<p>I'm considering both Pomona and Claremont McKenna. Any big differences between the two that you know of? Apparently Clarement McKenna is bigger on the alcohol, has more of a finance/economics focus, and has better dorms. Anything else? Thanks!</p>
<p>btw how's the psych department at Pomona</p>
<p>Here is a link to a past string on this topic you may find helpful:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/claremont-mckenna-college/474789-claremont-mckenna-vs-pomona.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/claremont-mckenna-college/474789-claremont-mckenna-vs-pomona.html</a></p>
<p>I am not sure where you have heard the dorms are nicer at CMC, I found the opposite to be true.</p>
<p>CMC just made a new dorm building that’s pretty sweet. Overall, Pomona is probably better dorm-wise. Both have pretty good dorms though.</p>
<p>I think that that dorm may be the new Pomona dorm - its right next to the CMC dining hall, so it could be confusing…but its pretty awesome and run by solar panels!</p>
<p>When I visited that new Pomona dorm was still under construction I believe. the CMC dorm is probably a couple years old I guess. I have a friend who lives in it. </p>
<p>but admissions told me today that they are making a new Pomona dorm that will be done by next fall</p>
<p>Yeah that’s probably the dorm I’m talking about. It’s not quite finished yet, they’re just doing some landscaping now.</p>
<p>I think it really depends on what you want to study as well.</p>
<p>The new dorm building belongs to Pomona. CMC is building a new admissions facility that will also serve other functions, of which I am not sure of. Pomona’s dorms are 100x better than CMC’s. There are several key differences: CMC is very humanities/economics based, Pomona is more well rounded. CMC’s social scene revolves around drinking. A good amount of drinking takes place at Pomona as well, but not to the extent as CMC. CMC’s campus looks like (as Pomona students joke) a 1960s hotel, and most of the dorms are on on a central quad, while Pomona is split between north and south campus, where upperclassmen live north and underclassmen live south.</p>
<p>I have seen the dorms at both CMC and Pomona, and I think the previous poster is guilty of hyperbole. Pomona dorms are not 100 times better; in fact, I like the CMC dorms more. They are more spacious and have a much more functional layout. CMC does have a new dorm (Claremont Hall) and it is beautiful. I would bet that it is the nicest dorm in the 5cs. Google it and you can see the images</p>
<p>I am not sure what the previous poster meant, but CMC is not defined by a drinking culture. Like all colleges, there is some drinking on campus, but it is not the defining characteristic of the college. CMC is a terrific school with very smart, ambitious, civic-minded and dynamic leadership-oriented kids who do great things with their lives. I am sure Pomona is a great college, but some of their students do not have an objective view of the other schools in the consortium.</p>
<p>It is important to visit both schools. My D knew within a very short time that Pomona College was the right fit and where she could see herself living for the next four years.</p>
<p>The dorms are beautiful, some more than others but they have the charm and grace of the older architect that CMC does not. Pomona renovates the dorms often so they are functional and comfortable.</p>
<p>In regards to partying, both colleges party but I believe her statement of CMC has more in your face partying then Pomona does.</p>
<p>Parent, no one said that CMC is defined by a drinking culture. There are athletes that don’t drink during season. And yes, you can be perfectly happy at CMC without drinking. There is no doubt that CMC’s parties revolve around drinking, though. If you ever live there for a week, you’ll see that. </p>
<p>And there is no doubt that CMC is a fabulous school. Pomona and CMC are rivals, and the students’ attitudes reflect that. Anybody at Stanford will tell you that Berkeley is a terrible school with a terrible campus, even if it’s not necessarily true. CMC students say that all Pomona students are arrogant and pretentious, when that obviously isn’t true.</p>
<p>Most Pomona dorms are very spacious, with the exception of the freshman doubles in Blaisdell and Mudd. Other than that the rooms are pretty large. Every CMC dorm I’ve seen has been pretty small, but I admit I have not been in every dorm building, including the new one.
