Claremont McKenna College

Wow. We did not have any expectations of Claremont McKenna College at all before coming here. In fact, we hadn’t really heard of the Claremont Consortium before… so this was all new to us. We were in for a wonderful surprise!
The campus is beautiful… Set in a suburban, quaint area. there are actually several colleges and they share somewhat the same space. Each one is within a few minutes of walking distance from each other. Our tour guide painted a wonderful, all-​around picture of the CMC college experience…
Although my husband and I were only accompanying two of my students for college tours this summer, we both felt that had we known about CMC when we were in high school, we would have both applied. CMC seems and feels like a welcoming campus that strives to provide all CMC students an authentic college experience. Throughout the tour, the tour guide emphasized that CMC did NOT want money to be the reason why prospective students chose NOT to come here nor did it want money to be the reason why current CMC students don’t enjoy college.
We just LOVED CMC!

I’m just going to focus on the food.
Tea Time: Monday-​Friday, 3 – 4:30 PM. This is why the review has five stars. I try to go to tea time as often as I can (even though it stands as a looming threat to my health and waistline). The rice krispies are the bomb! They’re occasionally dipped in chocolate and in that case even better but on their own they are just delicious, the right chewy texture, and huge! Everyone fights for the chocolate strawberries (as in they camp out at 3, 3:30, and 4 when a new platter comes out) but I think they actually pale in comparison to the rice krispies. It’s just, at least when I eat the strawberries I feel healthier. Other desserts vary depending on the day including fudge brownies, red velvet cake, cookie bars, pistachio white chocolate chip cookies, etc. Don’t forget coffee, tea, and fruit juices! Disclaimer: I’m a tea time fanatic and look forward to it regularly.
Ath Lunches and Dinners: Monday-​Thursday when you sign up online. Food is free and overall good. I actually prefer the lunches (bread + entrée + dessert) to the dinners (cheese/​wine + soup + bread + entrée + dessert). Dinners are actually a bit too much food for me. And, along with a great meal, you get to observe an intellectually stimulating lecture. I found that first semester speakers were interesting (don’t know if it’s a pattern). Some of my classmates were critical of the food, so yeah it isn’t necessarily 5-​star flavors but I’ve met the chef and he puts a lot of care and pride into what he makes. And for something mass-​produced on a buffet line I can’t really complain. I do wish I had gone to more of these.
Snack late night on weekdays: This is good for those midnight munchies or for something to put in your stomach before beverage consumption. Expect onion rings, bagel bites, or something of the sort. I didn’t go to these much.
In terms of dining halls, everyone has their favorites. I personally like Frary at Pomona but Collins is nice as well.

#34. Now that the Kravis Center is open, I occasionally go up to the third floor to study and enjoy the view (
). I’m not going to lie, this is sometimes a better option than the library.
Another alternative to the library is the Crocker Reading Room. It’s quiet and very spacious. If you go upstairs, there’s a whole collection of letters from a number of US Presidents. Pretty neat.
How can I forget Ath Tea? If I’m on campus and hungry, I grab a bite. This is the only place where I will satisfy my sweet tooth– that’s how delicious the treats are. Thanks, CMC!

Disclosure Statement: I am a 1996 graduate of Claremont McKenna College (CMC). I also served as President of the Alumni Association from 2008 — 2010
CMC prides itself on grooming future leaders in a range of disciplines. It is well earned pride.
The school is among the elite private liberal arts colleges in the US. Student who look at CMC are also often looking at Stanford, Pomona, USC, UCLA, Penn, Harvard or Georgetown, among others. The admissions rate is very low, making this a Most Competitive college to attend (admission rate varies but is below 20%).
Students come from diverse backgrounds — both around the country and around the world. Approximately 13% of the most recent incoming freshman class was from outside the United States.
It is important to know the history of the College. It was only founded in 1946, making it the youngest of its peer institutions. It was founded as a men’s college and turned coeducational in 1976. The original students of CMC, known as the Pacesetters, were primarily World War II veterans returning to attend college on a GI Bill. The founding president of CMC, George Benson, also had a military background and experience in World War II. The experiences of the founders of the school — and the young men who first enrolled — framed a philosophy and education that was focused on government and economics and the proper role of each in building a civilization.
Today, government and economics remains a core focus of the College, but its resources and diligent focus on a broader liberal arts education has resulted in high quality departments across the school, including: Literature, History, Psychology, Math, Sciences, Foreign Languages, and Philosophy among others.
It is also important to note that CMC is part of the Claremont Colleges (Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Scripps and CMC), and each campus has its relative strengths. As a student, you can enroll in classes at the other schools, so if a class that you seek is not offered at CMC, you can likely find it somewhere else.
While the Wikipedia page on CMC will tell you much about the College, it may not highlight that CMC has a relatively healthy political balance among all colleges and universities. Higher education has a well earned reputation for being hotbeds of Liberal ideaology where political correctness dominates the culture. CMC has managed to mostly escape this fate.
The Government Department at CMC has several noted conservative scholars, and the Economics Department (in part given the nature of the area of study) also has a healthy dose of conservative economists. Other departments may tend to be more Liberal. To the extent one believes party affiliation has a correlation with political viewpoints, campus student publications have shown a majority of professors are registered Democrats, but a larger portion than at most schools are registered Republicans.
The result of this environment is that healthy debate on a range of issues takes place across the entire campus and conservatives, who can feel ostracized on some campuses, feel free to voice their opinions at CMC (I should know I was one of them). Indeed, as a student at CMC, I was an outspoken Conservative and managed to get elected to student government the same year my friend, an outspoken Liberal on campus was also elected to a campus wide position. Then again, our campaign issues did not involve Social Security benefits and healthcare reform.
Finally, of note, is that CMC is a smaller campus than its peers with a 1,250 student enrollment. This creates a more intimate campus experience where nearly everyone will know your name and your professors certainly will. The College believes in the role of teacher for the professors and not strictly research (note CMC is a not a research university like many other well known schools), so you should expect that the professor knows your name and you should expect to see the professor outside the classroom in more social situations. The teach-​scholar model is critical to CMC’s success.
In summary, CMC distinguishes itself from the common array of private liberal arts colleges by:
–having a politically balanced environment where freedom of ideas is paramount;
–holding the idea of the teacher-​scholar as a priority where your classroom experience means you learn straight from the noted teachers at CMC not a teacher’s aide and the professor knows your name, and;
–by being a relatively young school that, while having amazing professors in all departments, places a particular emphasis on Government and Economics.
Finally, our weather is a lot better than any other peer (except Pomona across the street).

Beer purchased by the «social committee» every week. Celebrating after turning in your thesis and going to class with a red plastic cup. Everything fun involving hops, yeast, and oh, beer. Good times…
Anyone ever notice the bb holes in the tea garden???

The food at the Collin’s Dining Hall here is the greatest dorm food you can get in the entire collegiate world. Ginormous salad bar? check. Dedicated stir fry chef? check. Provolone cheese in sandwich aisle? check. Three kinds of orange juice? check, check, and check!
During tea time, stop by the Atheneum for chocolate covered strawberries and rice krispy treats. The cheese platters during evening lectures are pretty delicious as well. I wouldn’t recommend the campus grill however, only their taco salads were edible, and just barely at that.
And if the mood doth strike you, go ahead and take a stroll into the japanese meditation garden. Just remember to bring enough for everyone.
Oh, and the school is not bad either.
(information above as of ’98-’02)