Hi, I’m a rising Senior thinking about applying to Claremont Mckenna College. Unfortunately I do not have time to visit any colleges out west due to time constraints. While I have no doubts about CMC’s academic prowess, I do have some questions about the social life.
-Do people tend to hang out with their own races?
-What is the dating scene like?
-Do people from the other consortium colleges hang out?
-Will me not being white adversely affect my social life (I’m Indian)?
-Is CMC elitist?
One of my (white) daughter’s best friends is Indian and she has several guy Indian friends as well. As far as the dating scene goes, about half of her friends are in relationships. She also has a lot of friends from Scripps and a few from Mudd. I don’t think this is in any way unusual.
No difference in social life b/w whites and non-whites.
I’m an Asian-American at CMC and about half my friends are white and half my friends are non-white (proportionate w/ student population statistics). There’s a portion of the student body that lives in South Quad and separates themself from a lot of the social life on campus (parties, drinking, etc). The dichotomy is not bad, though. There are people in the South Quad community who also participate in mainstream campus social life. If you’re not into drinking, you can find an incredible community in South Quad, and if you are, you can join mainstream campus social life.
Could you elaborate on what your question about the dating scene is asking?
Definitely people hang out b/w the consortium colleges, especially on weekends. CMC & Scripps are “close” campuses. Mudd is a little far away & focuses on mostly sciences (not a ton of Mudders taking classes at CMC, although I know a few from other activities). Pomona is a little bit detached from the 5Cs (imo). Pitzer and CMC hang out as well. It varies a huge amount person-to-person.
RE: affect social life adversely: No. Not in the slightest.
Is CMC elitist? I would describe it as affluent, sure. Elite education around the country is overwhelmingly affluent and CMC isn’t an exception. However, I don’t think CMC is elitist like an East Coat ivy with a lot of private school graduates. It’s the West Coast. I came to CMC because I wanted to avoid the elitism that came from things like greek life and East Coast private prep schools.
Really, the hallmark & biggest pro of CMC for me is the people. I always tell people that what’s great about CMC is the everyone likes each other. This sounds simple but it’s actually rare. I know 85% of my class by name and say hi to most of them when I see them walking to class.