<p>Son turned down: </p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara
Santa Clara
Loyola Marymount
Univ. San Diego
Univ. of Missouri
Univ. of Oregon
San Diego State - Honors College</p>
<p>Liked all of those schools, but Dodge College at Chapman sealed the deal, and was the best fit. I’ll never forget the sight of him running up the driveway from the mailbox, ripping open that envelope while leaping and pumping his fist. Pure joy 
He received generous financial aid, which certainly helps mom and dad.</p>
<p>^^Happiness for you and DS, SJR. :)</p>
<p>Son passed on:</p>
<p>UCSD and UCSB Honors
USC School of Cinematic Arts
Loyola Marymount
CSULB, SFSU and CSUF Honors</p>
<p>Each had much to offer and the college search process was educational, enthralling and exciting. Dodge was ultimately the perfect choice; his visit on Preview Day blew him (and us) out of the water. The stimulating atmosphere, passion and personal investment of the faculty, world-class facilities and enthusiasm/work ethic/quality of the Dodge and Honor students was altogether unparalleled. Our son is brimming with joy and anticipation.</p>
<p>Qualifier</p>
<p>D just admitted to me that she in fact never applied for film production at LMU, just regular admission because she didn’t like the film department when she went to see it!</p>
<p>My S turned down:</p>
<p>UC Davis
CSU Fullerton<br>
San Diego SU<br>
CSU Long Beach
CSU Northridge
Northeastern University
University of Oregon<br>
Boston University</p>
<p>I personally graduated from UC Berkeley. But Chapman is a dream school. I have never seen a happier campus. Professors & students really look like they enjoy being there; you can tell. A great atmosphere to learn; with caring Professor and great facilities. You can’t compare being taught by a Professor with 14 students in the class vs. what I experienced at UC Berkeley where TAs did much of the teaching. There seems to great camaraderie among the students every time we have visited the campus this year when my S was making the decision. The area around Chapman is extremely safe. They have incredible restaurants & stores in this very historic town 2 blocks from the center of campus.</p>
<p>Attending Chapman for Theater, with an eye towards auditioning into the BFA Theatre Performance track in sophomore year. I turned down:</p>
<p>Southern Utah University (Wonderful school, but offered less money.)</p>
<p>University of Arizona (Took a ridiculously long time to offer me acceptance to the Fine Arts department, and I committed before I heard back.)</p>
<p>Texas State San Marcos (Wasn’t offered acceptance to BFA Acting or MT; decided not to pursue their non-audition BFA in Performance & Production even though I got into the school in a walkover.)</p>
<p>Texas Christian (Ultimately my second choice, but I clicked better with the people at Chapman. TCU is very collegiate-- big Greek life, big athletics, massive party scene-- and slightly less of my cup of tea.)</p>
<p>Since we were unable to go to Admitted Students Day, I love reading all of your impressions, and how that visit convinced you/your kids. S-Fan, your S is one astounding student. Holy smokes!</p>
<p>D is having very hard time decidng but is finally leaning toward Chapman after turning down: U Denver, U Miami, American, Santa Clara (Leavey), Univ. of Washington (Foster), USC (spring admit), Tulane.</p>
<p>Still on the list as we come down to the wire:
George Washington and Chapman.</p>
<p>SJR, I’m sure you mean g-bird’s son. My sons are 7. So they have an extremely short list of accomplishments, mostly involving building Legos. One cannot even include shoe tying on his list. Scary to think I’ll be back here in 10 years trying to sort things out for them!</p>
<p>UCSB, Point Loma, Azusa Pacific University, CSU Long beach, Fresno, Cal Poly Pomona,</p>
<p>S-fan, well, I meant your kid – a D, sorry! But I know G-bird’s S is a blue-ribbon dude, too. And I’m sure the shoelace thing will come soon!</p>
<p>Oh! Well thanks, SJR. Yes, D can do lots of things including tie her shoes, (and her brothers’ shoes…) but at Chapman it won’t matter because even here, flip-flops are her footwear of choice.</p>
<p>USC
SDSU
UCSB
Cal Lutheran
SJSU</p>
<p>I’m an international student who chose Chapman because of its location and generous scholarship offer. I turned down:</p>
<p>CSULB
University of Oregon (IDEA scholarship $8k/yr)
Loyola Marymount University
UC Riverside
Hampshire College (half-ride offer)
Mount Holyoke College (this was my first choice, but sadly, the financial aid offer I got was nowhere near enough for my family)</p>
<p>I completed my housing application a couple of days ago and just got my visa forms this morning. I’m crossing my fingers for a great experience at Chapman!</p>
<p>Oh man! Disadvantaged east coaster, here. Just when I thought I had cracked the CA university code with all its Cs and Ss a new one comes along. (And I’m only guessing here, but I’m thinking that 5 letter one – CSULB – is CA State Univ at Long Beach.) But what the heck is SJSU? San Juan State University? Oh wait! San Jose? I’m thinking out loud here…</p>
<p>I turned down UCI, UCSC, UCSB, CSUF, CSULA, and CSULB.
