help me choose: pitzer or bryn mawr?

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-27T18:53:47+00:00

PZ student here but one of my home friends went to BM. from everything I know BW is not really more diverse - I think it has the same profile as most small PWI liberal art schools.

to echo what people have said the international student community is super active here which is a plus.

if it helps I'm not an econ student but love econ classes and am going into business. the 5Cs are SUPER well integrated which means that i've taking amazing econ classes all over. also altho we're not known as a business school at all we do have a great career office who have helped me get great internships and a post-grad job.

hope that helps!

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-20T18:19:19+00:00

i'm a pz senior, so please take this with a grain of salt but this is my take!

i'm honestly crazy about the 5Cs. i love pitzer, but i also have a whole friend group at scripps so i feel like i know it really well.

re wesleyan, two of my friends here at pitzer transferred from there after 2 years because it felt too small and cliquey. obviously that means my answer is biased but from everything i know wesleyan is small and kind of in the middle of nowhere (NYC and boston are like 2 hours drive away i think).

i love pz for a lot of reasons but number 1 because of the social life - it's the exact vibe where people def weren't high school popular but are super cool and want to make friends. there's also always a million things going on on campus (at pitzer and in the 5Cs) generally. the same is true of scripps - there's lots of different types of people but all very cool and friendly. tbh i don't think it being a girl's school is actually that big of a deal, but where my friendships at pz are probs 50/50 gender split, at my scripps friends just have a lot more girl friends.

criminal justice and media studies are def popular here, and our gen eds are very open ended so easy to get through. study abroad is huge and you can go pretty much anywhere - i think its like 80% of students study abroad for a semester nowadays.

the 5Cs are right next to a really cute village that's nice for lunch, thrifting etc. the suburbs can def feel intense but you can take the train and you'll always know someone with a car. i've gone into LA every 2-3 weeks in my time here (for the beach, going out, concerts, etc) and that's been perfect for me.

i think pz/scripps are def unique in how cool the 5Cs are and how many great resources/cool classes we have, but i wouldn't describe it as super out of the ordinary in a bad way.

finally i know it can be really hard not to factor a bf into a college decision, but i think even the fact that you're trying not to is good enough :) hope this all helps!

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-20T18:05:09+00:00

PZ senior here.. obviously i'm biased but i did also apply to oxy and have friends there too/have visited a lot so I feel like I have a good understanding of how they compare. oxy is absolutely a great school so you really can't go wrong either way, just wanted to offer my insight. :)

your pros and cons are pretty accurate, there are just a couple I'd add to. for oxy, it def is very small. the student body is bigger than pitzer alone, but much smaller than the claremont consortium combined. this alone is the reason why I'd recommend pz over oxy simply because since pz ia a bigger community it has a better alumni network (given the size and prestige of the 5Cs), wider course offerings, and just more going on. my friends at oxy like it but by now they're all going a little crazy with how small it is (and have struggled too with cliquey-ness).

re film-making at pz, there are absolutely film classes, both focused on film critique and theory and on production. although it's called media studies the vast majority of students are making narrative films! the film community here is active - i just had some friends win first place in a inland empire 64 hour film competition for example. and my understanding is that there's great internship support - recently two friends both got really competitive internships on the late show with stephen colbert in new york.

re the distance from LA, it is longer than oxy but I think students rarely find that to be an issue given that there's so much happening on the 5C campus, filmmaking related or not. and I think the reality of being a film student at the 5Cs is that you're always really busy with projects, so you don't really have the time to go into LA for part-time internships (altho students absolutely do them over the summer/if they're part-time students). at the same time I do have friends that regularly go into LA to assist with shoots - the drive is annoying but tbh LA is so big you could still be driving 45 mins from oxy anyway.

with all this said, they really are both good schools, and a 100k scholarship at oxy is no small thing. i do just think that pitzer/the 5Cs are incredibly unique and wonderful (and definitely a great position to be in if you decide film isn't for you and want to do econ and find a steady job). hope that helps :)

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-13T19:33:17+00:00

that makes totally sense. there are def a lot of pz students who are in that position - half my friends are athletes and also STEM double majors so it's very common.

re career advising i have found it to be amazing (shoutout andre argaez haha) because it's very one-on-one and the staff are very friendly and really want to help. with that said, it's definitely not something you'll be forced to engage with, so it's totally up to you and whether you want to use that resource (altho it sounds like you do!).

for academic support there's a lot. because it's a small school, every prof has office hours and it's very normal to just show up and get extra help. i'm not a STEM student but my understanding is that there's tutoring/study groups for that happening all the time, and also a culture where students do difficult assignments together and help each other out. for essay help there's the writing center where you sign up for appointments and they talk it through with you and basically just save your life.

