Surprised at Claremont Mckenna

[Anonymous]

Someone on another thread said it's not worth going to CMC if you're not studying Gov or Econ because that's what 90 percent of students there major in. Any truth to that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone on another thread said it's not worth going to CMC if you're not studying Gov or Econ because that's what 90 percent of students there major in. Any truth to that?

It's just not true, but also doesn't make sense. You can major at any of the 5Cs while at Claremont Mckenna, so the academics aren't really a worry unless you can't walk an extra five minutes to go to a Pomona or Scripps class. Why attend Claremont Mckenna with an off campus or non-gov/econ major? So you can get good career resources, so you can take part in the many research institutes, so you can go to Ath tea and see people like Ada Limon, Ellen Ochoa, and leading academics at the Ath, so you can go to a college that's constantly growing (in money and in resources) and will throw money at you to chase whatever goals you have. It's cheesy, but CMC really supports its students, and we love our college. That's why we have so much money and can expand to double our current size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC has shown interest in Claremont Mckenna, which I 100% wrote off as a mediocre LAC. Then reading through their Roberts Campus and massive alum donation campaign, I am shocked this tiny place hasn't shot to the top of students' lists. They're doubling campus footprint, investing hundreds of thousands to improve research opportunities and internship opportunities, and building a fancy new science department. What is the catch?

Claremont McKenna has always been regarded as one of the top SLACs. It's just in California and the DCUM (emphasis on "DC" area) don't discuss such schools much.

Is it? I feel like the LAC quality drops fast after Bowdoin and Middlebury. Would never send my kids to Hamilton or Colby or...Claremont Mckenna. Sure, they're ranked well, but there's no advantage to paying for it over UMD.

Eh, you might consider consulting something more objective than your feelings on the matter. If your kid wants to go to law school or business school or get a high-paying job in finance, CMC is extremely strong:
#3 for MBA placement: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-business-school
#12 for Wall Street/IB placement: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-business-school
#17 for law school placement: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-law-school

Okay, doesn't necessitate dropping $360k so that my daughter can go to the 17th best school at something. All of this is achievable easily with a state school.

I don’t see any comparably ranked “cheap state schools” on any of those three lists. The state schools are, as you would expect, Berkeley Michigan UCLA etc which are not easy to get into and are not cheap OOS.

UVA does just fine for me. Excellent quality in fact.

Did for us as well. and Claremont McKenna is now $91,414 a year. No thank you! Both of my kids went in-state Va and have done very well according to their respective gifts.

DC chose it over Uchicago, so far serving him well, almost making as much as me (ahem $400k) 2 years out of college. Guess the "$360k" was worth it.

Jumping in here to ask about CMC. Would it fit a kid who really wants California? UCLA is top choice at the moment. Liked USC as well. Price is not relevant. Undecided for major, somewhere between international things and poli sci on the one hand and engineering on the other. Aside from the obvious issue with engineering, I'm wondering if he should add a school like CMC to the list. Is the 5 college consortium enough to make it feel like a bigger school than it is? Is the area vibe similar to west LA or substantially different?

It's not a perfect match. Does your kid want California or Westwood? Claremont is a nice bubble from California that allows a lot of opportunity to go to Baldy, Joshua Tree, Disneyland,and any hiking needs for your son. The surrounding area of the Inland Empire isn't amazing, but students tend to drive the opposite way. The colleges' have a great outing program, so you can spend a lot of the semester on the beach. But none of this is Westwood, which really isn't even LA-it's a very small uber wealthy part of LA that is very isolated, hilly and idyllic. Most of LA is trashy but great fun.

It will be a lot easier to test out what he wants at CMC than at UCLA, where he'll have to do a long school transfer process. You can take engineering at Harvey Mudd relatively easily in the fall of sophomore year as long as you take the intro physics classes as a freshman. Then, you qualify for most of the other engineering courses. The consortium is amazing and does feel like a bigger school, but it's not going to be 30,000 undergrads big. DC met a lot of people who wanted to go to massive state schools, and they all ended up loving their CMC experience. The government major is amazing, and he'll get way better career/academic opportunities at CMC for sure.

