Least Difficult Claremont to Get into

College Search & Selection
1

Hi,

I am interested in going to a liberal arts school. Vassar is my dream school and I am applying ED, but I like Southern California a lot as a location and love the Claremonts. Right now I think they are super reaches, but I am wondering which one is the most realistic.

Stats: 1520 SAT superscore, 3 Subject tests over 700, and 3.72 UW/4.22 W (top 15ish percent, at highly comp hs in TX)
I am Asian and male :frowning:

2

The Princeton Review assigns Pitzer a selectivity rating of 97, marginally the lowest of the four coeducational Claremonts. For comparison, Vassar receives a 96 by this measure.

3

Have you looked at Occidental in Los Angeles? It’s a little easier to get into than the Claremonts but still a great school.

4

I’d say target Pitzer if the vibe suits you. If not, you could apply to Pomona, but it is going to be a significant reach.

5

If you like SoCal but think the Claremonts are reaches, then it seems like Oxy should fit. Oxy has a Princeton Review selectivity rating of 93; your stats should make you a strong candidate. And if you like the SoCal environment, Oxy’s urban location (basically right between Downtown LA and Pasadena) might be more attractive than the more suburban setting of the Claremonts.

6

LMU is worth a look for possible merit aid. It tends to be overshadowed by other SoCal colleges on CC, but it has solid academics and a very nice campus in one of the best parts of LA.

LMU has ~6000 undergrads, approximately the same as the 5 Claremont colleges collectively. Classes are fairly small (55% have <20 students, 45% have 20-50 students).

7

OP, if you were female, then Scripps would technically be the “easiest.”

But none of the Claremont schools are “easy.” Pitzer’s acceptance rate is 14%, meaning that it’s a tougher admit than your ED choice, Vassar.

Also, the Claremont schools are different. True, one of the appeals is that one can register for classes at any school in the consortium, but consider the following. Scripps is a women’s college. Pomona is sort of the “classic LAC.” CMK is a bit more conservative and its strengths are economics, finance, and government. Pitzer’s specialties are social and behavioral sciences, as well as media. Harvey Mudd, of course, is a STEM school.

8

And, just to complicate things, if you review the results threads from the 5Cs over the past 5 or 6 years you’ll see every imaginable permutation of acceptance/denial between colleges (i.e., in at Pomona, rejected by Pitzer; yes at CMC, no at Pomona). As @Hapworth notes, each has their own mission/values and looks for students who fit them.

9

For a guy, the only “easier” admit than Vassar at the Claremonts is to apply ED to Claremont McKenna. They accept 77% of their class ED and have a 32% ED acceptance rate. (Calculating RD rate by removing the ED numbers from the totals shows a rate of about 6% for RD applicants.) But CMC doesn’t have a particularly Vassar-like vibe anyway. Pitzer and Pomona are both worth a shot for you, if you can afford your EFC (which presumably you can, since the financial picture at Vassar is equivalent). Mudd is probably not what you’re looking for academically unless you’re looking at the STEMmiest programs at Vassar.