singleparent2005

CMC is one of my son's top college choices, and he will possibly submit an Early Decision 2 application. We live near New York City.

I can afford to make the trip with my son across the country so he can visit the CMC campus. However, it will be difficult to find the time when we can do this, and CMC is the only West Coast school my son is considering.

My son and I already know a tremendous amount about CMC and the other Claremont colleges so the campus visit will not add that much to his knowledge.

If my son doesn't visit CMC, will that reduce his chances for admission?

70's Grad

I was at a meeting last week with Richard Vos the CMC director of admissions and financial aid where someone asked your exact question. He said it would not make a difference on admission chances. That being said you son is applying early 2 which is binding. I think, if at all possible, your son should see the place he would be spending the next four years at. We made two trips across the country which were hard to schedule and certainly not cheap. And though my son ended up at Pomona which is about 400 miles from home, he told me the on-campus interviews where the best part of the college search process. He found out schools he had always wanted to go to were not for him. Other visits inspired his application process. For instance, the interview at the University of Chicago helped him decide on his essay topic. The Claremont visit made him realize that Pomona would probably be better for him than CMC. I never visited the college I attended prior to orientation, during my senior year I was working over 20 hrs a week and could not afford the time and expense to travel. I ended up having a great experience and maybe most who can't visit do. However seeing the experiences my son had I think the college visit can be an important part of the selection process. Good luck.

idad

Visiting can be helpful. We made a Southern Cal swing. S2 was leaning toward applying to Pomona, but after visiting found CMC to be much more to his liking. He also found he liked Occidental and was put off a little by the school spirit of USC, did not like UCLA at all but actually could see himself at UCSB (as a safety). All this would not be possible without visiting.

iluvpiano

Even though visiting takes a lot of time, it's worth it, rather than doing Early Decision and being foced to go there and possibly having to transfer later. I've visited 14 colleges, and I've taken half of those off of my list completely after visiting, and the others I became more interested in, so I think the visit makes a big differnce and should definetely do that.

vossron

CMC's Common Data Set says that an applicant's level of interest is not considered. There are schools where this is listed as important, and interviews are highly recommended at these schools.

http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/ir/CDS2008_2009.pdf

181818

My S was accepted although we didn't visit or interview, these are difinitely not a requirement. Applying ED is another matter since it is binding. The lifestyle at CMC is very different from life in NYC, and at least for this year freshmen cannot bring their cars to school. This can seem confining to a student used to big city life. This is not to say that the school isn't wonderful. It is just that the CC enviornoment might not be for everyone, particularly those wanting easy access to the city. If a visit prior to submitting aps isn't possible then applying RD might be a better choice. Then he can visit the campus after he is offered admission.

malan89

I'm in the same boat. Poor kid from PA but I've fallen in love with CMC through the interwebz. I'll just apply and if I get in, go visit (even if I can only afford to bring myself and no parents, I'd kinda have to do it at that point).

politica18

As a current student, I can say firstly that CMC is an amazing school and, secondly, that the campus visit (actually, the two that I made - the second financed by CMC for Mckenna Scholars finalists), was a big factor in my decision. If you can at all afford to come out to SoCal, it is definitely worth the trip. I'm from New England as well, so it was difficult in terms of both finances and time constraints to visit, but it was an investment that was well worth it (especially as I was considering Pomona/Pitzer as well). CMC has a very nice campus atmosphere and very unique nightlife that one should experience first hand to fully appreciate and understand.

In terms of admission impacts, the admin officers have told me that they consider the difficulties of travel to their campus and, especially with applicants from the east coast and abroad, they will not count it against you if you cannot find the time/money to visit. (If you, however, live 20 minutes away and do not visit, they /will/ look down on that.) So if you really can't make it, it's probably not a big deal. However, I still definitely recommend you come visit, though if you're going to do a long weekend and want to see classes Monday is probably better than Friday - few classes are held on Friday since a lot of people like to go out on Thursday and thus do not choose classes held on Friday.

Good luck!! I really hope you get in; this is an awesome school =)

NealJ2K

Apply ED I. Then attend.

That's my advice

broetchen

^ good advice, Neal. However there is a little something in the middle of your equation that is missing. Can you fill in the part on how to get admitted?

NealJ2K

Apply ED I. Be awesome like you know you are. that will woo the admissions officers, then they'll let you in. Then attend.

broetchen

^ yup, that's the plan