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Any idea if it is a good school for sciences? And what about the possibility of getting some good science at one of the neighboring colleges even while enrolled in Scripps.

Can you get into physics at Harvey Mudd while enrolled in Scripps?

By 2dsdad (2dsdad) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 08:06 pm: Edit

What you can't get at Scripps you can find by cross registering at one of the other Claremont colleges. If you haven't visited you should know that the colleges are literally across the street from one another. I don't think that Scripps is the strongest in the sciences, but you can take advantage of the offerings of any of the others to meet your needs in most cases. Residentially you get the advantages of a women's college with proximity to a coed population and social scene. My daughter applied, liked it a lot and was offered quite a nice merit package, though she ultimately chose to go elsewhere. We would have been very happy if she had ended up there.

By Interesteddad (Interesteddad) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 08:25 pm: Edit

The Claremont Colleges are really quite unique and interesting. Combined, they have the undergrads of a mid-size university. However, they operate as five separate colleges that share major facilities (libraries, campus security, health services, computer services, etc) on what is essentially one large campus.

The course offerings vary a bit from college to college. For example, Pitzer (the "loosey-goosey" college) and Claremont-McKenna (the Poli Sci/econ/government college) operate a Joint Sciences department rather than separate Physics, Chem, and Bio departments. Harvey Mudd, a tech school, has limited arts and humanities offerings, etc.

You'll have to dig around on the Scripps website to see their course offerings.

From my limited knowledge, the Claremont Colleges look like a very attractive option for someone wanting a college/university in the desert east of Los Angeles.

By 2dsdad (2dsdad) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 12:04 am: Edit

"the Claremont Colleges look like a very attractive option for someone wanting a college/university in the desert east of Los Angeles."

Ummm, is this tongue in cheek? Have you visited? Claremont is a neat small town in the middle of the greater LA basin, a mile north of I-10 and a long way from any desert.

By Interesteddad (Interesteddad) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 12:25 am: Edit

The entire "Inland Empire" valley east of Los Angeles is desert. Well irrigated desert, but desert none the less. Take away the sprinklers and it's sand as far as the eye can see!

http://www.pomona.edu/Tours/phototour/home.shtml

Actually, the colleges are about three miles due east of Pomona Raceway, the birthplace of organized drag racing in the US during the LA hotrod era immediately following WWII.

I didn't mean it to be negative at all. Much of greater LA is desert, although it is hard to tell today.

I actually think the most appealing thing about the Claremont Colleges is that they are traditional liberal arts colleges that are pure LA in terms of location and setting. That's fairly unique even before considering the Consortium structure, which is VERY unique (and a good idea, IMO.)

By Jvd (Jvd) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 12:48 am: Edit

D has not visited the Claremont Colleges but did take in summer science program in Ojai just North of LA. To my chagrin...she loved the heat and the beaches, but felt she had to be somewhere where she could see mountains and at least find some trees.

Scripps gave a real good merit package to another girl we know here in our area of Alaska and D is looking into the possibility. She is most interested in Astrophysics...but also likes the idea of Botany or Environmental Science.

By Outwest5 (Outwest5) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 01:45 am: Edit

Claremont is up against Mt. Baldy (12,000 foot mountain)and is a 'Tree city USA' designated city. It is clean, safe and pretty city and Scripps (and all the colleges) is a beautiful campus. It is 35 minutes by metrolink train (station two blocks from Colleges) to Union Stations in downtown LA, 40 minutes from the ocean and beaches, one and a half hours from Joshua Tree National Monument (in the *real* desert), 40 minutes from Disneyland (hey, that's important). You aren't going to find pure Alaskan Beauty (only you have that ;)) , but it does have a lot of trees and is very close to the mountains so she can get up there any time she wants to. She can even ski in the winter IF it snows enough. Or, she can just go to Big Bear Mountain(an hour away). They have great snow almost all winter. You won't find a drop of snow at the Claremont Colleges, though...other than the snow the colleges likes to dump on the green grass in the middle of the winter that they've dragged down in the back of a pickup from Mt. Baldy.

