<p>I agree with Mini. I know that my oldest was definitely more of a CMC type. The second one would have picked Vassar without hesitation. They are very different schools in atmosphere, though both excellent.</p>
<p>Both Vassar and CMC are excellent schools with fine student bodies, and I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. But the atmospheres are very different.</p>
<p>That’s the problem. He has his final IB exams in two weeks so he can’t visit now, or else he would lose valuable studying time, and then it is too late to pay the deposit. Therefore, he can’t really get the feel of the campus, which is saddening. I have heard that both student bodies are extremely different, and he is a mixture of both, and he seems to think so too, in terms of what everyone has commented. He is both artsy, and as you say “pre-professional” or whatever it is. Even his friends, he’s part of both social groups in his class, so he would pretty much fit in in either university. </p>
<p>But, does everyone agree, that because of the larger student population, he is more likely to find his “crowd” at CMC, than at vassar, where it is more limited?</p>
<p>A lot of people have “no contacts” at the school they choose to attend. I wouldn’t personally rate that as a factor at all. Colleges are totally set up for incoming students to meet people.</p>
<p>He should pick based on whichever of the other factors are important to him. Having relatives in Chicago makes Poughkeepsie better???!? I don’t think so. He can fly to Chicago from either place, possibly easier from LA.</p>
<p>Me? I’ve lived on both coasts, went to a 7-sister, went to Stanford. I’d pick CMC for sure, for the reasons your S listed. As you can see, lots of people here would pick Vassar; several would pick CMC. Who knows how many in each category have actually seen both schools, lived in both areas? So our opinions are worth every penny you are paying, lol.</p>
<p>Cocktail party conversation? More people <em>might</em> know Vassar. Informed individuals/employers wrt higher education in this country - will recognize both as top quality institutions. School “reputation” is a wash. As others have said, if he has a specialty in mind, one might outstrip the other.</p>
<p>Maybe, maybe not. The Consortium is larger, but CMC itself (where he will spend most of his time) is substantially smaller than Vassar, and within that student body, likely even less diverse in terms of interests. (Maybe there are art history majors at CMC or an occasional pre-med or physics major, a music major? (doubt it), but the student body as a whole…)</p>
<p>I know xiggi, and he’s part of the reason why the characterization as Vassar as more arty and CMC as more practical seems accurate. :)</p>
<p>I’ve never been to Claremont, my older son applied to Harvey Mudd, but didn’t get in so he never visited. On the East Coast Vassar is far better known and I am sure the reverse is true on the West Coast.</p>
<p>“Maybe, maybe not. The Consortium is larger, but CMC itself (where he will spend most of his time) is substantially smaller than Vassar, and within that student body, likely even less diverse in terms of interests. (Maybe there are art history majors at CMC or an occasional pre-med or physics major, a music major? (doubt it), but the student body as a whole…)”</p>
<p>My son is at CMC and I have responded to your son’s posts there, but the above post by Mini is really not accurate. To say the student body is less diverse in terms of interest or we have an occasional pre-med student is an inaccurate representation of CMC. With all due respect to Mini, she is really out of touch with the culture at CMC.</p>
<p>CMC does not offer an art history major. You can, however, major in Leadership, Management Engineering, Legal Studies, Accounting, Economics, Econ-Accounting, Environment Economics & Politics, Financial Economics, Philosophy Politics & Economics, as well as various other more traditional academic areas like Spanish, History (co-op with Scripps) and Physics (co-op with Scripps and Pitzer). It looks like you can take music courses at Scripps, but it’s unclear to me whether a CMC student can major in music.</p>
<p>Fifty zillion different kinds of econ majors, and no art history major. That tells its own story about which students CMC is looking for.</p>
<p>With all due respect Parent57, I invite to you visit the Common Data Set for CMC to see what students have had degrees conferred in. Do so for the last five years. (Do the same for Vassar). Let us know what percentage of students major in the physical sciences. Or biology. Or even foreign languages, or English. Try the same with art history, or music. Heck, give us psychology and anthropology as well.</p>
<p>I’ll make it easy for you - here’s the first one:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cmc.edu/ir/CDS2010_2011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cmc.edu/ir/CDS2010_2011.pdf</a></p>
<p>Come back and tell us what you find.</p>
<p>Oh, and once you find that out, you can do a little more: find out how many CMC students play in the Consortium orchestra (CMC doesn’t have one), sing in a choir, or spend time in the CMC art studio. </p>
<p>Again, let us know what you find out.</p>
<p>By the way, for those who are interested, here are Vassar’s.</p>
<p>[J</a>. Degrees Conferred - Institutional Research - Vassar College](<a href=“Institutional Research – Vassar College”>Institutional Research – Vassar College)</p>
<p>Okay, I found that 44% of the student body major in social sciences ( economics, finance, accounting, govt and international relations, but over half of the students major in other subjects like psychology, english, philosophy/religious studies, interdisciplinary studies (PPE), foreign language, history, etc. The following is a clipping of an article from the student newspaper refuting these claims by another person.</p>
<p>“Is CMC trapped in a cycle of government and economics majors? Well, the majority of CMCers graduate with a dual or double major (52%). Often, those second majors are something other than government or economics. Furthermore, those other departments are not as small as Nico portrays them. CMC actually offers more math courses than government courses (55 math compared to 50 government), and has about as many psychology classes (48) as government. The relative parity of those departments is never mentioned in his article.”</p>
