chance to visit each again to test your feelings. It's a personal thing, really, as is any kind of fit. Good luck to both of you - and congratualtions on your acceptances.</p>
<p>A.S.A.P., thanks for your thoughts on this. You are correct that the consortium does make a very small women's college significantly bigger and with more options than the other women's LAC's. But still...during our first visit there last year, we were aware that the boundaries between the colleges are real- it's not one university. It kind of felt to me like "neighborhoods"- you can venture into someone else's neighborhood, but it is not your own, and more people than not seemed to stick around their own neighborhood. When we asked upperclass students if Scripps felt too small now that they had been there a few years,the answer was almost always "yes", and that they mitigated this limitation by travel abroad. We heard comments like "you'll want to go abroad your junior year, because by the end of the sophomore year comes, you'll be so sick of this place." (In all fairness, we heard similar comments from Pomona students, too). I am definitely concerned about the size and bureaucracy of UCLA, though. But they now guarantee 3 years of housing, and promise to add the fourth by the time our girls are seniors. The housing problem at the UC's had always struck me as a huge disadvantage. Is Scripps experience "worth" $100,000 over UCLA? We've told our daughter to make a decision on the basis of fit, but we are one of those families who do not qualify for financial aid, but for whom $100,000 is a significant sum that could well be applied to something else in my daughter's life (post undergrad education, travel, seed money for a house, car, or while she's trying to write a novel :)). Oh, and you are correct about the social resources, in a way. But Scripps girls seem to be of a certain type (one that my daughter felt totally comfortable and sympatico with) whereas UCLA had all colors of the rainbow, of the socio-economic spectrum, and probably of the political-philosophical spectrum, too. It may be harder to find one's group at UCLA, but it will be there. My daughter went to a small private elementary and middle school, and couldn't wait to leave to get to an urban public high school, and one of the things she loved the most about it was the ethnic/racial/economic diversity. All things being equal, we would prefer she not be in a school dominated by white priveleged students (which I think is what is at the bulk of the Claremonts and most other private schools). But still...Scripps has the undeniable feeling of comfort and ease that is hard to turn away from.</p>
<p>Sho -It sounds like the decision has been made, and you're looking for confirmation.
UCLA will have a great network in California - this is the upside of the UCs lack of geographical diversity, with 95% from California.
You will have more racial diversity if you take the Asian population into account. My D's best friend, who is Chinese and who moved here in elementary school, found wonderful Chinese communities that she didn't know existed before she went to Berkeley.( The Asian students are as privileged as the whites, however - often more so. ) UCLA has similar demographics with large Asian communities.
The money difference is a real issue. If your daughter did not receive any merit aid at Scripps, I can understand why UCLA is attractive. Westwood is a very wealthy area, however - much more so than the Claremont area, so while you have urban, you also have "upper west side" urban. You wouldn't exactly be slumming it. ;) </p>
<p>One other thought that would point toward UCLA -- if your D applied to Pomona and did not get in, she might find Pomona students a tad annoying, -( if not, good for her, but it would certainly be understandable.)</p>
<p>UCLA is "the bigtime" which is an attraction in itself - it's a worldwide name and a world-class university. I wish her alll the best!</p>
<p>I know it sounds like I'm leaning toward UCLA, doesn't it? But the decision really isn't mine to make, and I plan to keep my mouth closed when we visit next week. I added another day to each school (although we'll have to drive back and forth, change plane reservations) but I think she really needs to see each school in depth. My wallet and a bit of my head tells me one thing; my heart and a bit of my head tells another. But really, they're both great schools, just so very different. Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>wow there's just so much to consider... shojomo when will you and your daughter be down at ucla? i'll be there next weds for the honors program info day, maybe we'll bump into each other?
i did apply to pomona, but i was waitlisted, so i'm not too hopeful and have pretty much moved on to either scripps or ucla. i'm an only kid and kind of reserved and quiet, so i feel like i'd fit in socially at scripps, but i wonder if scripps' atmosphere would push me to become more confident and outgoing. if i went to ucla, i'd join their colorguard, so i'd find a niche that would hopefully get me out of my shell.
academics-wise i could go either way. i enjoy anonymity from time to time, but i don't want to be allowed to stay silent in class... so maybe scripps' small class size would force me to speak up.
as far as environment is concerned... i love claremont. beautiful place. a lot like my own town, in a way, but that's not necessarily good either i suppose. but i'm worried i'd be a fish out of water in a place like westwood and the greater la area... the sheer hugeness of it all.