Spend a lot of semester on the beach? Only by spending a lot of hours on the highway.

A kiid looking at UCLA and USC likely would not like the 5C consortium — much smaller even combined, none of the benefits of having the city directly out your door and not very good d3 sports. It’s for kids who want a slac.

It is pretty easy to take the time off on fridays and just sleep in the car. No different than UCLA/USC kids who like the outdoors, they also drive a lot. Driving is a natural part of living in LA, and you either learn to get over it or hate California.

That isn’t true. There is plenty of outdoorsy stuff to do in hills and Malibu, maybe 15 minute drive for kids in LA. And about an hour closer to the beach, which makes every trip two hours shorter. Claremont does have a monopoly in the strip malls of the Inland Empire.

There is, but it's not gonna be 15 minutes. 15 minutes can't get you off the main street that cuts through UCLA. Traffic is unbearable in LA, who would've thought. Venice BLVD is a personal enemy, especially through Culver City. This gives the energy of someone who isn't from the area but has visited. I live in LA, and you just learn to live on. My UCLA friends never get 15 minute drives unless its to the in n out half a mile away at like 8 pm. Westwood is incredibly congested from Santa Monica traffic and, you know, millions of people moving around the city.

Anyway, none of this is that big of a problem. I have friends who spend weekends in Malibu, Santa Barbara, etc. It's normal to drive a lot in LA.

Um, pp and I lived in Westwood Village for several years actually. No real reason to go to Culver City or Venice Blvd to get to anywhere “outdoorsy” or the beach. I stand by my original post.

Just checked the driving time between UCLA and Malibu...50 minutes. Yikes. LA traffic is awful

Now imagine how much longer it would take from Claremont.

A LONG time.

[Anonymous]

It's funny to say, but a lot of non-Californians in this thread. You want to go anywhere in LA, even down the street, it'll take forever. It's a part of the culture and a college can't fix that. But, a lot of the attitudes the Inland Empire are *no shock* just classism, and the area is fine, perfect if you want to be by the mountains.

The most laughable thing in this thread is the idea that you can get from Westwood to Malibu in 15 minutes. Maybe in the 80s, but it is hell getting from Westwood to any other part of LA. Also Santa Monica is gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's funny to say, but a lot of non-Californians in this thread. You want to go anywhere in LA, even down the street, it'll take forever. It's a part of the culture and a college can't fix that. But, a lot of the attitudes the Inland Empire are *no shock* just classism, and the area is fine, perfect if you want to be by the mountains.

The most laughable thing in this thread is the idea that you can get from Westwood to Malibu in 15 minutes. Maybe in the 80s, but it is hell getting from Westwood to any other part of LA. Also Santa Monica is gross.

Santa Monica is gross and the Inland Empire is great? Great job in undermining your credibility in just three lines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny to say, but a lot of non-Californians in this thread. You want to go anywhere in LA, even down the street, it'll take forever. It's a part of the culture and a college can't fix that. But, a lot of the attitudes the Inland Empire are *no shock* just classism, and the area is fine, perfect if you want to be by the mountains.

The most laughable thing in this thread is the idea that you can get from Westwood to Malibu in 15 minutes. Maybe in the 80s, but it is hell getting from Westwood to any other part of LA. Also Santa Monica is gross.

Santa Monica is gross and the Inland Empire is great? Great job in undermining your credibility in just three lines.

Reading comprehension is a DCUM struggle oml. No, I never said the inland empire was Great. My “dazzling” review was that it’s overall fine, just great if you want to be near mountains. And yes, when you’re not a tourist and a homeless person breaks into your apartment complex for the third time in the past 6 months, Santa Monica is gross. It’s great to visit for 5 seconds I’m sure, but the homelessness and crime is obscene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny to say, but a lot of non-Californians in this thread. You want to go anywhere in LA, even down the street, it'll take forever. It's a part of the culture and a college can't fix that. But, a lot of the attitudes the Inland Empire are *no shock* just classism, and the area is fine, perfect if you want to be by the mountains.