No, not everyone at CMC drinks, but wander through their main quad on a thurs/fri/sat night and you will quickly see what the party culture revolves around…</p>
<p>We will just have to disagree about the dorms. You also mentioned that CMC is humanities/economics based. I am not sure exactly what you mean by that, but CMC is well known for economics, accounting, government, international relations along with their finance and leadership sequences. Their psychology, philosophy, religious studies, asian studies, literature and joint science programs are all highly-regarded. Their philosophy, politics and economics program (PPE) is one of the best interdisciplinary programs in the country. Academically, this seems pretty well-rounded to me.</p>
<p>Also, I will concede that there may be more drinking at CMC on the weekend evenings than at Pomona. I would venture to say that this has a lot to do with the type of person that is admitted to the school. They are typically kids who are very involved with extracurricular and community activities in leadership roles. If you had an excellent academic record in high school but didn’t exhibit the leadership qualities the school is looking for, you will not be admitted Consequently, they tend to be very extroverted, highly social kids who enjoy partying. However, the drinking is a minor part of the culture at the school. With the athenaeum, the research institutes and the rigorous academics, CMC students are involved in numerous intellectually stimulating activities, and, if you look at their alumni, go on to have very impressive careers in their chosen fields. I am not sure if the previous poster really understands the school, maybe because he seems intent on comparing CMC to Pomona in a disparaging way; when it would probably be best to acknowledge that the schools are different and probably appeal to different constituencies.</p>
<p>I go to Pomona, but I actually love CMC and have spent a lot of time on both campuses (as well as all of the campuses, really)</p>
<p>As for the dorms… I’d say Pomona dorms have a more “homely” feel (some have fireplaces, etc) while CMC is more practical. I say that because CMC dorms are more easily accessible and are placed all together, while many Pomona dorms are hidden away in very hard areas to find (e.g. some Clark I dorms, Norton Clark, etc). </p>
<p>Claremont Hall (CMC) is one of my favorite dorms that I have been in. Rooms are spacious and they have hallway balconies that are great. CMC also has their own little apartment area (4 singles, kitchen, 2 bathrooms) that is really unrivaled by dorms at any other school (except for the Scripps senior apartments, which are similar). However, if you’re just looking for a big, quiet single… Pomona definitely has, overall, the nicest rooms in my opinion.</p>
<p>As for drinking…</p>
<p>Let’s be real - it’s college. If you want to drink, you’ll find your own subset of “drinking culture” no matter which of the 5C’s you attend. And if you don’t, you walk the few minutes to another campus. The main difference between the drinking culture at Pomona and CMC is that CMC is way more laid back about it. Pomona students are forced to drink in their rooms with doors closed and Pomona RA’s can be very, very strict (the administration has recently become very demanding on forcing the RA’s to be stricter). At CMC, on the other hand, RA’s are really only around to make sure students are safe and to prevent freshmen from drinking during the first week of school. CMC may appear to have a larger drinking culture, but really it’s just more relaxed and out in the open - and often this causes students from the other 5C’s to flock here and make it appear to be an even bigger drinking scene. One last note on that, though… I believe that CMC has recently barred drinking games from being played outside (I could be wrong about this). If so, this will also significantly reduce the appearance of the drinking culture here.</p>
<p>Parent57, I do not mean to disparage CMC at all. I have many CMC friends and have an extremely high regard for the college. Yes, CMC is great in the areas you mentioned, such as economics,finance, government, and other leadership heavy majors such as politics and IR.
