<p>Hey, this goes out to current students or prospies who know a lot about the school. It's been kind of hard to get a lot of info about CMC here on the east coast and I'm just wondering about the students. Academically, i think CMC is perfect for me. I'm very interested in both politics and business... nuff said I suppose. Also, I love the consortium and look forward to taking theater classes at Pomona. The only think that I'm not sure about are the students, one way or the other. Could anyone characterize them? I've heard that CMC is a fairly preppy jock school, comparable to USC's steriotype. Is this true. Even though I'm really into traditional white male academic subjects and am a bit of an athlete, I really do not consider myself the prep school "type" whatsoever. If anyone could help me out with this I'd appreciate it.</p>
<p>I don't really understand the jock stereotype. A lot of the students are athletes, but nobody really gives gives off the jock impression.</p>
<p>from what i know about cmc, i really don't think it's a prep school. well.. here's the thing. california style i think is more like, laid back quazi preppy in my opinion. but.. i don't think that the whole "preppy" sterotype fits. well. at least im not preppy. i would have to say i'm bohemian bordering on hippie minus the new age. uh. that sounded stupid. hmm i guess my point is that if cmc is a preppy school, you can count on at least one person who isn't. yeah but hm a lot of them seem athletic. im not though.</p>
<p>if you want preppy go to washington and lee or a big southern school.</p>
<p>n'ff to southerners but the south is like a different world. they shock me with the level of preppyness and frat-like qualities. i dont think i've ever seen so many pearls in my life. but here's the thing... i don't really consider jock and prep the same thing... prep = east hampton jock = football field</p>
<p>CMC has a conservative reputation, but at our info session they showed us a chart from a poll they took reflecting student political bent. The majority defined themselves as liberal.
I didn't see kids I would characterize as "preppy" - that image doesn't fit into the casual California lifestyle. You're likely to see shorts and T-shirts without collars and flip-flops. Jockishness is a different thing - and yes, I think Claremont has more athletic types than the other campuses. I don't think it comes close to the USC rah-rah atmosphere, though. The kids are pretty serious students with a lot of interest in world affairs and politics - not so much frat/sports culture.</p>
<p>CMCers seem clean cut and proud to me.</p>
<p>i get the feeling that cmc has sort of middle-of-the road students. which i think is a good thing. because, for example, when i went to visit swathmore, they said that it was a very accepting school.which i don't believe at all. tolerent of stupid people? tolerant of "conformists?" i doubt it. that's why i believe that a non obviously "something" school is the best choice for college students. and anyway... who is the same college "sterotype" as they were three years ago? i know i'm not.</p>
<p>Did anyone get accepted yet?</p>
<p>I got in a while ago. I think it was early b/c im a finalist for a scholarship</p>
<p>A few weeks ago when i visited, a Harvey Mudd guy described the differences between Pomona and Claremont McKenna. "Pomona is more of a school for smart people who read books alone in the corner. Claremont McKenna is the school for smart people who were class presidents."</p>
<p>obviously, it's a generalization, and i doubt that a majority of students were class presidents, but i guess it's one student's perspective.</p>
<p>I think of Pomona students as the type who major in an academic field, economics or the sciences, and expect to go to grad school. Most of the grads actually go to business school after graduation, according to their web site stats, which suprised me.
I think Pomona and Claremont have much more in common than not.
Claremont says they want leaders who are smart, Pomona wants smart kids who are leaders. If my tours and visits are representative,
they both have their share of leaders. Pomona kids don't seem bookish at all - very engaged in learning, but very social. Claremont has more of a "pre-professional" feel than Pomona. Maybe that's the distinction the Mudd guy was thinking of.
Did he mention what the CMC and Pomona kids think of the Mudd kids? ;) These are all wonderful schools. A certain amount of rivalry is inevitable, but I know kids who could be happy at any of them.</p>
<p>Would it be far to compair the CMC student body to UPenn's?</p>
<p>Maybe, sure. Claremont is to Penn as Pomona is to Yale. :)</p>
<p>Pomona students seem far more chill than the Yallies (that's not too hard a feat to pull off).</p>
<p>ASAP- totally agree...it's preppy, but SoCal style. Try a combination of Urban Outfitters and J. Crew. Hate to be so commercial...but that's really how I would describe it. It's def not as preppy as Washington and Lee....but it's still there.<br>
Also agree with the "pre-professional" vibe to CMC. BOth Pomona and CMC will give you a great lib arts experience...but I feel like Pomona's purpose is more far the sake of learning and the exploration of knowledge...whereas CMC is preparing you for the pragmatic and practical stuff you will really encounter later.
Also agree with Penn analogy. They have diverse interests, their lives don't center around studying, they learned from their experiences, not just their books, have social skills, etc</p>
<p>geltoorch-- totally agree with the smart people who read books in corner vs. smart kids who were class pres. i was accepted to CMC...and I'm class president...proving the stereotype true!</p>
<p>I really wish I had known about this site in fall when I was having the whole CMC vs. Pomona dilemmna...I had no one to ask and had to figure this out for myself. Luckily, I made the right choice :)</p>