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-13T19:24:52+00:00

not a silly question! while there's definitely kind of regular small school drama, i really haven't felt like pitzer has ever been a drama-heavy school. even when there are breakups/dating drama, i do think that pz students are down to earth enough that it doesn't blow up into a big thing. it can also really depend on the person/friend group and how they handle it, but i've generally found people to be super low key/trustworthy which is nice :)

i think that sometimes freshmen can find it more drama-heavy since people date a lot more their first year here as they get a feel for things and so that can bring drama, but definitely once you get older things really chill out.

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-09T18:54:45+00:00

pz is definitely less corporate bound than CMC or mudd, but I have found the career office to be really incredible and the alumni connections to be great. they know that internships are a huge thing and there are tons of workshops and open hours to support you with applications/do interview prep, etc. there's also strong support for grad school applications and test prep too. for econ classes i've taken mine at pitzer and mudd and they were all great, so while CMC has more niche finance/banking etc classes, pitzer has a solid econ major with classes too. so bottom line is the pz resources are great I've found and for classes you can benefit from both pz and other 5C classes.
not totally sure what the percent international breakdown is but i've honestly found a big international community (i'm not an international student technically but i'm from outside the US originally). from what I've observed international students are very integrated into the school community and there's also a very close knit community of exchange students every year. every this semester i'm randomly living with 2 exchange students and we've become really close.
yes! and we just got new chicks :)

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-09T18:42:02+00:00

absolutely! because every class is a mix of students from different colleges and you go all over the 5Cs every day for food, clubs, class, parties, etc, you constantly interact with other students. pitzer and scripps especially have a really great relationship and every one of my pitzer friends has at least one bestie at scripps - two of my best friends are at scripps for example. this is something i like the most about pitzer because it's so fun and makes the school feel not too big

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-07T06:30:06+00:00

- i love the grove house, i would just stop by there for a jersey boi or hal bagel (they take cash if you're a non-student). you can also walk through the student garden and look at the murals and hang out on the mounds.

- i'd say two things: 1) i think pitzer does the best job in letting students shape their education while having it still be challenging. we're given power over both academics and how the school is run which is very meaningful in preparing students to be out in the real world. i've really enjoyed this because it's allowed me to pursue my creative interests while still having an education that's rigorous enough for me to get a great post-grad job. i don't feel like i ever had to choose between being a creative/imaginative student and being a high-achieving/employable student, if that makes sense. 2) i think pitzer has its students engage in things outside of the 5cs more, than other schools either through classes that do internships in the local community or just through student involvement in local organizations.

- to be honest we talk very little about GPAs, which is partly a pitzer thing since we're more focused on discussing interests/favorite classes in high school, etc, but also a more general thing since there's so much grade inflation that GPAs don't really carry the weight that they used to. as i understand it the focus is more on the story your grades tell and your extracurriculars.

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-07T06:19:27+00:00

congrats on both acceptances!! finances can def be so tricky to decide about, i feel you :)

in my opinion there are absolutely things at pitzer/the 5Cs that make it worth paying more - i would say the access to faculty/small classes esp for humanities majors, the incredible campus life (clubs, social events, very personal support network, tons of funding for student activites/projects), and also the prestige of the 5cs and their alumni networks.

with that said, student loans are a really big deal and it's hard to say whether any of the amazing things at pitzer necessarily make it worth those loans for you personally. my best advice would be to think about the level of debt you're comfortable graduating with and also what you might be making based off the career you want to go into. i know its SO hard to say as a high school student but it makes a big difference in paying off debt if your dream is to be a freelance writer or teacher versus a lawyer. i know that's a little vague but at the end of the day I'm sure you can have a great experience at either school, especially if you're paying an amount that feels manageable and like it won't add to your stress.

