Former name | Claremont University Consortium (until 2017[1][2]) |
---|---|
Type | Private consortium |
Established | October 14, 1925[3][4] |
Founder | James Blaisdell |
Endowment | $27 million (2019)[5][a] |
Budget | $47 million (2019)[5][b] |
CEO | Stig Lanesskog[4] |
Students | Approx. 8500[6] |
Location | , , United States 34°06′09″N 117°42′45″W / 34.10250°N 117.71250°W |
Campus | Suburban, 546 acres (221 ha)[6] |
Nickname | Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags and Athenas |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division III – SCIAC |
Website | www |
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The Claremont Colleges (known colloquially as the 7Cs) are a consortium of seven private institutions of higher education located in Claremont, California, United States. They comprise five undergraduate colleges (the 5Cs)—Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College (CMC), Harvey Mudd College, and Pitzer College—and two graduate schools—Claremont Graduate University (CGU) and Keck Graduate Institute (KGI). All the members except KGI have adjoining campuses, together covering roughly 1 sq mi (2.6 km2).
The consortium was founded in 1925 by Pomona College president James A. Blaisdell, who proposed a collegiate university design inspired by Oxford University. He sought to provide the specialization, flexibility, and personal attention commonly found in small colleges, but with the resources of a large university.[7] The consortium has since grown to roughly 8,500 students[8] and 3,600 faculty and staff,[8] and offers more than 2,000 courses every semester.[9] The colleges share a central library, campus safety services, health services, and other resources, managed by The Claremont Colleges Services (TCCS). Among the undergraduate schools, there is significant social interaction and academic cross-registration, but each college maintains a distinct identity.[10][11][12]
Admission to the Claremont Colleges is considered highly selective.[13] For the Class of 2020 admissions cycle, four of the five most selective liberal arts colleges in the U.S. by acceptance rate were among the 5Cs (the five undergraduate colleges), and the remaining college, Scripps, had the second-lowest acceptance rate among women's colleges.[14] The Fiske Guide to Colleges describes the consortium as "a collection of intellectual resources unmatched in America."[15]
The five undergraduate colleges are:
The two graduate universities are:
The Claremont School of Theology (founded 1885[17]) (and thus Claremont Lincoln University) is affiliated with the consortium, but is not a member.[18]
Before the idea of the Claremont Colleges, Pomona College was founded in 1887.[21] Pomona began after a group of congregationalists envisioned a "New England-type" college on the West Coast.[21][22] Pomona College relocated to Claremont, California after the college acquired an unfinished hotel in Claremont.[21] And 23 years later, James A. Blaisdell became president of Pomona. Though in 1923, Pomona College faced a problem.[21] The school's population was growing. Thus, Pomona either had to go against their ideals of expanding or limit the amount of growth at the college. James Blaisdell developed a different option. He advised the college chose to form a consortium of differentiated small colleges, modeled after Oxford and Cambridge. In October 1923, President James A. Blaisdell of Pomona College wrote to Ellen Browning Scripps describing a vision of educational excellence he had for the future Claremont Colleges:
I cannot but believe that we shall need here in the South [of California] a suburban educational institution of the range of Stanford. My own very deep hope is that instead of one great undifferentiated university, we might have a group of institutions divided into small colleges—somewhat on the Oxford type—around a library and other utilities which they would use in common. In this way I should hope to preserve the inestimable personal values of the small college while securing the facilities of the great university. Such a development would be a new and wonderful contribution to American education. Now the thing which would assure this future institution to Southern California is land ... It is now or never. To save the needed land for educational use seems to me to guarantee to Southern California one of the great educational institutions of America. Other hands through the centuries will carry on the project and perfect it. But never again can there come so fundamental a service as this.[23][24]
The start of the Claremont Colleges came in 1925 with the addition of a graduate school, now known as Claremont Graduate University.[25] The college was originally known as Claremont College and began to function in 1927.[25] The second addition came in 1926 when Ellen Browning Scripps founded Scripps College.[26] Scripps College allowed Ellen Browning Scripps to put-forth her plan of a school which offered women access to a higher education, to better their professional careers and to better their personal lives.[27] Scripps College officially opened in 1927.[26]
The novelty of the arrangement, combined with marketing that drew up the perception of the west coast as a novel frontier, led to nationwide interest in and praise for the colleges in the 1930s.[28] Paul Monroe of Harvard University, the foremost educational historian of the era, wrote that year that "The torch of learning was borne aloft in the first century by Antioch and Athens; in the second century by Rome and Alexandria; by Padua and Paris in the twelfth; Oxford and Cambridge in the fifteenth; Harvard and Yale in the seventeenth; Columbia and Chicago in the nineteenth; the Claremont Colleges of the West in the twentieth."[28]
