<p>With your qualifications, I would consider both USD and Chapman as matches/safeties. I believe your sat is above average for both institutions and your gpa is right about at the average for Chapman (slightly below average for USD).</p>
<p>If you are nervous that neither Chapman nor USD is a slam-dunk safety, I suggest that you add another school in that same sort of range (selectively speaking), but with slightly more open admissions criteria. The school that comes to my mind is the University of Redlands. The more I learn about the University of Redlands, the more excited I get about it. There seems to be a strong focus on teaching at this school. Plus, they have the Johnston Center for Integrated Studies, where students may create their own courses of study and design their own discipline. Academically speaking, Redlands seems to be one of those hidden gems where the quality of the education a student receives there has not yet become well known outside their geographic region.</p>
<p>For you, University of Redlands would be closer to a safety. While USD accepts approximately 50% of applicants and Chapman accepts approximately 60% of applicants, Redlands accepts approximately 70% of applicants. With what I know about you (granted, that is not much), I think that Redlands would be a safety for you.</p>
<p>Regarding Lewis & Clark, what you say is interesting. The reason why I thought it stood out from the rest of your schools is that: 1) it is quite a bit smaller than the rest of the schools you mentioned; 2) many of the schools that are high on your list tend to attract politically conservative, somewhat religious (though not evangelical) students; 3) Lewis & Clark is known to attract Peruvian poncho wearing, tree-hugging, deadlocked, atheistic, liberal students (not exactly the same group that you will find at Pepperdine). That is not to say that you should not apply to both schools. It is just to say that most people usually are attracted to either one or the other, but not both.</p>
<p>Good luck and I urge you to check out Redlands as a safety.</p>