Scripps College Top Questions

There is always something to do. I have yet to experience a lull in my social life or activities here at Scripps. Whether you party, study, eat or otherwise, there are many ways to get involved. There is no pressure to get involved in things that do not compliment you as a person, only the desire to enjoy yourself as you like.

I definitely leave my door open, and it is actually how I have met many of my friends. If I am awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I am either hanging out with my friends attempting to study, watching tv shows online, or actually studying. We host alot of events here at Scripps the most recent one is that this Friday we are having John Legend hold a concert here, which is soo exciting!! Many students party on Friday and Saturday nights but there is a party held at any one of the 5 Colleges on Tuesdays through Saturdays so you have alot of variety.

Most of the activities and social life on campus are mixed with the other Claremont schools. A typical weekend might include: A drum circle at Pitzer A concert at the Motley Coffeehouse at Scripps A recently released film showing at Pomona's movie theater Parties on either the CMC, Harvey Mudd or Pomona campuses A movie on the lawn at Scripps A trip arranged by Scripps Outdoor Adventure Program to visit the San Diego Wild Animal Park

Students tend to be very involved in clubs. Sports are not a big deal at Scripps, unless you play for a team. Challah for Hunger, a group that bakes Challah for donation to Darfur, is a popular group. The Motley, our coffee shop, is a popular hang out/study spot. They bring musicians and play movies there pretty often. There is a party every night of the week except Sunday and Monday. The parties Tuesday and Wednesday are smaller dance parties. Thursday, there is Thursday Night Club at CMC. Friday and Saturday, Mudd and Pomona will have bigger parties. Pitzer usually has some live music party on one of the days Thursday-Sat. There is always something to do, and it doesn't always involve drinking, although drinking is very prevalent. Scripps residental staff holds non-drinking events for people who don't want to drink. I've lived off campus for 3 of my four years, and I still primarily party on campus. There are very few Scrippsies who live off campus. A lot of Pitzer and Pomona students do though, so there is a small network of potlucks and parties to attend. The biggest parties are definitely on campus and usually at Mudd.

The main thing I want to tell you about the Scripps social life, is that when I applied, I didn't realize how big of a difference going to a women's college would make. When you move away from home and into this new dorm/college life, most people's instinct is to make friends fast. And most people don't look far, we make friends with those living around us, the ones that we get along with best and live closest to. This has upsides and downsides that generally get sorted out by sophomore year, but what never changes is that you are always living around women. Your closest group of friends is every likely to be primarily women. Its true, the other schools are full of men and you don't have to work hard to meet them. But keep in mind that they are doing the same thing; their main group of friends probably lives close by...at their school. Their group is likely co-ed, like their school, so they don't have to reach out to find girl friends. Sometimes creating real friendships with guys can take a little more time, coming from Scripps.

Because the Claremont Colleges are all residential colleges, most students live on campus so most events and activities happen on campus. If students do want to get off campus, they often go into the Claremont "Village" near campus, where there is a movie theater, shops, and many restaurants. Pasadena is only about 30 minutes away, and LA is around an hour away, so some students go into the city occasionally. There are many clubs and organizations on campus for students to get involved in. One popular club at Scripps is "Challah for Hunger," in which students bake loaves of challah to sell every Friday to help people in Darfur. Every fall there is a huge club fair where students can learn about all the different clubs and organizations on campus. In the dorms, residents often do not leave their doors open, and some students say they wish people would leave their doors open more in order to foster more dorm community. Each dorm has a hall council responsible for planning events for the dorm, such as study breaks, holiday parties, movie nights, spa nights, etc. For students who do like to party, there is usually at least one big party happening each Saturday at one of the five colleges. Alcohol is usually served at these parties, although some of the schools card students. Some of the biggest parties include "Smiley 80s," "Mudd Goes Madd," a suds party, and a few more formal parties. While many Scripps students go out to these parties, there are things to do for those who don't like to drink. The popular 5C ballroom dance team hosts a salsa night many Fridays, and there is blues dancing every Saturday. There is a popular improv team on campus that puts on shows several times per semester. Student organizations also plan events, such as the end-of-the-year Scripps Carnival or pool parties at the Field House (gym). There are athletic events that happen on the 5C campuses, although these are not generally super popular with Scripps students. Sports are not as popular as they would be at a big football university, though there are occasional rivalry games between the Claremont, Mudd, Scripps sports teams and the Pomona-Pitzer teams.

Scripps is a fairly quiet campus, and usually students go off campus to find a party. This may seem like a downside to Scripps, but actually I have found it to be a perk! Because the other four colleges have parties every weekend it is EXTREMELY easy to find a party Thursday-Saturday night (and even on Tuesday and Wednesday if one felt so inclined), and when you are done partying at another college (or somewhere off of all the campuses) you can come back to your nice, clean, and quiet dorm and sleep off all the fun you just had. Most people drink/party Thursday-Saturday night (although some people don't drink at all and instead go to movies, concerts, or even parties so they can dance). There are not sororities at Scripps (granted Scripps might just be one huge sorority?). The majority of the student body chooses to drink when/before they go out, a number chose to smoke weed, and a few enjoy doing both! However, there is not pressure to drink or smoke before going out in general (but if your best friend likes to pre-game everything you might feel some pressure to drink). Scripps does hosts a couple of parties every year, and usually goes all out on them!

