Didn’t get acceptance to any targets. Shocked. Disappointed.
Need to decide between UC Santa Clara or Lake Forest. Or Loyola Marymount Baltimore or High Point Univ. Or Occidental.
Can’t visit any - and never did - cause live in Europe. The schools are so different from each other. Which one has a better reputation? Should my HS senior take gap and reapply next year? Or go with intention to transfer? Occidental and Santa Clara are really far from Europe too…
Grateful for advice.
UC Santa Cruz (public university) or U Santa Clara (Private university, Catholic)?
In terms of academics,
SantaClara= Occidental > Loyola MD = Lake Forest >> High Point
What school system is your child enrolled in?
Are all these colleges affordable?
In May, a list of colleges that miscalculated yield will be published. (Yield management software can’t predict a pandemic, so I’m guesing there’ll be lots of excellent,surprising universities there). If your child’s common app is ready to go it can be worth a try.
THANK YOU. Santa Clara Univ. Was awarded a full scholarship to Lake Forest. All colleges affordable with generous fin aid. Should mention she was waitlisted at American University in D.C. Where would you put that in list of academic quality? What do you mean about the miscalculated yield? So, colleges will reopen applying? She’s doing the DP in an Intl IB school. So appreciate your comments, @MYOS1634
I’m not sure exactly what you are look for in terms of advice. My kid is a Santa Clara graduate and loved her experience there.
The four schools you have named are in very different types of locations and sizes vary too. High Point is very small.
If you are looking for convenience, maybe Loyola MD is a good choice. We know a number of happy grads from there.
OTOH, Santa Clara and Occidental are both close enough to major airports. If your student is traveling from Europe, what’s a few more hours on a plane🤷🏻♀️.
I will say, if the kid is looking for a very pleasing climate year round, Santa Clara has it. In addition, we are big fans of how the Jesuits deal with higher education…they do it very well.
Then again…Loyola MD is also a fine Jesuit school. And it it convenient enough to airports in the greater DC area.
thank you, @thumper1. agree - I suppose we’re so confused about what to do because we’re new to all of this and being far doesn’t help. quality of academics is key. the jesuit approach to higher ed is clearly an attractive characteristic; Georgetown was her first choice. you raise some great points on travel. my daughter is quiet and doesn’t really party and has the impression that Santa Clara is a party school. does that match your daughter’s experience?
I think you are still confusing some of the UC‘s with Santa Clara.
Santa Clara, as far as I can remember, has never been really considered a “party” school.
The UC’s, like Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara, have had party school reputations. These are public universities created by the State of California.
Are you aware of the differences? Did you apply to the correct school, but view the wrong website?
One of my daughters was admitted to Santa Clara, and she really liked the atmosphere, but she chose to go to another university for her major. We liked Santa Clara.
This analysis should offer you a relative sense of academic quality and expectations, and places Occidental and Santa Clara together:
There are partiers at EVERY college. Every single one. My daughter is not a drinker, but she still had a lot of fun while at SCU.
Thank you so much -
My D20 is a freshman and loves Santa Clara University. She is in a sorority so there is partying if you want it, but parties and Greek life don’t seem to drive the school community. The list posted above is interesting but dated. SCU’s average SATs are around 1365 with the 75th percentile at 1440. Also, check out the recent Forbes article about post graduate earnings.
Thank you so much. That’s very helpful.
Here’s the article.
The Greek scene at SCU is not the predominant one. I believe under 10% of students are members. Plus their events welcome those who aren’t members. Sororities and Fraternities are not college supported.
AU would be equal to Occidental or Santa Clara, roughly speaking, although that would depend on major.
Congratulations on the scholarship to Lake Forest!
Miscalculated yield: yield managers and yield enrollment software try to maximize the ratio of admits who will commit. That’s the yield. However the software can’t account for sudden teen dislikes or passions …nor for a pandemic. So, yes, some colleges re open applications in May.
So, if your daughter were unsatisfied with her choices, she could deposit at one college by May 1 and try her luck with the list in early May. You’d lose your deposit so it’d only matter if she got more money-- it sounds like Lake Forest would be your best financial offer, so using the May list probably wouldn’t be necessary.
The vibe is different at Santa Clara and Occidental though. Is she an activist? Liberal?
More accurately, they will try to accurately predict yield, possibly by assigning each admit a chance of matriculation. Some colleges also want to maximize yield by not admitting those who have a low chance of matriculation (typically very “overqualified” applicants who do not “show enough interest”), but not all do so.
But some colleges predict incorrectly, resulting in having too many students or not enough students. In the latter case, they may use the waitlist and/or reopen for applications.
I sent you a message.
If it helps I compiled some campus tours about these schools:
SCU
Occidental
Loyola Marymount
Lake Forest
High Point
She’s definitely liberal. Less of an activist, per se. Is there one more than the other?
Wow!! Thank you so much! This is super.
Yes, Occidental is much more activist/political than Santa Clara.
(High Point is seen as a joke academically- they’re a country club college for kids who aren’t into the life of the mind. In the olden days, many would likely have gone straight into daddy’s business but now a college credential is socially required in good society. They do learn and network, etc, but…)