@circuitrider what you call a “mall approach”, the 5C’s call a system “reminiscent of the Oxford-Cambridge model.” http://www.claremont.edu/. Note that it says “reminiscent of”! No need to go catalog the ways it’s not actually the same as Oxford-Cambridge! It’s part of the history of Pomona that in the 1920’s Pomona decided not to pursue a path to expansion into a university, but rather to found a consortium. https://www.pomona.edu/about/brief-history-pomona-college. (It’s interesting to imagine how things might have been different if the choice had been instead to become a university.)
@Sue22 regarding mixed reports on cross-registration, I have read 1 or 2 reports on CC asome years ago about difficulty getting into Econ classes at CMC. My Pomona D is a junior economics major. The issue for her with CMC Econ classes is not that she couldn’t register for them, but that Pomona requires her to take her core 6 classes for the major at Pomona. The CMC econ sequence is structured differently so the core courses are not interchangeable. Pomona is also the one school that won’t let you do an off campus major. But for electives the system really has been seamless and cross-registration has worked fine for her.
As a parent of a Mudder, I do enjoy the salary stats…but to be fair, since they are Science and Engineering (with a very high population of Engineers and CS in particular), that number is skewed.
Its also skewed because salaries (and cost of living) are higher in California, and the graduates of the 5Cs tend to stay in California. Of course, Mudd will always be the highest no matter how the figures are adjusted.
Some up posts stated the air quality of the 5Cs is not very good, how is it now? What about the water quality? and did the last several wild fires have any impacts on the schools’ activities? this thread has been very helpful. Thank you all.
Air quality is fine. I’m not sure what your concern about water quality is—-our issue has been quantity not quality, however last year we officially ended our drought. Yay. ( But we still encourage good habits. )
Seems the Claremont schools may provide an unique opportunity to study the dynamics of population, water, energy and the impacts of environmental, social, and economic policies.
That’s a really far trip for a campus tour, I imagine your daughter must be very interested in going to California to study.
This post is a bit more related to lifestyle than study, but I think it overlaps. For me, I grew up in the Northeast, but moved to California right after high school for a gap year and personally that was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. I drove out there, alone and no plan. In a matter of a week or so, I was surrounded by friends that helped me get situated and showed me around such a cool and beautiful part of our country. Best part was that it was so easy to find friends who were into healthy and sober activities outdoors - no drinking, smoking, gossip, etc., just rock climbing, hiking, camping in deserts under the stars, surfing and swimming in the ocean - I had a complete blast.
I think being so far away from home (parents/friends) and the general culture of the east coast really forced me to grow up as a young adult and find myself. For example, I always thought about traveling the world but was afraid of living out such a wild dream fresh out of high school and I think California was a good starting point for me to learn the basics of traveling while being around people I could relate to. After about a year, I had gained so much confidence that I decided to travel across the world to backpack Australia, where I eventually started a failing company and went to college, before enrolling into one of the top universities in Asia.
Since you’re daughter will be in college for 4 years, 3,000 miles away isn’t sounding so scary compared to some of the other alternatives that are 10,000 miles away : ) Plus Claremont is a pretty fine place to study and has a pretty fine reputation. No matter where your daughter ends up, I hope she has an awesome experience and gets the best out of her college years, and, of course, education.
Air quality issues exist in the inland parts of the LA area, but in general the local air quality is of most concern during the summer months, when students are least likely to be on campus.
For the 2016 calendar year (full 2017 data not yet posted), there were only four days in which the Claremont air quality was rated as “unhealthy”. All four days were in June, July, or August.
There were 30 days in 2016 when local air quality was rated as “unhealthy for sensitive groups”. Again, most of these days (23 of 30) were in June, July, or August.
So in the non-summer months of 2016, which is more or less when students were on campus, there were only 7 of about 273 days with air quality that was “unhealthy”, and then only to “sensitive groups”. In other words, most people probably didn’t notice any problems even on those days.
Thank You OTTO and to others for all of the feedback. I’ll keep checking for more as it’s still at the top of her list. Of course, there’s still a lot that can happen but I’ll take any and all information you’re willing to share because you never know, right?!