Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a private liberal arts college located in Claremont, California, in the United States. Established in 1946 as a men's college, it was officially incorporated by the State of California in 1947 and began admitting women in 1976. Its mission at the time of founding was to foster leadership among students in the fields of government, economics, and international affairs, and its intellectual framework, developed by George C. S. Benson, CMC’s first president, and his wife Mabel Gibberd Benson, combined a liberal arts education with practical skills, a pedagogical approach the college maintains today.

CMC is one of seven institutions included in the Claremont Colleges.^[1] Known as the 7Cs, the consortium includes five undergraduate colleges (the 5Cs) and two graduate institutions. Besides CMC, they include:

• Claremont Graduate University
• Harvey Mudd College
• Keck Graduate Institute
• Pitzer College
• Pomona College
• Scripps College

Students enrolled at any of the schools in the consortium may access academic programs, research opportunities, and extracurricular activities across all member colleges, which also share facilities such as dining halls and libraries throughout the contiguous campuses. CMC joined the consortium after Pomona and Scripps and numbered 1,422 undergraduate and postgraduate students in 2023.^[2]

Faculty at CMC are noted for exhibiting a more conservative political orientation than those at similar liberal arts institutions.^[3][4][5][6] Still, in 2019, Heterodox Academy awarded CMC its Institutional Excellence Award for having done the most among colleges and universities “to advance or sustain open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement either on its own campus or nationally.”^[7]

Known as Claremont Men’s College at its founding in September 1946, CMC began with seven faculty and an incoming class of 86 students,^[1] many of whom were World War II veterans attending college on the G.I. Bill.^[2]

The college did not initially offer majors but established them in 1951, when majors in accounting, business administration, economics, government, humanities, and international affairs were offered. In partnership with Scripps College, CMC also offered a fine arts major.

In 1975, CMC trustees voted to admit women in a two-thirds vote supported by students representing the Associated Students of Claremont Men’s College;^[3] the first women admitted to CMC joined in 1976. The move followed a national trend toward coeducation among schools such as Yale, Dartmouth, Amherst, and Williams. CMC president Jack Stark, who led the college during the transition, considered it CMC’s most important moment. Women who matriculated in those early years graduated with degrees still bearing the Claremont Men’s College moniker.^[4]

In 1981, CMC was renamed Claremont McKenna College in honor of founding trustee Donald McKenna.^[5]

In November 1989, the father of a CMC student hired a stripper to perform in the college’s dining hall, sparking student protests. Then-CMC president Jack Stark told The New York Times that he did not wish to comment on “whether [the incident] was or was not degrading to women.”^[6]

In September 2007, alumnus and trustee Robert Addison Day contributed a $200 million gift to CMC for the creation of the Robert Day Scholars Program and a master’s program in finance.^[7] Some faculty worried that the gift might “distort the college into a single-focus trade school.”

In January 2012, a high-ranking official later identified as former dean of admissions, Richard C. Vos, was discovered to have been inflating SAT scores by 10–20 points over six years in submissions to the U.S. News & World Report. TIME magazine wrote that “such a small differential could not have significantly affected U.S. News & World Report rankings.” A study commissioned by the college claimed to have found no evidence that the misrepresentations were meant to inflate the school’s ranking in the publication’s annual listings. The controversy prompted Forbes to omit CMC from its yearly rankings in 2013.

Also in 2012, CMC published a Campus Climate Task Force report that described a “pervasive, ‘hyper-masculine’ and heteronormative ethos at CMC” and noted that, “while female students are valued as friends and intellectual colleagues during the day, at night and particularly on weekends, female students reportedly feel they are objectives targets for sex or ‘hook-ups.’” CMC and the other schools in the consortium responded by increasing efforts to reform this culture, including hiring a dedicated Title IX staff member, creating the 7C EmPOWER Center, conducting bystander training under the Teal Dot certification, and establishing a student-run advocacy organization that provides 24/7 support for victims of sexual assault.

In November 2015, the dean of students resigned after students protested what they believed to be insufficient institutional resources for marginalized students. The dean had implied that minority students did not meet CMC’s vision when she wrote in an email,

We have a lot to do as a college and a community. Would you be willing to talk to me about these issues? . . . They are important to me and the DOS staff and we are working on how we can better serve students, especially those that don’t fit our CMC mold.

Her response to an incident of allegedly culturally appropriative Halloween costumes was also deemed anemic. The student protests closely followed and were associated with the 2015–2016 University of Missouri protests.

On April 6, 2017, approximately 300 student protestors from across the Claremont Colleges blockaded the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum to prevent conservative pundit Heather Mac Donald from speaking. The college live-streamed the talk, and seven students involved in the blockade were disciplined, with some receiving suspensions.

