Pitzer College
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Majors: Organizational Studies, Psychology, and English and World Literature on the Creative Writing track. I’m a triple major.
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: Asian-American Gay Male
Summary
I’m part of Pitzer Activities (PAct), I work at the Office of Admissions as an admissions fellow, I work on special projects for the Office of Career Services, I’m also an Office of Residence Life assistant, and formerly I was an editor for an on-campus publication, which was run through Claremont McKenna College.
Background
Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Asian-American
Sexual Orientation: Gay
High School Experience: Public high school in Northern New Jersey with a class of 270 students. There was a strong culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: Yes
Majors: Organizational Studies, Psychology, and English and World Literature on the Creative Writing track. I’m a triple major.
Minor: None
Extracurricular Activities: I’m part of Pitzer Activities (PAct), I work at the Office of Admissions as an admissions fellow, I work on special projects for the Office of Career Services, I’m also an Office of Residence Life assistant, and formerly I was an editor for an on-campus publication, which was run through Claremont McKenna College.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
Pitzer Activities. I’ve been part of that organization since my first semester of freshman year, and I was appointed for a [leadership position] when I was a sophomore. I’d say it’s been an impactful activity because of the work skills I’ve been able to gain from it, and being able to make an impact on my college campus. It also helped me get out of my shell and help me meet people I probably wouldn’t have met on campus before.
Academic Experience
Can you describe the weekly coursework for your majors?
For my Organizational Studies major it’s mostly essays. I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem set in any of my majors. For my Psychology major, a lot of it is project-based. I typically work with a group of students who first create and then conduct research studies on campus as part of the practicum requirements. For my English major, a lot of it is portfolio work such as creating pieces and editing other students’ pieces.
Is there anything you feel that your majors’ departments do especially well or poorly?
I feel like I’ve gotten a lot of individual attention from all of my advisors and professors. I think that because Pitzer is such a small college I am lucky because even though I’ve never taken a class with my English advisor, we still have a close relationship. I could say the same about my Organizational Studies and Psychology professors where I’ve only taken one class with them, but I have their phone numbers and I could easily call them when I need help with something.
I do wish there were more resources for professors, which would help me out more too. For Psychology, I think we only had five professors who can be advisors, so a lot of professors are taking on a lot of advisees. I think resources could be better allocated to better serve the departments where students are showing more interest.
How would you describe the learning environment? Is it particularly competitive or collaborative?
I think it’s collaborative. I’ve never felt like the environment has ever been super competitive. A lot of us have similar passions, but we don’t share the same passions. Because we all have the hope of making a greater impact on the future, I think we’re here to really help each other grow people and help each other. The classwork is collaborative, and because we have such small class sizes, it’s also very discussion-based as opposed to lecture-based. [The average class size is 16.5 students.]
What was your favorite class in your majors?
For Organizational Studies, not everyone is required to take every class. For me, how I created my focus in communications, taking a language in gender class was really eye-opening for me in the sense that my professor was able to bring in movies, her research, and literature and I was able to realize a lot of media perpetuates male and female stereotypes. Being in that class helped me become more cognizant of stereotypes. This was my favorite class because it helped me see the world in a new way and because for me it gave me an idea of how I can better undo the stereotypes the world continues to perpetuate.
What was your least favorite class in your majors?
I think it was Comparative Politics for my Organizational Studies major. My professor didn’t spend the time getting to know us as students, and I don’t think he even knew my name by the end of the semester. He came from a very specialized field of study, which was about Southeast Asian politics, [which showed from his teaching style]. I got a lot of information from him because I’ve never known about Southeast Asian politics, but I didn’t get the full broad range of world politics.
What made you choose your majors? Are you happy with your choice?
I came into Pitzer as a self-designed major. I was hoping to create a major in literary psychology with an emphasis in nonprofit administration. The nonprofit administration would’ve been tied to Organizational Studies. The literary part being English, and the Psychology part being part of psychology. For me, I realized I don’t like not being busy so instead of trying to cut the number of classes, I wanted the full range of English classes I could take that was part of the major and I wanted to take all five disciplines of psychology that we have focused on. I was able to grow as a student because of the support I’ve had from students and faculty here, which empowered me to be a triple major. I’d say I’m happy with my major, but I do accept the fact that I gave up a good amount of opportunities to study all three majors. But, compared to my classmates, I don’t have as much free time.
Reasons to Attend
1) There’s a wealth of opportunities to get involved and learn what good community service is. Being able to work with communities to empower and better serve them is something Pitzer can provide. [All Pitzer students participate in service-learning courses before graduation.]
2) People should come to Pitzer if they want to be part of a collaborative environment. People are trying to help you accomplish what you want, and I feel like that’s through learning and helping each other in school.
3) You really have the impact to take charge of your academic career here. A lot of majors are interdisciplinary, so you’re able to tie in so many interests in what you want to study. For me as an Organizational Science major with a focus in socio-cultural communication, I’m tying together theatre, linguistics, and journalism.
4) As a student, you have so many opportunities to make an impact on campus. There was an event that I put on my freshman year after someone posted an anonymous letter about being sexually assaulted at a Five C event. I email the dean of students saying I wanted to create a project on our free wall to show support for the student. Within 24 hours I was able to get funding and reach out to three or four organizations for resources and further help on my project.
Reasons Not to Attend
1) Pitzer is hyper-liberal. There are people in the middle, but those not in the middle are either extremely left or right. The conversation between the people on the left and people on the left often creates a lot of tension on campus. this can create a hostile classroom environment.
2) If you want to be in a city, even though Claremont is close, because of the course load we have and what we have going on campus, you’re not going to get into L.A. as often as you might want to.
