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[quote=Anonymous]"Would anyone have input on how west coast schools fit into this breakdown.... for example the Claremont colleges (Pomona, Claremont-Mckenna, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, Pitzer) but others too."

First, the Claremont Colleges.

I never met anyone who disliked Pomona, but an applicant's odds of getting in are extremely low.  It's very diverse so, if you win the lottery and get in, you can find your crowd no matter what.  Plenty of nerds and musicians go there, along with plenty of other types.

Pitzer is up and coming.  It's also getting increasingly selective.  A Pitzer student is more likely to be interested in social justice issues than a random student at one of the other Claremont Colleges.

Scripps. All women.  Very nice.  Very pretty.

Harvey Mudd.  Kind of like a tiny MIT.

Claremont McKenna. This one is hard to categorize.  If you read this board throughly, you will see many different reactions to Claremont McKenna.  Lots of people say it is too filled with toxic masculine types, but lot's of people say that description is, at best, an outdated stereotype.  I think CMC is only slightly less selective than Pomona.  It is probably slightly more selective than Pitzer.

Cross-registration is possible at the Claremont colleges.

Keep in mind that ALL college admissions decisions are somewhat random, so the fact that Pomona is slightly more selective than CMC does not mean that if you get into CMC you will get into Pomona, or vice versa.

Another Los Angeles area LAC to consider is Occidental.  It's in East LA.  I think the campus is pretty, but some people find it bleak.  (That's true of the Claremont Colleges too.)  Many nice, smart kids go to Oxy, but the arts didn't seem as strong as at some of the other colleges on this list, which surprised us since it is in LA.  The Eagle Rock neighborhood is somewhat "urban" but is not walkable.  Having a car is very helpful.

Some others in Southern California include Redlands and Chapman.  I'm not sure if there are similar options in Northern California.

Now to the Pacific Northwest.

The best known is probably Reed.  It's in Portland.  It's famously intellectual and rigorous.  It's student body prides itself on being more quirky than the student bodies at most LACs.  There is far less emphasis on sports at Reed than at most LACs.  It has many huge fans and many critics.  If you're thinking seriously about Grinnell, Carleton or Swarthmore, you might want to add Reed to your list.

Another option is Willamette.  It's in Salem, Oregon.  Pretty much everyone I've ever met preferred Reed, Whitman or Puget Sound to Willamette, but Willamette is supposed to be very nice, especially if you want an internship in the Oregon state government.

Don't forget about Whitman, a hidden gem in Eastern Washington.  It's a beautiful college in Walla Walla, which is a nice very small city that closer to Boise than Seattle, I think.  It's fairly intellectual and fairly rigorous, with many students interested in a variety of extracurricular activities ranging from theater to jazz to debate to rock climbing.  It's much less intense than Reed, but it's probably a little more intense than Puget Sound.  To get to Walla Walla from the East Coast, you have to fly to a major city West of Walla Walla (Portland or Seattle) and then take a short flight East to Walla Walla.

A second hidden gem in Washington is Puget Sound.  It's in Tacoma, which is a nice medium sized city about 40 minutes from Seattle.  The campus is stunning.  The music school is very strong. It's a little larger than most LACs and offers a fairly wide variety of courses.  It attracts musicians, social justice warrior types, and pre-business types, as well as many others.  Along with Willamette, it's among the least selective colleges on this list, but it still attracts some very bright students.  If your kid want both a major city and a small LAC, Puget Sound is hard to beat, especially since Tacoma is close to amazing outdoor recreation opportunities.

Willamette, Whitman and Puget Sound are similar to Wooster, Kalamazoo, Beloit, Lawrence, St. Olaf, Knox, etc. on the CTCL list.

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