The most laughable thing in this thread is the idea that you can get from Westwood to Malibu in 15 minutes. Maybe in the 80s, but it is hell getting from Westwood to any other part of LA. Also Santa Monica is gross.

Santa Monica is gross and the Inland Empire is great? Great job in undermining your credibility in just three lines.

Reading comprehension is a DCUM struggle oml. No, I never said the inland empire was Great. My “dazzling” review was that it’s overall fine, just great if you want to be near mountains. And yes, when you’re not a tourist and a homeless person breaks into your apartment complex for the third time in the past 6 months, Santa Monica is gross. It’s great to visit for 5 seconds I’m sure, but the homelessness and crime is obscene.

Lived in Los Angeles for a few years and couldn’t disagree more. I’d take a few homeless people over mile after mile of strip mall suburbia, but that’s just me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny to say, but a lot of non-Californians in this thread. You want to go anywhere in LA, even down the street, it'll take forever. It's a part of the culture and a college can't fix that. But, a lot of the attitudes the Inland Empire are *no shock* just classism, and the area is fine, perfect if you want to be by the mountains.

The most laughable thing in this thread is the idea that you can get from Westwood to Malibu in 15 minutes. Maybe in the 80s, but it is hell getting from Westwood to any other part of LA. Also Santa Monica is gross.

Santa Monica is gross and the Inland Empire is great? Great job in undermining your credibility in just three lines.

Reading comprehension is a DCUM struggle oml. No, I never said the inland empire was Great. My “dazzling” review was that it’s overall fine, just great if you want to be near mountains. And yes, when you’re not a tourist and a homeless person breaks into your apartment complex for the third time in the past 6 months, Santa Monica is gross. It’s great to visit for 5 seconds I’m sure, but the homelessness and crime is obscene.

Lived in Los Angeles for a few years and couldn’t disagree more. I’d take a few homeless people over mile after mile of strip mall suburbia, but that’s just me.

Strip mall suburbia describes most of LA lol. I moved from my home town for a reason. But I hope that you can agree that Santa Monica isn’t that great of a beach. It’s easily one of my least favorite on the coast.

[Anonymous]

You have officially all reduced yourselves to mid-market realtors. With bad hair and overly enthusiastic greetings.

The campuses are terrific. They are self contained.

Move along. To a meaningful topic—like undergraduate:professor ratio. And take your 80s perm with you when you do.

[Anonymous]

Seriously have never seen more talk about a location of a college in my life. The range from "Paradise" to horrible makes me want to visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t go to Claremont unless you want to major in economics or political science. 90% of kids at Claremont major in these or perhaps government. Students can be on the obnoxious side. Many finance bros.
The 5 colleges don’t mix all that much. Harvey Mudd is the most separated. Pomona kids are aloof. Everyone looks down on Pitzer. The town is tiny and boring. If you don’t have a car, you are pretty much stuck on campus. But otherwise all good.

I've had the opposite experience. The 5Cs are easily the best consortium in America, and you get all the benefits in walking distance. I take a ton of classes off campus and, as a Pomona student, we are the least incentivized to do so, since they usually don't register for credit, are furthest away, and tend to be PERM-only. My CMC friends are in all kinds of majors: geology, history, cs, etc. Sure a lot of CMC is in econ, but the consortium makes it, so it really doesn't matter. No one is stopping you from taking Harvey Mudd classes, just sign up. The HMC courses are practically wide open outside of CS (even then, upper divs are easy to get with PERM). Claremont is chill, and I like the On the Loose Trips.

If you aren't feeling the consortium is functioning, you never will use one correctly. It is 10x harder to take classes, take extracurriculars, etc. in other consortiums. CMC and Pitzer have both spent money on me to do research and to go on class trips.

