Scripps College
Claremont, California | Admissions Phone: 909-621-8149
E-mail: admission@scrippscollege.edu | Website: www.scrippscollege.edu
ADMISSION
Admission Rate: 24%
Admission Rate - Men: Not Offered Admission Rate - Women: 24%
EA Admission Rate: Not Offered
ED Admission Rate: 32%
Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -11%
ED Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -20%
% of Admits Attending (Yield): 33%
Transfer Admission Rate: 16%
# Offered Wait List: 780
# Accepted Wait List: 388
# Admitted Wait List: 4
SAT Reading/Writing (Middle 50%): 660-740
SAT Math (Middle 50%): 640-740
ACT Composite (Middle 50%): 30-33
Testing Policy: ACT/SAT Required
SAT Superscore: Yes
ACT Superscore: Yes
% Graduated in Top 10% of HS Class: 69%
% Graduated in Top 25% of HS Class: 98%
% Graduated in Top 50% of HS Class: 100%
ENROLLMENT
Total Undergraduate Enrollment: 1,048
% Part-Time: 1%
% Male: 0%
% Female: 100%
% Out-of-State: 55%
% Fraternity: Not Offered
% Sorority: Not Offered
% On-Campus (Freshman): 100%
% On-Campus (All Undergraduate): 94%
% African-American: 4%
% Asian: 17%
% Hispanic: 14%
% White: 53%
% Other: 5%
% Race or Ethnicity Unknown: 3%
% International: 5%
% Low-Income: 12%
ACADEMICS
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 10:1
% of Classes Under 20: 77%
% of Classes Under 40: 100%
% Full-Time Faculty: 77%
% Full-Time Faculty w/ Terminal Degree: 99%
Top Programs
Area Studies
Art
Biology
English
Media Studies
Politics
Psychology
Retention Rate: 92%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 81%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 88%
Curricular Flexibility: Somewhat Flexible
Academic Rating: 
FINANCIAL
Institutional Type: Private
In-State Tuition: $54,806
Out-of-State Tuition: $54,806
Room & Board: $16,932
Required Fees: $218
Books & Supplies: $800
Avg. Need-Based Aid: $39,735
Avg. % of Need Met: 100%
Avg. Merit-Based Aid: $22,131
% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 15%
Avg. Cumulative Debt: $17,756
% of Students Borrowing: 34%
CAREER
Who Recruits
1. DaVita
2. Nielsen
3. Pfizer
4. Nordstrom
5. Brancart & Brancart
Notable Internships
1. ALCU
2. Louis Vuitton
3. KPMG
Top Industries
1. Education
2. Business
3. Social Services
4. Media
5. Research
Top Employers
1. Google
2. Kaiser Permanente
3. Amazon
4. Microsoft
5. Seattle Children’s
Where Alumni Work
1. Los Angeles
2. San Francisco
3. Seattle
4. New York City
5. Portland, OR
Median Earnings
College Scorecard (Early Career): $54,100
EOP (Early Career): $46,400
PayScale (Mid-Career): $98,600
RANKINGS
Forbes: 60
Money: 308
U.S. News: 33, Liberal Arts Colleges
Wall Street Journal/THE: 65
Washington Monthly: 97, Liberal Arts Colleges
Inside the Classroom
While the East Coast is swarming with high-end women’s colleges such as Wellesley, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, and Mt. Holyoke, there is only one such jewel resting closer to the Pacific Ocean. Scripps College, a member of the five-school Claremont Consortium, is the West Coast’s lone elite all-female institution, making it a highly desirable destination for young women seeking a classic liberal arts education in a nurturing and supportive academic environment without the lonely, harsh winters of the Northeast.
There are sixty-five majors available to Scripps undergrads, including some that are accessible through membership in the Consortium. Curricular requirements at Scripps are extensive, requiring a three-semester dive into interdisciplinary humanities coursework that tackles the essential question of “What makes a community?” through a combination of lecture, seminar-style discussions, and a self-designed project. All undergraduates must demonstrate competency in mathematics, foreign language, and writing. Along the way, one course must be taken in each of the four divisions: fine arts, natural sciences, letters, and social sciences. Within one’s major, a minimum of eight courses must be tackled, culminating in the completion of a senior thesis, which 100 percent of graduates must complete.
A 10:1 student to faculty ratio at a school with zero grad students breeds an intimate learning atmosphere where professors are genuinely dedicated to undergraduate learning. A lack of competitiveness should not be mistaken for a lack of rigor. Scripps is loaded with driven students, 28 percent of whom elect to double major. As part of the required senior thesis, many undergraduates also have the chance to assist professors with academic/scientific research. Due to the absence of graduate students who would gobble up such positions, research opportunities are readily available for credit during the academic year as well on a full-time basis during the summer; the Scripps Undergraduate Research Fellowship is one such program. Study abroad programs in forty countries are taken advantage of by nearly two-thirds of the student body, giving Scripps one of the highest participation rates of any college in the United States.
The top five majors are (in order) biology/life sciences; social sciences; psychology; area, ethnic, and gender studies; and visual/performing arts. Each possesses a very strong reputation. Regardless of your major, however, graduate/professional schools know that earning a degree from Scripps is no small achievement. Prestigious scholarship committees also look kindly upon the school as Scripps is regularly a top twenty-five producer of Fulbright winners, taking home an incredible (considering the size of the graduating class) nine awards in 2018. Two additional 2018 grads took home Watson Fellowships, and one was awarded a Davis Projects for Peace Fellowship.