i sincerely hope next week sheds some light on my dilemma as well as shojomo's... i'm finding myself quite envious of my friends who've known for months now where they'll be next fall!</p>
<p>Tough call...I definitely understand your position. I'll refrain from offering my direct opinion unless you have specific questions...I'm a little biased, but I actually have opinions that would go both ways.</p>
<p>My final decision came down to Scripps, USC, and Berkeley, and most strongly to Scripps and Berkeley. It took me two hours in the school guidance office to come to ANY sort of a conclusion! I'm very mathematical; I like to quantify and have solid reasoning for things more than make judgments based on "I feel...". As such, the thing that helped me most was an exercise my counselor had me try. I picked the 5 "most important" (or most-ish, at least) categories (i.e. atmosphere, social opportunities, availability of my major, class sizes, price, size of dorm rooms, research opportunities, prestige, etc.) and then rank them in order. Next, I rated each school 1-5 in each category (the ratings were independent of one another, so I could give each school the same score if necessary). Finally (I might be messing this step up, I regret to say), I think that we multiplied each score by reverse rank (so the first most important category's score got multiplied by 5, the second by four, the third by three, etc.) and then tallied things up. Even if I'm messing that last step up, you might find it helpful to quantify things in a similar way...make a list of categories and assign a numerical score to each school under every category, and then examine who was higher more often, who was higher more often in categories of greater importance to you, and how much higher they were, etc.</p>
<p>Though I felt torn apart, I made my little grid, added everything up, and saw that I preferred Scripps far and away above the other schools. I think I just felt like I shouldn't be turning down a well-known, world-class school like Berkeley--with in-state tuition, to boot--for a small, expensive LAC. Sometimes, I definitely still feel that and wonder what my experience would've been like if I'd chosen differently, but I think that's natural for having come SO close to making such a VASTLY different choice.</p>
<p>Regardless, I really do love Scripps, so all is well :o) I also give tours, so perhaps I'll see you here in the near future!</p>
<p>Best of luck in your decision. The good news is that if you feel so strongly toward both schools, you will probably be perfectly happy at either one. Certainly, your experiences will be totally different, but that's not to say that either one would be superior to the other.</p>
<p>hmm i suppose a systematic way of looking at things would be of great help.
just to make things even more complicated, i visited uc davis the other day. it's the closest one to home, and i'd kinda written it off as a safety, but i would be a regents scholar so that means honors dorms and other perks, not to mention reduced costs. and davis has the environment i'm most comfortable in, a great college town, and it's in norcal, my home turf.
all i can say is... ucla and scripps have some serious competition now. the next few days will be (i hope!!!) very enlightening...</p>
<p>I have the same dilemma as you, except with the exact opposite schools! I'm trying to decide between Harvey Mudd and USC. I'm here in California now (from Missouri) visiting both, and it's hard not to fall equally in love with both campuses! Well... hopefully I'll eventually work this out in my mind... :/</p>
<p>Well, one thing that can be said about your problem, dncrditzx, is this: do NOT attend Mudd if there is <em>any</em> doubt in your mind that you might want to dedicate yourself to a non-Mudd major. The other colleges, while they each have their "specialties", leave room for changes of interest, interests in off-campus majors, etc., but if you get to Mudd and decide "this is all good and well but I'd really rather be an English major," you will not have a happy time of it.</p>
<p>Davis also had a close-to-home draw for me, and as it got toward the May 1st deadline that grew even more appealing. In the end, though, I'm glad I decided to go a little farther (just a little, though!) from home...it was a kick in the butt that I needed. I'm close to my family and I love going home, but I don't think it would've been very beneficial to me to spend 4 more years there. That's totally an individual call...just my two cents.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you both, once again!</p>
<p>When it comes to majors, I'm most likely to always stick at Mudd, since math and science are all I'm good at. However, I do want to be able to minor in certain things, and in Claremont I can minor in dance, whereas USC has no dance classes, but in USC I can minor in film studies, wheras Claremont has no film classes. Both are incredibly important to me, but both I could make do with at any other campus. I'm just so torn in every direction! I guess I need to just sit down and think it out--maybe make some lists! I've been talking it through with friends though, but haven't come to much of a decision yet.</p>
<p>dncrditzx --- Pomona has media studies which you could minor in, and I believe Scripps has film studies - which is open to either gender. ;)
(corrrect me if I'm wrong, Sripps experts. I just remember our Claremont tour guide telling us he took film classes at Scripps.)</p>
<p>Actually, Claremont does have a film studies major (as ASAP pointed out). My old roommate is a dual English/Film Studies major. It <em>might</em> be a new major...I believe it's through CMC.</p>
<p>You can't major in FILM here (that is, film production), nor can you major in screenwriting. But film studies...that, we have! Part of the degree requirement, at least for the major, is a production/editing class (possibly more than one, I'm not positive). It's by no means USC film, but it is highly both available and highly accessible.</p>
<p>hmm thanks ASAP and Student615--that makes HMC all the more appealing to me now, with availability to two great things that I hold so very near and dear to my heart ;) haha</p>
<p>well my dilemma is over now...
i'm going to ucla!
if anyone's curious, feel free to pm me.
<em>sigh</em> i am seriously relieved that my choice is made! now to just finish high school...</p>
<p>scripps vs whittier? whittier offering full ride! Help please!</p>
<p>Congratulations on your decision, + best of luck!!!</p>
<p>(And I enjoy the selection of schools in this thread b/c I know a girl who went to UCLA, transferred to Scripps, and was from Whittier, CA...)</p>
<p>My D decided to go to UCSD. Was deciding between UCSD, Scripps, and Oxy. She decided against Scripps because she wanted a coed school in the end.</p>
<p>I don't know much about Whittier, but from what I've heard Scripps and the Claremonts are a more intellectual environnment than Whittier. No first-hand knowledge though.</p>