Challah for Hunger is one of our most popular clubs. We get together and make and sell yummy flavors of challah [like chocolate or cinamon raison!] to raise money for local and global organizations to fight hunger. But besides that, there are TONS of clubs for almost anything, if not at Scripps, then as a 5C club that anyone may join. We just had our first Relay for Life hosted by Colleges Against Cancer! The idea that Scripps is this isolated women's school where we never see men and if we see the light of male, we scream and explode into flames is such a myth. Because of the consortium there are men everywhere, so Scripps becomes much more of an all girls' dorm. Every school hosts 5C parties throughout the year and there are 5C activities/school hosted events 6 days a week, and usually there are 4 things to choose from every night of the weekend. Many of the relationships at Scripps are college relationships: hook ups and short relationships. There definitely are very serious relationships that last a long time [I've been in one since November, after my own personal stint of meeting guys at parties, and the same is for a few friends of mine]. I had guy friends from myself as well as his friends, and many of my friends also had inter-campus relationships. You can't avoid exes like you can at giant universities, we don't have that many places to hide, unfortunately. But on the whole, because everyone is friends, we're all pretty amicable. Relationships depend on the people entering them and their expectations. I didn't even want a relationship, but he won me over eventually. Meeting guys is not impossible and it's always fun to run around enjoying yourself for a while. Many of my closest friends are my hallmates from freshmen year. We lived together, cried together, loved together and grew together. I also have so many friends from orientation and classes, and we are all so close. There’s no stopping those friendships, and every girl I know from Scripps is the best and there for me no matter what. The 5Cs don't really have Greek life. I think we have a very small number of 5C frarorities [frat-sororities] but they aren't really big time, they don't have houses and I don't really know if they have the type of alum participation/sponsorship/connections as a large university.

You will not have enough time to join all the clubs/go to all the parties

5C organizations are popular, but there are a lot of Scripps organizations as well. Challah for Hunger is extremely prevalent on campus. Dorm community has been an issue as of late, and there is sometimes a lack of students who actively keep their door open. Parties do not happen in Scripps dorms- they take place elsewhere like in the parking garage, or on another 5C campus. Dorms are generally quiet. Guest speakers and intellectual events commonly take place throughout the year, as well as special events. Last year Lupe Fiasco performed for the consortium. KSPC Radio also tends to host some indie or local musicians. Rhino Records is in the Village and also hosts a few musicians throughout the year. Meeting the opposite sex can be difficult and is one thing that I felt was portrayed easier than it actually is. It's difficult to make lasting friendships unless you play a sport, sing in an a cappella group, take the majority of your classes off-campus (which is impossible your first semester) or are partying every single weekend. People have had different experiences regarding this though.

There are a lot of different groups and organizations at Scripps (some are shared with the other colleges in the consortium). I'm involved in cheer and admissions. Cheer is a 5-C club and it is a lot of fun to meet women from other colleges. The athletic events are somewhat popular (we share our athletic team with Claremont Mckenna and Harvey Mudd). Since we are division 3 in most sports, it is not extremely competitive. One of the great things about Scripps is that it is a pretty quiet campus and we only have 2 parties a year (although these parties are usually big and crazy). However, if you enjoy going out and having a good time, there are always parties at the other Claremont colleges. Basically, if you want to party, you can, but when you want a quiet place to sleep, you have that too. If you aren't into the party scene, Scripps also hosts many sober events (with free food!) such as carnivals, movie nights, and more.

There are SO many clubs and activities both on Scripps and on the other Claremont colleges. From political and social activism to arts/music to sports - you can probably find a club you'd be in to. There are a fair share of Scrippsies involved with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps sports teams (we are the Athenas) but not a lot of enthusiasm for athletics as a whole. We probably get most geeked about acapella concerts and dance recitals than for any sports games. We also have guest speakers come often to campus and the event calendar is usually bursting. The problem is that most Scripps students are too busy to attend these events. That can be frustrating if you plan events but it's certainly not the worst problem in the world. Dating at the Claremont Colleges usually involves hook-ups and short relationships. Long-term relationships do exist though, they are just not as frequent. The school is small, but not small enough to make things look hopeless when you break up with someone. There are definitely enough potential partners around Claremont, but yes, you probably will end up having some romantic overlap amongst your friend group. That is just inevitable at small colleges. The party scene at Scripps is pretty non-existant but there are parties at the other campuses almost every night of the week. I think most people go out 2 or 3 times a week. Thursday and Saturday are the biggest nights. Weekday partying doesn't happen often but is available. There is alcohol at the parties, but there is also a lot of sober fun to be had too. Although some complain about Scripps' lack of a party scene, it can be nice to go out to the other schools, have fun, and then come back to the peace and quiet of Scripps' campus once you are done. Plus you don't have to worry about vomit in the toilets or red cup debris in your dorm.