CMC provides a comprehensive liberal arts education focused on economics, government, international relations, and public affairs. It operates on a semester schedule and features 13 departments and 32 majors. To graduate, students must complete a senior thesis and meet the requirements for their major, which they may complement with one of 11 “sequences” of interrelated courses across various disciplines.

CMC also offers accelerated and dual degree programs that allow students to earn advanced degrees in less time than traditional pathways. For example, students may choose joint programs or accelerated master’s degrees in business administration, economics, political science, and psychology. In addition, the college offers an M.A. in Finance.

Class sizes are small, with about 88% of classes comprising fewer than 20 students. The average student-faculty ratio is 7.9 to 1.

More than 90% of CMC students graduate within four years. In 2024, CMC alumni early in their careers have an earning potential of approximately $89,800 per year; mid-career alumni have an average earning potential of $175,000 annually.

CMC regularly ranks highly in multiple categories in third-party evaluations of colleges and universities. Below are recent honors.

• #3 among Best Liberal Arts Colleges in America
• #4 among Best Small Colleges in America
• #5 among Best Colleges in California by Salary Potential
• #7 among Best Value Colleges in America and #14 in Best Value Schools
• #9 among Best Colleges in America
• #11 among National Liberal Arts Colleges
• #37 among top producers of Fulbright Scholars in 2023–2024
• #73 for free speech among all American colleges and universities

U.S. News & World Report classifies admissions to CMC as “most selective.” In 2023, the college received 5,709 applications and accepted 591 applicants, an acceptance rate of 10.35%. Retention is high at 95%.

CMC’s student population is diverse, with 47 U.S. states, 46 foreign countries, and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam represented among the student body. About 14% identify as international or nonresident aliens. Gender representation splits roughly equally between the sexes, and 21% identify as first-generation college students.

The median family income of CMC students is $201,300, with 58% coming from the top 10% of highest-earning families and 4.8% from the bottom 20%.

Students at CMC may engage in graduate-level research and collaborative projects at any of the schools’ 11 research institutes:

• Berger Institute for Individual and Social Development
• Financial Economics Institute
• Gould Center for Humanistic Studies
• Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies
• Kravis Leadership Institute
• Lowe Institute of Political Economy
• Roberts Environmental Center
• Mgrublian Center for Human Rights
• Rose Institute of State and Local Government
• Randall Lewis Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Salvatori Center for Individual Freedom

CMC primarily provides undergraduate instruction but introduced a graduate program at the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance in 2007. The school offers undergraduate majors in economics, economics-accounting, and a financial economics sequence. It also offers a one-year Master of Arts in Finance degree. In June 2020, RePEc ranked it #4 in its list of top U.S. Economic Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges.

CMC’s endowment exceeds $1.1 billion, accounting for nearly 32% of the college’s operating budget.  It is the 28th-largest endowment per undergraduate in the country. In the 2022 fiscal year, its endowment value per full-time-equivalent student equaled $805,832.

Per its 2022–2023 Financial Report, CMC has total net assets worth $1.78 billion, and its core operating budget was $134 million.

For the 2024–2025 academic year, the estimated cost of attendance for both in-state and out-of-state students is $91,510. That total includes tuition, transportation, room and board, books and supplies, and a miscellaneous budget of $1,500.

Approximately 48% of students receive financial aid. The average need-based scholarship and grant award package is $58,735, while the average need-based financial aid package totals $67,295. The average student debt at graduation is $20,978.

In 2021, the Campaign for CMC: Responsible Leadership raised more than $1 billion to double the size of CMC’s campus and to grow its science programs, faculty, and financial aid packages.

Located 35 miles east of Los Angeles in Southern California, CMC sits on 69 acres at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The campus is within a short walking distance from the shops and restaurants of downtown Claremont Village, and the majority of its buildings are designed in the California Modernism style reflective of the era in which the college was founded.

New construction has replaced or joined existing buildings in recent years.

• In October 2011, the Kravis Center academic complex opened on the west end of campus. Designed by Rafael Viñoly, the all-glass, LEED-certified structure sits atop a Mesabi black-granite reflection pool. It stands as the flagship of CMC’s then-largest capital campaign, which raised $635.2 million.
• In 2015, CMC kicked off a public art initiative with the acquisition of Mary Weatherford’s From the Mountains to the Sea. Several major installations have since been added, such as Chris Burden’s Meet in the Middle (2016), Ellsworth Kelly’s Totem (2017), four sculptures by Carol Bove (2020), Jeppe Hein’s Modified Social Benches (2022), and Pae White’s Qwalala (2023),.
• In September 2016, the LEED-certified Roberts Pavilion sports complex opened at the south end of campus. Designed by John Friedman/Alice Kimm Architects, it has won numerous awards, such as the AIA Pasadena & Foothill Design Honor Award in 2016 and the Los Angeles Business Council Architectural Award in the Education category in 2017.

