For the 5Cs, it IS A REALLY LOW ACCEPTANCE rate, that should be scary–women admits to Pomona are in the low single digits, we’re talking 5 - 7%. With only about 400 students to an incoming class, there are very few seats. Still if that’s your dream school, you have to throw your hat in the ring, but try to come up with something compelling.
Regarding the 5C’s- it is not difficult to take classes on the other campuses with some exceptions. Harvey Mudd classes and I believe Econ at CMC are difficult. My D is taking 3/5 classes at Pomona this semester and she goes to Scripps. She was not able to get into one class she wanted that was only open to Pomona students but she found a similar class, also at Pomona.
I remember at our Scripps presentation the admissions person said not only could you take classes at the other campuses but that you were expected to.
I would say your chance of acceptance at Claremont Colleges is higher if you are not from So. Cal. Out of state students have a better chance, and females applying to Mudd have a better chance.
The Mudd presentation this year stated that every single student (yes, every single one) there takes at least one class at one of the other 4 Claremont schools. Maybe the average (or at least mean) number for each student is close to 1, but there’s at least some interest in cross-school attendance.
my kid couldn’t get away from Cornell university faster, even though he would have gotten a tiny scholarship.
Cross-registration at the 5C’s is real and significant. A number of departments are shared among colleges (most notably Keck Science), and it is the norm for students to take classes across the 5C’s. My d who is a Scripps freshman is taking a Pomona class and a Keck class this semester, as well as a foreign language class that happens to be a Scripps class but is populated by a mix of 5C’s students. (She could as easily have taken a Pomona section of the language class, but it happened that the Scripps one fit her schedule.) Sports teams and music programs are also shared across colleges. There is definitely not a lack of overlap, dovetailing, and interaction. The downside is that the interdependency of the colleges enables each to be less well-rounded in personality and culture than it might be as a free-standing community. The overall consortium is a multi-dimensional community with a vast array of opportunities, but the dimensions can be fragmented in a way that wouldn’t occur at a single institution of the same size. The ambient awareness of stereotypes about each college and its students can grow tiresome. As such, there are both upsides and downsides of the consortium model, to be aware of. But concern about being able to access academic opportunities across the consortium should not be counted among the downsides. There are only a few departments/programs (such as CMC Econ) that are not accessible to consortium students, and those few are made quite clear up-front.
@stardustmom interesting observations about Santa Clara since I’m an alum. The area itself isn’t sketchy but there is not much to do. Not much of a food scene when I went there but the situation has improved somewhat if you are a devotee of Korean food. The school cafeteria has bad hours and dorms are somewhat old.
As for religion classes, they aren’t meant to indoctrinate the students although for students who are not religious or evangelical/non Christian it may seem overkill. I spread out my classes over 3 years and took a New Testament class (more of a history of the Bible and the background of the different sources), a Holocaust history class which was crosslisted in the religion department, and a class on death and the afterlife from the perspective of different faiths.
My son wasn’t interested in SCU and was even more underwhelmed when he visited. Even Tufts (the hated school on another post) clicked with him more than SCU. And the school is notorious for being cheap. No water, no souvenirs, or anything to attract kids during the campus open house/tour.
In Santa Clara’s defense, they do at least give parking passes to visitors. A lot of the schools we visited did nothing but warn us about how difficult parking would be and wish us luck.
IIRC all visitors to Santa Clara get the parking pass once they pass by the little shack near the front entrance.
Son was more impressed by his final choice of school during his campus visits. The Stepford school (from one of my previous posts) provided a parking pass, a free lunch voucher, a 10% discount to the bookstore, and a reusable plastic bag for incidentals. And for the hot St. Louis day cold water and Ted Drewes frozen custard were provided.
Crossed off: KU (hilly campus that seemed ill-planned), IU (tour guide seemed disinterested, like she was in a hurry to leave and groups were herded like sheep), Ole Miss (kind of one of those “just not feeling it” moments)
Moved up: Rhodes (great tours and informations sessions, stunning campus), Mizzou (passionate and funny tour guide from out-of-state, campus was better than expected), Depauw (pretty campus and impressive students, location hurt it in the end but was still pleasantly surprised by the visit)
Most schools met expectations or were just ok.
@seniorish Crossed off: KU (hilly campus that seemed ill-planned) LOL! My DS went to three summer camps at KU and the campus “structure/landscape” was important to him because of those camps! He chose a smaller school with a nice flat quad where you could walk from one side to the other side of campus in less than 15 minutes.
moved up: Northeastern U, amazing interested tour guide, lots of info, complete tour, clicked with campus feel
Moved down: Emerson. weird student vibe, errors in tour, had an issue seeing the theater as it was locked when it wasn’t supposed to be, overall kind of strange/not what was expected
met expectations/stayed the same: boston university, harvard (toured just for fun lol)
re 15 minute walk across campus. Been there, done that- on a large hilly campus one semester, twice (?) a week. No time to chat but doable- there’s a reason for that 15 minutes between classes at UW (and those start times that get embedded in your brain for decades after).
Bentley - S thought it was too small. Not the student body, but rather the overall feel. Felt like it would have been more like a continuation of high school. Good school though.
Moved up on list after visit: Ohio University. We were SO impressed! Lovely campus, such friendly people…and boy, admissions rolled out the red carpet for us.
DD18 and I drove out to Dickinson College today. She has applied there but hadn’t visited before. So happy we went made the trip. The town was cute and quaint with lots of small shops and eateries. The campus was busy and bustling. Every staff member and student we met was warm, welcoming, and helpful. My daughter was greeted by multiple admission counselors and even the new president in the few minutes before the presentations started. Snacks, coffee and drinks were provided in the lobby. The information sessions were informative and engaging. The president introduced herself, gave an interesting talk and answered questions. There was an auditorium full of visitors and they had 12-15 tour guides. DD’s group had 3 students. The admission office had put out a pile of umbrellas to be shared on the tours. Our guide was happy with her school, knowledgeable about the campus and happy to answer questions. The admission staff met the returning tour groups to answer any remaining questions. It was their second full session of the day and yet they all remained upbeat and enthusiastic. All in all, a very successful day.
Glad you enjoyed the visit to Dickinson, @WWC4me. It wound up on both my kids’ lists and I think it is a bit of a hidden gem that deserves more recognition than it gets. It also has an extremely well run admissions office as you experienced first hand.
Moved Up: San Diego State. Really attractive campus and area. Lots of activity and people on campus. People seemed happy and smiling. Very friendly and who doesn’t love flip flops & shorts in February?
Moved down & Off: CSU Fullerton. My D went for an audition (the school of music has a great rep). However, the night before we walked around campus. It was a Saturday night. There was no one there. Even in the dorm area. They have a nice cafeteria that was full of people. All senior citizens. I am not kidding. My kid turned to me and said “I’d rather stay at home and go to a community college.” I actually agreed with the sentiment and we left.
I’m a student and I’ve started a thread of my tours and thoughts!
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2057957-college-tours-my-thoughts.html#latest