Son has received a slot at both schools for a sport, but must decide on one for binding early action. Would love to hear from those have information on the pros and cons of both schools and whether one should be favored. Thanks.
Academic and professional interests?
Cost considerations?
Costs are about the same (other than maybe travel since we are on the East Coast). Son is interested in economics/finance.
CMC might be the somewhat stronger choice for those interests: https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html.
CMC has a decidedly more conservative political lean and a bit more of a “bro” culture than Bowdoin. Depending on how he feels about that, it could affect his decision.
He might want to see if he can find the school newspapers online and read them. They can help give a view beyond the basic tours.
Thank you. He is definitely into the bro culture and leans more conservative.
Interesting choice in that CMC’s founders are on record as wanting a West-coast version of a 1950s-style all-male New England college - which most NESCAC colleges were prior to the 1970s. The founders got their wish at least until co-education swept all the single-sex LACs; the basic focus on producing business people remains. The one thing they couldn’t replicate was the traditional architecture of a New England men’s college; CMC is predominantly mid-century modern in appearance.
Thanks. Yes. We have visited both schools. I definitely prefer the traditional architecture. Son is indifferent (huge surprise).
I guess I’d leave you with one other caveat: how badly does DS want to work on the East Coast? It is said that while CMC is great for internships from major companies, a majority of them are for their West Coast branches.
What kind of sport? Weather is better in Claremont! How competitive are the two teams? Would he be guaranteed to be a starter?
Lessening the bro culture at CMC is the fact that it is adjacent to four other LACs that are decidedly less “bro” – Pomona, HMC, Scripps, and Pitzer. Considered together, the Claremonts are quite the melting pot.
…as is Bowdoin, which I consider a fairly well rounded LAC.
If you took the $5k (+/-) of annual travel expenses into account, would that make a difference?
That is an excellent point, and we have asked about that. I think he would prefer to work on the East Coast (although that is all he knows at this point), but he has been assured that they can and do place people on the East Coast all of the time.
Is Bowdoin within a doable driving distance for you? Purely selfishly from a parental point of view, the only downside to my kid’s college choice is that it’s far away and requires at least one change of plane to get there. I wish I could visit once or twice a year, but so far that hasn’t happened.
As for the rest, both are superb academically. I only know CMC by reputation. Bowdoin has a sporty, outdoorsy vibe.
Football. His chances of playing time/starting are similar at both schools. Claremont is more competitive right now, but I think the NESCAC is a more prestigious conference to play in.
Once you start to think about $70,000 a year, travel costs seem to make less of difference. However, I think hassle of having to fly across the country should be a factor.
Not really drivable, but certainly an easy flight. I certainly would be able to attend more games at Bowdoin.
Wait. DS is a football recruit? C’mon. The Consortium can’t even produce a round-robin schedule among themselves: 5 colleges= 2 teams. Part of the joy of playing for NESCAC is road tripping to four or five of the most recognizable national LACs in the country. Good luck with those memories of playing Pacific Lutheran (not to be confused with Cal Lutheran which is also on the schedule.)
My son was in the same boat as yours, being offered a slot at both colleges. He is graduating this year from CMC with a contract in hand in the midwest. He was offered NYC but chose elsewhere. Many of his friends have had offers on the east coast, but once one is exposed to the California lifestyle, it is hard to go back. I was pushing hard for Bowdoin, (I love the east coast )but in the end he didn’t want to be so far from home. He has had a fabulous college experience. He would not say the college is conservative, more like middle of the road. There is a fairly conservative publication, The Claremont Independent I think it is called, but it is not representative of the general student population. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.
Another thing you might want to consider is the travel time to games. If your son is an excellent student, it may not be much of an issue. But the NESCAC is far more spread out than the SCIAC so possibly more missed classes, unless the games are only on Saturdays.
^^NESCAC football games are typically on Saturdays. While it’s a pretty competitive conference in a lot of sports, football probably isn’t considered to be one of them so I would not attach too much importance to that. But yes, fun travel schedule.