These developments were guided in part by the campus master plan led by Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners in 2009–2010. Expected to inform development for about 30 years, the campus master plan includes the construction of up to 979,000 gross square feet of new facilities and the demolition of up to 256,112 gross square feet of existing structures.

CMC has no fraternities or sororities, and approximately 95% of students live on campus. The college guarantees housing for all four years of study, with dormitories divided into three regions: North Quad, Mid Quad, and South Quad. Apartments located on the east edge of campus typically house seniors.

Composed of an executive board and student senate, the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College (ASCMC) is the college’s official student government. Chaired by a president, the executive board consists of both elected and appointed members who meet weekly to discuss long-term projects and initiatives. Chaired by the ASCMC executive vice president, the senate passes resolutions to influence institutional policy, funds student-led initiatives, and invites administrators and other CMC stakeholders for town hall discussions.

In September 1983, the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum broke ground. Known in the 7Cs community as “The Ath,” it is the central venue for intellectual and social events on campus. Trustee Donald McKenna envisioned its original programming for “refreshment and wide-ranging discussion” similar to the “loosely structured atmosphere of an ancient Roman academy or a nineteenth-century London club.”

Today, a speaker series takes place at the Ath over dinner multiple nights a week, with students given priority seating at the head table with visiting speakers. In the afternoons, it hosts “Ath Tea,” a tradition including servings of Rice Krispies treats.

Claremont McKenna College Model United Nations (CMCMUN) represents the college on both national and international stages. In 2023, it won the Best Small Delegation award at Harvard WorldMUN, its sixth delegation award in 11 years. The team ranked fifth in the world division of the 2022–2023 North American College Model UN. Each year, CMCMUN hosts McKennaMUN, a high school conference for which CMC students manage logistics and mentor high school participants.

CMC athletes compete alongside their counterparts at Harvey Mudd College and Scripps College. The mens’ teams are known as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Stags, and the womens’ teams are known as the CMS Athenas. The team colors for both are cardinal and gold.

The teams joined the NCAA Division III within the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) in 1958. They have won more than 300 conference championships and nine national team championships in the NAIA or NCAA D-III. According to the Division III Winter Learfield Director’s Cup Standings for the 2023–2024 year, CMS ranked 9th among all Division III programs and first among SCIAC colleges.

CMS supports 21 men’s and women’s teams and showcases eight athletic facilities:

• Biszantz Family Tennis Center for tennis
• Burns Track Complex for track and field
• John Pritzlaff Field for soccer
• John Zinda Field for football and lacrosse
• Matt M. Axelrood Pool for swimming and diving
• Roberts Pavilion for basketball and volleyball
• Athena softball field

Several traditions at CMC involve water:

• Ponding: At midnight on a student’s birthday, friends sing “Happy Birthday” to the celebrant and throw them into the fountains found at the center of campus in a tradition known as “ponding.”
• Senior thesis celebration: On the day their theses are due, seniors submit them to the registrar and are then given a bottle of champagne that the class president usually provides. Students spend the rest of the day celebrating in the campus fountains.

Welcome Orientation Adventure

All incoming first-year students at CMC participate in the student-run, pre-orientation Welcome Orientation Adventure (WOA) program. They join in student-led activities such as backpacking, camping, rock climbing, canoeing, and community service.

CMC students consistently advocate for the independence of student papers in order to maintain journalistic integrity and freedom from institutional influence. Efforts have been made to separate The CMC Forum from the direct authority of the ASCMC to avoid conflicts of interest and promote unbiased reporting.

Founded in 1889, The Student Life (TSL) is the oldest college newspaper in Southern California and the largest media organization at the 7Cs. Published weekly, it serves as the publication of record for the colleges, featuring news, opinions, lifestyle, and sports coverage. It is funded jointly by the consortium’s student governments.

Established in 2012, The Golden Antlers is a satirical and humorous publication hosted by CMC but staffed by undergraduates from the 5Cs.

The oldest CMC-specific outlet, The CMC Forum offers campus news, opinions, and lifestyle coverage. Originally a print publication, it is now online-only.

Founded in 1996, The Claremont Independent is known for its conservative and libertarian viewpoints. The magazine frequently covers the 7Cs’ political culture and has been featured in national conservative media outlets. It is funded entirely through private donations and often sparks intense discussion among students.

CMC has numerous alumni and faculty of note. Notable alumni include novelists Jack Houghteling and Shelby Van Pelt; Julie Sweet, chair and CEO of Accenture; Daniel Kan, founder and CPO of Cruise; journalist Michael D. Shear; and Steve Bullock, former governor of Montana. Actor Robin Williams attended CMC but did not graduate.

Notable faculty include computer scientist Ran Libeskind-Hadas, historian Wendy Lower, political scientists John J. Pitney and Minxin Pei, poet Henri Cole, and writer Jamaica Kincaid.