<p>I saw a similar thread posted on another college's forum on this site, and thought it would be fun to see what colleges/universities past and present CMC students were accepted to, but chose to attend CMC instead.
Preferably, other schools with comparable, or even more 'stellar', reputations/rankings.</p>
<p>I realize this is not any sort of scientific, or otherwise particularly meaningful, topic, as rankings/Ivies, etc. are often given too much cred. It's just interesting to me, and hopefully,will prove so to others as well, especially given CMC's rapid ascent in # of applications, compared to some of the other top LACs, such as Amherst, Pomona, and others (Darmouth/Cornell, while not LACs, come to mind among the Ivies), whose numbers have remained somewhat stagnant.</p>
<p>Also, if you're so inclined, it would be more interesting if you would care to indicate what was it that attracted you to Claremont McKenna College, and did/does your experience there meet your expectations?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for your interest in this topic. </p>
<p>Since I haven’t generated any replies yet, I will be the first to respond to my own topic.</p>
<p>As a high school student in the mid- late sixties, I was actually shocked to get my acceptance letter from Dartmouth, and was set on going to my ‘dream school.’.When I visited the campus during the winter, they had a huge social event going on, called the annual ‘Winter Carnival.’ Looked like a lot of fun but I froze my butt of!
A few weeks later, while visiting Claremont Men’s College (I assume, if you’re reading this post, you would all be familiar with the fact that CMC used to be a men’s college), I ran into a guy who had gone to my high school, and was student body president, in a neighboring state. He was dressed in flip-flops, shorts, and t-shirt, heading to the beach in Santa Monica, as his classes were over for the week.</p>
<p>I was grateful I got to spend a half-hour in his dorm room in the north quad, listening to him extoll the virtues of CMC, which was already establishing a national reputation for its political science and econ depts, even though the college was not even 20 years old.
When he told me his favorite class was with Professor Martin Diamond, who had been on the cover of TIME magazine a few months prior, featured in a cover story entitled ‘Great Teachers.’ I was hooked on Claremont, and can say it was one of the best decisions of my life.</p>
<p>So, I turned down Dartmouth for CMC!</p>
<p>BTW, boys and girls, if any of you want to reply to this, you don’t need to write an essay … just Dartmouth, Stanford, UC Berkeley, or whatever, would be sufficient.</p>
<p>While I have not yet to make my decision yet, it is strictly the difference in financial aid packages that is preventing me from committing to CMC Class of 2018. I would be, however, by committing to CMC, be turning down a full ride to UC Berkeley and UCLA and phenomenal offers from NYU Stern, and USC Marshall.</p>
<p>I turned down UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC Marshall and Hamilton College to attend CMC. I’ve listed my reasons below:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>As a possible Econ major student, I really love CMC’s strong Econ/Gov departments. Its Econ program is possibly the strongest among LACs. If I find out I am not interested in Econ in college, I can change my major pretty easily to any other direction in a liberal arts college instead of sticking to the same major which I don’t like any more.</p></li>
<li><p>A lot of people would think CMC is not that well known as other big name/ivy research universities. However, your future is only depended on graduate school admission officers/ job recruiters and CMC is pretty well known among these people, not even to mention CMC’s amazing career service. Getting great internships and on-campus interviews with top recruiters is not a problem at CMC at all. Also, from what I’ve known, CMC will review your graduate school applications several times before submitting and students are able to meet their advisers several times a week instead of 2 times a month. If you take a close look at CMC students’ outcome, they tend to have great results.</p></li>
<li><p>Personally, I just love a small-size class under 20 students instead of sitting in a big lecture hall with 200 students in a public university which drives me crazy. In this way, I can receive more personal attention from professors and have classes in a discussion-bases way. Personally, I will be more motivated if a prof is more accessible and knows me well.</p></li>
<li><p>Big universities’ professors tend to put more of their attention into graduate students and their own researches. Some of the courses offered there are taught by grad students. CMC’s amazing professors are only there to teach undergraduates, so one on one time should be guaranteed at CMC. Moreover, CMC’s profs are also top researches on their fields. They conduct their own researches and students are pretty easy to join them.</p></li>
