Claremont McKenna College
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: Biology and was on the pre-med track.
Sequence: None
Student Self Identifies as: Asian-American Straight Male
Summary
I was a student-athlete and part of the Christian Athlete’s Bible Study.
Background
Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Asian-American
Sexual Orientation: Straight
I transferred in the fall of 2015 to start my sophomore year
High School Experience: Private high school in the Bay Area, CA with a graduating class of about 60 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Biology and was on the pre-med track.
Sequence: None
Extracurricular Activities: I was a student-athlete and part of the Christian Athlete’s Bible Study.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
They both did. My sport was a big part because I spent a lot of time hanging out with the people on the team, practicing, and working out. Bible Study was also really important to me. I got to lead it my senior year along with another one of my friends. My faith has been a big part of my college experience.
Academic Experience
Can you describe the weekly coursework for your major?
The majority of classes in the Biology major you have to take labs. There are a lot of problem sets and exams came every three to four weeks depending on the class. Outside of the problem sets, you’d have assigned reading.
Is there anything you feel the Biology department does especially well or poorly?
Every single professor advertised meeting outside of classroom hours, so if you had questions they were very transparent about office hours and also answering questions. The great thing was they required you to come in prepared. You couldn’t just come in and talk through things, they wanted you to go through the material yourself and if you really hit a roadblock then you could come in. They tried to challenge you to solve things for yourself as much as possible. I never felt like things were just given to me, you had to earn a lot of the credit in the class which I think is good.
In terms of poorly, I think all the science departments could use some work with labs. A lot of labs felt under-resourced. Some labs felt basic, and that’s mainly because of a lack of funding I think. But, CMC is creating its own science department which I think will be really good because they will get much better resources.
How would you describe the learning environment? Is it particularly competitive or collaborative?
It’s definitely competitive, but not to the extent that it’s cutthroat. Everyone wants to see other people succeed and when finals come around people are really focused. Because you see other students working hard you want to work hard yourself, so it rubs off on you.
Why did you choose your major? Are you happy with your choice?
Science was actually never my strong suit in high school. I think what made me want to learn more about it was I was always fascinated with our bodies and what happens on the inside, so that got me more interested in it.
How was managing both your sport and your coursework?
As a science major on the pre-med track, there were times when it definitely got tough. But, being in small classrooms where professors give you attention and see how you are doing and keep up with your progress. During very stressful weeks I could go in and say that I have two games this weekend and you could ask for a small extension. There are some professors who are opposed to that, but it doesn’t hurt to try. The coaches are also cognizant of when midterms and finals are so maybe they’ll end practice twenty minutes short during that time, so it was never unreasonable.
Reasons to Attend
1) The diversity of students you’ll meet at CMC and also the other four colleges.
2) The social aspect of being able to go to parties with the students from the other four colleges as well as take classes with them.
3) Academically, all the schools have different strengths and you can take classes at the other schools that are in their strength. You can take a Computer Science class at Harvey Mudd but also a humanities class at Pomona.
4) The athletics are fun because you get a unique experience of playing on a team with people from both CMC, Harvey Mudd, and if you’re a girl, Scripps. You also have this unique rivalry with Pomona and Pitzer.
5) It’s a very sunny place and people are always outdoors. Once the last class session is over people are out on the lawn throwing the frisbee or whatever. People are also generally very active and you’ll get pulled into doing those sorts of things.
Reasons Not to Attend
If you want a bigger school, but I don’t think that’s as much of a problem since you have the other four colleges. I honestly can’t think of one.
Around Campus
Where have you lived during college?
Sophomore: Beckett Hall with one roommate and then second semester my roommate studied abroad so I moved to Appleby Hall in North Quad. North Quad rooms are set up as a suite of four double rooms with two shared bathrooms, so I lived in a suite with seven other people. It was really fun.
Junior: I lived in a single in Beckett Hall because it was going to be a tough year and I wanted to focus on my studies. Beckett is a lot cleaner and quieter than the North Quad dorms.
Senior: Senior apartments, which are in a more secluded area of campus and give you that exclusive feel because you’re living with only seniors. We had four single rooms, a common area, and a kitchen. It was really nice.
How was transitioning from the Bay Area to Claremont, CA in terms of location?
It wasn’t too big of a transition at all. Just being in California and staying within the same state was easy. In terms of culture, I went to a pretty diverse high school so life before college prepared me for CMC. Also, having [my sports] team to bring me in also helped.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
Claremont isn’t that close to L.A., it’s at least an hour away. It’s a very small, safe town. Campus Police was always very responsive and you’d never hear about anybody getting into too much trouble.
