Chances of Admission???

Colleges and Universities A-Z Claremont McKenna College
1

Hello Everyone,

I have always been told about the Claremont Colleges, but have only begun to look at them in depth in the last month or so. Both Pomona and Claremont McKenna have caught my eye, but I am very much favoring CM. I am interested in their Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major (PPE), but I know you are only accepted your sophomore year. Anyway, I was wondering about my chances of admission. So without further ado, my stats!

First off, I’m a Junior.

Class Rank of 1 (Just under 1,000 at my school)
UWGPA: 4.0
Soph WGPA: 4.5/4.5
Jun WGPA: 4.7/4.7

Soph AP/Hnrs: Hnrs Pre-Calculus, AP European History, AP Psych
(I got 5’s on both the Euro and Psych exams)
Junior Ap/Hnrs: AP Lang, AP US History, AP Stats, AP Comp Sci, AP Human Geography
(Haven’t taken AP exams yet)
Plans for Senior Year: Intro to Poli Sci course (Its an actual college class taught by a local community college professor), AP Calc, AP Literature, and 2 of the following: AP Bio, AP Environmental Sci, or Hnrs Chemistry

Haven’t taken the SAT or ACT, but the official CollegeBoard practice tests I have taken place me around 2,000-2,100 for the SAT.

Extracurriculars:
Eagle Scout, with extensive involvement and community service through my troop
Academic League Captain and MVP
Theatre (Notable roles include Danny Zuko in Grease, Fred in Scrooge, and Rooster in Annie)
Tapped Thespian of the International Thespian Society
Varsity Swim Team Captain
Water Polo (Our team competes for CIF every year)

Other factors:
Neither of my parents have earned a degree, yet both attended college
I identify as bisexual (As I understand it, anything that makes you a minority increases your chances)

So please offer feedback and criticism, as well as thoughts on how my chances are as to getting into CM. Thanks!

2

@RoundGenius , your high school accomplishments sound very promising. A couple of thoughts…

  1. How strong are your swimming and polo abilities? As you know, Pomona and CMC have different teams. They both recruit athletes. Their coaches are awesome for all four teams. I would research your times versus the meet results on the teams’ websites for swimming. Do you play club polo, like in the JOs? Either sport could be advantageous if you want to compete in college.
  2. You seem like might really enjoy both schools. I encourage you to visit (overnight if at all possible) since you live in CA. While their campuses are contiguous and both beautiful in their own rights, their students tend be somewhat different. Pomona tends to have more liberal leanings that CMC. If you are bisexual (awesome!!!), I don’t know if I would advertise it. I don’t recall it being a background question at least when you are applying or requesting an interview. CMC has a building at the center of its campus that is reminiscent of a cross between an Apple Store and resort on the Big Island. CMC’s pool and athletic facility (which have been under construction) promise to be awesome.
  3. The schools do like to acknowledge incoming class members whose parents have not attended college. Pomona was approx. 14 % last year for the class of 2019. So that might help a smidgen.
    But, from my perspective, your core strength is that you are literally first in your class. Pomona particularly likes that.
    Good luck on your SATs. I suspect you will have great success in the college admissions process. :-c
3

Thanks for the feedback and advice! Although I do enjoy both polo and swim, I am not nearly good enough to play college water polo. However, my 50 time last year during swim season was respectable (It was just over 25 seconds), and I should be able to lower it even more over these next two seasons. I did end up looking up the CMC meet results and its very possible that I could match their times if I pushed myself. I am plan on checking out the Claremont Colleges over break, and am currently scheduling a tour of Claremont McKenna. Again, thanks for the input. More feedback would be great!

4

As Callie mom said, be sure to check out the different campuses, Pomona and CMC are very different schools. My son went to the info sessions for both on the same day, Pomona went to the top of his list, and CMC was dropped off the list completely. Pomona is more of a school that stresses learning for learning’s sake and encourages trying different types of classes. For incoming freshman, they really stress grades and rigor more than anything else, including ECs. CMC had a totally different feel, with a more pre-professional aim and a lot of discussion of leadership.

Be sure to really look at each closely.

As for your stats, you are good, but remember that both schools hover right around a 9%-10% acceptance rate, so they turn down students who are qualified because they simply don’t have enough space. Be sure to have some safeties.

