Californian Private Universities

carolyn
Fri, 10 Dec 2004 15:09:56 +0000

Occidental is one of the most diverse schools in the U.S. They do like international students but they don’t have an enormous amount of financial aid available for them (they do have some though). It’s a small school - about 1500 students - with excellent teaching.

Pepperdine is a school with a religious administration. Weekly attendence at convocation (chapel) is required. No co-ed dorms, no drinking on campus. STudents tend to be less conservative than the administration. They do take a fair number of international students - check on their financial aid for internationals as their financial aid for US students tends to be highly tied to loans.

The University of San Diego is a beautiful school in a great city. Excellent academics, especially in the science. It’s Catholic but not overly religious (no required attendance at church). Not very diverse - they are really pushing trying to build up their diversity. Mostly white upper middle class students right now. I don’t think they offer financial aid to internationals.

Santa Clara is comparable to USD in terms of overall academics and campus feel. Also Catholic. Has a bit more diversity - more Asians in particular than USD.Very strong engineering, business, communications programs. Great location for people interested in computer science as its right in Silicon Valley. Housing is limited for upper classmen.AGain, I don’t believe they offer financial aid to internationals.

Loyola Marymount - Nice school overlooking LA. More diverse that USD or Santa Clara, both in terms of race and income levels. Has smaller percentage of Catholic students than the other two. No financial aid for internationals (double check though).

Of the five schools, Occidental is the most competitive in terms of admission, followed by Pepperdine, then Santa Clara and USD. Loyola Marymount is the least difficult in terms of admission but it has become pickier in recent years about applicants.

If financial aid isn’t an issue, you might also want to check out the University of Redlands near LA, as well as St. Mary’s College of California in the San Francisco area.
The University of San Francisco is also a very diverse urban school that attracts quite a few international students.