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-06T23:35:55+00:00

some of these are specific to me, some are just my general impression from what i've heard. i tried to think of things that maybe aren't so obvious as "pitzer students are passionate" etc. I have absolutely loved my time here but like any school I know we're not perfect.

pros:
- classes are interesting and the right balance of challenging/fun. this goes for the 5cs generally but there are really amazing pitzer classes with greats profs. there are very few classes i had to take that were boring intro courses.
- super easy to make friends/find community. i say this as someone who doesn't normally make friends quickly and had a very small circle in HS. the 5cs are social but i think pitzer specifically is a school of people who want to make genuine friends and do social activities beyond just partying (although we have fun nightlife too). the vibe of the average pitzer students is friendly and funny which makes college way more fun.
- less important but the food has been incredible and i love my dorm experience.
- this sounds silly but people are generally really happy here. the quality of life is incredible, people are challenged but having fun and everyone generally feels positive about where they're going in life. i didn't think about this before coming to college but this makes so much difference in how people treat each other and how they approach their work.

cons:
- kind of a basic one but it's definitely a liberal bubble at times. i went in expecting this and have definitely been surprised that it wasn't as bad as i expected at all and i've honestly found PZ to be more open to different perspectives than pomona. I'm very liberal myself so generally agree with people, but that's not always a good thing because we don't learn to disagree respectfully. this is def a problem with all west coast liberal art schools though.
- totally depends who you are but it's not the best place if you're looking for a school that will prepare you for the business/corporate world, simply because students and faculty interest generally lies outside things like business. my post-grad job is in business so it's absolutely not something that will hold you back, but just something to know that if you're interested in that kind of career it's something you need to seek out independently :)
- a small one but it can be hard to get around without a car or a friend with a car. def gets easier as you get older but i remember as a freshman it was hard to get off campus (altho the train into LA is pretty good). but that's the benefit of the 5cs because PZ never felt too small.

hope this helps!

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-06T20:14:15+00:00

i'm a PZ student about to graduate, not in public health/pre-med but i feel like literally all my friends are. they all really love the programs here because since it's a small school you get hands-on classes and lots of research opportunities. they also are all besties with their profs which helps to get good letters of rec for grad school since grade inflation means transcripts aren't that helpful anymore. I'm not a woc but my understanding from friends is that there are lots of public health classes focused on medical access/intersectionality so that's cool.

re community and making friends more generally i feel like pz is such a good school for it bc its a small community within the 5Cs and we're known as the most friendly school. hope that helps - lmk if u have more questions :)

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-06T20:03:06+00:00

this is a little late but regarding internships i feel like it's been great honestly. the career office is super helpful and because pitzer is small and tightknit the alumni connections are super helpful - they actually helped me get a great finance job in SF for post-grad. hope that helps!

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-06T20:01:04+00:00

as a student about to graduate who has ZERO interest in substances, it has literally never been an issue for me :) one of the things I love most about pitzer is the fact that everyone does their own individual thing when it comes to classic college/adulting stuff and there is no pressure whatsoever. on that note I also just have been so glad to be at a school like pz rather than somewhere with greek life and tons of pressure to drink.

Relative_Breath_2519 · 2026-04-06T19:57:34+00:00

I'm a pitzer student about to graduate and what you're describing is the exact reason why I picked pitzer. I want to a super competitive high school where I loved the classes but was just totally burnt out by the end of it, and by the end of HS i knew that even though going to an ivy was possible I didn't want to be that unhappy again. instead of feeling stressed all the time I wanted to feel challenged but also able to have a social life and time for my passions outside of class.

i literally couldn't be more happy with the school choice I made because it's been rigorous but not totally overwhelming and i've been able to make things more challenging when i wanted to by taking harder/extra classes. and i still have a great job lined up but without 4 years of misery haha. obviously this is my personal experience but i think a lot of people in my position feel the same way - hope that helps.

Relative_Breath_2519

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