Pitzer - way up! We visited Pitzer a few months ago, while school was still in session, along with Pomona college and Scripps. Before the visit, Pitzer was bottom of the list of those three, by the time we left, it had shot to the top of the list for D26. I can’t speak for D26 on this piece, but given the social responsibility and environmental sustainability core values of the school, us parents were expecting the a bit of an annoying self-righteous vibe from the students, perhaps with some wealthy kid performative do gooder vibes thrown in (I know, bad stereotyping of people I’ve never met, based on very little). We ended up meeting a fair number of students while on campus, and did not get that feeling at all. Rather, they mostly came across as nice kids who were passionate about something, many of them passionate about making a positive difference in the world.
Big picture on Pitzer, it is a bit of a niche school. Unlike most colleges, they have clearly articulated core values that are central to who they are and who is likely to be attracted to the school (those core values are: Social Responsibility; Intercultural Understanding; Interdisciplinary Learning; Student Engagement; and Environmental Sustainability). The school was founded as a women’s college in the 1960s, and the ethos of the place very much still reflects the values of that era in which it was founded. On our visit, we felt everything fit together well with the core values they articulated and that ethos resonated strongly with D26 (and us as well frankly). In both the info session, on the tour, and with random students we talked to, the themes of the place came up again and again, which made it feel like there is a true sense of identity which happens to align with what D26 is looking for. I’ll try to give a sense of some of that below.
The Campus - The Claremont Colleges are about an hour east of LA, in what is naturally desert. You would not know that from looking at Pomona and Scripps, campuses which are both gorgeous, but are lush and full of more water intensive plants one would see on a typical beautiful east coast campus or somewhere with more water. The Pitzer campus fully embraces the desert landscape, with native plants and desert scaping basically everywhere except for a few grassy mounds on campus. The building design perfectly matches that aesthetic in my opinion, with a very mid-century modern feel for the most part. Probably the most stunning feature of the campus is the freshman dorm quad. It has three dorms, again with a midcentury feel (though clearly newer), surrounding a quad. And in the middle of that quad is an absolutely gorgeous pool with lounge chairs around it. Over the top of the dorm on the one side, is a view of the mountains. We were there on a sunny Thursday afternoon, and there were a bunch of students sitting on the lounge chairs with books and laptops, as well as some reading while halfway in the pool. It was an incredible scene and quintessentially southern California. There are photos of the quad online, it is stunningly gorgeous! I know that some people really do not like the desert scape/modern aesthetic, but we all love it. I’ve seen on here and other places some folks describe the dorms with their outdoor hallways as feeling/seeming like a motel. I fervently disagree with that take, to me it much more felt like a Palm Springs resort. The outdoor hallway is not just for motels in SoCal. The physical design of the college is very grounded in the place where it is, and we all loved that. And, it’s not just the look that tied into the core values. While the dorms have AC, and split doors so you can just open the top for folks to see in if you like. The AC is hooked up so that it shuts off if the door is open in order to preserve energy in an environmentally responsible way. At the gym, the workout machines are hooked up to generate energy from the energy students put out. There is a community garden and I believe an offsite garden where some of the food is grown. And, though I was not really a fan of this part D26 really was, there are walls throughout campus where students can do murals and one wall that I think is more of a free art wall. Some of it was fairly political, which both resonated with D26, and is consistent with what the school purports itself to be. So, the campus was a 10 out of 10 for all of us. While Pomona and Scripps are beautiful in the typical college campus way, Pitzer’s was an ideal Southern California campus aesthetic.
Students - There were three things that really resonated with D26 about the students. First, as mentioned earlier, many of then really seemed to have passions. Some for work they were doing with the community (including some doing stuff with a project they have where folks in Prison can get their degree; others on a water project locally, some were doing something with farm workers). Second, there seemed to be a fair number of quirky kids who were into doing their own thing and charting their own path. Third, they seemed to be collaborative and supportive of each other rather than competitive. Overall, she had the impression that the students were doing what they were doing because it excited them and they had a community of friends supporting them. They were not focused on grades or prestige elements, but doing what mattered to them which she really connected with. While on campus, we noticed how often students were greeting each other in a joyful way, the sense of community felt really strong.
Curriculum - it seemed to have some structure with a lot of flexibility and ability to individualize things which she liked. Lots of study abroad options, some through Pitzer directly and others you could connect with or find your own if none of those suit you. She liked that they have “field groups” rather than departments, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of their approach, which D26 loves as an undecided with lots of interest. In truth, I don’t know if the field groups makes any real difference compared to departments, but it resonated with D26 and if nothing else the distinct naming convention was consistent with the messaging of their interdisciplinary core value. And, for science, they have a brand new Science Center that they share with Scripps. D26 has interest in science, and the idea that her science classes would be predominantly women due to Scripps being a women’s college, was a huge plus for her even if she ultimately does not major in science. And of course, this is not unique to Pitzer, but the fact that the Claremont Consortium allows her to take classes across the schools was a huge draw for D26 for all of the Claremonts. She asked about both Pitzer students taking classes at other schools and how cross-polinated Pitzer classes are. I think she was told that on average Pitzer students take about 40% of their classes at other campuses, and there was not a cap for that. And, that in a lot of Pitzer classes a good chunk of the students are from other campuses. Students said for the most part, they often don’t even know which campus students in their classes are from for awhile, that it is really seemless. They did mention that some classes in some areas on other campuses are restricted or hard to get into if not impossible but most areas it is not an issue.
Admissions - small point, but Pitzer is test-free (don’t take SAT or ACT scores) and has been that way since before the pandemic apparently, and was test optional for quite some time. D26 is applying to schools without test scores, so someplace that is test-free not because they were forced to go test-optional in pandemic, but as something that they did on their own, resonated with her.
The Town - This is not unique to Pitzer and would apply to all of the claremont colleges. Claremont is an adorable little college town, with plenty of restaurants and shops. It has some upscale places that won’t work for students, but plenty of places that D26 could imagine herself going and hanging out, coffee shops, lunch spots, a little mall like area and some thrifting spots. D26 thought she could easily see herself living there for 4 years and having it as a home base.
Summary - The Pitzer visit was fantastic. D26 felt she got a real sense of the community and its values and loved what she learned. We also think it would be a great fit for her. From the visit it went from third choice Claremont to the top of her list of schools overall. Right now, a few months later after more visits, Pitzer and Agnes Scott are at the top of her list for different reasons. The downside of Pitzer for us as parents is that it is one of her most expensive choices for sure. We will not be eligible for need based aid, and they give minimal to no merit aid (even compared to Scripps where D26 would have a shot at merit aid). So, that may be a factor in the end. To be clear, we are in the fortunate position where we can afford to send D26 to Pitzer, but there are reasons we may decide that is not the way to go. But, that is a problem for another day, the point of this post was to sing the praises of how Pitzer really did impress us. It is definitely not a school for everybody, but for the right kid like D26, it seems great!
) But each family had a private tour guide. We had to indicate potential major choice when we registered for the tour and it seemed that they were trying to pair you with tour guides from that major. So we toured with a guide from the business school. The guide was very friendly but not a great guide (she kept saying "this is the soandso building but I can’t tell you much about it, because I’ve never been in there, she was a junior). After the campus tour we were handed off to the business school for, as it turned out, a private presentation and tour (S26 was the only potential business major visiting that morning). The presentation and b-school tour were very good and in depth.
. Every other school had given out merch. Also S26 had really fallen in love with Old Miss by then and his friend is pretty set on attending LA Tech. So LSU probably didn’t have a chance from the beginning.
My D26 was highly amused and thought she’d have no trouble finding her people here.