<p>My D is considering adding a west coast school to her college list. These are popular choices for kids from her high school. She is a junior with a very good gpa and a 2160 SAT 1 (one try with no prep). Is anyone familiar with the relative strengths and weaknesses of these schools? From my perspective they are carbon copies of each other but maybe one is more highly regarded in certain areas than the others. Does anyone know if LMU’s proximity to LAX creates a noise problem on campus?</p>
<p>My D attended LMU for her freshman and first half of sophomore years, then transferred to U Washington where she is now a happy junior. The airport noise at LMU is negligible - LMU is north of LAX, and the runways run east-west, so virtually no planes fly low over the campus. Takeoff noises are heard as a low rumble in the distance. We found being 5 minutes from LAX to be a wonderful convenience! Our D found academic rigor to be lacking at LMU and applied to the honors program at the end of freshman year (HS grades weren’t high enough from her rigorous private school, but SAT’s were 1450). While she received notice that she met the qualifications, they ended up not being able to take her unless someone already in the program dropped out, which no one did. So, if your D has the GPA to go along with the great SAT, she should by all means apply to the honors program. A great strength of LMU is its Jesuit emphasis on social justice and service - my D found that to be life-changing as far as choosing her major went, and made many good friends through participation in service organizations.</p>
<p>OF the three, USD is probably the strongest academically, especially in the sciences. USD is also the least diverse, both racially and economically, of the three. USD has a very pretty campus, but it is also quite close to the SD airport — noise not much of an issue though as the flight path is not over the school.</p>
<p>Moltian has already summed up LMU pretty well. St. Mary’s also has a very nice campus, in a suburban, almost rural feeling area outside of San Francisco. Not much to do off campus, and, unfortunately, many students leave campus on the weekends. We visited twice, both on weekend days, and the campus was dead. </p>
<p>Santa Clara U is another Catholic school worth looking at and it is actually considered by many in California to have the best academics of any of the west coast Catholic schools.</p>
<p>Beyond the Catholic schools, I would recommend Occidental College, the Claremont Consortium Colleges (Pomona, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd) and possibly University of Southern California to someone with your daughter’s great test scores and grades.</p>
<p>Carolyn, are these schools equally religious?</p>
<p>Forgot that you asked about “special programs” each school is known for. Loyola is known for its TV/film program and business. USD is known for sciences and social sciences (good pre-law school). St. Mary’s is known for sciences and business. Santa Clara is known for engineering, an outstanding psychology program, and pre-law majors.</p>
<p>Dstark, None of them is particularly religious. They all have churches/chapels on campus but none requires attendance at services.
LMU and Santa Clara, if I recall correctly, do have priests living in at least some of the dorms as “student counselors” but their presence isn’t overwhelming. A non-Catholic could feel welcome at any of them. </p>
<p>However, that said, at my children’s Catholic high school, it seems to me that the more religious families seem to prefer USD and LMU over Santa Clara. (That could just be a function of both schools being closer to home.) On the other hand, when parents mention having a kid at or accepted to Santa Clara the “Wow!” level from other parents is second only to those who have kids at Notre Dame, which seems to be our school’s Harvard. </p>
<p>(As an aside, I once overheard parents at a football game talking about the schools their kids had been accepted to. One parent was saying his son had a choice between Harvard, Notre Dame and the Naval Academy and was struggling with the choice between Notre Dame and the USNA. Kind of blew me away when I realized that, at least among this group of parents, Harvard was the third place runner up. 
)</p>
<p>Ok Thanks. I know two people that visited USD and LMU last week and liked both schools. They both aren’t religious.</p>
<p>Carolyn, Notre Dame and the Naval Academy over Harvard. How refreshing. :)</p>
<p>carolyn,
I thought Santa Clara has the best business program among this bunch. Is that not true?</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack the thread but could you recommend some LACs in the west coast with good communications program?</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback and suggestions for other schools to consider. Don’t worry about the hijack goblue. D also wants a school with school spirit. fyi, ND may make her list too Carolyn. I guess we need to do some visits to narrow down the possibilities.</p>
<p>St. Mary’s is in a cul-de-sac nestled up against the hills in a town that is itself a cul-de-sac. The local high school kids refer to Moraga as “Boraga” because there is nothing to do in Moraga. The school, the town and the surrounding area are absolutely beautiful. It’s a very clean, safe, bedroom community. Real estate is expensive. There is a 7.5 mile hiking/bike trail across the street from campus which connects to the retail areas of Moraga as well as other trails in the East Bay. There could be some occasional noise from local cows. </p>
<p>Despite the fact that the campus is small and there isn’t a lot to do in Moraga, SMC is very popular with a lot of kids. There is a movie theater in town, some restaurants, a couple of small shopping centers. Walnut Creek, about 15 minutes by car from campus, is becoming quite popular with the 20-something crowd. Lots of great food, bars, movies, and shopping in WC, along with the Regional Center for the Arts. Berkeley and San Francisco are both within an easy drive.</p>
<p>Academically, SMC could be a match/safety, given those SAT scores, probably a safety.</p>
<p>One more thing about SMC: when we visited they told us that they only guarantee housing for freshmen and that, after freshmen year, many kids move off campus. Maybe that partially explains why the campus was so dead both weekends we visited. </p>
<p>Santa Clara does have a very good business program, sorry if I implied they didn’t.</p>
<p>Santa Clara also has an outstanding communications program. Smaller schools with good communications programs on the west coast are limited - take a look at Pepperdine, Chapman, Seattle U, Gonzaga in addition to Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount. I also believe that the University of Puget Sound, the University of the Pacific, USF, Linfield College and Pacific University have communications majors, but I don’t know much beyond that. If large schools aren’t a turn off, USC is one of the best in the country.</p>
<p>My S is a senior business major at USD. He lived two years on campus, then a block or two from the beach (he’s a surfer). We have been very happy with the personal treatment he received in advising etc, compared to his older siblings who went to UCSB and UCLA. By the way, he was required to take four theology/religious studies courses, with a wide range of topics; the courses were tough but good for him.<br>
I think your daughter will be admitted with no problem. San Diego is a great place to live too.</p>
<p>maryc, how is the school for career advising?</p>
<p>The following content appears in the What University of San Diego Students Say About Academics" section on the Princeton Review website concerning USD:</p>
<p>USD also offers solid, popular programs in communications, psychology, nursing, and education. Smaller departments like engineering and the sciences earn praise, too, the latter which benefits from a great facility with brand-new labs."</p>
<p>USD assigns each freshman to a preceptorial class, a small class with a faculty advisor who will meet with the student re: majors, requirements etc, that my son found helpful. As soph, he was assigned to a faculty member in his business major. There is also a counseling office for advice and career planning. Very personal–the beauty of a smaller school, compared to the huge state univ.</p>