<p>Thanks juggly. We do plan on visiting but can only go over the summer because of her commitment to sports. My D has been reading up on Pomona too but with her stats I am not sure she will get in so she needs to review all her options. She will look at Pitzer and Scripps too. My older D had phenomenal stats and rejections were many at top schools so I guess D2 is nervous. I know next year may bring less competition than the class of 2012 so we don't want to discourage her. D2 is highly motivated, and a fantastic kid with top grades too but SAT scores are yet to be determined. My older D only wanted to stay in the Northeast but maybe D2 coming from NY will have a geographic advantage to California schools. Looking forward to visit.</p>
<p>Purplegirl, my daughter applied RD to Pitzer and wants to play lacrosse while there. They have a joint athletic program w/Pomona. You probably know Pitzer is SAT optional as long at your daughter has a 3.5 GPA or is in top 10% of her class. My daughter elected not to send her SATS. We have yet to visit but if she gets in she will be out there in April.</p>
<p>purplegirl: your daughter sounds PERFECT for Mudd. One of my best friends goes to Mudd. I'm applying to transfer to the other claremont schools (I'm very very into humanities, so Mudd wasn't for me), so I've visited her multiple times. It definitely has an abundance of resources when it comes to the sciences and engineering (I its in the top 5 schools in the country for pre-meds, engineering, that sort of field). She's a biology major and loves it. I think Mudd shares a sports program with CMC and Scripps (i think someone already mentioned that), so its an amazing way to meet people from other schools.
I would say Pomona and Mudd are her best options. If those seem like a reach, Pitzer would be an amazing option.
Best of luck!</p>
<p>Okay, Im a CMC freshman also and I wanted to go ahead and offer my perspective on these questions as well and offer my assistance. I dont know if Ill say anything particularly profound, but it cant hurt to hear more than a couple of opinions. </p>
<p>Tonytet: The 5Cs interact as much as you want them to. My first semester I had a French class at Scripps which had students from all five colleges; I got to know people from other schools and it was a lot of fun. Since CMC is often a hub for social activity, you tend to run into a lot of people from different campuses. Its unfortunately also easy to only stay friends with people from CMC, so its really just a matter of making an effort to expand your horizons. But its definitely possible and I recommend it. The consortium offers you the chance to have the academics of a small school and the social options of a large school take advantage of it! </p>
<p>Academics, in my experience, are also what you make of them. One phrase Ive heard from people explaining CMC (and other competitive liberal arts colleges) is that its easy to get a B, hard to get an A. I think this might be less true as you start to take advanced classes (Im still mostly in intro courses), but generally speaking if you get into CMC and youre willing to put in a good amount of effort, you will be able to manage it. </p>
<p>There are parties on one of the five campuses almost every night Pomona has Table Manners on Tuesdays and Pub on Wednesdays (though Im not sure how many people actually go to these), and then CMC normally has a party on Thursdays and Saturdays. There are also generally smaller gatherings going on. There is a lot of drinking on campus, which is definitely something you should know before thinking about coming here. There are non-drinking activities available a lot (movie marathons, etc) but definitely be aware that come Thursday and Saturday nights, at least half of the student body will probably be drinking. Its not necessarily invasive, just hard to avoid. I only go out about every other Thursday (I have early Friday classes), and Ive never had a problem in terms of noise since Im in South Quad. One thing to remember is that Thursday night is the start of a lot of weekends because there arent many Friday classes. </p>
<p>Im going to throw my support behind skyhawkk and Jessicas explanations of the student bodys political leanings. Im a moderate leaning towards progressive/liberal and the one thing I can honestly say is that Ive never had a confrontational or rude conversation about political policies. I regularly converse with my conservative friends about politics and economics, but nothing has ever turned ugly. Almost everyone at CMC is open to discussing things in a mature manner, as long as you approach the conversation maturely yourself. </p>
