<p>I rarely hear people mention Whittier but it sounds interesting to me. Near Los Angeles but a small LAC. Small class sizes, low faculty to student ratio, some unique programs like the Whittier Scholars Program and faculty-in-residence. </p>
<p>Just wondering if anyone here has any experience with this college, any personal thoughts. Thanks!</p>
<p>If you want a LAC in California that is less selective than the Claremont colleges or Occidental, then Whittier is an option. However, in this category you’d have more (& possibly better) options outside CA. Consider schools on the following list:
[CTCL</a> Members | Colleges That Change Lives](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/colleges/list]CTCL”>http://www.ctcl.org/colleges/list)
The West Coast colleges on this list are Evergreen State, Reed, St. Mary’s, the University of Puget Sound, Willamette, and Whitman. Reed and Whitman are the two most selective schools on the CTCL list, so they may be out.</p>
<p>I’m not particularly concerned with selectivity. I have excellent stats but I’m also a transfer student and qualifying for merit aid would definitely be a plus. Also, I just came from a prestigious college, and I realized that selectivity/prestige really have little bearing on experience and on the quality of students attending, for the most part. I’m more concerned with the overall experience, if students are intelligent and engaged, what classes are like, what campus life is like. Anyone know first-hand about Whittier?</p>
<p>EDIT: Oh, and an important note is that going to college in/near LA is important because I want to gain experience and connections in the entertainment industry and also live close to my family.</p>
<p>There’s a Whittier forum in the “colleges” section, although it doesn’t get much traffic (no posts in the past 30 days). You also might have a look at the entries for Whittier on st<em>d</em>ntsr*view.com. It gets an equal number of negative & positive reviews, and an overall grade of “C”. That’s not necessarily a representative sampling, of course (and the most disgruntled students may be among the most motivated to post.) </p>
<p>If you don’t believe there is any correlation between selectivity and the level of student intelligence & engagement, and you need to keep costs down, then you may as well avoid expensive private schools altogether. As a transfer student, you might have a hard time getting institutional merit aid. If your stats are way above average you may luck out, but probably not enough to bring your net costs in line with in-state public levels. For instance, Whittier does have “talent scholarships” open to transfer students in art, music, and theater. However, the max apparently is $12K/year, which would still put your net costs above public in-state levels. </p>
<p>If small class size is what you’re after, you can get that even at the UCs once you’re done with intro-to-intermediate level courses, especially in less popular majors.</p>