East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?

[Anonymous]

It’s a different vibe. Some kids love it. It’s far but not that far.

[Anonymous]

Visited pomona before eldest applied. ( he didnt get in and ended up at vandy). The other two did not visit but between them were accepted to ucla santa clara and occidental. They are happily at ucla and oxy, respectively

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: thanks. DD will likely be a chemistry, applied math or computer science major. Have the stats for the most competitive schools but is otherwise unhooked (beyond being from a feeder private). Would love ideas for reach and target schools. Already toured and decided on safety schools in the east coast.

Among CA schools college counsellor discussed with DD, her favorites are Pomona and Stanford. So would love schools similar to them in academics and campus culture.

Your DD sounds like mine. Out of curiosity, what are the east coast safety schools on her list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If so, which ones?

Based just on reputation, it seems UCLA and Berkeley are too large and "sink or swim", the other UCs are too expensive for OOS students, Caltech is too hard and cutthroat, Stanford is too impossible, Claremont Colleges are too small or too niche. What are other schools that east coast families found have to be worth long the trip to visit in person? DC is a high stat junior at a top private; above are schools college counsellor and friends of older kids mentioned for campus tours.

Focus on colleges that track demonstrated interest, AND your DC has a reasonable chance of getting in (target or safety)! Skip the reaches, they don't care if your DC visits, and only visit after they get in.

Some examples of target/safeties (depending on DC's stats) that do track demonstrated interest:
University of Santa Clara (fly into SF or San Jose)
Loyola Marymount (fly into LAX)
Occidental (fly into Burbank, or LAX)
Chapman (1 hour south of LA or Orange County has own small airport)
San Diego State
University of San Diego
Scripps (women-only)/Pitzer (co-ed but really focused on unique fit such as social/civic activism or environmentalism) - easier to get into colleges at Claremont (fly into Ontario or 1 hr+ from LA)

[Anonymous]

Toured Santa Clara, CMC (and also did a quick walk through Pomona though did not apply there), and Cal Poly SLO and USD.

Very interested in the first two for major, network and culture. But the locations of the other two are awesome if that’s driving your California dream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours toured the Claremont Colleges. Dream school is there, so fingers crossed

+1

Also toured some UCs and Oxy while we were there.

[Anonymous]

We went to Berkeley, Davis, Stanford, UCSD, and UCSC, though mostly because we have family in the area, some of whom are also alums. Kinda wish we had visited the Claremont Colleges to see some LACs, maybe Santa Clara too. It was less likely for our kids to end up out there, but we kind of incorporated it into a family visit and also to get a feel for what different sized schools in different locations look and feel like.

[Anonymous]

We are a DMV family and visited west coast schools.

If you have a girl applying, you might check out Harvey Mudd. It’s the tech school of the Claremont Colleges (and def take Pomona tour at same time). The admissions rate is double for girls at HM (18%?)

We visited Stanford and Berkeley. But with those major might want to check out UCSD also.

Some folks like Loyola. We didn’t visit Occidental but applied. Santa Clara U is great.

[Anonymous]

Kid is at Loyola Marymount studying poly sci and loves it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went to Berkeley, Davis, Stanford, UCSD, and UCSC, though mostly because we have family in the area, some of whom are also alums. Kinda wish we had visited the Claremont Colleges to see some LACs, maybe Santa Clara too. It was less likely for our kids to end up out there, but we kind of incorporated it into a family visit and also to get a feel for what different sized schools in different locations look and feel like.

* a couple different family visits over two week-long spring breaks (during early high school)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If so, which ones?

Based just on reputation, it seems UCLA and Berkeley are too large and "sink or swim", the other UCs are too expensive for OOS students, Caltech is too hard and cutthroat, Stanford is too impossible, Claremont Colleges are too small or too niche. What are other schools that east coast families found have to be worth long the trip to visit in person? DC is a high stat junior at a top private; above are schools college counsellor and friends of older kids mentioned for campus tours.

Focus on colleges that track demonstrated interest, AND your DC has a reasonable chance of getting in (target or safety)! Skip the reaches, they don't care if your DC visits, and only visit after they get in.

Some examples of target/safeties (depending on DC's stats) that do track demonstrated interest:
University of Santa Clara (fly into SF or San Jose)
Loyola Marymount (fly into LAX)
Occidental (fly into Burbank, or LAX)
Chapman (1 hour south of LA or Orange County has own small airport)
San Diego State
University of San Diego
Scripps (women-only)/Pitzer (co-ed but really focused on unique fit such as social/civic activism or environmentalism) - easier to get into colleges at Claremont (fly into Ontario or 1 hr+ from LA)

Not sure this list is fully accurate. I just double checked the CDS for LMU and Scripps (where my student applied) and both state demonstrated interest is *not* considered.

[Anonymous]

Claremont colleges as a whole are about 8,000 students. I would consider them.

[Anonymous]

Live in the DMV but I grew up in the Bay Area; we toured California schools while building the college list -- primarily LMU, Occidental, Claremont schools but had previously visited Stanford and Cal on family trips. DD turned out to have affinity for Mission architecture, outdoor pools, and relaxed vibes, ended up applying to several SoCal schools. Went elsewhere, though.

[Anonymous]

No. I told DS I would not let him go further West than Chicago or Detroit. I really wanted him to stay on the East Coast.

[Anonymous]

How funny so many posters in DMV aren’t willing to send their kids so far. I’m in California, and many kids spread their wings and go to college all over the country- the south, the Midwest, northeast. Yes, it’s far, but airplanes…