Social Opportunities
What kind of nightlife or weekend activities did you participate in at Claremont McKenna?
Pretty often one of the student bodies at one of the five colleges will be hosting something for all of the other colleges. It wasn’t always CMC sponsored, but it could be a party or they’d invite an artist to perform. A lot of people like to explore those, and something I wish I had done more is explore all the different colleges’ various events. The main thing I did on the weekends was dorm parties in North Quad and then go to the Senior Apartments. I never found that much of a desire to leave the Claremont McKenna campus, except for the odd occasion where a school was throwing a really big party sponsored by their respective student body.
What was the impact of mostly staying on Claremont McKenna’s campus?
A lot of people say CMC is exclusive but, at least with the parties that I went to, we never wanted to give off a vibe that it was only for CMC students. We’d love it when Pitzer people came through. Two of my closest friends were Pitzer students from the science department and every weekend I’d invite them over. I guess it’s insular in the sense that a lot of people never felt the need to leave campus but I don’t think we were exclusive.
What’s an alternative to going to a party or a bar that you liked for a night out?
There is a karaoke lounge-type place and Monday nights were the night to go there. There are times when you get sick of Claremont and I had my car junior and senior year so we would do trips to L.A. for the day or maybe stay there for the night. I’d also just find a few friends and just hang out and watch TV.
How happy were you with the weekend options at Claremont McKenna? Is there anything you would change about them if you could?
Very happy. I loved how a lot of parties were open to anyone. My team would throw parties and everyone was invited. I also loved how there was never really any pressure to go out to have fun or be cool. If you didn’t go out, that was fine. Going out during the weekends wasn’t a way to build social clout. If you had something else that you enjoyed, people would respect that.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
They were on my team. You just spend so much time with your team and get really close to them. In the same vein, I got really close to the people in the science department.
How would you describe the overall social scene?
It’s very open. I never got the vibe where it felt like you needed to party or be super social in order to be cool. My friend group and my team really celebrated people who liked and had passions for different things. In that sense, the social scene is diverse and flexible. I personally enjoyed both partying and hanging out with a different group of people and having a quiet Saturday.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
All five colleges are pretty liberal, some more than others, so I think they mix fine. There was never a clash while I was there. I think CMC does a good job of bringing in students who are more open. In terms of looking at who’s sitting together for lunch, I’d say there were diverse friend groups.
How would you describe the Christian community on campus? How strong is it?
In regards to the Bible study that I was a part of, it was very strong. We met every week and the group would hover around 15-20 people. Every week we’d get lunch with our small groups which would change every now and then. Outside of that, I think there is room for growth. It’s not the most prominent community on campus. The faith groups try to get the word out and say that we’re meeting, but there isn’t a lot of response and people have a lot of things going on so it was sometimes hard to get a large group to attend those sessions.
Do you feel like you were more so a student of Claremont McKenna College or the Claremont Consortium?
A lot of my science classes were taken with students from Pitzer and Scripps College, so I never felt exclusively a CMC student where I only stayed on our campus and ate in our dining hall. I hung out with people outside of CMC and that helped with the school size. It’s a small school but it never felt small because when you’re walking to class you pass people from Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, and Pitzer. That also really depends on your major because I shared classes with people from Scripps and Pitzer so my classrooms felt more diverse in terms of where people were from. I know that humanities majors can be very CMC-heavy.
Do you think people are generally happy with their choice of Claremont McKenna by senior year? Do you think people leave loving Claremont McKenna?
Yes, I think so. My roommates loved it and were very grateful for it. Obviously, there are things that students thought the school could improve on. But, as a whole, I know a lot of people who came away absolutely loving it.
Careers
Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
Yes, an alum who is one year older than me put my current job on the map and helped me get kick-started. I also interviewed for other opportunities that I was finding through CMC alumni whether it be at entry-level positions or high positions who were either putting the job on the map or part of the opportunity. It’s a very widespread network.
What have you used the career office for? How helpful have they been?
I went there for resume building and help with reaching out to jobs. The CMC office actually manages a lot of the interviews and information sessions that happen across all of the five colleges, so, in that sense, it’s a good source of opportunities. They’re constantly sending out emails about information sessions and are very active. They’re more than willing to help and were very approachable.
Have you learned any computer programs or computer languages that have been or will be helpful professionally?
I took a Computer Science class at Harvey Mudd. But, in terms of skills from non-Computer Science classes, I learned R from a statistics class. There are Excel crash courses that are around three to four hours long that people can go to that are really helpful. There are definitely opportunities outside of taking a certain class to learn those things that you can sign up for to get more acquainted with programs like Excel.