We're Number One!
CMC at the Top of the U.S. News Rankings
Last Updated: 10/31/06 Section: News
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U.S. News & World Report has ranked Claremont McKenna College first in the nation among liberal arts colleges in its 2016 rankings. This is CMC's first time in the top spot, and is the culmination of the great effort and vision of CMC President Pamela Gann.
"We're absolutely thrilled," said Gann. "We put 15 years into this effort... it is so wonderful to see it finally pay off." CMC's board of trustees lauded the president for her leadership.
"We want to give Pamela all the credit for this," said Ann Quinley, chairman of the Board of Trustees. "It wasn't until the last Stark appointee resigned the board that we finally got behind her. She believed in the 'New CMC' before anyone else."
U.S. News announced that CMC is the first school to receive a perfect 5.0 ranking in the "peer assessment" category. College presidents, provosts, and deans of admission were impressed by CMC's 15-year turn from its dark conservative past. Nearly everyone agrees that CMC is now a bright progressive star in the liberal arts community.
According to Pomona President David Oxtoby, "Pomona College will need to quickly follow CMC's lead if it wants to remain competitive in the market for top students. There are still pockets of hate at Pomona, I'm embarrassed to say." Oxtoby later confided his fear that some Pomona students will transfer to take advantage of CMC's tolerance major.
CMC Dean of Admissions Richard Vos marked the beginning of CMC's transformation as 2006, when he says he admitted a giant incoming class. "That really prepared the students and faculty for our long-term plans," he said. "Once we grew by 30 students a year, no one was bothered in 2010 when our first class of 500 entered CMC."
Of course, housing was a big problem from 2006 until 2012, when CMC completed Kerri Dunn Hall, the largest building on the 4Cs. It stands on the old property of Pitzer College, purchased by CMC in 2009. Although the building is a tasteful eight stories covering four acres of land, it was not always to be. The first architect planned to erect a 40-story skyscraper on the property, but the city of Claremont rejected the design.
"Can you imagine what the reaction would have been if CMC, a former all male college, built a giant phallus to house our first-year students?" said ASCMC President Nancy Smith CMC '17.
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