<p>@SAT2400GG I agree with you. Btw, I wasn’t trying to say that CMC was in any way weaker than Pomona because of advertising, but just wanted to point a potential reason as to why CMC has a somewhat lower acceptance rate (although its class size is also smaller than Pomona’s). I have gotten my fair share of Chicago brochures and Columbia Blue packets :)</p>
<p>^ You cannot draw such conclusions, and especially not when some statements are not supported by the actual statistics. There are simply too many variables to add such granularity to the comparisons. Different schools count the applications differently. For instance, there is much leeway to count the Questbridge applications. In the past, Pomona could count almost every QB applications since there were no limitations. Other schools only counted the matched applications. The differences could be substantials. Some schools were also counting all the Common Applications vs counting only the ones that included the supplements. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that there are no real reasons to go beyond the simple ratio of admissions to applications. Discussion about size are also mostly irrelevant. For instance, how would you compare Harvey Mudd to Caltech to MIT or Cornell. And would anyone dare to say that Cornell is more selective than Caltech because it gets more applications? And then why not throw Cal and UCLA in the discussions about size of applicants’ pool. </p>
<p>Simply stated, CMC has a low admit rate because it only has to admit 600 to 700 students to fill its classes, and that more than 6,000 students believe it to be a great place to apply! :)</p>
<p>Interesting article regarding the acceptance rates for the orther Claremont colleges<br>
<a href=“Class of 2018 Acceptances Arrive, Admittance Rates Continue to Fall - The Student Life”>http://tsl.pomona.edu/articles/2014/4/4/news/5065-class-of-2018-acceptances-arrive-admittance-rates-continue-to-fall</a></p>
<p>I think the biggest reason for increased popularity of CMC is because it is common knowledge among HS students that it is a great top ten school that grades fairly, doesn’t burden the students with tons of extra work like Pomona, and has a very happy student body. The other issue now is that many changes at UC have pushed students to look for other options. </p>
<p>“doesn’t burden the students with tons of extra work like Pomona”</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>I personally think the reason is because there is a greater demand for practical educations these days, and CMC is one of the few LACs which does so</p>
<p>I accept your re-wording as a better explanation which I think is quite accurate. Pomona is like Carleton or Swarthmore and many students find that frustrating where getting an full A is almost impossible. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would happily bet a couple of dollars that few high school students have ANY knowledge of the grading system at CMC, and for the very good reason that they have not attended the school, and that few people bother to discuss this on campus. And then there is hearsay: years ago, the common knowledge was that classes at Scripps or at Pitzer would be an "easy A’ until the reality turned out to be quite different for the students of the other 5Cs. How hard a class is and how easy the grading really is remains a very subjective matter. All of us have classes where the A is easy and other where getting above a C requires lots of work or some luck on testing day. What is easy for some and is really hard for others. I can guarantee you that there are teachers at CMC that would scare kids from Pomona to death, and, of course vice versa. </p>
<p>The bottom line? Common knowledge about colleges in the ranks of high schoolers is often akin to the one-eyed leading the blind. Caveat Emptor! </p>
<p>xiggi what you say probably is true for many LAC’s but in California many top college applicants know students that are attending both CMC and Pomona. My children and their classmates were well aware of the reputations of the two schools as we know many families with students went there. The types of students attracted to the schools is quite different. The onlyr thing I would disagree with is that universally the students that attended Pomona or CMC said that classes at Pitzer were much easier in general. </p>
<p>@SAY The funny thing is that I bumped into this article regarding grades at Pomona: <a href=“High Grades Are Not Undeserved - The Student Life”>http://tsl.pomona.edu/articles/2013/3/1/opinions/3657-high-grades-are-not-undeserved</a></p>
<p>I’m not sure what the article means but here is how Berkeley Law School Ranked the college GPA’s.</p>
<ol>
<li>Swarthmore (89.5) </li>
<li>Williams (89.0) </li>
<li>Duke (88.5) </li>
<li>Carleton, Colgate (88.0) </li>
<li>Johns Hopkins (87.5) </li>
<li>University of Chicago, Dartmouth, Wesleyan (87.0) </li>
<li>Cornell, Harvard (86.5) </li>
<li>Middlebury, Princeton (86.0) </li>
<li>Bates, MIT (85.5) </li>
<li>Haverford, Pomona, University of Virginia (85.0) </li>
<li>Amherst, Reed, Vanderbilt, College of William & Mary (84.5) </li>
<li>Bowdoin, Tufts, Vassar (83.5) </li>
<li>Bryn Mawr, Hamilton, Oberlin, University of Pennsylvania, Rice (83.0) </li>
<li>Claremont McKenna, Yale (82.5) </li>
<li>Brandeis, Northwestern (82.0) </li>
<li>Colby, University of Michigan, Notre Dame (81.5) </li>
<li>Washington University in St. Louis (81.0) </li>
<li>Barnard, Columbia, Stanford (80.5) </li>
<li>Brown, Georgetown, Smith, Wellesley (80.0) </li>
<li>Emory, University of North Carolina, Whitman (79.5)
… </li>
</ol>
<p>This is more complete.</p>
<p>The following is UC Berkeley’s rankings of
the toughest schools to get an “A”</p>
<p>Swarthmore 89.5
Williams 89.0
Duke 88.5
Carleton 88.0
Colgate 88.0
J. Hopkins 87.5
Chicago 87.0
Dartmouth 87.0
Wesleyan 87.0
Cornell 86.5
Harvard 86.5
Middlebury 86.0
Princeton 86.0
Bates 85.5
MIT 85.5
Haverford 85.0
Pomona 85.0
Virginia 85.0
Amherst 84.5
Reed 84.5
Vanderbilt 84.5
Wm & Mary 84.5
Bowdoin 83.5
Tufts 83.5
Vassar 83.5
Bryn Mawr 83.0
Hamilton 83.0
Oberlin 83.0
Rice 83.0
U. Pennsylvania 83.0
Clrmt. McK. 82.5
Yale 82.5
Brandeis 82.0
Northwestern 82.0
Colby 81.5
Michigan 81.5
Notre Dame 81.5
Wash. U. 81.0
Barnard 80.5
Columbia 80.5
Stanford 80.5
Brown 80.0
Georgetown 80.0
Smith 80.0
Wellesley 80.0
Emory 79.5
U. North Carolina 79.5
Whitman C. 79.5
Rochester 79.0
UC Berkeley 78.5
UC San Diego 78.5
Illinois 78.0
SUNY Bing 78.0
Texas 78.0
Trinity U. 77.5
Boston College 77.0
UC S. Barbara 77.0
Wisconsin 77.0
Florida 76.5
U. Washington 76.5
Santa Clara 76.0
Geo. Wash. 75.5
UC Davis 75.5
UCLA 75.5
Colorado 75.0
Michigan State 75.0
Boston University 74.5
Cal Poly SLO 74.5
Massachusetts 74.0
Penn State 74.0
Iowa 73.5
Purdue 73.5
SMU 73.5
SUNY Albany 73.5
BYU 73.0
Minnesota 73.0
Ohio State 73.0
Oregon 73.0
UC Irvine 73.0
Indiana 72.5
NYU 72.0
SUNY Buff 72.0
SUNY Stony 72.0
Mills 71.5
American 71.0
Arizona 71.0
Loyola Mary. 71.0
Maryland 71.0
Fordham 70.5
Kansas 70.0
Syracuse 70.0
USC 70.0</p>