<p>Like Seiken said, “it’s totally up to you whether you want the feel of just your school or one of the entire CC.” </p>
<p>There’s no way I can overemphasize the amount of interaction I had with the other undergrad schools through my four years…multiple classes on every campus, joint major, cooperative minor, in-depth involvement with multiple 5C (<em>true</em> 5C) orgs, significant other from another campus, very close friends on other campuses. For two years, I lived closer to another campus’s dining hall than to my own. One semester, I had 6 courses…5 off-campus, and one on-campus audit. On a very typical day, I might have breakfast at Mudd, classes on CMC, Scripps, and Pitzer, lunch on Scripps, dinner at Mudd, and a rehearsal at Pomona. And to be clear, I loved my school…I certainly wasn’t trying to get away from it!</p>
<p>That said, I had a Scripps course with a Pomona senior who claimed that she had never set foot on Scripps’ campus prior to the first day of the class. And while that degree of non-interaction is very, very rare, there are definitely people who stray off of their own campuses less often than others (perhaps they have on-campus degrees and aren’t deeply involved in off-campus groups, so the majority of their friends are from their own campus, etc…whatever). </p>
<p>In general, Pomona and Mudd tend to have the least interaction with the rest of the consortium. Pomona is large enough to be a bit more self-containing than the other schools, and Mudd students tend not to cross-register as often as students from some other schools (for obvious reasons). The two schools are also on far ends of the consortium, whereas Pitzer, Scripps, and CMC are all nestled between multiple campuses. In my opinion, Pomona and Mudd also have stronger feelings of on-campus “community” than the other schools, so it’s a trade-off. And plenty of Pomona and Mudd students interact tons with the rest of the consortium (likewise, some Scripps, CMC, and Pitzer students interact very little). I’m only speaking in generalities.</p>
<p>For the most part, I found the size of the schools to be just perfect. Small enough to feel close-knit and familiar, large enough that you could blend in or meet someone new whenever you wanted to. The important part is that regardless of whether or not you choose to take advantage of the other schools in the consortium, they’ll remain totally accessible. So whenever you choose to get off of your own campus, it really is a breeze. </p>
<p>The Consortium (as it works in practice) probably won’t make perfect sense without an overnight visit. I’d really encourage staying at Mudd on a Thursday night so that you get a decent sense of the academic as well as social scenes. </p>
<p>Good luck :)</p>