Kaplan/Newsweek’s “America’s Hottest Colleges” gives its top 25 picks for “the places that everyone’s talking about for 2006.” The publication names Scripps as the “Hottest Women’s College,” remarking positively on Scripps’ academic strengths as well as its physical location and campus amenities. In the same issue listing the “367 Most Interesting Schools,” Scripps’ Core program is described as “one of the most progressive, interesting, and rigorous programs at the Claremont Colleges.” Other quotes include: “The Scripps campus…is absolutely one of the most beautiful college campuses around, and it breeds a sense of friendliness and serenity”; “As part of the Claremont system, Scripps students have the advantages of an all-women’s school, but can cross-register at Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, and Claremont McKenna”; “The college recently completed a five-year-long fundraising campaign, so many new and ambitious projects are in the works.”
Other national rankings:
- In U.S.News & World Report rankings of America’s best colleges, Scripps remained in the top tier among national liberal arts colleges, in 27th place out of 215. Key criteria in the judging are acceptance rate, graduation rate, and highest proportion of classes under 20. Within the issue, Scripps’ signature Core Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities is highlighted in a feature story “Back to Classics,” with quotes from Professor Marc Katz and Scripps sophomore Sarah Sullivan. Along with Columbia University and St. Johns College, Scripps is noted as a college that fosters an intellectual community by giving students a shared, broad base of knowledge and skills. The full “Back to Classics” article can be accessed here.
- The Princeton Review of “The Best 361 Colleges: the Smart Student’s Guide to Colleges,” has a unique ranking system. Based on a survey of more than 100,000 college students, they list the top 20 schools in 62 categories of special interest to students. Scripps is included in several: “Dorms Like Palaces”: #4; “Most Beautiful Campus”: #17; and “Best Campus Food”: #19. Within the guide, Scripps is given a quality of campus life rating of 93 and an academic rating of 96 (out of 100). The latter is based on the student/faculty ratio, the accessibility of professors, and the level of interesting teaching, according to students. Among the Claremont Colleges, academic ratings for Pomona and Harvey Mudd are each 97; Pitzer, 94; and Claremont McKenna, 86.
- The Students’ Guide to Colleges: the Definitive Guide to America’s Top 100 Schoolsis a new guidebook, created, written, and edited entirely by current college students. Three students from each school offer “detailed, nuanced, personal, and honest portraits of their schools.” Scripps is listed among the 100 top institutions. The opening statement in Scripps’ section is: “Every so often a magazine profiles some up-and-coming young woman who is changing the face of politics, business, her occupation… These women come from Scripps.” Other student comments include: “The students here are fabulous. Of course I’m biased, being one of them, but really, it’s a good place to be. To be brutally honest, we don’t have a huge minority population, but what we do have is active and strong”; “There are definitely a handful of those “Daddy’s girl” girls on campus, but that doesn’t mean they can’t change the world; they probably will. There are definitely a lot of feminists on campus, but that doesn’t mean they shy away from guys. These are liberated, sexually aware, empowered women”; “The small class sizes are one of my favorite things about this school… that means you have to keep up with your work and you can’t disappear into the background, but you get a lot more out of the classroom experience”; There are all kinds of activities at the 5Cs. As a member of the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company and the Claremont Colleges Orchestra, I know the most about those, but we also have groups for minorities, groups for politically minded people, religious worship groups, and intramural sports, as well as sports teams through the school. There’s always something.”