Claremont McKenna College is a top choice for excellent financial aid and students who are energized about politics, according to the 2005 Princeton Review's Best 357 Colleges. The publication's annual survey of 110,000 college students ranked CMC first nationally in two categories: Students Happy With Financial Aid, and Most Politically Active.
The College also earned top honors in three other categories, placing sixth among schools that Run Like Butter, seventh for schools with Dorms Like Palaces, and 18th among colleges whose Professors Make Themselves Available.
In comments published in the 2005 edition, CMC students offered their own assessments of the school. One declared, "Economics, accounting and government are CMC's strong suits, and they're STRONG strong suits!" Another said that, while students do encounter serious competition in the classroom, it's hardly ever nasty, as "there is a lot of academic cooperation" among students. Others complimented faculty and administration alike for their accessibility, saying "professors here are excellent and completely accessible," and "students see administrators walking around campus almost every day. It's not uncommon to randomly run into the president."
The Review also highlighted CMC's "balanced sensibility about life," quoting a student who suggested the college motto should be "work hard, play hard."