visiting Claremont Colleges

[Anonymous]

My son is a junior and has expressed interest in doing college visits in the LA area this summer (assuming it is safe to travel and visit college campuses by then). He named UCLA and USC, and I suggested adding one of the Claremont Colleges so that he sees a smaller liberal arts campus as well. He asked how to tell which to visit - and I am unsure as well. Is there some kind of consortium tour? Assuming it is instead individual campus visits, how did your child/you selectwhich to visit? I guess we could visit 2 but I’d worry that more than that and they will blend together or feel overwhelming.

[Anonymous]

They are very different schoo with different focuses. Which is why a consortium works. Look at each website. Only 1-2 are going to work

Scripps is Women

Mudd is high intensity STEM

Pitzer has about 200 kids a class and a very environmental sustainability, global citizen focused mission. I have not been there. But it seems like a place that your kid would either love or hate.

Claremont McKenna and Pomona are more standard liberal arts.

Pomona’s much harder to get into. It is 50% POC (excluding Asians), 50% white and Asian, 20% first Gen, represents all 50 states and 50+ countries. Etc. not many spots for UMC white and Asian kids from major metro areas. For those kids, it’s a lottery school.

Claremont McKenna is a step down, but still excellent. For a male, humanities who doesn’t want a tiny CA liberal school, it’s more realistic than Pomona.

Dig through the websites, they are not all the same.

[Anonymous]

"50% POC (excluding Asians)"?

What is the source for this alleged statistic re Pomona?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"50% POC (excluding Asians)"?

What is the source for this alleged statistic re Pomona?

The source is Pomona:

https://www.pomona.edu/about/profile-who-goes-pomona

33.4% white
18.8% Asian

52.2% white and Asian (50% being a reasonable rounding)

17.3% Hispanic
11.3% international
9.4%. Black
6% biracial
2.9% “unknown”
.9% Indian/Pacific Islander

47.8% not white and Asian Us students

Now, the “international” number certainly includes white and Asian. They have 42 kids total from China, so they take 10 a year. 5 from Korea, so they take 1. 19 from Indian, so they take 5. But, 4 from Rawanda, 4 from Ethiopia, so one each from these countries. 2 from Kenya so one every other year. Small number each from middle eastern countries. It’s weird they separate internationals out as a “race” But, they aren’t all going to white aAsian Internations. And, they aren’t slots going to to white and Asian kids in the DMV.

Also, 26% 1st Gen or low income

They take about half their kids ED.

464 kids from CA. (!!!)
20 kids from MD
23 from VA
11 from DC

At the school now (so divide by 4 for the number per class)

Half of MDs and VAs kids are likely from other parts of the state. So, 2-3 will be white or Asian from each of DC, Md, VA in the DMV, and some of of those will likely be fist Gen/pell grant.

I will stand by the statement that it’s a lottery school in the DMV. No matter how amazing your kid is, they are filling narrow slots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"50% POC (excluding Asians)"?

What is the source for this alleged statistic re Pomona?

The source is Pomona:

https://www.pomona.edu/about/profile-who-goes-pomona

33.4% white
18.8% Asian

52.2% white and Asian (50% being a reasonable rounding)

17.3% Hispanic
11.3% international
9.4%. Black
6% biracial
2.9% “unknown”
.9% Indian/Pacific Islander

47.8% not white and Asian Us students

Now, the “international” number certainly includes white and Asian. They have 42 kids total from China, so they take 10 a year. 5 from Korea, so they take 1. 19 from Indian, so they take 5. But, 4 from Rawanda, 4 from Ethiopia, so one each from these countries. 2 from Kenya so one every other year. Small number each from middle eastern countries. It’s weird they separate internationals out as a “race” But, they aren’t all going to white aAsian Internations. And, they aren’t slots going to to white and Asian kids in the DMV.

Also, 26% 1st Gen or low income

They take about half their kids ED.

464 kids from CA. (!!!)
20 kids from MD
23 from VA
11 from DC

At the school now (so divide by 4 for the number per class)

Half of MDs and VAs kids are likely from other parts of the state. So, 2-3 will be white or Asian from each of DC, Md, VA in the DMV, and some of of those will likely be fist Gen/pell grant.

I will stand by the statement that it’s a lottery school in the DMV. No matter how amazing your kid is, they are filling narrow slots.

