Waiting on decisions. My daughter is between Alabama and Pepperdine as of now! Two very different schools. She is in a the top 10% of 1100 students in a very competitive high school in north Houston. She plans on majoring in engineering with MBA 5 year program if decides on Alabama. She was offered $19k/year scholarship getting her to in state tuitiion there…hoping on additional departmental/misc scholarships there. She is applying to Pepperdine for Jan 5 deadline and hoping for hefty scholarship there majoring in science/business minor. She is waiting on decision from University of Texas (chem E 1st choice and Science 2nd choice and scholarship package (in state tuition now with possible additional $18k school (selected for interview) from Arkansas (chem e). She was accepted to Baylor, Colorado School of Mines, Texas A&M and Ole Miss, but has eliminated those from her list for multiple reasons. Anyone have strong thoughts for Pepperdine or Alabama? Hoping to get Pepperdine close to in state with scholarship for top 10 percent that apply.
We visited Pepperdine when DD was. HS junior in 2002. The school is a strong Christian school…with a very restrictive religion course requirement. Is this OK with your daughter? There are three required courses…Old Testament, New Testament, and something like Fundamentals of Christian Religion.
I need to interject…my kid graduated from Santa Clara and also had religion course requirements… it there wer bout 100 courses from which to choose…and students got the choice.
My kid crossed Peoperdine off of her list because it was far too conservative for her tastes. In addition, the town of Malibu really doesn’t have anything to do…lots of swanky beach houses…a pizza place, and I think a movie theater.
OTOH, it has a gorgeous campus…with all,those buildings looking out over the Pacific Ocean.
What was your kiddos SAT or ACT score? Really unless she is a top applicant, I can’t imagine Pepperdine is going to cost less than UT instate.
What makes these very different colleges appealing to your daughter?
If the prices are comparable…let her make the choice.
She had a 1520 SAT superscore 1470 high…no ACT score. They typically take 98th percentile and up is what counselor said. Lots of Extra curriculars and all Dual Credit, Honors and AP classes Junior and Senior year: 3.8 unweighted, 4.8 weighted GPA. We visited Pepperdine over Thanksgiving break. She loved the campus and really felt like she would fit in with the student body. She felt at home. She is not opposed to taking the christian classes. She is raised Catholic. The positive from my perspective is she will be studying and in a safe environment…dry campus. But close by Santa Monica and Los Angeles…so best of both worlds. She has always talked about going there without visiting and she was extemeley impressed when she finally got to check it out. Have to wait and see if she gets in and what she gets .
State Schools: She not big on Texas schools, but she applied as back up. Visited Alabama and could totally see herself there also. The school was majestic with southern charm and the student body…super friendly. She liked that they offer lots of merit money and also the fact that only half the students from Alabama…with the rest from elsewhere.
Reviews are very good for Alabama.
Getting into University of Texas…if accepted, she would have to consider. They are #6 in the country in chemical engineering, but extremely competitive. My daughter is top 10% , but not top 7
So just wanted opinion if you have one…very different schools! Big decision!
Take that ‘dry campus’ at Pepperdine with a big grain of salt - the kind you might find on a Margarita glass. It is a christian college with a lot of restrictions, but it is no Liberty or Oral Roberts. I’ve known several grads and they were quite wild.