I recently submitted my applications and shared the list of schools with my friends and when reading off these specific schools she made a face giving me the idea that they may not be good schools.
In your opinion, are these schools bad? Is it a joke to attend them?
No. Stop caring so much about what your friends think – for God’s sake, don’t base your decision on their assessment – and start caring about how you’re gonna make the best out of wherever you go and kick butt once you graduate.
The two things that matter the most are: can you afford it, preferably with little to no debt; and is it the best possible education you can get, in the area that matters to you, for the money?
OP,
In general, your friends’ opinions/reactions to colleges might be among the worst reasons to consider or not consider a given school. Sure, friends can offer valuable advise when, say, they attend a school and can give you information that the glossy brochures and sleek websites cannot. Otherwise, yikes!
Your list is a mixture of LACs (Occidental, Marymount) and smallish universities. These types of schools, all private, are not going to have the immediate name recognition of larger public universities (with large student populations and Division I sports) or the larger private universities (Ivies, USC, Notre Dame, etc.). Even the most “elite” of LACs are pretty much anonymous among the general populace. For instance, many here on CC will know that Occidental is a terrific and very selective LAC that is well-regarded. Your friend may not.
Don’t worry about friends’ perceptions, neighbors’ perceptions, or Uncle Frank’s perception. All of the schools on your list are good. I know that Occidental and Chapman are very good (the other two are as well, I’m sure, but I’m just not familiar with them).
It sort of drives me nuts when I see so many students worried about the “name” of a school (but then I remind myself that I was seventeen once), especially when the schools in question are more than run-of-the-mill “good.” There are thousands of colleges in this country. Most of them are “good.” Hundreds (perhaps a thousand?) are very good to excellent.
My youngest only applied to small universities in Canada (we live in the US). Her friends had never heard of any of them and kept asking “where?” and “why?”. Once we got off the plane in Canada, this immediately changed to “great school”. She is doing very well and loves it at the small school where she ended up, which is a great fit for her.
I am going to assume that you have done your homework and determined that these schools are a good fit for you. If this is the case, then don’t worry about what your friends say. Once you show up at university / college, you will be surrounded by other students who agree with your choice. As @Hapworth says, there are indeed a very large number of very good universities and colleges in the US.
By the way, I assume that you know that this guy “Barack Obama” started his university studies at Occidental College. He seems to have done well. 
You might want to ask your friend what colleges she thinks are “good,” and why. Occidental, for instance, compares favorably by student profile to schools with which she might be more familiar such as the UCs (http://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9). Oxy, beyond this, offers a completely undergraduate-focused environment. Your friend can still adhere to her opinions, of course, but it might be difficult for her to support her viewpoints substantively.
I went to Oxy and toured Chapman and LMU with my daughter – great schools!