I'm Variah St. Paul [assumed spelling] and this is Youniversity TV where we put you in university. Today we're here at Chapman University, the second oldest university in California founded in 1861. Chapman University is located in the City of Orange California. Orange County is quite the popular setting for a hit TV show or a blockbuster smash. Let's get to know the real OC after all it was named one of the top spots to live by Places rated almanac.

Well the City of Orange is this cute little old town.

It's really quaint, cute little city that has restaurants and shopping.

We're really close to the mountains.

We're about 15 minutes away from 3 different beaches.

Some kids do like surf days and then they go up to the mountains and they go skiing the next day or they do skiing and then at night they go down to have a bon fire.

We have Disneyland 20 minutes away. A lot of students get passes, I have a pass, it's one place to go hang out, happiest place on earth.

The beautiful residential campus situated on 100 tree lined acres featuring a mixture of landmark historic buildings and state of the art facilities is located 2 blocks from the historic old town district of Orange. Chapman enrolls about 6,000 students and about 40 percent of them are male and 60 percent are female. Students hail from 50 states plus the District of Columbia and 37 countries.

It's a really diverse mix of students from all over the country and really all over the world.

Idyllically our diversity in [inaudible] isn't like that many of each culture. We all unite as one which is a big deal for me because I am biracial.

Chapman is a selective institution as only about half of the roughly 5,200 students who apply are admitted and just under 1,200 are enrolled. Incoming freshmen have an average SAT score of 1825 and a GPA of 3.61. An estimated 86 percent of freshmen are also in the top 25 percent of their high school class.

Truthfully it's a holistic process. We look at essays and recommendations and the students major. Majors just for example in the arts, musicians, artists, theatre and dance and film, all those programs require auditions. And so the student's talent is actually taken into consideration.

Tuition for all students runs approximately $31,000 per year and room and board costs are about another $11,000 per year depending on room accommodations. Seventy nine percent of Chapman's students receive financial aid with the average package running about $20,800. With 45 majors in more than 60 areas of study you won't have a hard time finding available interests. Some of the most popular majors on campus are business administration, theatre, psychology, music, dance, public relations and advertising. One of the most notable majors at Chapman is film and TV production. They even have their own studio complete with everything you need from sound stages to editing stage to kick off a career in Hollywood. Chapman employs 581 full time faculty members and 89 percent have a PhD or their terminal degrees. Plus with a low student to faculty ratio just 14 to 1 instructors are better able to pass along their knowledge and interact with students.

Students will really get to know faculty and vise versa.

They, they're really big on personalized relationships with the faculty and I really have enjoyed that and benefited from it.

They give you office hours, their cell phone, their home phone some of them, they're very willing to help you as much as they possibly can.

It's very important to us to make sure that our faculty are involved with students and that they're accessible and it's one of the bigger reasons why students choose to attend here.

The Chapman Panthers compete at the NCAA division 3 level with 18 men's and women's teams. Did you know that Panther athletic teams have won 6 NCAA national championships in baseball, tennis and softball? Chapman University provides 5 residents halls and 5 on campus apartment buildings to the roughly 37 percent of undergraduates who chose to call the Orange campus home.

I would really recommend students live on campus or in the area at for at least their first year. It's a really great way just to get involved in general. You're always with students or always can get to know them then.

You meet a lot of people that way. It's a really friendly environment too, the plan a lot of activities for students to do.

There's great programs going on in the residents life area and the residents halls with your resident advisors and your resident directors.

With more than 70 clubs and organizations on campus you'll have your pick of out of class activities ranging from social organizations and sports clubs to religious and pre-professional organizations.

Students have more than ample opportunities to get involved in almost anything they want to get involved with so if the students don't find something they like or can identify with they can start up an organization themselves.

Looking for something to do outside of class? Well just a few short miles from campus is the happiest place on earth, Walt Disneyland and of course, downtown Disney. Did you know that alumni include great numbers of Congress, Broadway stage stars and several high profile movie and TV producers. So if you're looking for a university with exciting majors taught by highly qualified professors all at a sunny southern California location featuring tons of activities, be sure to check out Chapman University. Thanks for joining us here in Orange California on our tour of Chapman University. I'm Variah St. Paul, so long from the OC.

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