<p>My daughter is interested in Pitzer and Scripps (CMC if she gets her grades up a bit). One one reason she favors Scripps over Pitzer is that Scripps-CMC-Mudd atheletics program is stronger (she a divI caliber jumper). </p>
<p>Is she correct in her assessment of the two programs? I didn't think any of the 5Cs was known for its athletic prowess.</p>
<p>Or, I think, even close. They are academically stellar and Claremont kids are diverse, intelligent and talented-- all together, it's a really interesting, rare and admirable group of five thousand young students. But no, they're not really sports-oriented. There are great athletes at the Claremonts, I'm sure, but they're not what the Claremonts are really known for in the slightest. When I visited, hower, the CMC tour guide mentioned football as not being too bad-- may have even won some sort of championship in their division or area or something-- but that's about it.</p>
<p>By the way, if your daughter (best wishes to her!) becomes a Pitzer kid, she'll be a Sage Hen. Yes, that's the mascot for Pitzer/Pomona sports teams (Pitzer combines their players with Pomona's to form different teams, that's how small the schools are). I believe Scripps does "cross-athletics" with CMC; female CMC/Scripps athletes are known as the "Athenas" (more "dignified" but less quirky than "Sage Hen", admittedly).</p>
<p>The Sage Hen, if you're curious, is a native bird to SoCal (in particular, I think, to the Claremont desert area). It looks like a chicken and is known, when scared, to dig its head in the sand. If you look up a picture of the Pitzer/Pomona mascot, I think you'd appreciate the schools' good humor. It's a close-up of this aggravated, sharp-eyed chicken thing. :) </p>
<p>EDIT: Found a pic (it's small and you'll have to scroll all the way down to see it) <a href="http://www.physical-education.pomona.edu/History/Then.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.physical-education.pomona.edu/History/Then.shtml</a></p>
<p>So, maybe your daughter would prefer Scripps over Pitzer...? Just kidding. They're both great schools; encourage her to visit as often as she can if she's really interested (all three schools now, or even Pomona and Harvey Mudd, just to see if she'd like it there, too). She'll get a better idea of athletic facilities/treatment of athletics if she visits and actually converses with current students/faculty.</p>
<p>Best wishes!</p>
<p>Just read your comments re: Oxy (waitlisted!!). </p>
<p>Your stats sound like my daughter's (except she's black and into sports, which would probably give her application a boost if she weren't in the East Coast prep school candidate pool). She attends boarding school in MA, is tired of the New England winters and wants to expierence life in a different part of the country (so much for her attending my Ivy alma mater).</p>
<p>I'm totally unfamiliar with CA schools so please explain, why did Oxy over Pitzer? Also, what other CA and southern schools did you consider?</p>
<p>Thanks, and good luck.</p>
<p>I'd really like to see an acceptance there, though I'm unsure where I will actually end up even if accepted to Occidental. </p>
<p>"Your stats sound like my daughter's (except she's black and into sports, which would probably give her application a boost if she weren't in the East Coast prep school candidate pool). She attends boarding school in MA, is tired of the New England winters and wants to expierence life in a different part of the country (so much for her attending my Ivy alma mater)....Also, what other CA and southern schools did you consider? "</p>
<p>I'm Asian-American and I was told that applying to Southern California schools would work AGAINST me, because they all already have such large populations of Asians. But I was accepted to Pitzer College and University of Southern California (great school, GREAT sports, I encourage her to visit and apply). </p>
<p>I think your daughter would love SoCal weather, west coast beaches, the laid-back casualness of the area... especially coming from rigid (weather wise AND culturally, perhaps?) locations in the Northeast. Only partly kidding, no offense to those guys. :)</p>
<p>"I'm totally unfamiliar with CA schools so please explain, why did Oxy over Pitzer?"</p>
<p>Pitzer is considered sort of the weird youngest sister of the Claremonts-- extremely liberal, with its students having the lowest GPAs and SATs of all five Claremonts. Pitzer kids design their own majors and there aren't core requirements. It seems incredibly unstructured, but the school runs pretty well, the students seem happy, and the education is better than might be expected. About 50% of the applicants are admitted. </p>
<p>Oxy is in a lower-income part of LA (contrast to the pretty and quiet, quaint Claremont area), has more students than Pitzer, has a higher GPA/SAT average (but not by that much) and is perhaps slightly less radical politically than Pitzer (though still very liberal). It's harder to get into-- a 43% acceptance rate for the '04-'05 year and actually dropping. As it gains in name recognition, it's getting more and more applicants. </p>
<p>BOTH Oxy and Pitzer are considered good (but definitely not "top" LACs). Both are very well-known for very diverse student bodies and for having their diverse populations interact harmoniously with each other.</p>
<p>Best wishes to your daughter. :)</p>
<p>Meh. Freaking out over college rankings is a really futile activity; from my experiences with Occidental vs. Claremont faculty, i'd say you have every reason to opt for the larger, more accomplished and active Claremont staff than Oxy's. The social life is nearly interminable: Oxy only has 2,000 students, total. With the consortium, Claremont has almost three times that. Even better, all of the different schools have very different recruiting profiles, making the student body even more diverse.
Worsening matters, The school is located in Eagle Rock. It may be a bit poorer than Claremont, but it's certainly nice. The problem is that Eagle Rock is less friendly to Oxy than Claremont is to the 5Cs. You're closer to Pasadena, which is nice if you want to go to nordstrom's, but it's rather upmarket for students. The result is that it's hard to get off campus or meet a wide variety of people. All my oxy friends have gone stir-crazy.</p>
<p>Academically, it's pretty nifty, but at 2,000 students it just can't compete with the variety and quality of Claremont's faculty. There's two possible exceptions. I have one friend who's studying to become a vetrinarian at Oxy. They have a very good program there; Claremont doesn't offer one. The second is in Diplomacy & World Affairs; they have a very active and engaged student body and they offer a unique UN internship program. The problem is that they just best latin american expert retired and they inexplicably fired (i think. and i think for budgetary reasons) their best, alas untenured, russia/central asia expert. </p>
<p>But as for Oxy v. Pitzer, I'd say Pitzer's a clear choice. Between the different claremont schools, i'd say there's something for everyone.</p>