Hi again everyone! Today, I wanted to share my journey in finding Scripps and ultimately choosing to make Scripps my second home. I’ll start at the very beginning: the college search process. I’ll be the first to admit that Scripps wasn’t initially on my radar of schools I was interested in attending. Even though I knew I wanted to be in a tight-knit small liberal arts community and I knew someone from my high school who went to Scripps, I was still skeptical that Scripps would be the place for me.
Despite all this though, my college counselor told me during the fall of my senior year that Scripps could be a place that I would enjoy. Once again, I doubted him but reluctantly added Scripps to my finalized college list. I didn’t know much about Scripps but after some basic research, I was drawn to the Claremont College consortium, the STEM program through Keck Science Department, the student to faculty ratio and the women’s college experience. A few weeks later, I had the opportunity to take part in the Scripps fly-in program, Discover Scripps which I’m convinced is the reason I fell in love with Scripps. I spent 3 days on campus learning all about Scripps and meeting students. After my visit, Scripps went from a school that was just added at the end of my college list to being my dream school in 72 hours. When I got back to school and told my college counselor how much I loved my visit, he hit me with a deserved “I told you so”.
From that point forward, I focused all of my time and energy into my Scripps application. Fast forward to spring semester of senior year and after several months of anxiously waiting for my decision, I found out I was admitted into the class of 2023. I was ecstatic! Of course, Scripps was my number one choice and so as soon as I got my acceptance letter, I wanted to enroll immediately. However, I still had to hear back from a few other schools on my list and my mom and college counselor didn’t want me to rush into anything. So, with their advice in mind, I decided to take part in Scripps’s DIVE program which took place during Admitted Students weekend. Similar to DIVE, I got to participate in different workshops and talk with some more students over another 3-day period. After DIVE, I felt a sense of reassurance that Scripps was the place for me and the day after returning home, I officially committed to Scripps.
The main factors that led me to my final decision that Scripps was where I wanted to be included: how I felt on campus, the “vibes” of the student body and faculty, the challenging but not overwhelming academic environment, and the general sense that Scripps felt like home. I’m sure you’ll hear a lot of this advice as you wait for your decisions or as you begin your college search, but when you’ll know when a school feels right for you. For me, I felt a sense of calm while on campus and I just felt overall confident in my decision. If you get the chance to visit, please do!
I wish you all the best of luck during your college process and if you would like any specific advice from me, feel free to email at [email protected].