Now I’m just trying to figure out how to afford tuition.</p>
<p>S-Fan, where on the East coast are you? Appears daughter will be attending Chapman and we currently live in NY’s Hudson Valley (about 70 miles from NYC). D was born in SD (San Diego) If you are from NJ what exit? (GSP or NJTPK)</p>
<p>Hi, crunch! We are in VA near DC. The Hudson Valley is a lovely area! D and I explored it while looking at Vassar and SUNY Purchase. We stayed at the Mohonk Mountain House which was on my bucket list so I’m thrilled to have been there. Could afford a total of ONE night, and ate extra cookies at tea time both days to get our money’s worth! (A life time supply of cookies would still be cheaper than a night in that place!) </p>
<p>Used to live in NJ in Matawan, when D was 4 and H worked in NYC, but I forget what exit that is! 18?</p>
<p>Answer : SJSU is San Jose State University </p>
<p>the California State Universities: </p>
<p>•California State University Bakersfield
•California State University Channel Islands
•California State University Chico
•California State University Dominguez Hills
•California State University East Bay
•California State University Fresno
•California State University Fullerton
•Humboldt State University
•California State University Long Beach
•California State University Los Angeles
•California Maritime Academy
•California State University Monterey Bay
•California State University Northridge
•California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
•California State University Sacramento
•California State University San Bernardino
•San Diego State University
•San Francisco State University
•San Jose State University
•California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
•California State University San Marcos
•Sonoma State University
•California State University Stanislaus</p>
<p>The University of California campuses:</p>
<p>UC Berkeley</p>
<p>UC Davis</p>
<p>UC Irvine</p>
<p>UC Los Angeles</p>
<p>UC Merced</p>
<p>UC Riverside</p>
<p>UC San Diego</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz</p>
<p>Wow, thanks! This is great! But wait – are these all state schools or are the UC’s private? (Like in PA how Penn State is public and U Penn is private?) Why do I hear more about the UC’s and not as much about the Cal States? I assume the UCs are more competitive.</p>
<p>Shakespeare: The UCs are public, but they might as well be private given the cost of tuition for in-staters and selectivity… in any given California high school, you’ll find a lot of talented students upset that less-talented, out-of-state students beat them out for a slot (the state needs those monies, you know…). </p>
<p>Helpful tip-- The UCs tend to be tiered in terms of admit difficulty: Berkeley, LA, and San Diego make up the “Elite” tier; Santa Barbara, Irvine, and Davis are “Hard”; and you’ll find that Santa Cruz, Riverside, and (especially) Merced are significantly easier to get into.</p>
<p>CSUs are also public, less expensive, and generally less competitive, with each campus boasting a few specialized programs–CSU San Marcos, for example, has lived in the shadow of San Diego State since its inception, but is rapidly developing one of the best education programs in the West. Fullerton has its theater, Long Beach has its film, and San Ber’doo has programs in National Security Studies and Clinical Disability Studies. It’s just about finding the campus that’s right for you.</p>