Hi!
I am a queer and trans sophomore and CMC is my top choice right now! I recently toured Claremont McKenna and it seemed very liberal although as I read more about CMC here, people say it’s more conservative.
Can someone tell me how conservative it is and how welcoming it is for LGBTQ students?
Thanks!!
Closing temporarily for review.
I’m confused. In March you were a prospective student at Oberlin. Are you looking to transfer to CM as a college sophomore? Or are you still in high school?
If in high school, when will you graduate? Do you want other college suggestions or do you only want to know about Oberlin?
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Maybe reach out to the author of this article or ask the school to speak with a campus ambassador.
OPINION: CMC is failing its queer students - The Student Life
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Interesting take from one person’s experience. You wouldn’t think it was that hard to find other LGBTQ kids at the other 5C colleges. I mean, that is supposed to be the secret sauce of the Claremont consortium, that you have the combined resources of 5 different campuses. Part of CMC’s brand is that of a “work hard/play hard” sort o place with a glide path toward careers in business finance; “bro” culture and all of its pluses and minuses, supposedly comes with the territory. If it were a stand-alone LAC, I’d say, “Don’t go.” But, there are 4000 other students to choose from. At least, that’s the theory.
ETA:
Change made.
I don’t disagree - and it’s an opinion piece so not an article, etc.
But you never know - certain people make “assumptions” about schools based on where they are (liberal or conservative) and yet others disagree.
Hopefully they have an LGBTQ student ambassador the student can speak with to get comfort.
This is a ranking based on a survey of (edit) students including those who identify as LGBQ. CMC ranks well.
On the unfriendly side…
So you have a sense of various methodologies…
Princeton review is entirely based on students first hand experience.
“Our 50 annual college rankings lists are entirely based on what students attending the schools in our Best Colleges book tell us about their colleges and their experiences at them via our student survey for this project.”
A different approach is taken by the College pride index. It is largely a box checking institutional self assessment exercise of various services. The data is entirely provided by the college administration and does not represent any actual student experience or student input.
”The index uses a self-assessment questionnaire with over 50 questions that cover eight factors”
I would consider any and all resources with a grain of salt but personally prefer first hand student surveys as that is the perspective you would be experiencing.
Please note that the survey was taken by a sampling of all students, not just those of particular orientations, at colleges nationally to arrive at the posted results.
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I really dislike repeating myself, particularly when almost all the respondents have heard this message from me before, yet here we are:
When a student asks a question, responses should focus on the question asked. Allowances can be made if the wrong question is asked.
But at this point, let’s assume the OP knows how to use Google, so they can go search for third-party lists on their own, and needs no debate here on such lists accuracy - especially when the debate is between 2 users that are supposed to be ignoring one another. Yup, we see you
The valued responses will be those with first-hand knowledge on LGBTQ life at CMC, CMC in general, strategies on seeking an LGBTQ friendly college,etc.
It may be helpful to probe for additional info; if the OP is asking about CMC and their past posts asked about Oberlin, without asking what else they want in a college, suggesting a large public flagship is not really helpful
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Generally, CMC is considered the most conservative of the Claremont Colleges, but the others all skew very liberal/progressive. In other words CMC can be “more conservative” than its neighbors yet still a welcoming place. At least some of the reputation for conservatism comes from the larger emphasis on pre-business type majors such as economics (almost 30% of students) and because of the Government Dept. has long had a reputation for its conservatism (particularly in Theory and American Politics), and unfortunately, there have been Government professors who have taken an in-your-face approach. If you are interested in studying politics from a progressive perspective it may not be a great fit.
As others have mentioned, the college community extends beyond just CMC, and my understanding is that the overall community is very inclusive.
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thank you for all the responses! i really appreciate the insight.
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This is my son’s first choice and he is quite liberal. That said, he doesn’t want to go to school in an echo chamber, so will likely enjoy hearing other respectful points of view, which apparently CMC has. I think this may be where it gets its classification as being the most conservative for the Claremont schools. That and that it has a professional culture and financial emphasis where I’m guessing you will find some conservative kids/bros. That said, the tour spent a lot of time talking about how mature the student body is and how curious and interested they are in differences and points of view and pride themselves on open-mindedness. Pomona and Pitzer are very liberal, so you’d have a lot of accepting company on the collective campus. My son would not want to go somewhere that was not welcoming to all and it felt that way when we toured. If you are accepted and consider it, I would totally write the office with your concerns and I’m guessing they could set you up with a fellow student or tour where they could address your questions in this regard. Good luck!