Around Campus
Where have you lived during college?
Freshman: Atherton Hall with one roommate
Sophomore: East Hall with one roommate and two suitemates
Junior: Mead Hall with one roommate and five suitemates
What was your favorite living situation?
My sophomore year. I have a lot of friends on campus, but I was lucky that I got to live with three of my close friends. Having a small living space in one of the newest dorms on campus, and also being roommates with my best friends made the living situation the best.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I’ve always felt safe on campus, but that could be because I’m a pretty tall man. There are five colleges in Claremont, and there are times I’ve walked from South Pomona, which is a mile away, at 2:00 AM and I didn’t feel scared. We have the blue light system all over campus and there aren’t many spaces around campus that aren’t well lit.
How was transitioning from your hometown in New Jersey to Claremont, CA?
It was difficult at first. I underestimated the culture shock I’d experience. In high school, I did a program at the University of Pennsylvania for a summer and I’ve studied abroad before so I thought it’d be similar to all of the other experiences I’ve had. My first semester here people made fun of me because I’d walk quickly. I used to dress a lot more preppy because I grew up wearing plaid and salmon shorts, but once I got here I feel like no one dresses that way. I ended up adapting myself in terms of how other Pitzer people dress. I came from a competitive high school where the top twenty-five people were neck and neck GPA-wise and we applied to a lot of the same schools. Once I came to Pitzer, I realized this competitive nature wasn’t really apparent on campus. The biggest challenge for me was learning how to actually be part of a community and work with the community collaboratively, versus being individualistic the whole time.
What is your favorite place to get away from campus?
I love going into downtown Los Angeles. It’s only an hour away by train. I like being able to go to L.A. because there are a bunch of different cultures within the span of a few blocks. There is lots of food and there are so many events to go to. [Claremont Transit Center is 12 blocks from campus.]
Social Opportunities
What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you participate in at Pitzer?
For Pitzer Activities, we provide alternative program options. We do a movie trip, a bowling trip, and a trip to a museum. A lot of my weekend activities have been associated with that. I like going to talks and readings on campus where either Pitzer or another Claremont College will bring a poet to campus. Thursday night and sometimes Friday nights are usually a party night. Saturdays are a big Five C party nights, and I go to those on occasion. Because of my classwork and the work I do on campus, I’m usually too tired to go out every weekend, but freshman year I went out two or three times a week.
Has identifying as LGBTQ influenced your nightlife experience?
It hasn’t really influenced me at all. We have one party every year called Pride Party, and that’s when I get all decked out. My style isn’t very flamboyant, so I’m never worried about how I portray myself when I go around campus. I do see people who are LGBTQ identifying and no one bats an eye at them. I do my own thing, and because when we go to parties we want to have fun or lose some steam. I go out with people who are and who aren’t LGBTQ identifying, and I’ve never had an issue as a gay student in the nightlife, or even just in general.
How happy were you with the nightlife at Pitzer? Is there anything you would change?
I enjoyed the nightlife more when I was a freshman and sophomore. I think it’s great that all five colleges share resources and invite students from all five colleges to parties. I make friends from those parties. For Pitzer specifically, we’re known for having music festivals twice a year so it’s cool seeing student artists perform on campus. I also feel like it’s odd knowing the college is paying for these crazy parties. There is usually a strict cutoff time when the parties end. This last weekend a party got shut down right at 1 AM when people were still having a lot of fun.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
I met my first best friend through Orientation Adventure. When you move into Pitzer, your first four days of freshman year you’re taken away on an orientation trip where you go to L.A. during the day and coming back to campus at night, or you’re going on backcountry trips. I went beach camping, and because we were a small group of students we really got to know each other. I made my other best friends before I even came to Pitzer because people were sending Facebook messages to each other getting to know the people in the incoming class. All of those are female friends, so my best male friend was my suitemate freshman year. We didn’t get along with our roommates, so we ended up bonding. Most of my friends are between Pitzer and Scripps, but I have a lot of Claremont McKenna friends as well.
How would you describe the overall social scene?
By the end of freshman year, people come to see who their friend group is. Even though people are in their set friend groups, there’s a lot of floating between groups. For me, I was part of the swimming friend group because my two best friends were swimmers. I had another friend group that I made through activities like freshman hall counsel. Now, by my junior year, both groups have kind of intertwined because we’re living together in the same suite and I feel like that’s what’s happening with a lot of the social scene on campus. Because people go abroad their junior year, a lot of the people who are left over on campus end up intermingling between friend groups. So, a lot of the cliques that were present at the end of my sophomore year are now big groups of people.
How strong is the LGBTQ community on campus?
It’s growing in strength. When I initially came on campus it wasn’t necessarily that strong. I feel like at Pitzer we have very supportive transgender and lesbian communities, and I know those two communities are closely tied to Scripps. As a gay student, there aren’t that many programs on campus directed toward gay and bisexual men. By the end of my sophomore year, we were able to acquire a Rainbow People affinity group room on campus. Because I had a strong social support system before I came to college, I didn’t need further support from the Queer Resource Center.
Careers
Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
I wouldn’t say they’ve helped me find jobs, but that’s because I’ve been set on finding an internship on my own. Pitzer has this great program called Winter Break Shadowing where parents of students and alumni reach out to the career services and say they’d like students to shadow where they work, so they can have an idea of what it would be like to work in that industry. My sophomore year I got to do a shadowing opportunity. Last year when I was interviewing for internships the career services director put me in contact with someone who worked at a company I was interviewing with. That person ended up telling me all the questions I had to be prepared for in my interview.