As one of the consortium you can register and take any class from any of the other colleges with the exception of a few classes that are open only to Pomona College students. Yes, she can take any of the sciences she wants at the other colleges. Pomona College is very tops in the sciences! She should also apply there. It is difficult to get into, but certainly worth a go of it. Scripps is a terrific school and I love Claremont. Even in it's very hot and dry August and September. The rest of the year is beautiful. Right now it is mild with blue skies and in need of a good rain which won't probably come until after Xmas.

With Scripps you get the benefit of a small women's college surrounded by coed schools and the facilities of a much larger University. The science facilities are outstanding, really exceptional. I encourage her to also apply to Pomona College. Scripps is very generous with aid. So is Pomona.
Oh, by the way, The colleges have their own mini observatories. Two of them! I went to them and checked out Mars last year through their telescopes.

Also, she should apply to Harvey Mudd too! A strong woman candidate is always a strong applicant. She actually sounds kind of like a Harvey Mudd kinda gal.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 10:30 am: Edit

Do an "interest" search on livejournal.com for "Scripps College" You may have to sort through some of the posts to find it but within the past few months, there has been a group of Scripps students and ex-Scripps students discussing the pro's and con's of the school, including the difficulty of cross-registering. Most really love the school but there was some disatisfaction expressed that's worth reading about. Also some interesting information about social life, etc. As always, this is just the opinion of a few, not the entire student body, so take it as an information point worth investigating rather than proven fact.

By Coureur (Coureur) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 10:43 am: Edit

>>Claremont is up against Mt. Baldy (12,000 foot mountain)<<

OT: summit of Mt. Baldy = 10,064 ft.

By Midwesterner (Midwesterner) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 11:03 am: Edit

The admissions rep from Harvey Mudd said it is "extremely easy" to register for classes at the other claremont Colleges.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 11:10 am: Edit

I have heard the same thing and it is "easy" to register for classes at other schools because the registration systems are linked ... However, easy does NOT mean the same thing as "all classes are open to everyone"

In looking at the actual online course registration forms for the past few semesters, I have noticed that there are actually quite a few classes, especially at Pomona, that are marked "closed to non-Pomona students" or "priority given to students from XYZ" Most of these classes seem to be upper level classes. So, I think saying you can register for "any" course at "any" of the Claremont schools may be a bit of an overstatement. Certainly, however, there are a wide variety of classes available for cross-registration.

Perhaps a current student or parent at one of the Claremont schools could chime in here and enlighten us about this?

By Arizonamom (Arizonamom) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 12:34 pm: Edit

I think that if your school does not offer the program then it is easier to take it at another school and would not have that stipulation. My D is visiting Scripps in 2 weeks when we go up for the weekend to visit my S at Pomona. She is scheduled for a tour and interview at Scripps and then is hoping to spend the night with a runner on the girl's team at CMC(her very favorite but her very reach school)I will ask my S more about cross registration and what he has heard. I know that first semester they encourage you to take all classes at your home school with exceptions of languages and classes they do not have.

By Dadofsam (Dadofsam) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 04:51 pm: Edit

The daughter of a friend is a sophomore at Scripps and loves it. However, she is not majoring in a science.

When we visited the Claremont Colleges last year, we learned that there are limitations on taking classes in colleges other than the one to which you are admitted. We did not visit Scripps but did visit Pomona and Claremont-McKenna. In both schools we were told that (a) classes cannot be taken in another college until sophomore year or later, (b) there was an overall limit on classes taken outside the college of admission (the number we were given was about 25%) and (c) taking classes outside one's college was subject to various priorities of the other college.

So if your plans are heavily dependent on taking classes at other Claremont colleges, check carefully before makign any broad assumptions.

By Outwest5 (Outwest5) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 12:33 am: Edit

Coureur, You're right. Baldy is just over 10,000 feet (I looked it up, too). Around 12 was always my assumption. Sorry. I am surprised you didn't pipe in about how much you disliked the Claremont area and thought it very big of you not to comment.

The OP is from Alaska so they need to understand that it is hot and dry here a couple months of the year. You will not have cool beach weather in the summers, but most of the year it is very nice. Not as nice as San Diego weather, ;) , but better than many places.

