<p>Anyone have any ideas? I am helping a friend.</p>
<p>Daughter is looking for a small private school in So Cal. She prefers a school with no religious affiliation, or at least no religious requirements. </p>
<p>Not sure what she wants to study. She is a strong student with a B+/A- average.</p>
<p>She's a strong soccer player, so a school with a D III team would be a good match?? (I really don't know anything about sports).</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any help.</p>
<p>The Claremont colleges such as Pomona, Claremont McKenna, etc, chapman Univ, occidental</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about a non Christian going to a Jesuit school like Loyola Marymount or the University of San Diego, both of which should accept this student, albeit maybe not with enough aid to attend. The common recommendations are as follows:
-University of Redlands
-Occidental
-LMU (mid sized)
-University of San Diego (mid sized)
-Chapman (mid sized)
-Scripps/ Pitzer</p>
<p>If she’s willing to look towards Northern CA I’d throw in St. Mary’s College of CA and Mills College. </p>
<p>There are only so many colleges in So Cal I wouldn’t exclude some of the schools that have a lot of secular students like LMU or USD either. I wouldn’t pick them either, but they are good colleges and if you are limiting geographically so much somethings got to give.</p>
<p>One more vote for the claremont colleges</p>
<p>I love the Claremont colleges, but I am wondering if a B+/A- GPA is too low to be competitive to get in. Chapman is a great school. </p>
<p>Chapman sounds like a great choice for her. I agree with tx5 above that the Claremont colleges may be too competitive for a student with her GPA, though they are certainly worth an application.</p>
<p>Loyola and Univ of San Diego probably do have religious GE requirements but they are fairly secular in approach, so if she doesn’t mind a class or two, she would feel comfortable there. University of Redlands is a good school as well, though some people would not like being in the Redlands geographical area because it is hotter and has poorer air quality. </p>
<p>California Lutheran University is another option. They do require a couple of religion classes but there is a wide selection from which to choose. The student population comes from all religious (or non-religious) backgrounds. An atheist would be very comfortable there. </p>
<p>Just chiming in here. EVERY student I know who visited Redlands fell in love with it! Some chose to attend, those who did not attend really struggled with their decision. I have truly only heard wonderful things about it. Definitely worth investigating as well as visiting if possible. </p>
<p>The Claremont Colleges are great schools, however check the admissions rates and statistics. Additionally, if the applicant is from southern California the competition is even stiffer. It’s only anecdotal, but our high school saw a number of highly qualified students be waitlisted/rejected at Scripps and Pitzer while being accepted at Wellesley and Grinnell. Local students should also request interviews early. Pomona requires an interview if you are in southern California, but also has limited interview opportunities. On a more positive note, I also have known many happy Redlands students.</p>
<p>Another shout out here for Chapman University. It’s just a jewel.</p>
<p>Son loved Redlands and Univ of Redlands. Hottest day is always move in day :). The majority of hot weather is during summer when school is closed. I also wonder if the B+/A- will make it for the Claremont colleges. </p>
<p>I think a B+/A- student has a shot at Pitzer.</p>
<p>Op,
Wanted to reinforce what Callalilly said. Loyola Marymount Univ is Catholic, but only approx. 1/2 of the student body is catholic; there are Jewish kids, agnostic, atheists there. I know a Muslim kid who attends LMU and loves it. The religious requirements are to take each of these classes:
Faith and Reason
Ethics and Justice
Interdisciplinary Connections</p>
<p>Whittier is probably a safety, and she might qualify for a good scholarship. They were founded by the Society of Friends (ie. Quakers), but are no longer directly affiliated.</p>
<p>^^^ Whittier, yes, forgot about that one. It’s a good option too.</p>
<p>Just a note. I don’t believe University of San Diego is a Jesuit college. It is a catholic college, but not Jesuit. </p>
<p>But I would not discount USD. While there IS a religion course requirement, there are MANY courses a student can take to fulfill this requirement.</p>
<p>My not catholic kiddo went to Santa Clara which IS a Jesuit school (as is Loyola Marymount). There were over 100 religion courses. DD actually really liked those courses. She also liked living and studying alongside the Jesuit brothers who are a very interesting and well educated group. Also, the community involvement emphasized by the Jesuits is worthy of consideration, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Chapman is great too, but very different. What about Pitzer?</p>
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<p>Huh?</p>
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<p>What are y’all smoking? Pomona has higher admit stats than AWS. A B+ student, even an A- student, is wasting their app fee. Pitzer has a mean GPA of 3.75; 75% of matriculants are 3.5+.</p>
<p>Look at Chapman.</p>
<p>I love Whittier’s team name - The Poets. Pitzer’s acceptance rate has dropped below 15% in recent years.</p>
<p>A lot of the schools mentioned play in the D III SCIAC (Chapman, Redlands, Whittier, Occidental, Pitzer, Scripps, Cal Lutheran) which is nice because there is not much distance between the schools for games.</p>
<p>What are her SAT or ACT scores? If she has an A- average with a 2200 plus SAT score her options will be very different than if she has a B+ average and a 1700 SAT.</p>
<p>I agree, thumper. A- with 2200 SAT would not be wasting her app on Pitzer or Scripps. </p>