<p>My d has been accepted at both Scripps and Carleton, visited and loved both schools. She is interested in pre-med and dance. Scripps is closer to home, nicer dorms, food, weather but Carleton appears to be more interesting and more academically challenging. What about the cold weather? It also appears that there are limited opportunities for daily dance at Carleton. Is exercise a problem? What if you don’t like your dorm? The weather seems to limit you a lot . Any ideas or suggestion would be appreciated!</p>
<p>Please note that Carleton changed its food provider this year, and the quality has definitely increased. The cold weather doesn’t stop the students. The ones from warmer climates (like my daughter) learn how to dress appropriately. Our first Family Weekend at Carleton was spent taking D shopping for cold gear. Please also note that with the trimester break, students are home from Thanksgiving to New Years and will miss some of the cold. During winter term, students really embrace the weather and have fun with it, playing broomball and skating on the outdoor rinks set up in the middle of campus.</p>
<p>The dorms are fine - Carleton has a variety of housing available - singles, doubles, triples, quads, quints, houses, etc. There will be two new dorms opening this fall, so the “forced triples” will revert to doubles. FYI, my daughter was in a forced triple as a freshman and loved it. The room size was adequate - would have been a very large double. It’s really the dorm life that matters- the students really bond with their floormates. I’m not sure what changes are/aren’t allowed if you don’t like your situation.</p>
<p>I think Scripps tripled significantly last year because of overenrollment, but that problem should be alleviated with a much lower acceptance rate (11% drop) this year. Does your D have a strong weather preference? Minnesota and SoCal are really night and day.</p>
<p>The Claremonts have the Joint Science Program: Check this link out - <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/claremont-mckenna-college/275655-joint-science-department.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/claremont-mckenna-college/275655-joint-science-department.html</a></p>
<p>Scripps has a pretty good dance program: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/4882261-post10.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/4882261-post10.html</a></p>
<p>A colleague of mine, a Carleton alum, says they used to have a saying at Carleton: “There’s no such thing as bad weather. Only bad clothing.”</p>
<p>I will add that Carleton does offer classes in dance - have you checked the website for information? Click on Academics, then click on Theater and Dance.</p>
<p>In addition to the classes in dance at Carleton, there are a number of student groups of varying levels of seriousness and competitiveness. Here’s a link to some info <a href=“https://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/subjects/danc/[/url]”>https://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/subjects/danc/</a>
In terms of excercise, there’s a terrific rec center with dance studios, climbing wall, bouldering room, weights, indoor track, indoor tennis courts…
<a href=“https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/rec/[/url]”>https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/rec/</a>
and as an alum you can get a lifetime membership for $3:)</p>
<p>I’m a soon-to-be Scripps grad and can answer any questions you have about it. I don’t know very much about Carleton, but I’m not sure why you think Scripps would be less academically challenging. Scripps is very challenging, especially for science majors. And of course, a large part of how challenging college is is how far you push yourself.</p>
<p>The gender thing makes Scripps much more self-selective–academically the difference between it and Carleton is insignificant. Edge on prestige does go to Carleton (for however much that counts).</p>
<p>For pre-med, I think Scripps has an advantage. This is just my theory, not from personal knowledge. Scripps has a great track record from its post-bac program for their students being admitted into medical school (97% accept rate). As a result, the med school adcoms are very familiar with the Scripps brand name and I believe this helps good candidates who emerge with 4-yr degrees but are not in the post-bac program. </p>
<p>[Scripps</a> College : Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program](<a href=“http://www.scrippscollege.edu/academics/postbac/index.php]Scripps”>http://www.scrippscollege.edu/academics/postbac/index.php)
[Scripps</a> College : Medical Schools Trust the Post-Baccalaureate Program](<a href=“http://www.scrippscollege.edu/academics/postbac/medical-schools.php]Scripps”>http://www.scrippscollege.edu/academics/postbac/medical-schools.php)</p>
<p>Statistically, it is MUCH easier to get into med school than to get into either Scripps or Carleton. So unless you get weeded out, find another passion, change your mind, or spend all your time partying, you should be getting into med school from either place.</p>
<p>Scripps has the other 4-colleges. Being at a small liberal arts college that shares a campus with four others has unspeakable advantages in terms of shared resources, the ability to control the “smallness” of your student community, etc.</p>
<p>mini: Ah, but most pre-med CCers want “top” med schools just as they want “top” colleges. And the odds grow progressively worse, as one would expect.</p>
<p>Carleton no contest</p>
<p>^How do you justify there being “no contest,” when the decision is clearly way beyond prestige?</p>
<p>Friend of D was a freshman at Scripps this year on prestigious scholarship. She is transferring to Carleton. Was tired about talking about shoes all weekend.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone love the info! Sra08-What do you think of the “shoes” comment, since you go to Scripps? I think my daughter was overwhelmed with the beauty of the campus and the amenities as well as making several good friends when she came for the accepted students weekend. But her fear is exactly that- the students will be more interested in fashion and makeup than in discussing philosophy.</p>
<p>I think it depends on who you meet and choose to spend time with. It sounds to me that the girl mom90 knows found some boring people. The people who I hang out with don’t talk about fashion and make-up. We don’t discuss philosophy constantly, either, but it comes up. There is quite a variety among Scripps students, not to mention all the 5Cs together. I honestly can’t think of any Scrippsies I know who prefer to talk about such superficial things. (BTW, I dress in jeans every day and almost never wear makeup. I am not unusual in that regard.)</p>
<p>As a recent Scripps graduate I honestly cannot recall having any conversations about shoes with my friends while attending. Although I suppose there are students out there who considered fashion and shoes to be their favorite topics, they definitely don’t make up the majority of the student body. Like sra08 I always felt comfortable and fit in just fine with my jeans / shorts and a t-shirt uniform and even often wore pjs to my morning classes!</p>
<p>I was accepted to Carleton and was considering Scripps until I visited (thought Claremont was unappealing and that the campus was cramped and not as beautiful as everyone around has gushed).</p>
<p>I think your daughter should look up the Facebook groups for both school’s 2013 classes. Pretty interesting to see what things your possible future classmates think are cool. Glancing at the Scripps’ message board, there’s a bunch of people gushing about Hugh Grant. Haha, I’m glad I didn’t apply now…</p>