I also agree that the college a person chooses should be strong in what they are interested in. Getting a science degree from Scripps is certainly more than doable, though. But, as I said before, Harvey Mudd should be a consideration, too. Also, a person shouldn't go to one of the Claremont Colleges with the idea of taking all their core classes at another one of the schools. Pomona does block some of their classes. I don't think taking classes from any of them is difficult, though. I dio know that a lot of the students are pretty happy there. The Claremont Colleges are NOT urban by any means though. So, a visit is necessary to make sure the environment is a good fit.

By Jvd (Jvd) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 02:01 am: Edit

I appreciate the posts of those familiar with the college. I spent some time on Scripps website...it do looks like there is some type of a combination of Astronomy/Physics degree that might prepare one for an astrophysics graduate course. It is probably not the best but hopefully will prepare her enough for graduate school.

D is likely just a step below Harvey Mudd material. I posted her stats in another thread. While her SAT was good,(1500), her math was only 700 and her 2c math was 610 (if I remember right). She just does not have time to study to do it again. All her tests are first sitting. She is literally taking 5 science courses this semester, 2 are at college and one college calc course. She has to commute to the college 3 days a week (50 miles one way).

So all that is to say I think she is going to have to go with the scores she presently has. She may try the 2C again with no preperation, just like she did the first time.

That is why we are looking at schools like Scripps that may be generous with merit aid.

BTW...hot and dry is no problem for her. I guess she is tired of the cold here.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 10:07 am: Edit

Do read the livejournal area that I mentioned above: the biggest reason cited for transferring from Scripps was financial aid problems. Just be sure to investigate this issue.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 10:10 am: Edit

By the way, one school that you may want to investigate that IS very generous with Merit aid and financial aid is Trinity University in San Antonio Texas. They have an excellent physics and astronomy program there. It's a nice, smaller (2600 students) friendly school in a great location with a beautiful campus and top notch academics. They do a very good job of getting kids into graduate school as well. They would be VERY interested in your daughter. www.trinity.edu

By Jvd (Jvd) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 03:12 pm: Edit

Thanks...D says she is going to apply to Trinity

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 03:53 pm: Edit

You might want to order the collegiatechoice.com video for Trinity U. and some of these other schools. The Trinity one was particularly well done - after viewing it, my daughter was ready to ship out to Trinity even though they have only a so-so program in one of her main areas of interest (art).

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 03:55 pm: Edit

And, she might want to email the head of the physics department at Trinity U. His name escapes me at the moment but I interviewed him for an article a while back and he was a very responsive and interesting fellow. He might be able to answer some of her questions about the program and what to look for in general in undergrad physics/astrophysics programs. MAny of the faculty in Trinity U's physics program also have extensive bio's describing their research interests on the web site, so she might look through those and identify someone who is interested in something that peaks her interest and email them instead.

By Coureur (Coureur) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 09:37 pm: Edit

>>Coureur, You're right. Baldy is just over 10,000 feet (I looked it up, too). Around 12 was always my assumption. Sorry. I am surprised you didn't pipe in about how much you disliked the Claremont area and thought it very big of you not to comment<<

Hey, the only time I gripe about Claremont is when someone tries to assert that it's not smoggy there when my eyes, my nose, my lungs, the AQMD, and the American Lung Association all assert to the contrary.

By Kriket (Kriket) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 01:03 pm: Edit

It certainly was smoggy when my daughter & I visited Scripps. Not all the dorms were air conditioned, unfortunately.

By Outwest5 (Outwest5) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 01:05 pm: Edit

Not a single smog alert again this year. Sky is blue with puffy white clouds right now. There is some smog in August through October. It is ugly and temporary and improving every year for the last 30 years. People who are air purists should avoid the Claremont Colleges, I suppose.

By Jvd (Jvd) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 01:25 pm: Edit

Of course the air is pure and crisp here...but currently a thick heavy fog, about 36 degrees.

I don't like smog, I think D is OK with it, she likes California...so far. I was born in LA and can't stay far enough away.

I just met some folks that moved here from NJ...there they don't trust air they can't see!