<p>Broetchen: First of all, I have to say that the student bodies are diverse and varied enough that its pretty hard to make a generalization about Scripps and CMC students in general. In my experience, the main differences between my friends from Scripps and those from CMC are in terms of interests. Scripps is more of a humanities-based liberal arts college while CMC can be more pre-professionally focused (Im a Government/Lit dual major at least in theory so that goes to show that there isnt necessarily a total divide there). For all the jokes and stereotypes about the different colleges, I cant actually name another fundamental difference between the student bodies.</p>
<p>Bird Rock: Generally speaking Ive experienced a lot of open-mindedness from professors and students in the classroom. In my introductory Government course last semester it took me most of the year to deduce my professors individual political opinions (and I never figured anything out during class). While 80% of our student body voted for Barack Obama in the last election, there is still a large moderate base on campus and a very vocal conservative base (and these are not just the 20% who voted for McCain). Ive experienced nothing but openness in discussions, though I will admit that I am often in the majority opinion. Also, our Government and Economics programs tend to be relatively conservative (at least in terms of faculty) so if youre leaning in that direction thats something to take into account.</p>
<p>Okgal: It really sounds to me like your daughter might like living in the towers (particularly Auen and Fawcett. Like Jessica said, its eight rooms (therefore twelve girls) and one single-sex bathroom to a floor. Each of the dorm rooms opens onto a central lounge area with a few couches and coffeetables. This is a great space to hang out with friends, do group projects, get to know your floor, etc. I live in the towers and I dont intend to leave. The other great thing about them is that the noise level is the lowest youll find on campus. Since most parties are in North Quad, you can study in your room, go to a party, and then head back to sleep in relative silence. Also, the closets are pretty large and there are a lot of options for storage under your bed, depending on how you set up the rooms. Marks (which is technically South Quad but not a tower) has the most storage space and is also a really nice/sociable dorm. Its mostly freshman which can be a lot of fun, but depending on the group of kids who live there it can get rowdy. A great thing about CMC is that the campus is so small that you can make friends with people from other dorms easily and hang out there as well. </p>
<p>Jennyheart: CMC does have a very pre-professional focus, but I generally think that its very possible to want to go into academia here, especially depending on your major/field of interest. If you want to go into a field that CMC excels at, even if you want to pursue further education instead of an immediate career, definitely still look at CMC. You might be in the minority, but you might also be surprised by how many people want to go to graduate school.
Im deferring on questions about Joint Sciences because I havent gotten a chance to enroll in any of the science classes yet. But hopefully this helped slightly.</p>
<p>^ great post. Thanks!
only thing missing is the surefire secret ingredient to guarantee admission ;)</p>
<p>I have taken four years of Italian in high school and hoping to test out of the foreign language requirement. The web site states credit is given for a 4 or 5 on the AP test in French, Spanish, German or Latin. Nothing is mentioned about Italian. Also , are SATII scores used? Thanks</p>
<p>I'm just wondering, but this is a question for current students.</p>
<p>If I don't need financial aid, would I still be able to get some money?</p>
<p>That's very hard to say... you would have to apply for the special merit scholarships like the McKenna or Seaver Scholarship. Otherwise, if you don't file the FAFSA, you will not be able to get any money because most aid is given to those in need of it. Other than the merit scholarships, I would suggest looking for outside scholarships to apply for.</p>
<p>Hi I'm from So Cal, just a question for the current students: </p>
<p>I know that the quality of the school enviornment, program, etc are a lot more important than name prestige, but do you feel that it is easy for a CMC graduate to get into good grad schools or find jobs? </p>
<p>I hate it when my parents are overly practical like that, but in this economic situation I'm worried too about employment... so I'm just feeling a little nervous about entering a small liberal arts school not as widely recognized, even though it has really great programs. </p>
<p>I hope no one find this question rude! Any assurances from the current students will really help!</p>
<p>p.s. haha I've always heard that CMC is really conservative (especially in the finance/economics sectors?)... I'm so glad to hear that it's so well balanced!</p>
