I only threw Cal Poly in because the OP asked for hidden gems. It probably won’t meet her needs as it isn’t in a big city. That said, it’s only considered a “regional university” because they don’t have a doctoral program. The 65,000 applications they got last year say they are doing something right.
@eyemgh if it comes down to her being happier at a school that costs $70,000 per year than one that costs $60,000 per year, I’d rather spend the extra $10,000/year. That said, if she prefers a school that costs $80,000/year and a school that is $60,000 and offers a 50% scholarship is also high on her list, we might consider the second choice.
@eyemgh no, we’re not religious. I threw Pepperdine out there myself as a possible alternative because it’s in Southern California and is NOT one of the UC schools. If she’s not interested in the Claremont 5 or Occidental (small schools), there doesn’t seem to be a huge range of mid-sized schools in Southern California (say,more than 2,500 students, but less than 10/12K) that are fairly highly rated. Everything seems to be USC or one of the UC campuses.
I love SLO - the city - as well and I have heard nothing but positives about Cal Poly SLO but other than small-town location and science education it really isn’t a peer to U-Mich.
FYI @NewJeffCT in case you didn’t know - Pepperdine is in a divine location for views and the beach but it also is somewhat remote from the action of things - Malibu is a wealthy but sleepy seaside town and the locals like it that way.
You’ve gotten some good advice here! The thing that jumps out to me is that only USC and UCLA are in the city. Both are pretty amazing places and you may want to concentrate your time there. Although they are very close geographically, they are both campuses that you could easily spend a full day touring and exploring. I’m biased towards my alma mater, USC, but I grew up very close to the UCLA campus and both my parents are Bruins. As it’s been mentioned, Pepperdine is very small and in a pretty remote (although beautiful!!) location. It’s also a dry campus, but you can get to larger cities with a 30 min drive or less. UCSB has its own appeal but is no where close to a large city. Personally, I like the laid back beachy vibe, but my D didn’t like it at all.
Based on the criteria you have mentioned I would swap out Pepperdine in favor of Loyola Marymount. As other posters have mentioned, Pepperdine is more remote and more overtly religious. LMU is somewhat suburban but still close to everything LA has to offer. Bigger than Occidental but smaller than UCLA and USC.
If she is not religious, skip Pepperdine.
Chapman would be a good visit in OC.
My son has a good friend at Cal Poly whose brother went to Georgia Tech (certainly a school most would consider an engineering peer to Michigan), both for Mechanical Engineering. She said her brother was blown away by how much more robust Cal Poly was than Georgia Tech in both what is required in the labs and the quality of the senior projects. Cal Poly has more than 80 undergraduate labs in the college of engineering alone. CubeSat, now huge in the aerospace industry, was invented there, still housed there, and still student run. So, you say science education isn’t a peer to Michigan. I ask…based on what? When we vetted schools, Cal Poly was the only OOS state school our son chose to apply to (besides WUE safeties), and he would have been admitted to either Berkeley or Michigan. He didn’t want giant classes with discussions and labs taught by graduate students. Granted, I’m biased, but he chose it based on some pretty sound reasoning and deep research and based on that research, chose to pass over many of the big names.
That said, neither are in big cities, and Michigan isn’t in CA, the state the OP enquired about. They simply were asking about hidden gems worth considering.
@NewJeffCT, our son didn’t choose the cheapest school. I was only speaking ALL else exactly equal (or as you pointed out…massive differences).
@NewJeffCT Enjoy the trip and you’ll need to keep us Californians posted on the visit! UCSB alum here (go gauchos!). One thing of note- when you visit UCSB, make sure to spend time in Isla Vista (the college town adjacent to campus where the majority of the students live sophomore-senior year). The campus itself is ok, but doesn’t have the wow factor that other campuses have. Living in a college town, however, was amazing! I think some visit the campus and never make their way into Isla Vista, so they don’t really get a feel for what it’s like to be a student at UCSB. Eat lunch in Isla Vista, visit the beach access from IV, etc. It’s a magical place! I was happy to see it made the list for “Happiest Students” yet again! Downtown Santa Barbara is about 15 minutes away, and a great place to play tourist and eat a nice meal after a day of touring. Enjoy!
@eyemgh I thought @CaMom13 was saying the opposite but I may be wrong. SLO isn’t a peer in areas like Nursing, Kinesiology, Business (Ross), etc. But engineering and science were competitive. Again I may be wrong.
All I said is that there were a few similarities (nice adjacent town, football, great academics), but for sheer overall breadth, they’re not peers, which I agree with.
SLO was a top choice for my DC18, but didn’t make the final cut.
@sushiritto and @CaMom13, yea, I misread! Oops!
Thank you for all the responses over the holiday - it’s been very helpful so far.
I think my D agrees that Pepperdine is not for her. I think suburbs would be okay for her as long as it’s reasonably close to LA, so maybe Pomona/Pitzer/Claremont etc would be another one to visit - especially since the new head of her high school’s College Guidance office came from Pomona.
By the way, if we fly in to LAX and see UCLA and USC on a Monday and a Tuesday, what would be a good place to stay that is convenient to both schools? I saw that somebody above posted that the USC campus itself is very safe, it is not in the best of areas, so what would be convenient to both and also safe? Looking at hotels.com, it seems LAX itself is reasonably close to both?
When we visited USC and UCLA, we stayed at the beach in Santa Monica. But the beach and it’s activities were a priority for us to make it into a short vacation.
Depending upon what you’re looking to do, we’d recommend Santa Monica, Beverly Hills or West Hollywood areas. So many great places to see in the area! And, when we visited, my daughter was planning to visit UCLA and not USC; once we got there, decided UCLA wasn’t her style and went over to check out USC last minute and loved it. The “vibe” is so, so important (and interesting to observe as a parent). Good luck with the visits!
For where to stay near UCLA - try the Kimpton Palomar. It’s very close, and a lovely hotel. Walking distance.
Don’t stay near LAX! Distance may look okay but that’s a poor predictor of drive time in LA. Beverly Hills or Mid-Wilshire would be best, as you could use city streets to get to either school if necessary. Traffic on the 10 can be terrible so using alternates to go E-W (Olympic, Pico, Santa Monica or 6th) will save you time. Load the Waze yapplication on your phone for directions!
@NewJeffCT I apologize if I missed your response, but what is your D’s intended major/career plans? Hopefully not premed because especially the UCs/USC are just bloodbaths for premed hopefuls, and spending 65K+ anywhere doesn’t make any sense for any premed.