Should I apply to CMC?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Claremont McKenna College
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<p>I have been participating in another forum and a poster asked, " What sort of student does CMC appeal to?" So I wrote the following answer and thought I should post it here as well.</p>

<p>"What sort of student does CMC appeal to?"</p>

<p>I believe CMC is unique among the top liberal colleges in the USA. Like other great schools, a student applying to CMC has to have excelled in the classroom, but great SAT scores and GPA will not get a student into CMC. The school is looking for a particular kind of kid. It wants students who have assumed leadership roles in extracurricular, community or other socially relevant activities. They are looking for students who have made a significant impact in some activity outside the classroom. It could be they started a new organization or, through their leadership skills, took a organization and changed it in material way. Consequently, CMC students are highly social, achievement-oriented and type A doers. Also, many of the students have played on varsity teams and continue to play at CMC.</p>

<p>The school is particularly known for their economics, government and international relations departments. The school has a pre-professional focus, preparing students for careers in business, finance and govt. Consequently, the economics dept unlike other liberal arts institutions, has an economic-accounting major and a finance and entrepreneurial leadership sequence. Kids who graduate from these programs typically end up in investment banks, accounting firms and corporate finance departments of Fortune 500 companies. A significant percentage of the alumni are entrepreneurs, running large organizations, and have important positions in government. Many of the CMC graduates go to law school because of the strong focus in government, history and legal studies. I have also heard very good things about English, psychology, philosophy, and the religious studies depts. There is a Politics, Philosophy and Economics Major (PPE), a highly selective tutorial program patterned after the famous program at Oxford. Finally we have the Athenaeum, where accomplished speakers in business, govt and academics have dinner with students every night of the week.</p>

<p>In order to understand the type of student interested in CMC, it might help to hear the perspective of a CMC student:</p>

<p>"I did consider the overall entrepreneurial culture of a college campus. I want to be around kids who dream big and aren't ashamed of to say it. I considered how passionately students took to the "life of the mind". I talked to professors, studied their programs, and pondered their probable availability for one-on-one dinners and their ability to awaken a classroom. I considered the location and weather of the college. Having lived in San Francisco my whole life, I haven't seen snow for more than a few days at a time. I like moderate-to-warm weather. Finally, I considered the college's alumni network – its vibrancy and distribution of careers."</p>

<p>"Unlike many elite liberal arts colleges which all blend together, CMC is distinctive. It has carved out a niche in higher education and, frankly, dominates it. Claremont is all about leadership, government, business, and public policy. The College embraces "life entrepreneurship" more than any other school I visited."</p>

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<p>For all those aspiring doctors, just wanted to mention the W.M. Keck Science Dept. (formerly Joint Sciences) offers courses within the three disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics. To efficiently satisfy pre-med requirements, there is the AISS sequence, a one year-long introductory course, which combines the introductory courses in biology, chemistry and physics into one double course that will satisfy the prerequisite requirements for each. Approximately 80% of Keck students are admitted to the first or second choice medical schools.</p>

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<p>I should also mention that if you are on a varsity team or just like sports, you will be very comfortable at CMC. The school has a very strong athletic program. The athletic teams are comprised of students from CMC, Harvey Mudd and Scripps, although the vast majority of students who play come from CMC. It seems like most students have played sports in high school and continue to play during college. The admissions office places a high emphasis on athletics and, as a result, the school has excelled in sports since its inception. CMC is a member of the SCIAC Conference and has by far won more conference titles than any of the other member schools. The following quote from the CMC website recounts its many accomplishments:</p>

<p>“The SCIAC All-Sports Competition began in 1972-73. This competition awards points to schools based on their finish in the SCIAC standings. In the 39 years of the competition Claremont-Mudd(-Scripps)’ men’s program has won the award 34 times. With the addition of the women’s programs in 1976-77 the competition was expanded to include the women’s sports as well as an overall competition. The women have won 16 All-Sports Trophies including 14 of the last 19. The combined Claremont-Mudd-Scripps athletic program has won the All-Sports Trophy 23 times with victories in 22 of the last 26 years. 2010-11 was another successful year as 11 sports won SCIAC titles and eight sports finished second or third.” </p>