I don’t understand how you have the time to take a ton of classes outside of Pomona. Do you mean 2-3 classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t go to Claremont unless you want to major in economics or political science. 90% of kids at Claremont major in these or perhaps government. Students can be on the obnoxious side. Many finance bros.
The 5 colleges don’t mix all that much. Harvey Mudd is the most separated. Pomona kids are aloof. Everyone looks down on Pitzer. The town is tiny and boring. If you don’t have a car, you are pretty much stuck on campus. But otherwise all good.

I've had the opposite experience. The 5Cs are easily the best consortium in America, and you get all the benefits in walking distance. I take a ton of classes off campus and, as a Pomona student, we are the least incentivized to do so, since they usually don't register for credit, are furthest away, and tend to be PERM-only. My CMC friends are in all kinds of majors: geology, history, cs, etc. Sure a lot of CMC is in econ, but the consortium makes it, so it really doesn't matter. No one is stopping you from taking Harvey Mudd classes, just sign up. The HMC courses are practically wide open outside of CS (even then, upper divs are easy to get with PERM). Claremont is chill, and I like the On the Loose Trips.

If you aren't feeling the consortium is functioning, you never will use one correctly. It is 10x harder to take classes, take extracurriculars, etc. in other consortiums. CMC and Pitzer have both spent money on me to do research and to go on class trips.

Thanks for sharing your perspective, nice to hear from someone with actual experience!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t go to Claremont unless you want to major in economics or political science. 90% of kids at Claremont major in these or perhaps government. Students can be on the obnoxious side. Many finance bros.
The 5 colleges don’t mix all that much. Harvey Mudd is the most separated. Pomona kids are aloof. Everyone looks down on Pitzer. The town is tiny and boring. If you don’t have a car, you are pretty much stuck on campus. But otherwise all good.

I've had the opposite experience. The 5Cs are easily the best consortium in America, and you get all the benefits in walking distance. I take a ton of classes off campus and, as a Pomona student, we are the least incentivized to do so, since they usually don't register for credit, are furthest away, and tend to be PERM-only. My CMC friends are in all kinds of majors: geology, history, cs, etc. Sure a lot of CMC is in econ, but the consortium makes it, so it really doesn't matter. No one is stopping you from taking Harvey Mudd classes, just sign up. The HMC courses are practically wide open outside of CS (even then, upper divs are easy to get with PERM). Claremont is chill, and I like the On the Loose Trips.

If you aren't feeling the consortium is functioning, you never will use one correctly. It is 10x harder to take classes, take extracurriculars, etc. in other consortiums. CMC and Pitzer have both spent money on me to do research and to go on class trips.

I don’t understand how you have the time to take a ton of classes outside of Pomona. Do you mean 2-3 classes?

I take 2 every semester and just overload a 5th class to get the 40/60 non-pomona, pomona course equivalence. I've taken classes at every 5c, which isn't typical but is definitely doable, much easier if you don't go to Pomona.

[Anonymous]

Based on the post above, I don’t see the point of the consortium. If you want more class options with less headaches, just go to a bigger school. There are plenty in the 5,000 to 15,000 student range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Based on the post above, I don’t see the point of the consortium. If you want more class options with less headaches, just go to a bigger school. There are plenty in the 5,000 to 15,000 student range.

I like the diversity. The admissions offices and schools run completely independently, so that means that the student body and academic goals for each department are very different. Taking an English class at Pomona is different from English at Scripps is different from Literature at CMC. I also just wanted a small college environment and don't really see "headaches" from having a shared portal where I enroll in whatever classes I want, no matter campus. Also very few universities have the resources of Pomona/CMC in the 5,000-7,000 student population range that are in Southern California or just aren't as hard to get into as the rest.

I love going to a small college and most cannot have the breadth of course work with CMC's econ-accounting, Pitzer activism and organizational theory/psych, Scripp's Art conservation and Gender Studies, Harvey Mudd's very impressive STEM, and Pomona's exhaustive great departments.