I’m currently trying to create a list of West coast schools for DD2, currently a junior. 34 ACT, only 1 exam sitting so far, no SAT yet, 219 PSAT (weeping) DC resident , will take SAT in Spring and possibly redo ACT. AA, premed intent. Prefers a school of at least 5k, not conservative, urban, as diverse as she can get. Preferably semester system, not quarters or blocks. The list seems very small though. Are places like Loyola very conservative? Does Occidental feel very small? And I am hoping for some merit aid, we won’t get need-based-aid.
Why in the world would she retake the ACT? Too bad she doesn’t want small. Lewis and Clark would be a good match but only has 2200 undergrads (as would some other NW LACs).
she would retake the ACT because she had had the flu and didn’t finish the exam…nor the PSAT, sadly.
The Claremonts are worth looking at. Each individual school is small but together the undergrad population is just under 6000. Scripps gives decent merit aid. My D18 isn’t interested in women’s colleges but after visiting Scripps it moved way up on her list. The consortium is truly unique and fabulous.
Meant to add that we also looked at Occidental. There is no comparison to the Claremonts when it comes to size, Oxy is much smaller. Check out Chapman for a safe/likely type school for her. Would meet her size/diversity interest and gives generous merit aid.
How was the atmosphere at Chapman?
Santa Clara.
@Iwonderwhere Chapman seems like it has a nice mix of students, lots of school spirit, nice campus, diversity. For some reason, however, it didn’t appeal to my daughter. Perhaps the location was a turn off. She loved Pitzer and Scripps, liked Redlands well enough (for a likely admit school), and didn’t really care for Chapman or Oxy. To each her own I guess!
I second adding Santa Clara to the list. It isn’t on my D’s list to tour but literally everyone we know who has toured it loves it. Also consider USC for a big school but not sure how generous they are with merit.
OP, if you want to check out medium/larger schools in WA state I have heard good things about Seattle University and even Western Washington University (perhaps not urban enough though). Safe/likely admit schools for sure but they have great reputations and are generous with merit aid.