Southern California is well known for its majestic Pacific coastline and beaches, Hollywood, the red carpet, sunshine, and traffic…lots of traffic, but it also boasts a broad and diverse array of excellent college options.
I knew this all to be true, but in my years as a college counselor I had never visited Los Angeles, so I figured the best thing to do was board a plane and go see for myself. Boston to LAX is essentially a breeze, and as the travel portion of my trip went, the coast to coast flights were by far the most pleasant and enjoyable. I spent three days on the ground in LA and managed to visit ten colleges --one of them being the Claremont Colleges, which consist of a consortium of five residential colleges including Pomona, Claremont-McKenna, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd, and Scripps. Ten colleges is a lot to visit in three days…too many, in fact, and was only doable given the consortium, so don’t be misled if you are planning your own trips in the coming months. Two visits per day is pretty standard, allowing time for tours and information sessions on each campus, along with travel from one campus to another. Travel in and around Los Angeles, however, needs to be specially calibrated -- you can’t simply look at the distance you need to travel and calculate your own estimate. Maybe that would work if you were traveling at 2:00 a.m., but during the day traffic is challenging in every direction. My tour guide at Chapman University, 45 miles southeast of LA, playfully noted at the conclusion of the tour when highlighting area attractions, “…that Los Angeles is only 45 minutes to ten hours away.” The line got quite a few laughs from the crowd, but I wasn’t laughing later that afternoon when sitting on the 405 in eight lanes of parked traffic. Siri was an all-star co-pilot on this trip, and I was thankful to have her chirping out directions and lane positions throughout the week. Lane position assistance was huge given the scope of LA freeways and I was thankful I didn’t once hear the dreaded phrase “recalculating.” LA does have light rail service, but it pales in comparison to east coast cities like New York, Boston or D.C.
The colleges were all impressive in their own right. If California is within a students’ geographic sphere of interest, taking a closer look at the available options could prove enlightening. For students interested in film, southern California may be the holy grail. USC’s program garners a lot of notoriety, but the film offerings at Loyola Marymount and Chapman are impressive, too. The Communications program at USC was also noteworthy, the lobby and atrium resembling a full-on newsroom, replete with cameras, monitors, live feeds and tickers dissecting the news of the day. And there’s more to Chapman than their highly acclaimed Dodge College of Film and Media Arts – they have an excellent business program and a major initiative and capital investment in the sciences is due to be unveiled within the next year.
The Claremont Colleges are a wonderful collection of residential liberal arts colleges. Each one possesses unique sets of strengths that in many ways complement those of the other colleges while at the same time creating a cozy environment that enjoys the resources commensurate that of a mid-sized university.
- Scripps is an all-women’s college with strong programs in the humanities.
- Harvey Mudd is an enclave for future scientists.
- Claremont-McKenna boasts strengths in the social sciences.
- Pitzer is a little more free-spirited and laid back (relatively speaking) where independent thinking and non-conformity are standard issue.
- And simply put, Pomona is Pomona – a flat-out star.
Occidental is another small, residential liberal arts college. It’s tucked into the hills just east of LA with breathtaking vistas that many describe as an urban oasis where the academics are challenging, but where selectivity isn’t as steep as it is at the Claremont Colleges. And then there’s UCLA, situated in a posh neighborhood on the west side of LA, affording students access to virtually everything of the highest possible order. That said, let us not forget that UCLA receives 113,000 applications and they only have space to enroll a few hundred non-Californians. My visit coincided with a game day and I was reminded of what it might be like to attend a school in the PAC 12 where football and basketball reigned supreme and institutional pride oozed from every corner of the campus. Students were all wearing their Bruin gear in shades of blue and gold while music and drums blared along “Bruin Walk,” exuding an energy outside Pauley Pavilion that was intoxicating. I can only assume something similar unfolds at USC, especially on Saturdays in the fall when home football games take place at The Coliseum. People have been flocking to California in search of something new for nearly two centuries. Maybe your next adventure starts here? Welcome to Hollywood…what’s your dream?!
