Claremont McKenna College

Date: Jul 04 2014
Major: PreMed and Medical (This Major's Salary over time)
CMC is a selective college with a great academic reputation, well-respected professors, a beautiful campus, great food, great financial aid and scholarships, subsidized trips, and endless career opportunities, in Southern California. The Daily Beast has also ranked it as the happiest college in America. Despite all of these perks, realize that CMC MAY NOT BE RIGHT FOR YOU. If you are interested in attending CMC, I definitely recommend that you overnight there and get a taste of the atmosphere during the school year before you confirm your acceptance. Make sure you feel comfortable living around people whose go-to fun will include underage binge drinking, weed, hookups, and drunken orgies. Also, read up on Venture Capitalism. Since it is primarily an economics school, most students and professors lean politically conservative while socially liberal. In terms of diversity, if you are from the wealthiest one percent of Americans, you will find yourself in the majority here. There is also a strong Jewish presence on campus and a very active APAM group. Don't stay in substance free housing if you want the real CMC experience, as there is no guarantee that you'll get it come the school year. Many CMC?ers cannot even comprehend why you would choose to live there. If you need silence to sleep at night, you may be out of luck many nights, especially on Tuesdays, Thursday's, and Saturday's, where loud partying can often be heard throughout the small campus. Campus security may keep townies off campus and help you in an emergency, but they are definitely not law enforcement. They don't seem to care what drugs you do as long as they are done in the privacy of a dorm. Neither do the R.A.s. CMC has even had speakers who essentially tell students about which recreational drugs are "safe" to take. With all of the alcohol consumption, CMC has been trying to narrow down the definition of consent to curtail its ongoing problems with sexual assault. ( ) In short, CMC is a driven fratboy's paradise. Unlike most universities, the frat party scene is hard to avoid as it is so centralized with the college funding most of the weekly parties and even some of the alcohol, which minors consume. The parties also rotate between dorms weekly. Fencing has been getting better to prevent minors from getting school-subsidized alcohol, although Liquorland will sell alcohol to just about anyone. Although the college upholds federal law on paper, what students get away with tells a different story. It is sad that many of the future leaders of the United States can't even follow federal law. I wish the administration all the best in their efforts to tackle these problems. It?s going to be a long journey. CMC has loads of opportunity but has a long way to go to become a school that produces leaders that make healthy/responsible decisions in all aspects of life.