The Claremont Colleges: A Unique Consortium of Higher Education
The Claremont Colleges, often referred to as the Claremont Consortium or the 7Cs, represent a distinctive model of higher education. Situated in Claremont, California, about 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, this consortium comprises seven independent institutions that collaborate to provide students with the advantages of both a small college and a large university. The city of Claremont, a suburban enclave nestled at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, is known as the "City of Trees and PhDs," boasting a welcoming environment with a strollable downtown "Village."
Overview of the Claremont Colleges
The Claremont Colleges includes five undergraduate liberal arts colleges and two graduate institutions: Pomona College, Claremont Graduate University, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College and Keck Graduate Institute. The consortium was established in 1925 and modeled after the design of Oxford University.
Each institution maintains its own unique identity, including its student body, faculty, governance, curricular emphasis, culture, and mission. Prospective students apply to each campus of interest individually to be considered for admission. Despite their independence, the colleges operate in close collaboration, sharing resources and offering students access to a wide range of academic and extracurricular opportunities.
The Benefits of a Consortium
Students at The Claremont Colleges are enrolled at one institution but benefit from the consortium’s academic and extracurricular programs and services. The biggest perk of being a student at one of the seven Claremont Colleges is that you can take classes at any of the other colleges in the Consortium. This intercollegiate cooperation provides university-scale services and facilities. Students enjoy the advantages of a small college with the resources of a large university.
The Individual Colleges
Each of the Claremont Colleges is unique, so you’ll want to make sure you’re applying to the school that most closely aligns with your needs and goals. Here’s a closer look at each institution:
Read also: Exploring Claremont McKenna
Pomona College
Founded in 1887, Pomona College is the oldest of the Claremont Colleges and the largest of the undergraduate schools. Pomona typically ranks as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country, known for its high level of diversity (over half the student body is comprised of domestic students of color), commitment to need-blind admissions, and enviable proximity to Los Angeles. Pomona offers a traditional liberal arts program, with majors in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. As the founding member of The Claremont Colleges, Pomona has a deep and well-rounded curriculum. Ninety-four percent of students live on campus all four years, a testament to Pomona’s strong sense of community.
Scripps College
Scripps College, founded in 1926, is the women's college of the Claremont Colleges. As a women’s college, Scripps focuses on women’s leadership and empowerment but also offers students opportunities for co-ed academic and social life through its membership in the Claremont Consortium. Scripps offers a robust liberal arts education with interdisciplinary curriculum and progressive policies that promote diversity and inclusion across the educational experience. The second of Claremont’s undergraduate colleges was founded in 1926 by Ellen Browning Scripps, a newspaper publisher and suffragist. Scripps confers a higher percentage of STEM degrees than any other women’s college in the country, and its campus is recognized as one of the most beautiful. One unique thing about Scripps is that all students are required to complete an undergraduate thesis or project as part of their graduation requirements. The signature Core Curriculum provides a common academic experience through three consecutive, interdisciplinary courses; uniquely, these courses are open only to Scripps students.
Claremont McKenna College
Claremont McKenna College (CMC) was founded in 1946. Claremont McKenna College is an undergraduate college that specializes in economics and government, but this school is also known for its majors in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The college's motto is “Civilization prospers with commerce.” This school emphasizes good citizenship through responsible leadership in the professional world. Another major draw of this school is its eleven world-class research institutes and accessible opportunities for undergraduate students to conduct research with faculty. With 11 research institutes on campus (from the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies to the Lowe Institute of Political Economy), 75% of students conduct undergraduate research with faculty. Semester-long programs in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. offer immersive experiential learning (internships included) and professional development. Originally Claremont Men’s College, at its inception in 1946 CMC’s student population was largely soldiers returning from WWII battlefields.
Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College joined the consortium in 1955. Harvey Mudd College specializes in engineering, mathematics, computer science, and the physical and biological sciences. What makes this school unique is that it’s also a liberal arts college. Often high on the list of colleges with the highest ROI (return on investment) for its graduates, Harvey Mudd is a small but mighty STEM-focused liberal arts college. (The median starting salary for the Class of 2022: $117,500.) Harvey Mudd teaches students to be aware of the social impact of their work in science, math, and technology. With nearly a third of course requirements in non-STEM areas, though, Mudd has legit liberal arts credentials. Given the math, science, and engineering focus, it is no surprise that Mudders have a vibrant Makerspace and are known for elaborate pranks and moonshots (like winning an online voting competition for a free, on-campus Taylor Swift concert).