5

My current reasons for favoring CMC are their emphasis on leadership (I’m an Eagle Scout) and their PPE major. As I understand it, their economics and politics programs are among the best. I also think the number of guest speakers they have is awesome! Although, I am all about learning for the sake of learning, I am focused on a career, and I feel that the connections to the professional world found at CMC along with the tendency of students to be more Type A and ambitious will be a better fit for me.

However, Pomona is slightly more prestigious as I understand it, and is also a bit more liberal. And their encouragement of a broader focus also interests me, since I have wide ranging interests.

Also, as far as rumors go, I hear that CMC is more of a “party campus” with a lot of drinking, and that Pomona has a lot of laid back rich kids from old money (trustafarians as my uncle would call them), who have the luxury of majoring in underwater basket weaving, or whatever their heart desires (Heard this from friends, quite hilarious in my opinion). Is there any truth to these? Not that it affects my decision, just curious.

6

Pomona is the most socioeconomically diverse liberal arts college of the 5C. A larger proportion of students receive Pell Grants than any other 5C. And the most popular majors at Pomona are mathematics, economics, neuroscience, psychology, and biology- in that order. Seems like you and your uncle/sources need to do more research rather than relying on hearsay about what a liberal arts college may be.

7

You misunderstand me. I was merely asking if the rumors had any basis in truth, I personally do not believe them. You can see in my previous post that I called them hilarious. And the views I expressed are those of my uncle and friends, I expressed them jokingly. However, I do appreciate the extra information, but for future reference, you should adopt a less condescending tone. Thanks for the help though! :slight_smile:

8

What may seem humorous to you is a leading stigma against liberal art colleges in the public eye- that we aren’t practically oriented, that we only have privileged trust fund babies, etc. And in that sense, it’s really not a funny matter.

Sorry but if you’re going to make disparaging comments about any institution -regardless of your actual intent- you shouldn’t expect any other sort of response.

Best of luck with your college endeavors.

9

My daughter was a heavily recruited athlete for both Pomona and Claremont McKenna. We toured Pomona four times to Claremont’s one. She also was swayed by Pomona’s higher ranking by certain magazines. She had her first overnight at Pomona and was ready to commit, but I asked her to explore another campus so that she had something to compare to. In my comparison of the two campuses, Pomona students seemed to walk with their heads down (possibly contemplating all that knowledge?) On the other hand, CMC students were in groups with a lot more laughter and joviality exhibited. Honestly, they seemed much happier. An event this fall, Mudd Goes Madd, and Pomona’s reaction to it, illustrates this point to a tee. My daughter did an overnight to CMC, committed, and never looked back. She finds the professors at Claremont fascinating and the community warm and supportive. She also was the top in her class in a very academic prep school and is happily challenged by her classes.

10

My D was in almost exact position as @acemom 's, but had the exact opposite reaction - she overnighted at CMC and Scripps but walked across the alley and fell in love with Pomona and its students. If there are takeaways from this thread, they’re that: all of the 5Cs are amazing colleges (and that anybody would be lucky to get into any of them); that - despite being just a few feet from each other - each have special vibes that appeal to different students; and that you should pretty much ignore what anybody else says about them (including the magazines) and spend some time on each campus to see which one feels right to you. If you don’t have time for visits now, apply to both. Reading the results threads and retention rates from the past few years gives the impression that each of their AdComs do a pretty good job of figuring out whether students would be a good fit for their particular campus.

11

Both schools are excellent. @acemom I wouldn’t make too much of the Mudd Goes MADD story. Read the latest issue of the CMC Forum about how the junior class president of CMC was just forced to resign for appearing in a photo at a Halloween Party that included two other girls in costumes deemed racist (sombreros, ponchos and moustaches). And then there’s the Pitzer “Yacht Club” story. You can learn a lot reading the on line campus newspapers, but it’s also important not to pick out a single incident and say it’s emblematic of an entire campus.

12

Perhaps the celebration of Halloween should be banned altogether to avoid any sensitivities to racism. At any rate, each campuses clearly has its own distinctive flavor, and anyone seriously considering ED admission would do well to clarify those distinctions.