Though the coronavirus pandemic threw the transition to college into uncertainty for many prospective students, the 5Cs released their admissions decisions in March and have mostly assembled their classes of 2024, pending waitlist decisions.
The cancellation of admitted students’ visits to campuses and a lack of knowledge about the nature of fall classes presented many incoming students with difficult decisions about their next steps.
Nationwide, more students are considering gap years in anticipation of a semester heavily impacted by COVID-19. But the admissions offices at each of the undergraduate Claremont Colleges don’t anticipate that a possible increase will have an impact on admissions for the classes of 2025.
As in recent years, many of the 5Cs are withholding some admissions statistics, but Pomona College and Pitzer College have released some details on their incoming students.
Pitzer admitted 676 students from 40 states, Washington D.C. and 33 countries. The admitted class is 37.4 percent male, 57.5 percent female, 2.7 percent another gender and 2.4 percent undisclosed. The class is also 10.8 percent first generation, 10.2 percent international and 46 percent students of color.
Pitzer’s admissions rate was 15.9 percent, an increase of 2.2 percent from last year.
The coronavirus has affected the composition of Pitzer’s admitted class — students who declined to attend Pitzer reported “proximity to home” as a factor at a higher-than-normal rate — but it is “still unsure how this will impact who will start in the fall,” Vice President for Admission Yvonne Berumen said.
Pomona has admitted 745 students from 634 schools and “is currently projected to be on target at 435 students, the same new student goal we’ve had for several years,” Director of Admissions Adam Sapp said via email earlier this month.
The students admitted to the Pomona class of 2024 are from 49 states, Washington D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico and 45 countries. It includes 16 QuestBridge scholars, eight students who finished a gap year, 26 transfer students, and four military veterans.
The admitted class is 52 percent female and 48 percent male, 20.7 percent first generation, 13.6 percent international, and 58.8 percent domestic students of color.
In order to accommodate changing plans due to the pandemic, Pomona allowed students to request a deferral of admission up until May 1. A written plan for their gap year was due on June 1.
Scripps College has not yet released statistics on their admitted class, including its acceptance rate.
“We will release statistics for the class once the Common Data Set is complete for this admission cycle and the data has been reconciled,” Vice President for Enrollment Victoria Romero said.
According to Romero, the class of 2024’s composition “has not changed significantly from previous years,” and the number of admitted and waitlisted students is similar to previous years.
Scripps President Lara Tiedens shared in a May community update that the college received more than 3,000 applications. Last year, 3,022 students applied.
Harvey Mudd College has also not published admissions statistics for the class of 2024 because “this is a particularly uncertain year which is why we have not shared details about the incoming class,” Vice President for Admission Thyra Briggs said.
Harvey Mudd admissions anticipates the class will “continue to change in the coming weeks,” Briggs said, as they make offers to students on the waitlist.
“We did have a somewhat larger alternate list this year, and we have been able to make some offers to students from the alternate list,” Briggs said.
Despite the challenges admissions faced this year, Briggs said Mudd remains optimistic that it will be able to meet its goal of 228 students for the class of 2024.
The yield and composition of Claremont McKenna College’s admitted class has not differed due to coronavirus, according to CMC spokesperson Gilien Silsby. The CMC admissions team did not alter its acceptances in anticipation of coronavirus, nor did it change the number of students it put on the waitlist.
Harvey Mudd, Scripps, Claremont McKenna and Pomona have not released their admissions rate for this year. The schools will release comprehensive information in the fall.