Chapman tour! So, Kev and I didn’t know much about Chapman before starting Kavi’s college search — it made the list because it’s in Southern California, and she’s strongly interested in CA generally, and because it seems like a solid school that would be a safety for her.
The tour kind of turned us off a little, but I’m not sure that was really fair to Chapman — it was partly that it was a large tour group, the leader had a headset and mic, and she’d been trained to rattle off lots of stats as she walked from space to space, which was fine, but all made it feel kind of corporate? A big contrast in feel to Scripps (which is a reach for Kavi, no guarantee she’ll get in there) — corporate vs. intimate.
The campus actually reminded me a fair bit of UIC, where I teach — lots of big buildings, plenty of tech as needed. UIC will also be one of Kavi’s safeties, of course, especially since we get half-tuition there. But it’s very hard to take money into consideration yet, since we have no idea how much scholarship money any given school will offer.
That’s a really weird part of this process. At the moment, I think the three schools we’ve toured have similar tuition rates (around $60K, as opposed to UIC’s $15K for in-state). But scholarships could change that dramatically, and we won’t know until acceptances come in.
Assuming Kavi’s energy holds out, we’re hoping she’ll apply to quite a few places (if it were me, I’d apply to about 30 at this point, just to improve the odds, but I think 15-20 is more likely for her).
Anyway, I’m not sure right now if Chapman will be on her list — she wasn’t excited about it, and didn’t even want to finish the tour. But she was glad we toured it, because it’s giving her a sense of different types of colleges.
Which is another form of privilege, of course, being able to tour colleges — we’re staying in a cheap motel and with friends, but airfare for two + motel + rental car is not nothing, plus the need for a parent to be available for this kind of thing — my academic job is conducive to it, but many parents don’t have such flexible schedules.
Hopefully some of my college tour notes will be helpful to students who don’t have the option of physically touring — do note that touring increases your chance of acceptance, but virtual touring counts for that, so take the time to sign up for and do the virtual tour at any college you’re interested in, if you can’t visit in person.
I’ll finish this by noting that Chapman seems like a fine, solid university, one that works very hard at graduating its students into decent-paying jobs — their numbers are very good on that front. The most interesting thing we saw on their campus was a piece of the Berlin wall — that was cool. And there’s an Oliphaunt Hall. Oliphaunts! 🙂
It’s located in Orange County, and definitely felt wealthier than the area around Scripps — more upscale restaurants and shopping, kind of like current Los Gatos in feel. I was wondering if the school would feel conservative, but the tour guide did a good job of highlighting their DEI efforts, and at least on paper, they seem solid.
Thanks, Chapman. Maybe we’ll be back.
