<p>My son is a rising HS junior.
We recently returned from a trip to LA. We toured 4 colleges (Pomona, Pitzer, Oxy & USC). Before this trip, we planned that going across the country for college would only be worth while for schools in the academic range of these 4. My son fell in love with the region and now we want to look into schools on a level down from these schools.</p>
<p>He has started to research Loyola Marymnt. and Whittier. Pepperdine is too conservative for his taste.</p>
<p>He wants small classes, study abroad, easy housing (either on-campus or walking/biking distance from off-campus) and ability to take course in various disciplines.
I want good FA or merit.</p>
<p>Stats: expect SAT to be 2100-2200, unweighted GPA 3.7/weighted 4.1
He has solid, but not unusual ECs with leadership
He enjoys hiking and outdoor activities. He'd prefer a school with an Outdoor activity club.</p>
<p>gulp…UCLA…(loyal Trojan here). Not sure about their financial aid due to state funding…but in the last two years classes are smaller. And depending on major (art for instance) classes (except general ed) are smaller.</p>
<p>LOL. I teach at UCLA so not that shocked, really. But UCLA may not be very affordable option out of state, no merit $$, and admissions may also be tougher or on par with first 4 OP mentioned.</p>
<p>OP, your S seems a good bet for Oxy and Pitzer. Not many “safer” selections that are private and give merit $$ in the Los Angeles area. I second LMU and Chapman, both really nice choices–but Chapman is in Orange County so terrific weather but not really L.A. proper. If you are willing to look a little further out, there is University of Redlands and the other Claremont college, Claremon McKenna.</p>
<p>Just wanted to PM you about Whittier College. I grew up in Whittier, a stone’s throw from the campus. Whittier is a very good college, has a good repuation here in the SoCal area (Richard Nixon is its most famous alum). Many of the top students in my graduating class went there (some 25 years ago) and all have done very well.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the atmosphere is like ON campus, but can tell you a bit about Whittier. The area around the college is called Uptown Whittier, it has a nice small town atmosphere, but somewhat isolated and not much going on. Whittier is a pretty sleepy town, and if your son will not have a car, he could feel quite isolated from the SoCal lifestyle in Whittier. Of course, if he has a car, he would be about a 35 min. drive from Huntington Beach (Surf City!), 45 min - 1 hour from Westwood/UCLA area. </p>
<p>If you have any other questions about the Whittier area, or other SoCal areas, pls feel free to PM me. I still live in SoCal, about 30 min. from Whittier. (I see you are from the Philly area - before living in Whittier, my family lived in Easton, PA!)</p>
<p>UCSD costs would probably be about the same as UCLA and for OOS that’s quite a bit but if comparing to a full pay private maybe something to consider. </p>
<p>Depending on why he liked the ‘region’, if he liked LA he might like San Diego even better. ;)</p>
<p>USD (a private - not to be confused with UCSD or SDSU) is one to possibly consider in addition to the other suggestions posted here. I’m not super familiar with it so by ‘consider’ I mean for you to check out its attributes to see if it’s in the ballpark of what he’s interested in.</p>
<p>Hi Longhaul-
My DS is also a rising junior, and is interested in some of the same schools. We will be going over Spring Break, so I don’t have any firsthand info, but one college that we will visit that you don’t have on your list is University of Redlands; a little easier to get into than some of those other LAC’s, so may be a better chance for some merit aid. It appears to be in the same general area as the Claremont Schools, maybe a little east. Others here may be able to chime in with more info, but I have liked what I have seen on their website.</p>
<p>Pitzer should definitely be on his radar and financial aid is a definite possibility. I know several students there (who love it) and have financial aid where they were not able to get much at other schools and would have gotten 0 at a public. It is a little “quirkier” than the other Claremonts with a more liberal studies perspective. Nice opportunities for relationships with profs and taking classes on the other campuses as well. Pomona is the most selective of the Claremonts; it’s just not as well known outside the local area.</p>
<p>Re UCLA for out-of-state, some friends of mine sent their OOS daughter there and, ultimately, UCLA did not come through on the financial aid they had indicated they would give, so she had to transfer to a smaller private school, after one year, that offered a lot more aid. These aren’t great times for the UCs, so if you are OOS, I wouldn’t apply because even if you somehow got good aid the first year, that could change later.</p>
<p>By the way, huge Claremont Consortium fan here. DS is at Pomona and it’s been a fantastic experience. I think all the schools there are very good.</p>
<p>I am not aware of how much aid out of state kids get for the UCs. Sorry. And yes Madbean…I can go to the dark side. Five minutes from my house is but one reason to head toward Bruinland…Didi Reese. And then there is In n Out Burger…</p>
<p>And the Claremont Colleges have wonderful reputations.</p>
<p>…I admit to going to the dark side twice this week and not for cookies.</p>
<p>I doubt any of the UCs would work out financially…they want OOS to pay full freight.</p>
<p>USD is good for merit…for a 2100, they tend to give about $20k per year …which brings it inline with a UC instate…so, about $30k per year after merit.</p>
<p>How much merit are you looking for? or really…How much do you want to pay per year?</p>
<p>He loved the Claremont schools, but all seem very difficult to get into due to the low acceptance rates. He doesn’t need to be in LA, so other regions are welcome. He’ll look into San Diego. What he loved – weather (low humidity goes a very long way), outdoor activity opportunities (mainly hiking), ability to see a beach once or twice a semester, the variation in landscape and trees, the view of mountains and the laid back attitude. LA traffic was no worse than what we have in our region and we did not experience fog. </p>
<p>U of Redlands, U of San Diego and Chapman will all be investigated.</p>
<p>Frankly, the UCs scare me when I hear the OOS and difficulty to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>If you aren’t tied to specifically Southern California I would look at University of the Pacific. Great school, small classes, nice campus, abroad program is good. My DD is a junior this year. Has had a good experience as have several other students I know who are attending. You would likely see some merit money from UoP, not likely from the UC</p>
<p>Definitely check out the University of Redlands. It has gorgeous views of the mountains, no humidity, great outdoor activities program and very friendly, laid back student body.</p>
<p>Just returned from moving daughter into her dorm. We were very impressed with the scheduled orientation events for students and parents. Lots of advising and small class sizes.</p>
<p>Since you have a son with good grades and test scores, I suspect he will receive a fair amount of merit money. A male from out of state will be highly desirable. LACs are generally female heavy and Redlands is no exception. </p>
<p>For the record, we also liked Occidental. And you are correct, the Claremont Schools are reachy.</p>
But UCLA may not be very affordable option out of state, no merit $$, and admissions may also be tougher or on par with first 4 OP mentioned.</p>