Science wise, Pomona wins, hands down. A friend at Pitzer who takes classes at Joint Sciences say his classes do not compare to the science classes he took at Pomona. Talk to CMC students and they might concede this as well. It is a joke around Pomona that if you want to easily fulfill your science requirement just take a Joint Science class. I do not mean to disparage CMC, or JS, I am just relaying the perspective of the majority of Pomona students. The JS program is a solid program, and I know is rigorous, but it simply not as good as Pomona’s, where a higher percentage of students major in one of the natural sciences, and thus a higher percentage of the school’s resources are devoted there. </p>
<p>Also, I am not saying that all CMC kids do is drink and party, whatsoever. I am very aware of the wonderful speakers that the Ath brings in, and the myriad of social clubs and organizations that CMC students partake in. I am saying that is a popular choice of entertainment on the weekends (it is at Pomona too, just not to the same extent). Not that the Princeton Review is the end all of everything, but CMC was ranked top 5 for something along the lines of “alcohol flows freely on campus.”</p>
<p>Isn’t it common knowledge that Pomona is Ivy League level while CMC isn’t?</p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t this like comparing Yale (Pomona) with UCLA (CMC)? (NO comparison…)</p>
<p>You’re wrong. CMC has some of the strongest eco, gov/politics, and IR programs in the country. </p>
<p>Basic CMC stats:
18% admissions rate
SAT Critical Reading: 630 - 730<br>
SAT Math: 660 - 750</p>
<p>Also need-blind. Pretty elite stats. Extracurriculars, particularly leadership ECs, are also strongly weighted. I don’t think there’s a significant academic difference between the two schools. College Prow rates CMC academics as A+. NO comparison to UCLA. CMC is far more comparable to Yale than UCLA. Most people would say Pomona is clearly superior, but it’s like saying Swarthmore is superior to Haverford- mostly opinion. I think the only solid difference is endowment. Keep in mind peer assessment is 25% of USN rankings, so it’s 25% opinion. Without peer assessment, the top 15 LACs would grade out extremely close to each other (same for universities). I chose Pomona over CMC, but that was mostly because of school culture, not academics. CMC actually had more ED applicants than Pomona this year.</p>
<p>Sinflower- your question-- are you trying to start a war or something? :-)</p>
<p>I’m not a current student, but an applicant. I’m applying to all of the 5C’s that I can. Which is 4. 
And I can honestly see myself at any of them, except Pitzer is kind of the least. Haha. </p>
<p>I guess it depends on your major, and I don’t know much about psych. But the sciences department at Pomona is larger and stronger than CMC’s -which has been said. For me, I’m interested in Computer Science, which seems odd for either of the two schools, I know. I really love CMC. I’ve spent the last 4 years hanging around from my Debate activities. I had this talk with plenty of 5C students about what works for each person. I’ve been told I’d fit in at all 4 schools by now. So I think the best option as far as personal feel is to go talk to students at the campus, and more about how you feel as a person. </p>
<p>As far as admissions go, I’ll mirror the feelings that CMC places more merit on leadership than Academics at Pomona. This was pretty evident when reviewing my interviews. But once you’re there, I think both schools offer tons of opportunities in both areas. Remember that as part of the consortium you can cross-register at all 5 schools-even for guys. And it’s only what a couple more minutes of walking? (Well I walk fast.) That said if you have a particular focus that you want, compare the courses and size of the programs to see if one appeals to you more than the other. For me, even CMC has a Comp Sci major, though I much prefer Pomona’s!</p>
<p>As far as the dorms, and partying. The only really bad thing that I’ve heard from friends is that if you get the wrong roommate! (Which can happen at any school.) I know plenty of people who avoided pretty much every party and never had any problems, and some who occasionally went to them, but still didn’t have problems. And from the days I’ve spent on Saturdays it didn’t seem like there was too much roughty-ness going on. As far as dorms go, I’ve never experienced Pomona’s but CMC’s are nice! Claremont Hall is great, but the three towers: Stark, Fawcett, and Auen Halls are all nice dorms (Stark being the nicest of the three). They’re all good sized rooms, especially the singles. But Pomona seems to have more larger dorms. A big difference in dorms exists freshmen year, where CMC says they give most freshmen doubles, but all the halls are mixed, whereas Pomona has a full sponsor program where you’re with a group of other freshmen. (Not all rooming together, but near each other and at least you have a group.)</p>
<p>But you have 5 months to make the decision! Go spend some overnight time at each school if possible. :)</p>