<p>I'm a high school senior trying to decide where to go to school this fall and my top 2 college choices are Pepperdine University and UCLA. My intended major is Psychology and I know that UCLA's psychology ranking is pretty high, but I don't know much about Pepperdine's psychology department. I'm also a bit undecided about my career goal so I'm concerned about the difficulty of changing majors in UCLA. I also heard about how hard it is to get the classes you want unless you're in honors.</p>
<p>I received the Regents scholarship from Pepperdine but I couldn't find out a lot about it, such as whether it is renewable for 4 years, or what the GPA and credit requirements are. UCLA awarded me a grant as well.</p>
<p>I'm not worried about Pepperdine's small size (actually the size is perfect for me) but I heard some student reviews that Pepperdine's students and faculty are hard on students who aren't Christian. In fact, I heard sometimes they are downright snobby to non-religious students.</p>
<p>I just looked my post over and realized that the last comment about Pepperdine came out more harshly than I had intended. I hope I didn’t offend anyone from Pepperdine. I just want to know if Pepperdine is okay for someone like me who is not particularly religious but not against religion either. Thank you!</p>
<p>There are other non-Christians at Pepperdine (I personally know some), though you would be in the minority. Are you okay with mandatory chapel and mandatory religion classes? If so, and since you like smaller environments, Pepperdine may be a better choice for you. Their study abroad program is excellent. </p>
<p>We know a student who left Pepperdine in the middle of the year this year very specifically because of the mandatory religious requirements. She found it unbearable. If you are not religious, you will be forced to go through the motions anyway. Do you really want to fake it for four years? By the way, we know another Pepperdine student who is a devout fundamentalist Christian and she is very happy there. So, be honest with yourself in this regard before you make a choice.</p>
<p>Pepperdine is a beautiful setting but I have a hard time figuring out why someone would go there over UCLA. Residential, I get. UCLA is more diffuse. But some feel kind of trapped at Pepperdine, with everything else being so far away. If you feel Pepperdine feels like home to you, then it just does, but I honestly can’t even formulate the pro-Pepperdine argument in this comparison.</p>
<p>Pepperdine is pretty religious (obviously) but we know people who are not and have not had a problem with it. It is very conservative so just be aware of that. We live nearby and know quite a few who have attended. The one complaint we hear over and over is that the campus is very dead on the weekends. A lot of students leave on the weekends so it has a bit of a “commuter” school atmosphere, even though it is not. If you do not have a car, it is also a bit isolated. It is not really close to anything and the transportation system is not great. There are buses into Santa Monica but not frequent ones. It is not a walking community right near the campus- Hwy. 1 can be a bit treacherous. Definitely something to consider. </p>