After three years experience at Scripps...

hopefullyhelpful
Fri, 25 Jul 2014 02:22:47 +0000

Alright, as a recent graduate I’ll respond to CAorBust’s points:

1) Yes Scripps is very expensive. It’s ridiculous. No argument here.
2) I actually know lots of people without financial need who got summer funding. Money isn’t available for all students, but Scripps recently upped the number of fellowships. Also, in my opinion the low income students for whom internships would be an absolute impossibility without funding should have greater access to the fellowships.
3) Core is controversial. Some people love it, others hate it. For what it’s worth, I liked Core I and loved my Core II and Core III. My interest in one of the lectures led me to take an intro class with the professor the next semester, which was how I found my major. It doesn’t work out that way for everyone, but it happens for some people. Also, Core runs on a three year cycle, and the new curriculum that was introduced last year was a lot more popular with first years than the one your daughter and I took.
4) This is actually the point that prompted me to post here, as I was able to get into every class I wanted for my entire four years in Claremont, and somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 were off-campus. I’m really sorry your daughter has had such a tough time getting classes - I know CMC Econ classes are really hard to get into. I would say the norm is somewhere between your daughter and me, and it definitely depends on the major, but most people can get the classes they want eventually.
5) Yeah, double majoring can be tricky, although I know quite a few people who did it. And yes, much to the chagrin of many students and about half of the English department, it is now nearly impossible to be a writing major at Scripps.
6) Yup. Too many people, not enough rooms. It’s cramped.

I’m really glad I went to Scripps. It was by no means a perfect college experience, but my education did and is doing amazing things for me. Also, I’m pretty happy and well adjusted. That seems important.