Claremont McKenna College

Visit Report by Papa Chicken (Member since March 25 2005 with 1788 posts) Visit Date - July 2007

4 of 4 people found this visit report helpful
Visit to Claremont McKenna College in July 2007 by Papa Chicken (Parent of Student, HS Class of 2009)
Visit Activities:
Information Session: Yes - Led by a former student-athlete...very upbeat. Stressed importance of ECs in CMC's admissions evaluations. Campus Tour: Yes - Toured most facilities...dorms, classrooms, computer support facilities. Self-toured the joint library, athletic facilities & other Claremont buildings (latter partially during a Pomona visit.)
Claremont McKenna College Campus:
Friendliness/Courtesy of Students: 5 - Excellent - Female student tour guide (poli-sci major if I recall) was fantastic. Very gregarious, loved the school. It was summer, so we only met a few more, all of similar upbeat-ness. Friendliness/Courtesy of Staff: 5 - Excellent - Everyone was great. Again, all espoused their love for CMC. Appearance of Campus: 5 - Excellent - If you like California modern, you should like this campus. Also, the quad layout is great. Building/Facilities Maintenance/Cleanliness: 5 - Excellent - this is something I look for, as IMO good upkeep typically means there's plenty of cash around not only for buildings & cutting the grass, but for academics, scholarships & faculty as wel Dormitories: 4 - Very Good - we liked them...nice suites & bathrooms, plus the cleaning service CMC provides is a nice luxury. Better than Pomona's facilities from what we saw. Security/Safety: 4 - Very Good - Bubble campus in a well-to-do residential surrounding..felt very safe. Overall Campus Impression: 5 - Excellent - One of the nicest I've seen, & I've seen many! (mostly eastcoast & southeast)
Off-Campus:
Area Immediately Around Campus: 4 - Very Good - upscale residential far enough away from LA. City/Town/Community: 4 - Very Good - quaint shops & good eateries. Plenty of opportunity to have a cup of coffee at a sidewalk cafe in the fine Californian weather. I would be quite happy as a parent visiting here.
Campus Visit Notes for Claremont McKenna College:
Visit Description: After attending a summer sports camp in the Bay Area, my junior D & I (east coasters) headed down to Southern California to check out a few schools while on the West Coast. Among others, we had arranged for tours and info sessions at 2 Claremont Schools, namely Pomona & Claremont McKenna. Having read much about both schools, I had predicted my D would like Pomona more than CMC, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. We toured Pomona first. Pomona, to me, was beautiful…eclectic architecture looking somewhat like an east coast school placed in a beautiful Southern Californian setting, well manicured, intellectual feel, great campus resources. But to D it was too manicured, feeling like a Florida resort, & too intellectually quirky. Pomona was quickly ruled off the list, and we went into the CMC tour & info session thinking that it would be scratched too. But, as she listened to the admissions rep, a recent graduate, heard what the school was all about, met some more (outgoing) people, and got a feel for the unique attributes of CMC, she did a reversal & fell in love with CMC. The architecture is post WWII modern Californian, very different vibe than your typical east coast school….a difference apparently my D very much wants. She put the feel in the Stanford category, another campus she loves. What really won her over in that brief time were the people…even though it was summer with few students around, she definitely picked up on the theme of outspokenness…the kids are outgoing & seem to really enjoy talking about the world & expressing their opinions. As my D has the same personality, I think she really felt at home. On top of that, CMC has the Atheneum program, bringing in outside speakers (some renowned like Bill Clinton) 3 times/week to meet students at a small dinner & later give a talk to a wider audience…..this she truly liked as well. Dorms were great also….cleaning service vacuums the rooms & cleans the suite bathrooms regularly…nice luxury…reminded me of the Davidson laundry service perk. And the athletic fields…wow, the Southern Californian climate makes for nice, cushioned turf. Oh, one other high point: D was enthused by the water polo club...they play with flotation tubes...she thought that would be loads of fun. The CMC campus is small, but there’s where the “5-school” thing really has a benefit IMO. With about 5000 undergrads comprising the Pomona-CMC-Scripps-Pitzer-Mudd adjoining campus, the place actually feels much bigger & CMC feels like a college at Oxford on a much bigger campus. You get the benefits of a small school with the resources of a bigger school. Classes can be taken at any school, and sports teams are combined between the 5 schools into 2 Division 3 teams (CMC+Scripps+Mudd & Pomona+Pitzer). The town was nice, too….a couple of blocks walk from the Pomona corner of the entire Claremont campus, with quaint shops and eateries suitable for both college kids and visiting parents. We also took a drive up into the nearby mountains up to the ski slope area….only 45 minutes away….arid, but nice to have some geographic relief within sight. D liked the whole Claremont thing so much that we went back the next day & toured Pitzer….appealed to D’s artsy side, and the campus was much more “western” feeling, which she liked…but CMC is really where her heart seems to be. Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments: Double Tree nearby but not quite walkable....good accomodations, plus relatively economic (for California that is) Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments: lots to choose from in town....we had a great meal from a Middle Eastern resturant. Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.): If D ends up attending, we'll be taking advantage of the Southwest service to nearby Ontario Airport. LAX is 2 stressful hours away, given the unpredictable nature of LA freeway traffic.
4 of 4 people found this visit report helpful