4 of 5 most selective LACs in Claremont

Colleges and Universities A-Z Scripps College
1

Might as well post this on other 4 sites also.
I recently posted the following on another site…copied here for CC.

What I find remarkable is the following fact:

Of almost 3,000 Liberal Arts Colleges in the US, four of the five most selective LACs in the country, are part of the Claremont College consortium in Calfornia. This, according to numbers just released for the Class of 2019.

The most selective LAC is actually a tie between Claremont McKenna College and Pomona College. Here are the results, from what I’ve been able to gather:

  1. Claremont McKenna, 9.76%.
  2. Pomona, 9.76%.
  3. Swarthmore, 12% (only non-C in top five).
  4. HarveyMudd College, 12.7%.
  5. (Surprise!) Pitzer College, 12.9%.

It is noteworthy that the only Claremont College not in the top 5 is Scripps, the all-women’s college. Scripps, however, still came in at a respectable 28% acceptance rate, which I believe is the same as Wellesley, generally regarded as the top college for women (although Barnard’s rate of 19.5% trumps both…LOL!).

Women’s colleges, generally speaking, are not seeing the same % increases that top coed LACs have been experiencing in the last several years.

As much as I love Claremont, however, I am not so presumptuous as to imply that these are THE five best LACs in the country, although they are right up there.…Pitzer better than Williams or Amherst? No Way. But, IMO, CMC and Pomona stand on a par with any college, including (GASP!) The Ivies, for a first-rate undergraduate education. Harvey Mudd likewise, vis- a- vis MIT / Caltech, for the budding scientist.

What this does speak to, is the growing recognition/awareness of the benefits of getting an undergraduate education in Claremont, the only true consortium in the country, modeled after the Oxford system.

Many, especially on the East Coast, are not familiar with The Claremonts. I would strongly encourage anyone interested in a Liberal Arts education to look into them.

2

I’m looking at a 2007 USNWR , of their top 110 Liberal Arts Colleges I see only 11 that are located on the West coast, most of which are not so near SoCal (eg several in Oregon). But a lot of people live on the west coast.

For someone who lives on the west coast, esp SoCal, and stongly prefers the LAC fomat, I can’t see where those schools really have all that much competition.

Of the same 110, I count seven in Massachusetts alone, and nine in New York alone.

Have to say, it would have been nice to know Pitzer’s acceptance #s were going to dip like that the very year S turned down their acceptance to go to state u here. At the time, Claremont people were PMing me on CC and saying they didn’t think it was worth it. I asked.

3

Another way to look at is: Most students prefer to attend college within driving distance to their house, so parents can drop them off and get back home on the same day.

Let’s say you live in Los Angles metro area, how many of the top 110 LAcs live within a 4-1/2 hr drive of your house?

And now, let’s say instead you live in the New York City metro area, how many of the top 110 LACs live within a 4-1/2 hour drive from your house?

Ditto Philadelphia?