<li><p>The consortium. Honestly, I worried about not being able to meet lots of people during these 4 years and only hang out with my friends at CMC. However, CMC is next to other great four LACs, so I can both be part of a close-knit community and a big consortium( just like in a big university). Also, because of the cross-registration, CMC offers courses more than any other liberal arts college(except those in the consortium) and a lot of other big universities. </p></li>
<li><p>CMC students are the happiest. I’ve never heard of anyone at CMC complaining about CMC, but a lot of my friends at UCB told me not to come because UCB is super competitive and everyone wants to be among the top. They also told me it’s hard to get a high GPA at UCB. I not only want an academically strong school, but also a school enables me to have a super college experience outside the classroom in college.</p></li>
<li><p>Surely a liberal arts education will teach me how to think critically, write effectively and speak persuasively, but what makes CMC stands out is that it also encourages students to put what they learn in the classroom into solving and facing the real world problems and challenges. However, some of the big universities are only pre-professional and students there are likely to miss the chance to learn basic skills, such as writing, reading and speaking,</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, there are other small reasons such as CMC’s emphasis on leadership( athenaeum), great food, etc. To me, getting a amazing liberal arts education as a undergrad and applying for a big name university afterwards should be a wise choice. </p>
<p>Again, IT’S JUST ME. It definitely doesn’t mean CMC is better than any other university/college that I gave up above. Everyone is different and choosing college is about the BEST FIT. Happy college choosing. :)</p>
<p>My reasons: Exactly what @LiterallyJack said down to the very word.</p>
<p>I haven’t committed yet but if I do commit, I would be turning down Harvey Mudd, Cornell University (COE), CMU Tepper, NYU Stern, Vassar College, and Northeastern U w/ Presidential Global Scholars Award. </p>
<p>I have to say though after my visit, I am really leaning towards CMC at the moment. </p>
<p>Just want to say that I’ve committed! </p>
<p>^Submitted my deposit just now!</p>
<p>Congratulations to both of you on a great choice…you will both be embarking on an experience that will
include four of the best years of your lives. </p>
<p>Also, thanks to LiterallyJack for a thorough explanation about the attributes of attending CMC!</p>
<p>SAT2400G, I just read your post on the other thread, and xiggi is spot on in his response regarding
the ‘prestige’ factor. </p>
<p>Also, your parents - I believe you said - live overseas…China was it? They were concerned with prestige, correct? Please assure them that, while UCLA and UC Berkeley are both great research universities (in fact, UC Berkeley is up there with Harvard and Stanford as having arguably the best graduate program in the country across all disciplines), and are undoubtedly more recognizable names than Claremont McKenna, when it comes to getting an undergraduate education, CMC is more ‘prestigious’ than both. They may also be interested to know that, according to a post I saw by xiggi on another site, this year (i.e., your incoming class), CMC will likely end up being the most selective Liberal Arts College in the country , in terms of admission rate, surpassing Amherst and Pomona. And the school is barely six decades old. </p>
<p>Both of you made the right choice…don’t look back! </p>
<p>Actually, I live with my mom in the United States; however, you are definitely correct in terms of my parents’ concerns. They did give me the chance to choose a school for myself and I was able to convince them it was a fantastic school. Thanks for the feedback!</p>
<p>Congratulations! You’ve both made the right choice.</p>
<p>Let’s make the Class of 2018 the best group of students that CMC’s ever seen.</p>
<p>See you in the fall!</p>
<p>Berkeley, WUSTL (Olin, heartbroken about this), Rice (50% merit scholarship), UCLA, UNC Chapel Hill, Wesleyan, UCSD, UCD, UCI, UCSC (Regents).</p>
<p>Uchicago, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Grinnell, DePaul, Williams
Reasons?
AISS, neuroscience program, Hughes research scholarship, felt more at home, Cali weather, coachella, more and more.</p>
<p>Hi there, ‘carotid.’ i just noticed on another post that you were the kid in the ‘youtube’ Claremont McKenna Acceptance Letter Reaction. Just wanted to say that was one of the best ‘College Acceptance’ videos i’ve seen…your mom must be proud of you. Very cool.</p>
<p>CMC is a great school, but you must realize that you are making a trade: the professors are excellent and the small class size is superior to the TA/lecture hall style at large universities, but because the school is small and young, it has a much smaller alum network, and far fewer employers choose to send recruiters for on-campus interviews. It’s a great school that will give you a great education, but you will need to work harder to find professional opportunities than students at similarly ranked but larger schools.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Emory, Pomona, UCSB(Regents). Neuroscience major</p>
Williams, Amherst, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Chicago? Wow. CMC has come a long way!
UCLA UC Berkeley and Cornell
UC Berkeley, NYU Stern, CMU Tepper, UVa, USC