Outside the Classroom
At Scripps, 96 percent of students live on the school’s modestly sized 30-acre campus in one of eleven immaculately maintained dorms or in thematic housing options catering to those with goals and interests in common such as The Stem, Pre-Health Living Learning Community, and the Substance Free Community. There are no sororities at Scripps. Sports exist but are a combined effort with Harvey Mudd, and Claremont McKenna that, collectively, field eleven NCAA Division III teams. Fitness and recreational facilities are shared with Pitzer, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, and CMC. That means students have access to four swimming pools, four fitness centers, and a dozen playing fields. There are roughly thirty Scripps-only student-run organizations, but there are also more than 250 clubs that can be accessed by students of any of the five schools. One of the more notable social hubs is the Motley Coffeehouse, founded in 1974 and run entirely by Scripps students. In fact, the feminist, environmental, and social justice vibe makes its coffeehouse a perfect embodiment of the college’s values and ethos. The college also boasts its own art museum, the Williamson Gallery, which contains works by many notable American artists. Of course, cultural options are hardly confined to the campus limits with Los Angeles only a forty-five minute car ride away.
Career Services
The Career Planning & Resources Office (CP&R) has four full-time professional staff members working as career counselors. Scripps’ 267:1 student-to-advisor ratio is better than the average college featured in our guidebook. It may be a small office, but you won’t find a more proactive group of counselors at any college in the country as the CP&R meets with 90 percent of freshmen within the students’ first three weeks on campus. Larger events are typically joint affairs with the other esteemed members of the Claremont Consortium.
Scripps takes pride in its facilitation of student internships and has the stats to prove it; 86 percent of graduates held at least one internship, and close to one-quarter completed three or more. Internship locations of note include 20th Century Fox, the California Department of Justice, and the Smithsonian. Career Treks whisk Scripps students off to metropolitan areas around the country to meet with alumni who are working in the same field of interest. Former students are always willing to lend a hand to current ones and can connect with soon-tobe grads through the Alumni Book, a compilation of student resumes. A week-long Emerging Professionals Program featuring alumni, recruiters, and CP&R counselors can be accessed for free. The office also offers a Financial Literacy Program to teach undergraduates about everything from budgeting to investing to filing taxes.
Professional Outcomes
Women land jobs at some of the world’s leading companies after receiving their diplomas. The top employers of Scripps alumni include Google, Kaiser Permanente, and Amazon. Many go on to work for universities, particularly after earning additional degrees (more on this in a moment). Schools employing significant numbers of Scripps alumni include Pomona, Scripps, Stanford, UCLA, and UC-San Diego. Recent graduates also have landed positions at BlackRock, CBS, Goldman Sachs, Facebook, and Pfizer. Median salaries by midcareer are quite a bit lower than fellow Consortium member schools Pomona and Claremont McKenna, but they are comparable to other elite women’s colleges such as Bryn Mawr. Most Scripps alumni remain on the West Coast with the largest percentage in Los Angeles followed by San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, San Diego, and Orange County. The most popular East Coast destinations are New York City, DC, and Boston.
An advanced degree is in the cards for most Scripps grads, and it isn’t usually too far in the future—two-thirds complete a graduate/professional program within five years of receiving their bachelor’s degrees. Recent grads have pursued further study at institutions such as Caltech, Harvard, MIT, Vanderbilt, Oxford, Brown, Northwestern, and Tufts. Scripps knows what it’s doing when it comes to premed, thanks to its Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program that boasts a 98 percent+ acceptance rate; traditional undergrads also fare well above the national average. Those eyeing law school also find favorable results; recent grads have been accepted at top-tier law schools such as Emory, Georgetown, the University of Chicago, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan.
Admission
Thirty-one percent of the 3,160 women who applied for a place in the Class of 2022 were accepted. One-third of the overall applicant pool went on to enroll. Freshmen in 2018-19 possessed a middle-50 percent score of 1300-1480 on the SAT and 30-33 on the ACT. An impressive 69 percent came from the top decile of their high school class; 98 percent placed in the top quarter. Over 80 percent sported a GPA of 3.75 or greater; 92 percent earned above a 3.5.
The admissions committee seeks “to build a community of curious and engaged students who are eager to contribute their diverse interests, backgrounds, and experiences to our academic and residential community.” As such, they weight nine factors as being “very important” to admissions decisions: rigor of coursework, GPA, test scores, class rank recommendations, essays, extracurricular activities, talent/ability, and character/personal qualities. Applying early decision at Scripps does yield an edge; 32 percent of ED applicants were accepted into the Class of 2022 versus 24 percent of regular round applicants. Those accepted in the early round comprised 36 percent of the incoming freshman class. Scripps has become more competitive as the 2000s have marched on. A decade ago, the acceptance rate was a healthier 43 percent, and average SAT/ACT scores were a bit lower. The West Coast’s highest-ranked women’s college is looking for students with not only strong academic credentials but a solid extracurricular resume.
Worth Your Money?
At almost $74,000 the sticker price cost of attendance for Scripps College is undoubtedly on the high side. However, the 38 percent of undergraduates who are determined eligible for need-based aid all see 100 percent of their need met; the average grant is for $40k. Additionally, 15 percent of students do receive a merit aid package that averages $22k. Of course, you would never want to go into six figures worth of debt in order to obtain an undergraduate degree, but if attending Scripps is financially feasible for your family, the quality of the educational experience and networks/resources offered by the Consortium make this school worth some level of sacrifice.