I’m a rising senior and Pitzer and Scripps are my top two choices so far. I was wondering what makes each college/the three colleges different from each other. I know that Harvey Mudd is more science orientated and Scripps is an all women’s college. Any advice ?
thanks
I answered your other post, but I’ll add more here…(forgive the “stream of consciousness” writing, just wrote what came to mind)…keep in mind I know Scripps and Mudd best.
Scripps:
Architecturally it’s a Spanish décor. The landscaping is beautiful flowers and trees, very plush. Academically the core has a lot of writing and of course focus on women’s issues. Dorms have beautiful living rooms and “browsing rooms” (i.e. library) and some have really nice kitchens. Most are old but there are a couple of new dorms. The quietest of the 5 C’s.
Pitzer:
Desert landscaping. Academically focused on social justice issues and the environment.
CMC:
Architecture is very “sleek” and business like—same for landscaping. Academics is focused on business type stuff. More athletes here. I think I heard dorms have housekeeping. Party atmosphere.
Your title says Scripps/Pitzer/Claremont (I assume Claremont to be CMC), but your OP mentions Mudd so I’ll add it here just in case:
Mudd: Science curriculum…students are mostly those that have loved science since they were little kids. Very collaborative environment – lots of study groups and working together. “Work hard, play hard” …One of the plainest campus’s you’ll ever encounter—everything is in one straight line. Not necessarily ugly, but not a typical lush beautiful college campus. They have some new buildings and are currently renovating others.
And, you didn’t ask about Pomona – but it’s the most “well-rounded” college. It has the largest number of students and the largest number of majors. Because of this, you cannot major off campus. It’s landscape and architecture is something you’d expect from and Ivy league school.
All the schools, share resources: a health center, campus security, a bookstore, and library (some campuses also have their own bookstore or student store and their own smaller library). They share dining halls (3 on Pomona, 1 on each of the other campuses) where they can swipe into any of them. They also share a lot of clubs and organizations. Students cross-register onto other campus’s as if it’s their own. (Some classes have limited seats for off campus students, but for the most part, it’s pretty easy).
CMC/Pitzer/Scripps share an athletic team (CMS) (most of these athletes come from CMC). Pitzer/Pomona also share an athletic team.
CMC/Pitzer/Scripps share the Keck Science center for their science majors (Pomona has their own, and of course Mudd has their own).
If you’re going to apply to some of the colleges in the Claremont consortium, you need some clarity on what they’re all about. First of all there are 5 not 3 undergraduate colleges in the consortium. Wikipedia actually has a pretty good summary:
(1) Pomona College (founded 1887), a small, coeducational, liberal arts college that offers majors in humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Pomona College is the founding member of the Claremont Colleges and offers the broadest scope of majors.
(2) Scripps College (founded 1926), a small, liberal arts, women’s college, which offers 35 majors in both the sciences and humanities.
(3) Claremont McKenna College (founded 1946), a small, coeducational, liberal arts college which specializes in economics, political science, international relations, and public policy. It also maintains a broad set of majors in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. CMC was originally founded as a men’s college but is now a coed institution.
(4) Harvey Mudd College (founded 1955), a small, coeducational college specializing in engineering, mathematics, computer science, and the physical and biological sciences but also includes coursework in the humanities and social sciences.
(5) Pitzer College (founded 1963), a small, coeducational, liberal arts college offering an alternative curriculum, noted for interdisciplinarity. It also has a particular emphasis upon social justice and social responsibility.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claremont_Colleges. Cross-registration at the colleges is generally very easy. Scripps, CMC and Pitzer will even let you do an “off-campus” major if the major you want isn’t offered at the home institution. So for example if you are a Scripps student and want to major in Computer Science, you could complete your major at Harvey Mudd, but your diploma will be granted by Scripps College. The colleges share a common library and student health center. Your meal plan entitles you to dine at any of the 7 dining halls on the 5 campuses. https://aspc.pomona.edu/menu/