I’m very interested in this school, but there is very little in terms of review, opinions etc. online. Can anyone tell me what it’s like? How’s the campus? People? Teachers? Etc.
It is a small expensive college in Santa Barbara.
Outside of the local area, it is not well-known.
My friend’s niece attended and graduated, but didn’t stay in the area and returned home to San Diego.
Opinion of her aunt: Niece had a liberal arts major (don’t know which), with low average grades, and had a really hard time finding a job, and took work as a receptionist.
This is the only local student that I know of, who attended the school from SD.
I live in Orange County, CA, and have known a LOT of people who went to Westmont and loved it. We visited there yesterday for a prospective student day. I will write a full college vibe visit report, but a summary would be: out of the 11 schools that we have visited, big and small, there was a dramatic and palpable difference at this one in the level of enthusiasm, energy, sincerity, and commitment. We knew going in that it was very small, had excellent merit scholarships, and had a strong Christian foundation. Our daughter is a junior, and still in the exploration phase, so I thought there was a good chance this would be a “rule out”. Instead, she was extremely impressed by the quality of the academics, the intellectualism, and the overall atmosphere. I am sure you know that there is required chapel 3 times a week, and we attended a chapel on prospective student day. If you live in CA and are Christian, you may have been to Forest Home. The chapel service was like Forest Home Youth Camps: loud, engaging, and designed to remind you that Christianity is supposed to be Fun, freeing, and inspire you to serve with others. If you know the Santa Barbara area, you know that Westmont is in a spectacular area and is “landlocked.” Therefore, their money goes to developing strong academics, strong merit aid, and better facilities. The current president is an extremely strong leader. I have been exposed to places where the academics are second to Christian teaching. This is not Westmont: their academics seemed extremely strong. I was especially impressed with the science professors, who were both passionate and clearly rigorous. Research is required as an undergrad, and there are 5K stipends available to pursue it! Downsides? The size… I do know a few people who transferred out because it was too small or they elected to pursue a major that wasn’t offered. The Christian slant…emphasis on interdenominational. If you weren’t interesting in deepening or pursuing Christianity, I don’t think you would feel comfortable. There are schools that are Christian in name only, or nominally. This is not one of those schools. If you are looking to deepen your faith and put it into practice using an excellent education as a tool to assist you, and/or you are premed, and/or if you are looking for a school with a lot of passion for learning, this is a great choice. DD has definitely got Westmont in her top five at this point.
I remember that the UCLA engineering professor William Klug, killed by his student, graduated from Westmont. So it can’t be terrible academically. I’ve never really heard of it otherwise though.
Westment is a unique school in that it’s a Christian liberal arts college, sort of like a Wheaton of the West Coast. It’s a solid education-just know that its religious tradition permeates the atmosphere and you may have to take theology classes as part of the gen ed requirements.
Westmont, as@shoot4moon has expounded, is an amazing place, which can offer a solid academic and intellectual atmosphere for any student.
I spent the weekend in town, and attended the Westmont graduation of a brilliant young woman who was in a department which graduated just 11 students that year. It was tough, her major, and the students were so deservedly buoyant to walk in the ceremony and receive their honors and diplomas.
The 50+year graduates marched in and I cried. It was beautiful.
The president’s speech reflected on goals, perseverance, loss and fidelity,endurance, inspiration and some really bad physics jokes. It was great.
I am not Christian, though raised in that tradition, and have completely walked in another direction on purpose. Yet, after my time there I knew I could easily send my budding scientist, still a middle school student, to a summer program at Westmont. I knew the educational exposure he would get would propel him to dig deeper into his love for the sciences, and the social atmosphere would be one that was supportive and which called on each of its participants to engage their moral and ethical selves in every interaction.
Such was true of the experience of my young college friend, the one who graduated from Westmont. She found support there as well for adhering to choices which were important to her, even while others dabbled and made different choices.She found other students who challenged and met her pound-for-pound in terms of brilliance and she traveled internationally through one of the semester-away programs and still graduated on time.
You must visit if you’re truly interested. You must do so with your parents. Let us know what you think.