<p>My daughter is a rising junior at CMC and I’d like to second Hungryman’s observations (on the Pomona forum’s discussion of this topic) about some of the unique opportunities that CMC offers its students. The speaker series at the Ath is unparalleled as far as I can tell. We have many friends with kids at Stanford, Brown, Amherst and other top tier colleges and universities, and none of them have such easy access to the top minds of our times, four nights a week. The internships are another incredible resource, readily availible to students with enough iniative to find an agency-anywhere in the country as well as in many Pacific Rim countries- where they can intern. My daughter interned for our city last year and this year has an internship at a non profit, both far away from LA. Her friends are interning all over the country and she hopes to do an overseas internship some time before graduation. CMC really walks its talk about combining a superb liberal arts education with opportunities to put theory into practice in the real world, for their very directed and active student body. </p>
<p>My daughter has never been a big drinker and has a wonderful circle of friends who respect that in her. The different quads offer different exposure to the party scene so you have some choice about how much you want to be in the middle of it all. </p>
<p>Another asset of the CMC community that folks rarely mention is the wonderful diversity of the student body, racially, politically, and economically.
If you want to be in an atmosphere where every idea along the political spectrum is represented, debating with all sorts of people, CMC is the place for you. My daughter wrote her leadership essay on the founder of the Catholic Workers Party and I think that’s what got her admitted, so don’t buy the impression that CMS is primarily “conservative”. At the same time, as Xiggi can attest, there are plenty of conservatives, libertarians and every other point along the political spectrum respresented in the student body. Talking about Wesleyan, my daughter remarked that now that she was at CMC, she thought it would be boring to be on a campus where everyone agreed with her. I don’t know about the overall diversity of the Pomona student body but my impression is that politically at least, it is more like other LAC’s in its homogeneity. To be perfectly honest I worried about my daughter going to a college where a third of the students were conservative, which is weird considering what a truly “liberal” turn of mind is supposed to be, but it has turned out to be a great and very stimulating experience. I also think CMC students looking to go into politics get a great education in participating in a community where all kinds of opinions are on the table, but the discourse remains civil. That is something our entire society needs to rediscover how to do.</p>
<p>At the same time as I applaud CMC’s unique opportunities, I’ve encouraged my daughter to take some classes at Pomona, because of its absolutely fantastic academic reputation. The 5Cs all seem to have something very special to offer and especially for students who take advantage of the additional opportunities the 5 college consortium opens up, simply can’t be beat.</p>