<p>I never said that art history or music is emphasized at CMC, and by all means if the OP wants to major in these subjects, he should go to Vassar. I do object to your characterization of CMC students having narrow interests. I must have spoken to over a hundred students in the last few years, and they are a varied and diverse group of people with very different backgrounds. One thing that has always amazed me is that I have not found one student who has not loved the school. I have accused the administrators of spiking the water there, because it is really interesting to see how happy these kids are.</p>
<p>I really don’t know what your connection to CMC is, but I feel that I know the school pretty well - so it is just my opinion, take it or leave it. Mini, you can respond if you like, but I am not interesting in debating this any further - I just think you have a distorted view of CMC. It’s too bad, because this father is trying to obtain information to help his son make a very important decision.</p>
<p>Okay, I just checked Vassar’s curriculum, and I found that CMC has a higher percentage of their student body majoring in psychology, interdisciplinary studies, history, philosophy/religious studies, and the numbers are not that much different for English and Biology.</p>
<p>So Vassar has slightly more than double the number of undergraduates as CMC. This makes a big difference in terms of the numbers represented by these percentages.</p>
<p>Of degrees conferred: - physical sciences
Vassar - 5%
CMC - 1%
What that means is that Vassar has TEN TIMES as many students majoring in the physical sciences (and the CMC number is tiny).</p>
<p>Biology:
CMC - 3%
Vassar - 6%
Which means that Vassar has FOUR times as many students in biology.</p>
<p>(Just add the two categories, even as a theoretical premed proxy, and see what you get).</p>
<p>In visual and performing arts:
CMC - 3%
Vassar - 13%
In other words, Vassar has NINE times as many students in the arts.</p>
<p>In English,
CMC - 5%
Vassar - 9%</p>
<p>In Foreign Languages -
CMC - 4%
Vassar - 12%</p>
<p>These are just very, very, very different schools, with very different student bodies, very different student interests, and likely very different career goals. Is one better than another? Nope. They are both great schools - just for different students. And there are some who will manage just fine at either.</p>
<p>But making believe that these differences aren’t real is just wrongheaded.</p>
<p>mini, i agree.</p>
<p>and for what it’s worth, the town of claremont has a reputation for being fairly conservative politically. this is not a judgment one way or the other, but if things like that matter to your child, then it’s helpful to know. despite its reputation, my son and i toured the consortium last year, and we passed one or two “abortion stops a beating heart” billboards and saw several mc cain/palin bumperstickers on cars (even in 2010!). </p>
<p>not a whole lot of racial diversity either…</p>
<p>not sure how or if this spills over onto the campuses, but there u have it. pretty campuses though!</p>
<p>Why is this thread becoming a debate with one individual advocating strongly for Vassar and seeming to damn CMC with faint praise? Is that really doing any kind of service to the OP (or anyone else considering the merits of one or both of these schools)?</p>
<p>One of my kids would be perfect for Vassar, the other one a great fit for CMC. They’d be miserable if I switched 'em.</p>
<p>The answer is either to know your son, or alternatively, that he knows himself well enough to figure out the difference.</p>
<p>We’ve visited both schools, and would be thrilled if our son was accepted at either. What great choices he has, but they are very different.</p>
<p>CMC has been on the list (sometimes at the top) of “happiest students,” based upon many years of surveys. I wonder where Vassar fits on that list. The most accurate information you could get would be from kids who actually go to these schools with the same major as your son is interested in. Or their parents. Not just people who have “checked it out.” Then again, kids change their major often, so it is not so great to pick a school based upon major only, but a place where he has plenty of options and feels comfortable and challenged.</p>
<p>This is so typical of a CC debate. I have a parent (Mini) who has probably has never been on the CMC campus or has had any personal contact with a student there telling me about the culture of the school. I have talked with over a hundred students, been to the campus countless times, know many of the professors and administrators, and I have this know-it-all educating me about the school. I wouldn’t dream of telling parents from other schools with which I have no direct experience how much more I know about the school than they do. Thank god I don’t have to communicate with you outside this forum. The arrogance is amazing.</p>
<p>P.S. I noticed you only included the majors where Vassar had a higher percentage. You conveniently left all the other majors. And so what if Vassar is bigger and there may be more kids in a particular major. If you want to use that logic, he should go to Ohio State. Guess what you are probably right - the schools are different. I already said if the OP’s son would like to major in music or art history, he would probably be happier at Vassar. Not knowing this kid personally, I would say he could be very happy in the other majors and attend these classes with many like-minded kids.</p>
<p>busdriver11 - thanks that’s a great idea. I will make sure to ask him if he could contact some students majoring in a science, to see what it’s like.</p>
<p>mini - from what I heard, the joint sciences department with pitzer and scripps, is great, especially since 90% of applicants to medical school got in, which my son, if he does major in a science, hopes to attend.</p>
<p>and although my son loves theater arts, whereby vassar maybe a better choice for him, but he would not consider it for a career, therefore, i guess from all ur comments, CMC maybe a better fit for him. thank you all for your input!</p>
<p>and parent57 - thank you for talking to my son on the other forum, he told me u were of great help</p>
<p>I had no idea that Vassar had gotten its male: female ratio up that much. That’s great for Vassar. Makes it an even better choice.</p>