Anonymous wrote:Agree Santa Clara , LMU, and USD very similar size, rep, religious affiliation etc all three growing in selectivity and reputation

Occidental is not a natural school to compare. Not bashing Occidental as it’s a great school for the right kind of kid.

Can anyone else compare LMU, USD, and SCU? DC admitted to all 3 - received best merit from USD, then SCU, then LMU. Has visited LMU and SCU but not USD yet. Just wondering about their strengths and any other insight into them.

Anonymous wrote:Agree Santa Clara , LMU, and USD very similar size, rep, religious affiliation etc all three growing in selectivity and reputation

Occidental is not a natural school to compare. Not bashing Occidental as it’s a great school for the right kind of kid.

OP check out the reviews on LMU on Niche, Unigo and Reddit. For example, the reviews of Occidental on Niche by students, is rather poor with 162 students calling it "average", 37 calling it "Poor", and "15" calling it "terrible". https://www.niche.com/colleges/occidental-college/reviews/. Also read up on LMU on College Confidential

My son is a freshman and is very happy there. He's in CBA (College of Business Administration) but is also very interested in music production. To the descriptions above I will add that his classes are small (most ~20-25) and he has lots of face time with professors.

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Anonymous wrote:DC needs to visit but looking for info on vibe etc

NP. I am going to ignore the derailing PPs who are obviously insane. I think we accidentally summoned the obsessed Occidental hater.

Anyhow, Californian here. I’ve known multiple alumni and current students. They all love the school, and seem to have more of a devotion to the school than I see with (say) the UCs or places like Pomona. It reminds me a bit of the University of Notre Dame on a smaller scale in that regard. The alumni loyalty is extremely strong.

It’s a sporty place and a lot of kids play some form of sport. It also has good ties to LA business. Good school for someone who is interested in the business of entertainment, for instance. In some ways I think LMU is quintessential SoCal: gorgeous campus and location, kids who have a beach outdoorsy vibe, lots of ties to LA and secondarily SoCal business, kids with families in the entertainment business. It’s religious but not Pepperdine religious. The academics are solid. Tends to have a wealthier student body but also gives good aid. When I was a kid in SoCal there was sort of this USC-LMU thing going where the girls went to LMU and the boys went to USC. Those days are long gone but I think some of that vibe remains.

New poster here
They recently cut (starting next fall) about 7 of their sports-swimming, cross country, I think crew?(not 100% of that one) for both men and women.
A friend of mine has a kid there whose sport was cut.

pp quoting myself here
I just looked it up and I guess it's 6 sports...sorry about that.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/loyola-marymount-university-to-cut-six-varsity-sports-programs/

The school has 7,300 students and maybe 300-400 play varsity sports. Are we saying lots of kids play club and intramural?

Yes. There is a focus on physical fitness, not unlike USC and to a lesser extent UCLA. Kids are involve with club and intramural sports, as well as just general fitness.

This is partially just part of the Southern California vibe. Fitness is part of the lifestyle.

Large service component to the education. Beautiful campus. Closed campus, so safer than some of the other LA schools. Good scholarship opportunities for higher achievers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC needs to visit but looking for info on vibe etc

NP. I am going to ignore the derailing PPs who are obviously insane. I think we accidentally summoned the obsessed Occidental hater.

Anyhow, Californian here. I’ve known multiple alumni and current students. They all love the school, and seem to have more of a devotion to the school than I see with (say) the UCs or places like Pomona. It reminds me a bit of the University of Notre Dame on a smaller scale in that regard. The alumni loyalty is extremely strong.

It’s a sporty place and a lot of kids play some form of sport. It also has good ties to LA business. Good school for someone who is interested in the business of entertainment, for instance. In some ways I think LMU is quintessential SoCal: gorgeous campus and location, kids who have a beach outdoorsy vibe, lots of ties to LA and secondarily SoCal business, kids with families in the entertainment business. It’s religious but not Pepperdine religious. The academics are solid. Tends to have a wealthier student body but also gives good aid. When I was a kid in SoCal there was sort of this USC-LMU thing going where the girls went to LMU and the boys went to USC. Those days are long gone but I think some of that vibe remains.

New poster here
They recently cut (starting next fall) about 7 of their sports-swimming, cross country, I think crew?(not 100% of that one) for both men and women.
A friend of mine has a kid there whose sport was cut.

pp quoting myself here
I just looked it up and I guess it's 6 sports...sorry about that.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/loyola-marymount-university-to-cut-six-varsity-sports-programs/

The school has 7,300 students and maybe 300-400 play varsity sports. Are we saying lots of kids play club and intramural?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC needs to visit but looking for info on vibe etc

NP. I am going to ignore the derailing PPs who are obviously insane. I think we accidentally summoned the obsessed Occidental hater.

Anyhow, Californian here. I’ve known multiple alumni and current students. They all love the school, and seem to have more of a devotion to the school than I see with (say) the UCs or places like Pomona. It reminds me a bit of the University of Notre Dame on a smaller scale in that regard. The alumni loyalty is extremely strong.

