Pitzer College Top Questions

Neither of these stereotypes are true. In fact, Pitzer's acceptance rate has been dropped significantly for the past three years and our acceptance rate is currently lower than both Harvey Mudd and Scripps College. I have found Pitzer classes to be just as challenging as any other class I take from another school in the consortium. Though I was concerned about Pitzer's reputation as a drug school, I have not found this to be the case at all. As with any school, there is drug and alcohol usage but it hasn't impacted my educational or social experiences at Pitzer. Having been at Pitzer for two years now, I'm realizing that the "hippie" sterotype might come from Pitzer's politically active (heavily liberal) student body. Though I wouldn't call Pitzer a "hippy" school its students are definitely socially conscious and pursue all types of community service and awareness-building activities.

To some extent, but not for everyone. Pitzer students are also very creative, interesting, and diverse.

Yes, for the most part. There are a fair amount of "stoners" on campus but the vast majority of kids who smoke pot do so occasionally, and usually not at the expense of their schoolwork. There are alot of kids that don't smoke pot at all. Pitzer kids can be overly idealistic because they want the world to function in a perfectly harmonious way but many of them come from very wealthy backgrounds that haven't given them the chance to see that some of their ideas about the world and humanity aren't very realistic. BUT those are only extreme cases. Most Pitzer kids love the earth, respect each others differences, and just enjoy being in an environment where people are generally aware socially, politically, and environmentally. Its truly an amazing environment.

The druggie stereotype is not very accurate anymore. There are drug users, but I don't think that they constitute anywhere near a majority of the school. On the whole, most students are quite active, politically and socially, and I think that the environmentalist stereotype is generally rather accurate.

For a very small percentage of people, yes. For the other 90% no!

There are a lot of hippies and potheads at Pitzer, and they are often active members of the student body. But there are still a lot of people who disagree with them, they just aren't as vocal.

These stereotypes are not entirely accurate. Pitzer students believe in the power of coordinated, collaborative efforts to construct supportive, accepting, diverse community networks. If that's idealistic and/or naive, then so be it. Many Pitzer students play an instrument or participate in some form of art (visual, performing, etc) but in fact, our resources for such outlets of creative expression are comparatively more limited than those of Pomona College (and arguably Scripps and Claremont McKenna) And historically, Pitzer's student body has been able to have a sensible perspective on drug policy, that being that the so-called "War on Drugs" is ineffective, and that drugs are only deviant, or threatening to a society when they are the direct cause of physically harming others or one's self.

while there are people who strongly adhere to the "pot-smoking hippie" stereotype, there are also many students who choose not to partake in recreational drugs or even drinking alcohol. it just depends on the person. the thing about pitzer is that there isn't much pressure one way of the other. if you do, you do, but if you don't, you don't. friendship circles do not revolve around substances - everyone has friends who smoke occasionally and friends who never do. everyone's accepting of everyone and their habits (except the occasional RA...).

There is truth in each stereotype, and there are people who defy each stereotype. Pitzer has a very diverse student body with different interests and different lifestyles. Each individual is bright and talented, but that is the only thing we all have in common.

Sort of,however, I am not a stoner and most of my friends are not stoners.

Definitely not. Some students may fall into the hippie stereotype, but the majority do not. We are like any other college. Every college has its pot heads and so do we. Our professors are some of the most reputable in the nation and teach difficult, but interesting classes. We are more liberal than other colleges though and some students do have that "I could change the world" and "let's save the environment" mentalities.

not so much. while plenty of people fit the mold, the student body runs the gamut of individuals