Great breakdown, PP. I had to walk my white UMC DD through this last year to explain why, perfect stats notwithstanding, she was not getting into Pomona. Like Stanford, most of the White or Asian kids we know who have been accepted to Pomona have a truly extraordinary talent or something else that sets them apart. Not saying the URMs who are accepted aren’t also exceptional, just that they are somewhat more sought after as a group. You need to be realistic and not get your heart set on schools like these.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"50% POC (excluding Asians)"?

What is the source for this alleged statistic re Pomona?

The source is Pomona:

https://www.pomona.edu/about/profile-who-goes-pomona

33.4% white
18.8% Asian

52.2% white and Asian (50% being a reasonable rounding)

17.3% Hispanic
11.3% international
9.4%. Black
6% biracial
2.9% “unknown”
.9% Indian/Pacific Islander

47.8% not white and Asian Us students

Now, the “international” number certainly includes white and Asian. They have 42 kids total from China, so they take 10 a year. 5 from Korea, so they take 1. 19 from Indian, so they take 5. But, 4 from Rawanda, 4 from Ethiopia, so one each from these countries. 2 from Kenya so one every other year. Small number each from middle eastern countries. It’s weird they separate internationals out as a “race” But, they aren’t all going to white aAsian Internations. And, they aren’t slots going to to white and Asian kids in the DMV.

Also, 26% 1st Gen or low income

They take about half their kids ED.

464 kids from CA. (!!!)
20 kids from MD
23 from VA
11 from DC

At the school now (so divide by 4 for the number per class)

Half of MDs and VAs kids are likely from other parts of the state. So, 2-3 will be white or Asian from each of DC, Md, VA in the DMV, and some of of those will likely be fist Gen/pell grant.

I will stand by the statement that it’s a lottery school in the DMV. No matter how amazing your kid is, they are filling narrow slots.

Great breakdown, PP. I had to walk my white UMC DD through this last year to explain why, perfect stats notwithstanding, she was not getting into Pomona. Like Stanford, most of the White or Asian kids we know who have been accepted to Pomona have a truly extraordinary talent or something else that sets them apart. Not saying the URMs who are accepted aren’t also exceptional, just that they are somewhat more sought after as a group. You need to be realistic and not get your heart set on schools like these.

+1. They are so small, take so many CA kids, and want to have so much representation, your kid has to be different and amazing. It’s a very different profile from an NEASAc SLAC that wants more diversity as a goal, but in reality are mostly white UMC and wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Yep. If your kid is a boy and doesn't waqnt to bwe an engineer, you really just need to consider Pitzer, CMC, and Pomona. Years ago when I was there Pitzer and CMC were polar opposites on the political spectrum. CMC is more conservative with lots of economics majors and Pitzer was the hippie school where there were no specific graduation requriements and you were allowed to chart your own course entirely. There are certainly exceptions, but that was the vibe back then. Pomona, because it was the biggest had it's own "stand alone" cuture more tha the other four schools. Based on this and on-line tours, you should be able to narrow it down to two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. If your kid is a boy and doesn't waqnt to bwe an engineer, you really just need to consider Pitzer, CMC, and Pomona. Years ago when I was there Pitzer and CMC were polar opposites on the political spectrum. CMC is more conservative with lots of economics majors and Pitzer was the hippie school where there were no specific graduation requriements and you were allowed to chart your own course entirely. There are certainly exceptions, but that was the vibe back then. Pomona, because it was the biggest had it's own "stand alone" cuture more tha the other four schools. Based on this and on-line tours, you should be able to narrow it down to two.

Yeah. Pitzer’s interesting. I have a kid at a Oberlin who looked at the Claremont schools but didn’t apply and a kid applying at SLACs, who has looked at the Claremont schools and Occidental. And the three of us were talking this week about liberalism on college campuses. And we all agree that there is a difference between schools that are intellectually liberal and schools that are culturally liberal. It’s hard to explain, but there is a difference between a school where kids really put a lot of thought into what they believe and why, like Oberlin and Reed, and to a lesser extent Grinnell and Kenyon. And have the deep conversations about their beliefs and make conscious decisions based on that. And, schools that happen to be in areas where the culture is liberal, and adopt the community vibe. Occidental seems very culturally liberal, in a Hey! Dude, it’s California, let’s have a toke a go surf sort of way. My DD has liberal views but was like: nope. Wouldn't fit in. Huge culture shock. Pitzer seems to her to be more on the culturally liberal side too. I’m not sure I agree, because the community is so small and purposeful on things like environmental sustainability. Kids really have to opt in to Pitzer. But, I do agree with her the vibe was weird.