<p>If CMC does one thing well, it's job and grad school placement. Princeton Review rated our Career Services Center #2 in the country for a reason. As we explained earlier, CMC students tend to be professional and care about their resumes. The Career Services Center pays students to edit their peers' cover letters and resumes. I would say that a fair amount of the jobs that attract CMC students are either political/economic in nature. Consulting, investment banking, accounting, federal agency, and political affairs recruiters are on campus frequently so you will definitely get a job after you graduate.</p>
<p>Many students go on to law or business school. but a fair amount also go to medical school. I would say that PhD programs are the least popular, but there are some who follow the academic path.</p>
<p>Is it possible to double major or minor in a department that is only offered at Pomona?</p>
<p>CMC doesn't offer any minors, nor do they allow you to minor at another campus; HOWEVER, they do let you double or dual major with a major not offered by CMC (so from Pomona). This just takes a little extra work because you need to get this proposal approved before you're legally majoring in the Pomona major. I believe dual majoring is essentially letting you do the minor portion.</p>
<p>alright thats great! thanks a lot the website didn't provide much information...</p>
<p>I was wondering what does CMC look at the most in an applicant. I'm a junior in AZ now and my school only allows AP classes staring junior year. If I have three AP classes, will the school look down on that?</p>
<p>Not at all.... they are really good about taking that into consideration. I know people at CMC who are from high schools where NO AP classes were offered. It happens... but it won't count against you as long as you are a good fit overall. They take ALL aspects into consideration and examine each applicant on a case-by-case basis. There's no cutoff for how many AP classes are taken, so don't worry! :D</p>
<p>alright haha thanks. I know a bunch of people have like 7 APs by the time they were in 11th grade so I was kinda concerned. Also, I know that the admission rate was approximately 18 percent last year so admission is really tough. What would you say, from your own experience, helped you stand out the most?</p>
<p>my grades weren't super, my test scores were decent. </p>
<p>i really tried to stand out through my application/interview. i think it really helps to put a face with the application, even if they've never met you. It may be a little harder for you guys cuz you don't have the extra essay questions we had on our app. they were long, but goood, fun, and creative questions that helped us say more about ourselves.</p>
<p>also, the interview is pretty helpful, I THINK. It can really help you in cases like when the admissions committee feels 50/50 about you. I had a really good interview and tried to convey my passions for leadership and stuff through it, so I'm pretty sure that helped me too. </p>
<p>Essentially: Show as much personality as you possibly can through the entire application. Let your app come alive, don't just be that transcript or the so-so essays.</p>
<p>what are your absolute favorite parts about cmc and what would you change?</p>
<p>what are your favorite classes and why?</p>
<p>Supastar - There are so many reasons why I love CMC, but I would say that the students, Athenaeum, and the Consortium are the my absolute favorite aspects. I've learned so much from the people here and find it fun to listen to other students' ambitions and goals for the future. As much as the stereotypical is interested in econ/government, there is a wide spectrum in between. It's great to hear that students this summer are working for companies like Google all the way to the US Embassy in the Philippines CMCer to environmental non-profits like the Environmental Defense Fund. As a freshman, I had the privilege to eat dinner literally sitting next to Maureen Dowd, and then Michael Chertoff (Sec. of Homeland Security) on a separate occasion. These moments are what distinguish CMC from other liberal arts colleges and universities. The flexibility and culture of the 5Cs is unparalleled - period.</p>
<p>GardenGirl88 - As a freshman, I had the opportunity to take two incredible classes last semester. I took Honors Government 20 with Prof. Pitney, which I highly suggest to all entering freshman. Professor Pitney is one of the most engaging professors I've ever had and truly cares about his students and encourages you to pursue your interests in the framework of his class. I ended up writing my final paper on Massachusetts v. EPA and developed an interest in environmental law, which I never had an avenue to pursue. I also took a comparative literature class on Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright with Prof. Bradley. Unfortunately, he won't be here for a couple years because he's teaching at UC-Boulder on leave, but it was a great class because he gave his students free reign to discuss and compare the authors' ideals.</p>