The Claremont Schools

<p>Sometimes I have trouble discerning between them. Which schools are known for which? I know Scripps is the writing/arts specialist and Mudd is the techy college. What stands out between Pitzer, Pomona, and McKenna?</p>

<p>McKenna=government, econ, polysci stuff. Their programs are very strong in those areas.</p>

<p>not sure about pitzer and pomona. </p>

<p>but from my pov, pomona is a pretty well rounded school with equal emphasis on several areas. but i don't know much about them as i am just a prospie :)</p>

<p>My brother applied early to Pitzer, and he's interested in theater. I think the drama/theater program is located mainly at Pomona, though.</p>

<p>Claremont McKenna - Government, Economics, maybe History
Pomona - Modern Languages, Art, Literature (well-rounded as well)
Pitzer - Psychology, Sociology, things of that nature
Harvey Mudd - Engineering and related fields
Scripps - All Woman's school (I'll admit I know little of this school)</p>

<p>Hope that helps, be sure to visit their websites for more information.</p>

<p>Pomona is known as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the US. Scripps is a women's only college. Harvey Mudd is a small, highly rated technical college - and is competative with Stanford and Cal Tech for top science students. Students can cross register at any of the 5 colleges in the Claremont Consortium for classes not offered at their college.</p>

<p>Pomona is very well-rounded, though biology sticks out in my mind.</p>

<p>CMC -- definitely international relations and poli sci stuff.</p>

<p>Mudd -- general engineering</p>

<p>pitzer is more about compassion and "social responsibility"</p>

<p>Unfortunately, it is not as simple as saying that one of the Claremont schools is best at this and the other at that. The schools are very interconnected, with a substantial amount of cross registration. In addition, certain majors to not necessarily belong to any school. For example, a philosphy major a Pitzer will take almost all the courses in the major at Pomona, but will get a degree from Pitzer. The following, from the Pitzer catalog, lists the joint programs offered by all five colleges to all students. At Pitzer, participating in a joint programs does not count as taking off-campus courses even if they are taught on other campuses: American Studies; Art History; Asian Studies; Asian American Studies, Black Studies; Chicano Studies; Classics; Media Studies; Gender and Feminist Studies/Women’s Studies; Languages; Linguistics; Mathematics; Music; Philosophy; Religious Studies; Science; Science, Technology, and Society; and Theatre/Dance.</p>

<p>The 5-C rowing club puts out yearly T-shirts with slogans aimed at each of the 5 Claremont Colleges. I'm told there's more than a kernal of truth to each one. Here's the last two years' slogans from Stagafling:</a> New Rowing T-Shirts Amuse, Offend</p>

<p>Harvey Mudd - "Sure they can engineer a car, but can they use the backseat?" "The Odds are good, but the goods are odd"</p>

<p>Pomona - "We're not elitist, we're just better than you." "There's no Pomona St. at Harvard"</p>

<p>Pitzer - "Why go to college when you can go to Pitzer?" "Just a bunch of hippies with Beemers."</p>

<p>CMC - "Love is fleeting. Money is forever." "We'll sell our souls for a keg and an internship."</p>

<p>Scripps - "Guys don't go here, they just come here." "T-shirt slogans are offensive to women"</p>

<p>""pitzer is more about compassion and "social responsibility"""</p>

<p>To be more specific to academics, Pitzer is focused on the humanities and social sciences- very strong programs in media studies, political studies, psychology, sociology, and ethnic studies, among other things. </p>

<p>The sciences at the 5C's are outstanding no matter which college you attend- HMC, obviously, is stellar for engineering especially, Pomona maintains a great science program for its students, and the Joint Science program for Pitzer, CMC, and Scripps is fantastic.</p>

<p>CMC - Econ, Politics, IR (think pre-law, pre-business)
Mudd - Math, hard sciences, Engineering
Pitzer - Social sciences
Pomona - General LAC
Scripps - Humanities</p>

<p>These are only the roughest categorizations. As CyberProf says, the schools are very interconnected. It's probably a minority of departments that are housed on one campus alone, or that aren't cooperative/joint/etc. So just remember that even though one of the Claremont campuses might be "known for" something, it doesn't mean that it's the only campus that offers the program (it doesn't even mean that it's the strongest option within Claremont). CMC is "known for" strong IR, but IR is also one of Scripps' most popular and well-regarded programs; Pitzer is (to a lesser degree) "known for" Media Studies, but Pitzer and Pomona both offer the major (and the departments are supposedly quite different). Just two random examples, but the overlap is extensive. </p>

<p>As you can see from the above posts, the academic distinctions between the schools are surprisingly blurry. Despite the possibility of rough categorization, there's a fair bit of room for debate. The differences between campus atmospheres/attitudes/missions are other stories altogether.</p>

<p>Pomona's biology is particularly good...</p>