Cal Poly Pomona (CSU)

Greetings From the Campus of .... Cal Poly Pomona, in Pomona, CA

The “mantra” of a Polytechnic school is to “learn by doing.” There is extra emphasis placed on real life projects on campus and internships off-campus. There are 6 polytechnic universities across the U.S. The only two in CA are Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly SLO. Both have great programs in engineering, agriculture, architecture and business.

Cal Poly Pomona has 19,500 undergrads. It is part of the California State University (CSU) system. Current “Impacted” majors include civil engineering, architecture, animal life and health sciences and pre-vet, meaning that applicants need to meet higher standards of admission for these programs.

The University has quite a unique history. It is located on a beautiful ranch donated by W.K. Kellogg (of cereal fame). His mansion and old horse stables are still maintained and used for special events and offices. As part of Kellogg’s ranch deed agreement, the university must maintain his Arabian horses and hold a monthly horse show for the community the first Sunday of each month. Students can also board their own horse on campus for $285/mo. There is an Equine Research Center where students can work.

Cal Poly is also known for continuous participation in the Rose Bowl since 1949 through a shared Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo) float. Anyone can volunteer to work on the float, painstakingly adding each petal and each seed (students work in shifts).

The most popular majors include Civil & Mechanical engineering (16th US ranked Engineering program), business and hotel/restaurant management (85 room Kellogg West hotel and conference center and a student- run fine dining restaurant). There are also unique majors such as the College of Environmental Design and the Lyle Center for (energy/environment) Regenerative Studies. Students who come to Cal Poly Pomona for these top and impacted majors tend to really love the academic programs and the university.

The school tends to “grow on” more local commuter students who attend it as their CSU. The biggest issue for the school is that it is mostly a commuter school (13,000 parking spaces). There are, however, some nice serene areas of campus, such as the rose garden and gazebo, or the Japanese garden, that are quiet study or contemplation spots.

Freshmen housing is not guaranteed, but is highly recommended with 1200 beds, and priority is given to students more than 75 miles away. However, the dorms were built in the 1960’s/70’s. There are also newer residential suites and apartments for upperclassmen – 2300 beds. Most students live off-campus in surrounding cities like West Covina or Chino (10-20 minutes via the freeway) and commute.

Cal Poly Pomona is located in the “Inland Empire” of Southern CA, 15 minutes from the Claremont Colleges, with downtown LA 30 min away, and the beach/mountains are about 1 hour away.

View my photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/maritasurace/CalPolyPomona#

Scripps College

Greetings From the Campus of ….Scripps College in Claremont, CA!

Scripps is home to 860 undergraduate women. The beautiful campus is nestled between Pomona and Harvey Mudd Colleges. You know you’ve arrived at Scripps when you are surrounded by the 1920’s-built white Mediterranean-style architecture, the orange-grove-lined paths, the expansive, rolling lawns and the perfectly manicured hedges. The lounge-chair lined pool in the recreation center is literally jaw-dropping – it is so beautiful.

The college is officially all-women, but men from the other (Five-C) Claremont Colleges may cross-register for classes (and potential dates) and Scripps women may take classes at any of the other 5-C’s. Scripps women seem to appreciate their own area of campus and smaller, home-like dorms. They also seem to appreciate being able to easily wander to adjacent campuses for a more active social life. For a women’s college, it’s the best of both worlds.

Don’t let Scripps fool you; it is quite challenging academically. For Admission, the average weighted GPA is a 3.9 and SAT’s average from the mid-600’s to the low-700’s. Students say that they have to work very hard for an A at Scripps. They do, however, appreciate the close-knit relationship they have with faculty resulting from a small average class size (15). This is furthered through student-faculty dinners, Thanksgiving at the Dean’s house, and other traditions such as afternoon tea.

The goal of Scripps is “to develop women to think clearly and independently and to live courageously and hopefully.” Scripps will push both the mind and the spirit of a teenage girl to develop her into a confident woman in every sense. Academically, Scripps has a multidisciplinary humanities curriculum with a focus on “what it means to be human and have a mind and a voice.” Admitted students tend to be multi-talented and have multiple interests. Many do dual majors and most pursue Masters Degrees.

View my photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/maritasurace/ScrippsCollege# and please visit my web site at www.CollegeApplicationAdvisors.com

Pitzer College

Greetings from the Campus of Pitzer College in Claremont, CA!

Stepping off the Claremont McKenna campus and onto the Pitzer campus is like leaving a politically “red state” to enter a “blue state”. Pitzer College includes approximately 1000 liberal and very politically, socially, environmentally and artistically conscious students. Students are encouraged to decorate their campus with personal murals. Environmental sustainability is an obvious passion as desert-type landscaping predominates and the newest dorm was built to the highest green-building standards. Students are very active promoting multiple personal causes, as well as having a say in how their school is run. They have a lot of freedom to select classes to fulfill their General Ed requirements, and they very often design their own majors. Students enjoy political and philosophical debates into the night. The social scene is very active.

Some students rave about the academics; others wish the classes were more challenging and take some classes at Pomona. All, however, agree about the wonderful accessibility to Pitzer professors and how easy it is to really get to know them. Academic emphasis is on intercultural understanding – all students are required to learn about a culture other than their own to learn to transcend separating cultural barriers. 72% study abroad. Students are also expected to carry out an activity using their knowledge for the service of others. Admissions looks for students who are “agents of change” and who are passionate about the arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences. The SAT is optional if you are in the top 10% of your class or have an un-weighted GPA of 3.5 in academic subjects.