Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:58     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: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…


There's just so many more great colleges/unis of all sizes per capita in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic (than CA) that there's no need to go as far as out west. I do understand why kids in CA are looking at New England or Northeast tho.

I see it the opposite way. So many great options in California. New England has trash public schools and a ton of tiny privates.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:58     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Confirming that Santa Clara heavily yield protects, be aware.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:57     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Anonymous wrote:No. We have plenty of good schools on the East Coast. Public transit is pretty good on the East coast too.
You need a car on the west coast. There is no budget for that.

You don’t need a car as a college student on the west coast lol. Most students spend a majority of time on campus.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:54     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Would not visit any until admitted.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:51     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Yes. Toured Santa Clara and were supposed to do a southern to central CA tour of schools - UCSD, UCLA, UCSB and Cal Poly but had to cancel. DD applied to all anyway and got into all but only visited UCLA where she now attends.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:50     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Nope. The furthest my kid applied was Rice.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:49     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Anonymous wrote:Claremont consortium is amazing. Nice area and mostly nice campuses. Love the consortium model of 5 schools clustered to create a mid size feel while keeping the distinct smaller feels too. Seems perfect - mi is the price tag. We visited them - sadly. DC fell in love before we understood the pricing options well.

Also visited Santa Clara. Seemed great for kids that would like a strong pre-professional vibe. Beautiful campus.


except for Scripps (women) or Pitzer (co-ed, odd place, test blind), the Cs are all too small and reachy. cmc is nearly 50% recruited athlete in freshman year. mudd is less athlete but very small (900-ish students over 4 years). Pomona has an admission rate of 6-7%.

Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:44     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Claremont consortium is amazing. Nice area and mostly nice campuses. Love the consortium model of 5 schools clustered to create a mid size feel while keeping the distinct smaller feels too. Seems perfect - mi is the price tag. We visited them - sadly. DC fell in love before we understood the pricing options well.

Also visited Santa Clara. Seemed great for kids that would like a strong pre-professional vibe. Beautiful campus.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:33     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Yes, oldest graduated from Oxy, youngest also toured several campuses. A friend went to Davis. A family friend went Mudd. A couple other acquaintances at California schools. I don’t think it’s rare, and the travel can be easier than a closer rural school.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:22     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Anonymous wrote: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…


There's just so many more great colleges/unis of all sizes per capita in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic (than CA) that there's no need to go as far as out west. I do understand why kids in CA are looking at New England or Northeast tho.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:22     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
No we did not tour schools on the West Coast. We were looking at LACs and there are some good ones out there. But it is also very far away. One kid limited to schools within driving distance. The other looked seriously at just one school in Colorado, then all the rest within driving distance. Neither was interested in Cali.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 18:19     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
No. We have plenty of good schools on the East Coast. Public transit is pretty good on the East coast too.
You need a car on the west coast. There is no budget for that.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 17:51     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
Son visited Stanford, UCB, USC, UCLA, UCSD his sophomore year (October). He loved all of them. Also looked at Chicago schools. He applied REA to Stanford and has accepted offer.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 17:41     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
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.

Claremont might be too niche if looking at Harvey Mudd or CMC but definitely not too small: the campuses are all adjoining and you can’t necessarily tell which campus you are on some of the time. Taking courses at other schools is extremely common…it has midsize university qualities
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2026 17:27     Subject: East coast families: did you and your DCs tour colleges in California?
So interesting reading this - we’re in CA and the only schools DC are applying to are not close to home (Chicago, Ann Arbor, NYC, Boston, Pittsburgh). None of which DC (or us) thought were “too far from home”. Not applying to one school here in CA.