I think Pitzer is a strong Yes or strong No for most kids without much in between.

She is applying to CMC

[Anonymous]

Agree with the descriptions above. We were in the same boat, going out west to visit the big schools and then figured we'd hit Pomona and Pitzer. I would read the Fiske guide and niche.com to figure out which make sense. They are great colleges and the big benefit is that you get the small classroom experience being taught by professors (rather than TA's) but are in a community of 6-7k students who socialize together.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all, from OP. I will get a Fiske guide, good idea, and DS and I can read up. I am not even sure if he is interested in any of the Claremonts, I just wanted him to see a smaller liberal arts focused college vs say UCLA and UCSB.

From your descriptions, I’d say that Pomona and CMC will likely appeal the most to him (although also sounds incredibly unlikely he would get into either), as his main interests are history, politics and math. He is on the introverted side and marches to his own drummer - is definitely not an Alex P Keaton type, so hopefully CMC is not that vibe.

[Anonymous]

Pomona parent here - CMC is very different and most kids do not apply to both. Read the Claremont Independent (CMC’s student paper) to get a sense of the difference. The faculty (except in Government and Economics) tend to be more liberal than the students.

[Anonymous]

So logistically OP you just drive there and can walk all the campuses; it's not a large area. It's fun to do because the architecture and landscaping changes with each campus (so even though you have a son, do a little of Scripps for contrast)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So logistically OP you just drive there and can walk all the campuses; it's not a large area. It's fun to do because the architecture and landscaping changes with each campus (so even though you have a son, do a little of Scripps for contrast)

Agree with this, especially since any kid enrolled in one of the schools can take classes at any of the others, and they party together. Plus, Scripps is gorgeous!

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks again for the info! Assuming (hoping!) this trip can occur, I think we will plan to take a tour with Pomona and walk ourselves through the other campuses. I love the true consortium concept and my son seems very intrigued - seems more vibrant (no doubt largely due to walking distance proximity) than the tri-college / quaker ones, for example, which I have heard are little used by the majority of the student bodies - although the ones who do get a lot from it).

To the poster with a child at Pomona, why is there little cross application with CMC? From my quick read, it seemed that CMC is heavy in the politics and government studies, not sure why that wouldn’t appeal to some number of Pomona students? Is the difference due to culture/vibe among the students, and if so, how would your child generalize the CMC (and Pomona!) students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep. If your kid is a boy and doesn't waqnt to bwe an engineer, you really just need to consider Pitzer, CMC, and Pomona. Years ago when I was there Pitzer and CMC were polar opposites on the political spectrum. CMC is more conservative with lots of economics majors and Pitzer was the hippie school where there were no specific graduation requriements and you were allowed to chart your own course entirely. There are certainly exceptions, but that was the vibe back then. Pomona, because it was the biggest had it's own "stand alone" cuture more tha the other four schools. Based on this and on-line tours, you should be able to narrow it down to two.

Yeah. Pitzer’s interesting. I have a kid at a Oberlin who looked at the Claremont schools but didn’t apply and a kid applying at SLACs, who has looked at the Claremont schools and Occidental. And the three of us were talking this week about liberalism on college campuses. And we all agree that there is a difference between schools that are intellectually liberal and schools that are culturally liberal. It’s hard to explain, but there is a difference between a school where kids really put a lot of thought into what they believe and why, like Oberlin and Reed, and to a lesser extent Grinnell and Kenyon. And have the deep conversations about their beliefs and make conscious decisions based on that. And, schools that happen to be in areas where the culture is liberal, and adopt the community vibe. Occidental seems very culturally liberal, in a Hey! Dude, it’s California, let’s have a toke a go surf sort of way. My DD has liberal views but was like: nope. Wouldn't fit in. Huge culture shock. Pitzer seems to her to be more on the culturally liberal side too. I’m not sure I agree, because the community is so small and purposeful on things like environmental sustainability. Kids really have to opt in to Pitzer. But, I do agree with her the vibe was weird.

I think Pitzer is a strong Yes or strong No for most kids without much in between.

She is applying to CMC

Your last sentence doesn’t make sense in light of the preceding text.