Hi everyone! I’m interested in both of these two schools but I would like to know more about both of them. I know these two colleges are on opposite sides of the coast. I am looking to major in biology or something related. I know you need to take science classes at the Keck center for Scripps. Does anyone knows how that 5C system work? Which school would be stronger academically?
The 5C’s allow you to take classes at any of the other schools. There are some exceptions, certain classes are for students of that school only or limit the number of students from other campuses, but in general most are available and registration is the same as registering for your home campus. Keck is the home for science majors from Scripps, Pitzer and CMC (Pomona and Mudd students have their own individual science departments).
The 5C’s also allow you to eat at other dining halls (great for convenience and variety).and often get some other “perks” of being a student. Sometimes these “perks” are limited or available only after those from the home campus have taken advantage. For example, there may be discount tickets for something, or a special guest speaker where the students from the home campus are able to get tickets first.
Some other resources shared among the 5C’s: campus security, the main library and bookstore (some have their own smaller versions as well), chaplains and health center.
And of course there are many extracurricular clubs and organizations that are 5C wide.
Academically, they are a wash. They are different in enough in other ways to support a decision one way or the other. The Smith campus is spacious and reeks of old money. The 5Cs are sun-soaked and tend toward the southwestern style of architecture. Scripps itself is no bigger than a single quadrangle within a larger academic community of >5000 graduate and undergraduate students… Gender parity is better at the 5Cs, although, I think the town of Amherst - thanks, to the presence of UMass - is a probably the better college town.
@circuitrider
LOL–Reeks of old money? Amherst is a nice college town, but Smith is located in Northampton
The 5Cs are fit together like Lego blocks. My kid at one of them took at least one class on another campus almost every semester after her first semester. It is very convenient – the consortium Smith is part of required shuttling, so is less convenient and makes scheduling more challenging. The 5Cs also have a common finals schedule (class at time X has final at date/time y) to avoid conflicts, which is nice.
The 5Cs share things like athletic facilities, a large library, and a health center. Some clubs are shared across, too. A lot of dating goes on across them as well. You really get some of the benefits of a larger 5,000 person campus with the benefits of a LAC as well.
My kid liked Claremont – it had restaurants, shops, movie theater, train to LA, and nearby hiking.
Scripps seems to be much more integrated into the 5Cs with lots of options, not so much Smith.
@CrewDad wrote
Oops. My bad. Frankly, Northampton, IMO, has a more interesting Main Street than Amherst. The greater Pioneer Valley area, which includes South Hadley, Northampton and Amherst, together comprises one of the more comprehensiive college oriented areas on the east coast.
Northhampton is very cool. When I visit Amherst we almost always also go to N-hampton to shop or eat or just walk around.