Pitzer College
Pitzer College joined the Claremont Colleges in 1963. Pitzer College is known for its interdisciplinary education and leadership in social justice, intercultural understanding, and environmental sustainability. One appealing--and unique--thing about Pitzer is that students at this school shape their own educational path. Students can work from a set of focused educational objectives in collaboration with Pitzer faculty to design their degree plan. Pitzer applicants are asked to connect with the College’s five core values-Social Responsibility, Intercultural Understanding, Interdisciplinary Learning, Student Engagement and Environmental Sustainability. Students chart their own academic course (including the option of self-designed majors) and are encouraged to work on community projects or engage in academic fieldwork/experiential learning in areas such as immigration, homelessness, or sustainability. Through the Institute for Global/Local Action & Study (IGLAS), Pitzer offers multiple “Inside Out” classes for students to study with incarcerated individuals.
Read also: Exploring Claremont McKenna
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University, founded in 1925, is one of two graduate schools in the Claremont Consortium. This school offers master’s and doctoral degrees, dual degrees, and interdisciplinary opportunities. CGU’s academic programs are practice-based, which means they’re hands-on. Claremont Graduate University is a rare example of an institution devoted entirely to graduate study. With an enrollment of just over 2,000 students, the Claremont Graduate University was founded in 1925 and offers master's and doctoral degrees in the humanities and social sciences, government, economics, mathematics, botany, management and education.
Keck Graduate Institute
As the only other graduate-only institution in the Claremont Consortium, Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) offers five graduate degree programs focusing on the life sciences. These academic programs are organized into the School of Applied Sciences and the School of Pharmacy. KGI is a school for students who want to pursue a career in life and health sciences, engineering, business, pharmacy, and/or genetics. The seventh and newest member of The Claremont Colleges was founded in 1997. The first American graduate school dedicated exclusively to the emerging fields of the applied life sciences, KGI offers professionally-oriented master's degrees.
Campus Life
With their close physical proximity to one another, campus life among the 5Cs schools is more integrated than most college consortia. The Claremont Colleges provide a vibrant and interconnected campus life. There are over 300 student clubs and organizations across the 5Cs, with some of them being open to students from all schools and some being school-specific. The Student Life, the college newspaper of the Claremont Colleges, publishes both print and online editions and has the distinction of being the oldest college newspaper in Southern California. The Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity, colloquially termed "the Hive", was established in 2015 to support creative learning.
Admissions
The Claremont Colleges are unified by a belief in the value of collaborative education, but each school has its own mission and academic specializations. The Claremont Colleges are pretty selective. But it’s important to keep in mind that the Claremont Colleges can be selective in different ways. Each Claremont College has a unique mission, and each school wants to know that you are prepared to contribute to their mission. This starts with a quick search for each school’s mission statement. Knowing each school’s mission will help you tailor your application to match its values.
Because the Claremont Colleges are selective, you’ll need your application to be as perfect as possible to have the best chance of getting in. First, make sure you start taking your standardized tests with enough time that you’re able to make a great score. It’s no secret that the 7Cs offer rigorous educational experiences. In fact, Harvey Mudd Admissions emphasizes that applicants who opt out of difficult high school courses will be at a disadvantage in the admissions process. Each Claremont Consortium school relies on a holistic admissions process. This means that they’ll consider a range of factors about you, from your high school GPA, to your test scores, to your extracurricular activities.
Read also: Navigating Student Health
Rankings and Selectivity
As you can see, each college is small. All of the campuses have fewer than 2,000 students enrolled! The Claremont Colleges are also very selective schools. In fall 2021, the "5Cs" were ranked among the top 35 liberal arts colleges in the United States: Pomona College (#3), Claremont McKenna College (#9), Harvey Mudd College (#29), Scripps College (#33), and Pitzer College (#33). These private colleges range in acceptance rates from 29.54% (Scripps) to 6.64% (Pomona). Most of the undergraduate colleges have admissions rates of 14 percent or less, making them as competitive as schools like Georgetown and UCLA.
A Shared History and Resources
The Claremont consortium was started by Pomona College in 1925 with the establishment of The Claremont Colleges Services (TCCS), the purchase of a large parcel of land for future institutions, and the founding of the Claremont Graduate University. Other shared facilities include Campus Safety, the Tranquada Student Services Center (which houses Baxter Medical Center, Monsour Counseling Center, and the Health Education Outreach), McAlister Center (home of the Office of the Chaplains and the Claremont Card Center), EmPOWER Center (which works to address sexual violence), the Huntley Bookstore, all dining facilities, and several sports facilities.
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