In 1946, 86 students and 7 faculty members formed the fourth institution of the Claremont Colleges, known as Claremont McKenna College.[29] CMC was formed as a fully male undergraduate school until women were admitted in 1976.[29] In 1955, Harvey Mudd College became the fifth institute in the consortium.[30] HMC was founded by Harvey Seeley Mudd, a former chairman of the Board of Fellows of Claremont College.[30] He envisioned an undergraduate college in the consortium that focused its education in science and engineering. In 1963, Pitzer College joined the Claremont Colleges.[31] Pitzer was founded as a college for woman focusing on the social sciences.[31] Later in 1970, Pitzer enrolled 80 men.[31] The school was named after Russell K. Pitzer, an important benefactor in the development of the institution.[31] The final and seventh college to join the consortium was Keck Graduate Institute.[32] KGI was founded in 1997 after a $50 million donation from W.M. Keck Foundation.[32] The graduate school focuses on post-graduate biomedical applications.[32] Initially planned to be located on Bernard Field Station lands, protests forced the institute to relocate to a site southwest of the Claremont Village.[33] Alongside the institutions, Claremont College Services was founded on July 1, 2000.[34] The Claremont College Services provides educational support to all the institutions in the consortium.[34] Specifically, TCCS aids in projects of group planning, establishment of new institutions into the consortium and hold expansion lands.[34]
The Claremont Colleges employ approximately 3,600 people as of 2022[update].[35] A report commissioned for the colleges estimated that the consortium had a regional economic impact of $706.8 million during the 2016–2017 academic year.[36]
Admission to the Claremont Colleges is considered highly selective.[13]
According to the American Liberal Arts College rankings released by U.S. News & World Report 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). Additionally, all of the undergraduate colleges are categorized as "Most Selective".[37] Forbes ranked the 5C's among the top 60 undergraduate colleges (including universities and military academies) in the nation and within the top 25 liberal arts colleges for its 2017 report: Pomona College (#10 overall, #1 LAC), Claremont McKenna College (#11 overall, #2 LAC), Harvey Mudd College (#18 overall, #5 LAC), Scripps College (#43 overall, #16 LAC), and Pitzer College (#59 overall, #23 LAC).[38] Niche listed all of the undergraduate colleges within the top 30 small colleges in the United States as measured by surveys rating various components of the undergraduate experience: Pomona College (#2), Harvey Mudd College (#5), Claremont McKenna College (#10), Scripps College (#22), and Pitzer College (#29).[39] U.S. News & World Report also releases individual graduate program rankings for the Claremont Graduate University, with several of its programs ranking in the top tier of graduate programs nationwide.[40]
Pomona[69] | Scripps[70] | Claremont McKenna[71] | Harvey Mudd[72] | Pitzer[73] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Students | 1703 | 1077 | 1345 | 844 | 1112 |
Faculty | 240 | 125 | 171 | 115 | 118 |
2021 endowment[74] | $3.04 billion | $540 million | $1.22 billion | $443 million | $179 million |
2016 cost of attendance[75] | $68,790 | $70,497 | $70,523 | $73,550 | $70,025 |
Domestic white, non-Hispanic students | 35.2% | 52.9% | 41.4% | 33.9% | 45.4% |
Domestic students of color | 47.3% | 37.4% | 36.2% | 50.6% | 38.4% |
International students | 11.5% | 5.5% | 16.9% | 10.1% | 10.9% |
Receiving financial aid | 56.1% | 56.7% | 45.5% | 69.1% | 42.1% |
Male/female ratio | 50:50 | 0:100 | 52:48 | 52:48 | 46:54 |
2018 acceptance rate[76] | 7.0% | 24.1% | 8.9% | 14.5% | 13.2% |
2017 transfer acceptance rate | 9.6% | N/A | 2.5% | 6.8% | 13.5% |
First-Year Admitted Yield | 54% | 34% | 53% | 36% | 43% |
Six-year graduation rate | 93% | 88% | 90% | 96% | 83% |
Retention rate | 98% | 92% | 97% | 98% | 95% |
Enrolled SAT 25-75% range | 1370-1530 | 1284-1458 | 1340-1510 | 1470-1570 | 1310-1490 |
Enrolled ACT 25-75% range | 30-34 | 29-33 | 30-34 | 33-35 | 29-32 |
Ranked in top 10% of HS class | 94% | 73% | 82% | 90% | 63% |
Ranked in top 25% of HS class | 100% | 91% | 96% | 100% | 88% |
Percent of classes under 10 students | 18% | 17% | 8% | 32% | 15% |
Percent of classes under 20 students | 71% | 80% | 84% | 58% | 71% |
Percent of classes over 50 students | 0% | 0% | 2% | 4% | 0% |
Main article: List of Claremont Colleges people |
Many notable people have been affiliated with the colleges as alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators. Coverage of them is divided into articles by college:
The CEO of The Claremont Colleges Services is Stig Lanesskog.[4]
Main articles: Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags and Athenas |
Pomona College and Pitzer College compete together as the Pomona-Pitzer (PP) Sagehens.[77] Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College and Scripps College also compete together as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Stags (for male teams) and Athenas (for female teams).[78] The teams participate in NCAA Division III in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). In the Division III Final Standings for the 2016-2017 academic year, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps ranked fourth nationally, while Pomona-Pitzer ranked 29th; they were the top two performers in the SCIAC.[79] Culturally, the Claremont Colleges place less emphasis on sports than many other institutions.[47]
In addition to the varsity teams, there are several 5C club sports teams.
The roller hockey club, the Claremont Centaurs, won the Division 3 Championship of the West Coast Roller Hockey League in 2009–2010, 2010–2011, and 2011–2012.
The men's and women's rugby union both attended Division II Nationals in 2004 and 2006, and the men's team (Claremont Colleges Lions) won the Division II national championship in 2010 and the National Small College championship in 2017 and 2019.[80]
The women's ultimate team reached Nationals in 2004, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and won the tournament in 2012, and the men's ultimate frisbee were 2008 Southern California Sectional champions and 2011 Division III National champions.
Other club sports offered at the 5Cs include men's lacrosse, field hockey, crew, and cycling.