<p>I'm sure this has been said, but i couldn't find it. I don't want a very small school (1500 kids), but I was wondering if going to one of the 5 consortium schools actually meant you could easily meet everyone else and are in contact with students from the other schools often. Ie; if you go to Pomona you know plenty of CMC kids.</p>
<p>Is this true? Is it like being at a small LAC- say Williams- or does it feel like a mediumish sized college b/c of the 5 schools are next to each other?</p>
<p>I've heard people say (very recently, actually. I think it was today) that going to CMC feels a lot like going to one of the residential colleges at Oxford. you'll definitely feel like a CMC student, not a "Claremont Colleges student", but communication and friendship with people from the other colleges is commonplace. any 5-C student can use most of the facilities, including dining halls, at any of the surrounding colleges. I've also heard that there are monthly 5-College parties organized by a student committee, and that there are also plenty of activities that involve students from each of the five colleges. students from the other 4 colleges are also welcome at CMC's Athenaeum in most cases, although CMC students get priority.</p>
<p>so yeah, I'd say that contact with other schools is definitely available and indeed encouraged. however, I think you can still expect to feel a strong CMC identity.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that there are many 5C ECs, such as Out of the Box. CMC athletics are also combined with Scripps and Mudd, so you will probably interact with students there a fair amount. Even if you don't participate in sports, you'll still be cheering for the same team as them.</p>
<p>I think the interaction between students from the 5 colleges is what you make of it. You can become best friends with someone from another school or you can have no friends from the other schools. I know CMC students who hang out with people from HMC or Scripps. Almost everyone from the 5Cs are always going to the campuses of other schools to eat, party, take classes, etc.</p>
<p>my daughter felt the same way about not wanting to be on a very small isolated campus, and went to Pitzer. During welcome week the colleges took turns to host events, so that the freshman classes from all 5 got to know each other socially before the upper classmen returned to campus. As a result, the friends they made at the beginning of freshman year were from all 5 colleges. Now most of her extracurriculars are 5C groups, and her social life seems to be spread throughout the 5.</p>
<p>Just attended the prospective student day at Scripps, and it was clear that there is a lot of interaction between the schools, academically and socially. For example, rather than going to the Scripps dining hall for supper, my d. was taken to Pitzer's because it had a meal that night that her host wanted to eat. They also went to a Pomona library to meet up with the host's boyfriend, and then went to improv at another part of the camplus.</p>
<p>The professors also encourage you to take classes on the other campuses. Different schools have different areas of expertise, and so often you'll get a specific course in another college's offerings.</p>
<p>just went to the inside cmc day on friday.. the students talked about how CMC interacts the most with the other colleges. It is sort of in the middle. it splits science with pitzer and scripps, athletics with mudd and scripps.. and it is pomona's neighbor. i feel like CMC's friendly atmosphere is attributed to the student body as well... </p>
<p>when i walked around.. it did feel like a much bigger school.. the colleges themselves are not very big at all.. but when you put them together.. it's pretty huge. you don't really know when you've walked onto another campus.. they're just so close!!</p>