Pepperdine vs Miami - Academically

[Anonymous]

Kid just selected Pepperdine over USCB and USC. We are OOS and the merit aid at Pepperdine was just hard to pass vs USC.

Campus is amazing with a brand new part of campus opening up soon and the small classes was something my kid really enjoyed. And no, we are not conservative Christians….

[Anonymous]

Congrats! It was definitely hard for our DC to turn down the regent scholar program - it’s very generous.

[Anonymous]

Agree. I’m still concerned that my kid is super social and that after 8pm it looks like there is nothing going on in Malibu…no quick drive for a late night food run, a little isolated.My worry is that it too much of a sleepy town for a very social kid. Other than that, we are thrilled. If you child joining a sorority/fraternity?

[Anonymous]

If your kid is social and wants to go to Pepperdine, if you dont do Greek you will be bored to death…..

[Anonymous]

Small classes and setting is top notch. But social and pepperdine shouldnt go in the same sentence….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. I’m still concerned that my kid is super social and that after 8pm it looks like there is nothing going on in Malibu…no quick drive for a late night food run, a little isolated.My worry is that it too much of a sleepy town for a very social kid. Other than that, we are thrilled. If you child joining a sorority/fraternity?

Regent scholar poster. No, he decided against Pepperdine in the end - much to the dismay of our bank account. But it was a pretty cool option.

For some reason, all the kids we know who went there were athletes and they loved it. Perhaps that social bootstrap was helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Small classes and setting is top notch. But social and pepperdine shouldnt go in the same sentence….

This! If you are not Greek or a student athlete, it is a much tougher place to live. You are a little isolated from the world in a little campus. Some love it. But if you want a bigger social scene, Pepperdine is not it.

[Anonymous]

How isolated is it really? You are 50 mins from LA….

[Anonymous]

50 mins is a long way at 10am when you want to go grab a bite and everything is closed in Malibu

[Anonymous]

Anyone know of any updates to their Mountain project and when will it come online?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid just selected Pepperdine over USCB and USC. We are OOS and the merit aid at Pepperdine was just hard to pass vs USC.

Campus is amazing with a brand new part of campus opening up soon and the small classes was something my kid really enjoyed. And no, we are not conservative Christians….

Congrats!! I’m assuming your kid got a ton of merit, which makes a lot of sense vs not aid at USC or USCB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know of any updates to their Mountain project and when will it come online?

They are delivering by end of 2026.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid is torn. Money is not an issue. Grandparents funded kid’s college fund. Kid can only use it for College, so please dont include any costs/ merit aid, etc in the discussion.

DS toured both. Fell in love with both for different reasons. He cant decide.
Got in Miami Herbert and Pepperdine Int Business program. But also interested in both of their International Studies Major.
He likes Pepperdine Study Abroad program better, but feels like Miami is a better business school.
He understands the small “concervative and religious”bias at Pepperdine and he is not worried about it having been at a Christian school his whole life. He has friends at both schools and they are all telling him what he wants to hear.

Anyone here with experience having kids at either school?

He is also waiting for U of St Andrews but not sure he will get in. SAT 1470, GPA 3.82/4 UW.

Did you kid decide that to do?

Miami’s acceptance rate has come down significantly….but maybe football, party school vibes with decent academics is helping. Pepperdine used to have much lower acceptance rates. But it looks like right sizing the student body population after covid has forced them to increase admission rates in 23-24…looks to be getting back on track. Historically Pepperdine has been better ranked than U Miami….I wouldn’t let recent changes in ranking methodology sway decisions. It is still a small class environment liberal arts like education at Pepperdine.