Got it, good to know. Travel time/expenses is still something I don’t have a good grasp on, so I’ll need to do more research. Thank you.
I’m another vote for Scripps! I am the parent of a 2019 Pomona grad and a big fan of the consortium. Parking was never an issue for my student. For two years she had a car on campus and the parking permit was cheap ($60/semester as of a few years ago, vs. about $800/semester at ASU). She found that she hardly used the car and gave it up for her senior year so that her younger sibling could use it at home. She found it easy to use Uber or get a ZipCar. Also, while it’s true that the Claremont consortium is located in the suburbs, the town itself is very nice. Its nickname is “the City of Trees and PhD’s.” Here’s a map of the “downtown” area, which is very walkable from the consortium campus. http://www.thevillageclaremont.com/map.pdf
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City of Trees and PHDs, I love that!
Thank you so much!
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Scripps parent here. My daughter never had a car (had hoped to have one for senior year, but senior year was remote - oh well) but many of her friends did. Parking isn’t a problem; you just need the required permit, as stated above. It can be nice to have a car for off-campus pursuits, but my daughter got a Zipcar when she needed one, or took a Lyft, and that worked fine too. (There are also vans belonging to the college that can be reserved for group outings.)
The consortium is terrific. My daughter took classes on all five campuses, and double-majored with one of her majors based at Pomona. Foreign languages are excellent and rigorous. (She took a 3rd-semester foreign language course at a T50 university, during high school, and got an A, but she placed into the 3rd semester again at Scripps and found that only about a third of it was review.) The humanities offerings at Scripps and across the consortium are terrific, and even the entry-level classes are intimate and interactive.
It’s not too unusual for students to get jobs in Claremont Village or at other nearby businesses. There are also lots of work opportunities on campus.
Personally, I would lean Scripps over UCSB as an OOS student, for the kind of program you want. It would be more of a toss-up, IMO, if you’d been accepted to the College for Creative Studies Writing & Literature | UCSB College of Creative Studies but it doesn’t sound like you applied to that, correct?
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Got it, thank you. No, I didn’t apply to UCSB’s College for Creative Studies Writing & Literature. I’m in College of Letters & Science.
As an aspect to consider, you might find it interesting that Stony Brook is among the colleges that have increased the most in selectivity over the last few decades: Of Competitive Colleges that Have Increased in Selectivity, These May Have Increased the Most.
Interesting! I’ll check out the article, thanks!
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Have you joined any student group chats? That seems like a good bet for determining vibe.
Regarding Scripps, Claremont is really charming with a cute downtown. As noted, the surrounding Inland Empire is not as charming. However, you can get to mountains/skiing, beaches, Disneyland, LA, Joshua Tree, etc for off-campus outings. Californians don’t blink when it comes to driving/traveling an hour+ for entertainment— it is not compact like the east coast.
My understanding is that at the 5 Cs a lot of weekend activity is focused on campus —cultural events and parties.
Got it. The more I hear about the vibe at Scripps, the more I think I’d love it!
I haven’t joined any student chats yet, but that’s a very good suggestion, thanks!
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My daughter is deciding between UCSB and Scripps so I can give some perspective. We live in So Cal so am very familiar with both schools and both areas.
UCSB is one of the smallest UCs (23K undergrads) but still on the larger side, it feels much smaller than the big notable ones (LA, Berkeley, San Diego, Irvine). Though Scripps has only 1,080 students the larger consortium has almost 6K students. All of the other Claremont colleges are adjacent, Scripps is actually in the middle so it’s a very convenient location.
Claremont Colleges are like a country resort, UCSB is like a beach resort. Next to UCSB is Isla Vista, condos/apartments where a lot of students live. UCSB/Isla Vista is the only UC that feels like a community/college town. It’s somewhat isolated but almost all UCSB grads cite “community” as one of the biggest advantages.
UCSB is not too political. UCs are a grind, most students study hard and a lot party hard, so most are not into politics on a daily basis. I think also because of the large percent of STEM students as well who tend to be less political. Scripps is more political to the point that it worries me that my daughter may be going there. Do a google search on Scripps College pool party POC only. My daughter is mixed race.
UCSB is way more diverse, ethnically, geographically and socio-economically, if that is important to you.
Scripps will likely develop you more as a writer because the classes will be much smaller and allow for more interaction and exchange of ideas with students and professors. Most freshman-sophomore classes at UCSB are 100+ students. Scripps has much less STEM majors as a percentage of the student body.
Lots of minimum wage jobs in both places, maybe moreso at UCSB because there are a lot of jobs on campus. Claremont is upper middle class suburb to jobs are centered around the town. If you have a car both areas support many jobs that aren’t minimum wage.
UCSB is definitely a party school for those who want to party. You can also easily avoid the parties. If you live off campus you will want to steer clear of the center of Isla Vista. Way too noisy.
Both are pretty isolated to big cities. I don’t consider Santa Barbara a big city. However there is a train in Claremont that takes you to LA but its’ about 45 minutes. UCSB is far from LA, don’t even try. Lots of parties on the Claremont college campus, one the benefits of Scripps for a woman is that they can easily interact with guys in class at the other colleges, or at parties, mainly at Claremont McKenna, Pomona and Pitzer.
UCSB weather is mostly cool in daytime (60-70), a lot of overcast days but also a lot of sunny days. The warmest the ocean will get is probably 65 degrees, the coldest low 50’s. Most of the time it will be below 60 degrees. UCSB weather will likely never drop below freezing but mid 45 degree morning weather is common in Jan-Feb. Weather at Scripps varies but surprisingly it will be a lot more sunny than UCSB. Hot when you fist get there in August, much colder in winter where the nighttime lows will drop into the 30s. Daytime highs are typically high 50s to 70s in winter though depending on the amount of sun.
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This was VERY helpful, thank you so much! I understand now that Scripps will probably give me more as an aspiring author… that’s something I’ll have to consider as someone who’s always preferred bigger schools and lecture-style type environments.
UC Davis also has a community/college town.
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Thanks so much to you and your husband for this helpful information. I completely agree about the value of a SLAC and I cannot thank you enough for giving me a reality check. We would love to pick Vassar however I am trying to see if it is financially doable. They do not provide merit scholarships and the need based aid is not enough considering some extenuating family circumstances. In the alternative, any thoughts on Sarah Lawrence and Dickinson? Both colleges provided generous merit aid. I know that Dickinson has a different vibe than Vassar but it is also supportive and has small classes and great student faculty relationships from what I have heard. SLC has top notch professors but I want to make sure the students are happy, friendly and engaged with campus life.
My special thanks is for TheGreyKing - sorry I am really not knowledgeable about using this site.
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Dickinson will have more socio-economic and ethnic diversity in student profiles and more course choices/majors if your child wishes to change majors or pick up a minor. It’s more “well rounded” academically and also more internationally-minded than SLC.
I apologize if this question appears ignorant but does Dickinson have as good a reputation as Sarah Lawrence. I know they have a high grad school acceptance rate (around 95 percent) but do employers view it favorably assuming my son wants to return to the NYC area for work post-graduation?
Dickinson has a better reputation for career preparation than SLC and it’s viewed very favorably by employers.
I think @intparent used to have a kid at Dickinson or am I mistaken?