@ucbalumnus thanks for the tip about the common data sets! I’m going to read the C7 section for all the schools on my list… interesting about Pepperdine. Do you think the fact that I’m not religious should deter me from Pepperdine? I have attended church a couple times and am open to exploring religion but I don’t want to go to a school where it is pushed down my throat, you know?
What is the definition of “pushed down [your] throat”?
@ucbalumnus I am fine with the required religion courses and “spiritual events,” but I don’t want Christianity to be forced upon all the students and non-Christian/non-religious students to be looked down upon or treated differently. Obviously there is going to be a high religious presence on campus, but I guess what I was wondering if it is bearable for a non-religious kid or if it is really forced upon the students.
These activities are the first step - they only demonstrate that you are interested enough to gather information on the school - nothing more.
The next step is to demonstrate that your interest is based on an in-depth understanding of the information gathered (i.e. what the school has to offer), an in-depth understanding of yourself (i.e. what you are looking to get out of your educational experience) and how well the two align.
This is typically accomplished via a thoroughly researched and carefully written essay.
I’m late to this thread, but might have something to offer as my D20 visited several of the schools on your list and is currently attending Santa Clara.
We toured Colgate and she loved the campus and the resources of the school, but ultimately eliminated it because the town is very tiny and the area is rural. There was no direct flight to Syracuse from where we live (Seattle) so getting there would involve a full day of travel (with a three hour time difference) including a layover in Detroit (or some other larger airport), a second flight to Syracuse and a 45-60 minute drive from the airport to Colgate. Given that she’d be traveling at the holidays (when there would be snow), we didn’t want to worry about canceled or delayed flights to due to weather. We decided that the location (and weather) were not a fit for her/us.
Like you, she wanted to be on the West Coast (outside of WA State), so she was very focused on CA. She came from a small and rigorous private school, so wanted something big enough to offer the academic and social opportunities she was seeking, but small enough to know the professors and feel part of a community. She had some bigger schools on her list, but mostly, she was focused on Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, Chapman and University of San Diego. She also applied to SDSU, USF and CU Boulder as safeties. Her reach was USC (she didn’t get in).
She loved the LA location of LMU and USC. Chapman has a great campus with a cute town, but is a good hour or so outside of LA. She took Pepperdine off the list because it’s too religious (her friend attends and it’s a higher level of religious focus than the Jesuit schools on her list including SCU, LMU and USD). She also eliminated Occidental because it was smaller than the others. She liked USD but felt that it was almost “too California” in terms of a laid back vibe. Still, it’s a gorgeous campus and San Diego has a lot to offer. She didn’t like UCSD, and although she did like UCLA, she didn’t like it enough to do UC application for just one school (and one that she was unlikely to be admitted to).
She chose SCU because she thought it had a stronger academic profile than the others on her short-list. She liked that it was near San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Palo Alto and offered lots of opportunities for internships in Silicon Valley. She was worried initially about the immediate surroundings of the campus–no cute college town like Chapman–but this hasn’t been an issue.
The dorms weren’t open for Fall Quarter and all classes are online but she moved to an off-campus housing arrangement and LOVES it. She is enjoying her classes and professors and has met lots of people and is making friends. She described it as a perfect fit and a great balance of work/academic focus and socializing and fun.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
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@cuppasbux this was very helpful, thank you so much!! It seems like I am in a similar position as your daughter, and actually both of my parents went to Santa Clara so it is one of the top schools on my list! I visited once a couple years ago and really liked the campus, and I was supposed to take a tour in March but it got canceled sadly. I also have LMU, USD, Pepperdine, UCLA, UCSD, and USC on my list… I am not religious so I am not really sure about Pepperdine but it has a gorgeous campus, I agree that I do not really love the vibe of UCSD so I might take it off too… I looked into Chapman and Oxy as well but I currently do not have them on my list. May I ask what your daughter is majoring in? Thank you again for the insight-- very relatable to my situation!!
I would definitely add Bucknell. Very similar to Colgate, but it has a business and engineering program
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@afahrer I’m glad it was helpful. She is majoring in English with a possible minor or double major in Communications or Marketing (she is still figuring it out). I would look carefully at Pepperdine’s religious component to be sure it’s a fit for you. We aren’t religious either, so this was a factor for D. At SCU, the religion classes are broad (the one she’s currently taking is, according to her, almost like a philosophy class where they’re reading Immanuel Kant and others and is not focused on Catholicism) and she isn’t required to attend mass. For what it’s worth, we are also full pay and she got a nominal merit scholarship from SCU, but not a game-changing sum by any means. Good luck! Go Broncos!
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@cuppasbux my mom said that when she went to SCU, one of the religion classes she took was theology of marriage! I definitely like the Jesuit approach more than the overly-religious aspects of Pepperdine, but I am hesitant to rule it out just because of that one factor. Thank you for the reply and I hope your daughter is enjoying her first year of college so far!
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@afahrer I agree, you should keep all of your options open at this point. Good luck with your search and reach out if you have more questions!
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Unless your parents are super rich (or perhaps super poor), don’t pay full price to out of state public universities for a elementary education degree. Not worth the return on investment.
Also you need to decide what type of teaching you want…if you want to be a high school math teacher, you need to major in Math. If you want to be an elementary school teacher, you can major in elementary education. But many people find it hard to find a job with just elementary education degree…they add special education certifications or bilingual. etc.
You may have fallen for the trap of “I can go to college anywhere I want” without researching how much you pay for that privilege for that particular major. Your parents will also have to pay for you to travel home.
For elementary education I would concentrate on your states public colleges/universities…sure, add some OOS reach options.
Also does Stanford even have elementary education programs?
You definitely want to try to eliminate having to take out loans as teachers do not get paid very much. I would try to save money on college by being in state and then moving to California after you graduate.
Also I suspect your parents aren’t giving you numbers because they don’t want the other parent to know how much money they have available. And you might find that if one parent only has say 20K per year available, all of a sudden there is an issue because the other one doesn’t want to pay the remaining 50K.
Parents today remember when college costs 10K per year and they would work there way through school to pay for it. This is not the case anymore.
Look for financial safeties you would be happy to attend.
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The State of California thanks you for your financial contribution.