Claremont Colleges

[Anonymous]

Has anyone visited the 5 Claremont Colleges of California? What are your impressions of the schools? Does the consortium add much to the experience, or do students primarily remain in their home campus? Any other information or perspective you have would also be appreciated. Thanks for your insights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone visited the 5 Claremont Colleges of California? What are your impressions of the schools? Does the consortium add much to the experience, or do students primarily remain in their home campus? Any other information or perspective you have would also be appreciated. Thanks for your insights.

We are preliminarily considering several of them and DC spent a part day at one recently. We also are acquainted with faculty at one. Impressions -- they are all somewhat different from each other and they're not mirror-images; they are semi-separate to a degree and are not one unitary entity for many academic or residence or governance purposes; a student spends the bulk of time on own campus, but there are many options for cross-college work, study, etc; all are very good but the admissions standards and ##s aren't identical; the consortium adds to the experience and without the consortium, each college itself is not very large and wouldn't be noticed or known to the degree that is now the case.

[Anonymous]

DD loved Scripps; it is stunningly beautiful, and we got the definite impression that it an undiscovered gem.

[Anonymous]

We visited extensively. On the whole the consortium opens up the social and club possibilities for these small schools. The extent very much depends on the student making an effort. I got the impression that the ties are strongest between the pairs of schools that join up for sports but for an extroverted kid, no real barriers to making friends campus wide. My kid did not end up applying because his academic interest is in a multiple disciplinary major that would have had to be supported by multiple schools. The information we received from students was that cross registration could be very difficult for the upper level courses due to prioritization for "home" school or not offered. It just sounded as if it could get really complex for meeting graduation requirements. Beautiful campus with plenty to do in LA. His friends that now attend are very happy. They happen to be humanities majors and pretty much have their classes within the college they were admitted to. If my kid didn't really need a university setting, he would have gone there in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous]

Meh, the campuses are beautiful, but I would think that college students would find the town of Claremont to be quite boring after one week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We visited extensively. On the whole the consortium opens up the social and club possibilities for these small schools. The extent very much depends on the student making an effort. I got the impression that the ties are strongest between the pairs of schools that join up for sports but for an extroverted kid, no real barriers to making friends campus wide. My kid did not end up applying because his academic interest is in a multiple disciplinary major that would have had to be supported by multiple schools. The information we received from students was that cross registration could be very difficult for the upper level courses due to prioritization for "home" school or not offered. It just sounded as if it could get really complex for meeting graduation requirements. Beautiful campus with plenty to do in LA. His friends that now attend are very happy. They happen to be humanities majors and pretty much have their classes within the college they were admitted to. If my kid didn't really need a university setting, he would have gone there in a heartbeat.

It is pretty far from LA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We visited extensively. On the whole the consortium opens up the social and club possibilities for these small schools. The extent very much depends on the student making an effort. I got the impression that the ties are strongest between the pairs of schools that join up for sports but for an extroverted kid, no real barriers to making friends campus wide. My kid did not end up applying because his academic interest is in a multiple disciplinary major that would have had to be supported by multiple schools. The information we received from students was that cross registration could be very difficult for the upper level courses due to prioritization for "home" school or not offered. It just sounded as if it could get really complex for meeting graduation requirements. Beautiful campus with plenty to do in LA. His friends that now attend are very happy. They happen to be humanities majors and pretty much have their classes within the college they were admitted to. If my kid didn't really need a university setting, he would have gone there in a heartbeat.

It is pretty far from LA.

About an hour with traffic. I can reach Pasadena in about 35 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Pomona, Claremont McKenna, or Harvey Mudd--yes, if the fit is right. Not sure about the academic chops of the others.

[Anonymous]

Not everyone has the credentials for those three schools. I think Scripps could be a wonderful 4 year experience.

[Anonymous]

We visited and were impressed. My understanding is that they can eat in each other's cafeterias. Sounds like they maintain their own school identities while still interacting. My DD was more impressed with Scripps than Pomona, and our Scripps tour guide was excellent. May end up being too far for her but if we lived closer it would definitely be on the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We visited extensively. On the whole the consortium opens up the social and club possibilities for these small schools. The extent very much depends on the student making an effort. I got the impression that the ties are strongest between the pairs of schools that join up for sports but for an extroverted kid, no real barriers to making friends campus wide. My kid did not end up applying because his academic interest is in a multiple disciplinary major that would have had to be supported by multiple schools. The information we received from students was that cross registration could be very difficult for the upper level courses due to prioritization for "home" school or not offered. It just sounded as if it could get really complex for meeting graduation requirements. Beautiful campus with plenty to do in LA. His friends that now attend are very happy. They happen to be humanities majors and pretty much have their classes within the college they were admitted to. If my kid didn't really need a university setting, he would have gone there in a heartbeat.

It is pretty far from LA.

About an hour with traffic. I can reach Pasadena in about 35 minutes.

Like college kids are going to be doing all of this driving on a regular basis. And, I would think that Claremont itself would get a little boring after a while.

[Anonymous]

The kids we know there go into LA for weekends on a regular basis. I guess they have the time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We visited extensively. On the whole the consortium opens up the social and club possibilities for these small schools. The extent very much depends on the student making an effort. I got the impression that the ties are strongest between the pairs of schools that join up for sports but for an extroverted kid, no real barriers to making friends campus wide. My kid did not end up applying because his academic interest is in a multiple disciplinary major that would have had to be supported by multiple schools. The information we received from students was that cross registration could be very difficult for the upper level courses due to prioritization for "home" school or not offered. It just sounded as if it could get really complex for meeting graduation requirements. Beautiful campus with plenty to do in LA. His friends that now attend are very happy. They happen to be humanities majors and pretty much have their classes within the college they were admitted to. If my kid didn't really need a university setting, he would have gone there in a heartbeat.

It is pretty far from LA.

About an hour with traffic. I can reach Pasadena in about 35 minutes.

Like college kids are going to be doing all of this driving on a regular basis. And, I would think that Claremont itself would get a little boring after a while.

There's a train station on the south end of Pomona's campus that will take you to Downtown LA in under an hour, and of course with no traffic. It runs hourly from early morning to late nights. From there, you can take any bus, subway, or metro, covered from the initial cost of the train ticket (it comes with free access to any of LA's public transport systems). If you miss the train hours, there's a bus service that runs 24/7 and will take you to/from Downtown LA for under $3.

It's very, very easy to get to LA, and the students don't need a car to do so. The vast majority don't have one. And while Claremont itself may not have much to offer, the colleges themselves are lively and filled with events, parties, speakers, and so forth. Five colleges make for five times the fun.

[Anonymous]

Also, let's not think Claremont is in the middle of nowhere while La La Land is 35 miles away. SoCal is a huge, sprawling metropolis unlike that of the East Coast Metropolitan areas. It's not city, suburbs, farmland, it's city, city, city. Claremont is right next to Pomona (population over 150,000) and Upland (population 75,000), while Ontario (pop 167,000), Chino (pop 81,000), Rancho Cucamonga (pop. 170,000) and West Covina (pop 100,000) are within 10 miles in all directions. While most of the offerings are in LA, these cities are home to famous malls like Ontario Mills and Victoria Gardens, and annual events like the LA County Fair.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Not everyone has the credentials for those three schools. I think Scripps could be a wonderful 4 year experience.


My sister went to Scripps as an art major. She had an awful experience. The school is extremely liberal. My sister is not. She wanted to study traditional, history and realistic art. Scripps is into only contemporary. She was also put off by the open lesbianism in the dorms, but that's something your kid has to figure out for themselves. It is a lovely campus. The library at Scripps is particular beautiful.