<p>“Only one other school has won as many as six SCIAC men’s titles in one academic year while CMS has won six or more five times. The most men’s titles CMS has won in one year is eight in 1989-90. CMS is the only school to win six SCIAC women’s titles in one year which the Athenas achieved in 1998-99 and 2010-11. The combined program has won as many as 11 SCIAC titles in one year (2010-11), has won 10 titles twice and nine titles five times. No other program has won more than eight in one year.”</p>

<p>Recently, the water polo, tennis, golf, cross country, and swimming and diving teams have all been nationally ranked. The football, basketball and soccer teams have also done very well in conference. If you don’t play on a varsity team, there is ample opportunity to play on the many intramural teams or the club teams, such as lacrosse or rugby. The rugby team won the Division 2 national championship in 2010.</p>

<p>So, if you want to go to an excellent academic Division 3 school that has a rich sports tradition, CMC would be a great choice.</p>

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<p>In my first post in this thread I touched upon the Athenaeum (Ath), but didn’t really explain what makes it is so special. CMC is probably the only college in the country that has a special auditorium/dining room where accomplished and famous speakers come to the campus and have dinner and wide-ranging discussions with the students 4 nights a week. </p>

<p>In the last couple of years, people like Bill Clinton, Antonin Scalia, Salman Rushdie,Thomas Friedman, Anderson Cooper, Desmond Tutu, Maureen Dowd, Henry Kravis, Michael Eisner, Bono, Ehud Barak, Gore Vidal, James Fallows, Mitt Romney and countless others have visited the Ath. I also like the fact that parents are allowed to attend many of the lectures. For an engaged and intelligent student body, the Ath provides a forum where students can come together to share ideas, debate issues and discuss current events with leaders in govt, business, media, education and the arts.</p>

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<p>Okay, I haven’t posted here in a long time but thought since we are getting closer to college application time for high school seniors, I would continue the CMC feature series. In the several years I have been perusing CC, many posters have asked about the CMC social scene and how much drinking there is on campus. </p>

<p>There is no doubt that CMC students like to have a good time. The school is famous for their Thursday night parties, including the countless themed parties. Maybe the difference between CMC and other schools is the fact that the school administrators treat the students as responsible adults (within reason) and allow them to police themselves through their very effective student govt. Consequently, some of the student funds are used to purchase alcohol for these parties. I would venture to say the school administration allows this to happen in order to keep the drinking from happening off campus, where they would have less control of the situation. Many students participate in these parties, but there are also many who don’t and feel equally comfortable with the social scene. </p>

<p>It goes without saying that CMC students are all excellent students and take their academics seriously, but they also like to have fun. Most students will tell you there is a very active social scene and students from the other Claremont schools will visit the campus to take part in the festivities. However, it would be a mistake to think that CMC students ignore their studies; on the contrary, students work extremely hard (curriculum is very rigorous), hence the oft-repeated “work hard, play hard” motto for the school. My own theory for why CMC seems to have a reputation for more partying than the other Claremont schools is because most of the students have had a leadership background in high school and tend to be socially extroverted and enjoy interacting with their peers. This balance of strong academics and excellent interpersonal skills is why so many CMC alumni are doing great things with their lives.</p>

<p>Obviously, it doesn’t hurt that the climate is almost perfect year-round and on most days you will find students sunning and enjoying the outdoors. This does wonders for your psyche and your mental well-being; think about the long hard winters on the east coast, where students have to deal with the bitter cold and the harsh elements.</p>

<p>Whenever I am on campus I always take the time to talk with students to see how they are doing, and invariably I am told how much they love the school and how they are thriving academically, socially and with their extracurricular activities. It is no accident that CMC has always landed at the top of the various lists for the “happiest students” in the country.</p>

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<p>Thank you! CMC is truly amazing :)</p>

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<p>I recognized the quote from Ben Casnocha!</p>

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<p>Hi Toussaintnouv,</p>

<p>You have done your research, a trait that will serve you well at CMC.</p>