It’s a sporty place and a lot of kids play some form of sport. It also has good ties to LA business. Good school for someone who is interested in the business of entertainment, for instance. In some ways I think LMU is quintessential SoCal: gorgeous campus and location, kids who have a beach outdoorsy vibe, lots of ties to LA and secondarily SoCal business, kids with families in the entertainment business. It’s religious but not Pepperdine religious. The academics are solid. Tends to have a wealthier student body but also gives good aid. When I was a kid in SoCal there was sort of this USC-LMU thing going where the girls went to LMU and the boys went to USC. Those days are long gone but I think some of that vibe remains.

New poster here
They recently cut (starting next fall) about 7 of their sports-swimming, cross country, I think crew?(not 100% of that one) for both men and women.
A friend of mine has a kid there whose sport was cut.

pp quoting myself here
I just looked it up and I guess it's 6 sports...sorry about that.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/loyola-marymount-university-to-cut-six-varsity-sports-programs/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC needs to visit but looking for info on vibe etc

NP. I am going to ignore the derailing PPs who are obviously insane. I think we accidentally summoned the obsessed Occidental hater.

Anyhow, Californian here. I’ve known multiple alumni and current students. They all love the school, and seem to have more of a devotion to the school than I see with (say) the UCs or places like Pomona. It reminds me a bit of the University of Notre Dame on a smaller scale in that regard. The alumni loyalty is extremely strong.

It’s a sporty place and a lot of kids play some form of sport. It also has good ties to LA business. Good school for someone who is interested in the business of entertainment, for instance. In some ways I think LMU is quintessential SoCal: gorgeous campus and location, kids who have a beach outdoorsy vibe, lots of ties to LA and secondarily SoCal business, kids with families in the entertainment business. It’s religious but not Pepperdine religious. The academics are solid. Tends to have a wealthier student body but also gives good aid. When I was a kid in SoCal there was sort of this USC-LMU thing going where the girls went to LMU and the boys went to USC. Those days are long gone but I think some of that vibe remains.

New poster here
They recently cut (starting next fall) about 7 of their sports-swimming, cross country, I think crew?(not 100% of that one) for both men and women.
A friend of mine has a kid there whose sport was cut.

Anonymous wrote:DC needs to visit but looking for info on vibe etc

NP. I am going to ignore the derailing PPs who are obviously insane. I think we accidentally summoned the obsessed Occidental hater.

Anyhow, Californian here. I’ve known multiple alumni and current students. They all love the school, and seem to have more of a devotion to the school than I see with (say) the UCs or places like Pomona. It reminds me a bit of the University of Notre Dame on a smaller scale in that regard. The alumni loyalty is extremely strong.

It’s a sporty place and a lot of kids play some form of sport. It also has good ties to LA business. Good school for someone who is interested in the business of entertainment, for instance. In some ways I think LMU is quintessential SoCal: gorgeous campus and location, kids who have a beach outdoorsy vibe, lots of ties to LA and secondarily SoCal business, kids with families in the entertainment business. It’s religious but not Pepperdine religious. The academics are solid. Tends to have a wealthier student body but also gives good aid. When I was a kid in SoCal there was sort of this USC-LMU thing going where the girls went to LMU and the boys went to USC. Those days are long gone but I think some of that vibe remains.

Agree Santa Clara , LMU, and USD very similar size, rep, religious affiliation etc all three growing in selectivity and reputation

Occidental is not a natural school to compare. Not bashing Occidental as it’s a great school for the right kind of kid.

Thread on LMU from just last week.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1191442.page#27027079

It's a beautiful campus with a friendly student body. There is a huge emphasis on being near the film studios / industry and the summer courses are mostly "acting for camera"

There are more women than men, the average GPA for freshman is 4.0 (weighted) and the SAT range is 1280-1430 (they give merit at the higher end).

It has a 41% admit rate and costs a lot. $60K tuition plus about $20k housing / living. It is not one of the more prestigious CA colleges, a little ahead of Santa Clara and a bit behind Occidental.

It's Catholic but not overly so. Freshmen are required to take a religious studies class but this can be on any religion they choose. It's not like Pepperdine where there are crowds standing in mutual prayer outside the buildings.

Anonymous wrote:If you do a search this was just addressed a few days ago but my take on LMU is it’s California’s new Santa Clara in terms of popularity for OOS but more focused on business, humanities and cinema/entertainment related degrees than engineering. Lots of private school prep kids who wanted a similar vibe for college. Campus is gorgeous and in one of the best parts of Los Angeles (Marina Del Ray adjacent). I know several kids from the tri-state NY area who attend.

It's in a nice part of LA, but kind of a little odd...it is between Marina Del Ray and Manhattan Beach/Hermosa/Redondo. It is on a bluff with an incredible view of the ocean, but the ocean is not easily accessible from LMU (you have to drive). The area directly around it has everything you "need"...grocery stores, coffee shops, chain and other restaurants. Nothing exciting.

Again, very nice...but it's not like it is in West Hollywood or Beverly Hills or in the thick of the LA action (and it is further from those places than UCLA or USC).

If you do a search this was just addressed a few days ago but my take on LMU is it’s California’s new Santa Clara in terms of popularity for OOS but more focused on business, humanities and cinema/entertainment related degrees than engineering. Lots of private school prep kids who wanted a similar vibe for college. Campus is gorgeous and in one of the best parts of Los Angeles (Marina Del Ray adjacent). I know several kids from the tri-state NY area who attend.

DC needs to visit but looking for info on vibe etc