Claremont McKenna College [CMC]: Rankings, Courses, Admissions, Tuition Fee, Cost of Attendance & Scholarships

Claremont McKenna College Popular Courses and Fees 2027

Claremont McKenna College is an undergraduate-focused institution and awards a Bachelor of Arts across 32 majors. All BA programs run four academic years and carry a uniform tuition of $75,300 per year for 2026-27, which totals $301,200 across the degree before annual revisions. The Robert Day School of Economics and Finance also runs a one-year MA in Finance, but that graduate route is restricted to students from select partnering liberal arts colleges and is not open to direct Indian applicants.

Economics, Government and International Relations are the three most-declared majors and route into the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies and the Rose Institute of State and Local Government. A CMC BA is a single, unified degree, so Indian students should treat all programs above as equal-priced pathways with different research center affiliations.

Insider note: Indian applicants typically cluster in Economics-Accounting, PPE and International Relations because these pathways feed directly into finance, consulting and policy recruiting at the Robert Day School career center.

Read More: Claremont McKenna College Courses and Programs Guide

Claremont McKenna College Admission 2027

CMC admits first-year students for Fall entry only, and Indian applicants use the Common Application or Coalition Application. The college is test-optional for SAT and ACT through Fall 2027, so submitting scores is not required for admission.

Indian applicants who need financial aid must complete the CMC Financial Aid Application for International Students — CSS Profile and FAFSA are not used for this cohort. The application fee is $75, and fee waivers are available to students facing hardship on request via the Common Application.

Planning note: Indian students targeting the January 10 Regular Decision deadline should begin IELTS or Duolingo test prep by August 2026 and secure two academic recommendations by mid-October to leave slack for transcript uploads.

Read More: Claremont McKenna College Admissions Guide for Indian Students

Claremont McKenna College Admission Requirements for Indian Applicants 2027

Claremont McKenna College evaluates Indian first-year applicants on academic record, essays, recommendations and demonstrated interest, with English-language proficiency as a hard gate.

• Class 12 academic record: CBSE, ICSE or State Board with 85% or higher across all subjects (recommended, no official cutoff published).
• English proficiency: IELTS 7.5, or TOEFL iBT 100 (0-120 legacy scale) or 5.5 (1-6 scale for exams after 21 January 2026), or Duolingo English Test 130, or Cambridge C1 Advanced/C2 Proficiency 190.
• Standardised tests: SAT and ACT are test-optional through Fall 2027, so Indian applicants may skip them.
• Recommendations: One counsellor letter and two teacher recommendations from Class 11 or Class 12 core subjects.

Predicted or final Class 12 marksheets, official school transcripts covering Class 9 to Class 12, and a school profile are required. Applicants filing for need-based aid must also submit the CMC International Financial Aid Application with the main application.

Key insight: Indian students who complete Class 12 in English-medium schools can request an IELTS or TOEFL waiver by writing to admission@cmc.edu, though approvals are case-by-case and never guaranteed.

Claremont McKenna College Acceptance Rate 2027

Claremont McKenna College reported an overall 10.3% acceptance rate for the Class of 2027 in its official Common Data Set, admitting 727 students from 7,055 applications. The rate has trended down over three cycles and now places CMC among the ten most selective liberal arts colleges in the United States.

Early Decision applicants historically see a higher admit rate than Regular Decision, though CMC does not publish the ED-specific figure by cohort. International admit rates are typically tighter than the overall rate because of visa cohort caps.

Reality check: An Indian applicant with a 90%+ Class 12 record, strong essays and a clear economics or public policy narrative should treat the effective admit chance as closer to 6-8%, not the headline 10.3%.

Read More: Claremont McKenna College Acceptance Rate Analysis

Claremont McKenna College Fees and Cost of Living for Indian Students 2027

The published cost of attendance at Claremont McKenna College for 2026-27 is $101,990 (₹96.4 lakh), of which $98,990 (₹93.5 lakh) is direct-billed and roughly $3,000 (₹2.8 lakh) is indirect. Health insurance adds $3,312 (₹3.1 lakh) if the student does not carry equivalent private cover.

Claremont McKenna College Tuition Fees for Indian Students 2027

Tuition is uniform across BA majors and revised annually. The figures below reflect the 2026-27 rate published on the CMC Student Accounts page.

Claremont McKenna College Monthly Cost of Living in Claremont for Indian Students

Residential Indian undergraduates live on the CMC campus for all four years under the college’s residency requirement. The figures below use CMC’s official 9-month academic-year estimates.

Insider note: Indian students who select a smaller meal plan (12 or 8 meals per week) can trim food costs by $500 to $2,000 per year without leaving the on-campus dining hall network.

Read More: Cost of Living in USA for Indian Students

Claremont McKenna College Campus, Facilities and Student Life

The 69-acre CMC campus sits in Claremont, a suburban college town roughly 35 miles east of Los Angeles, and forms part of the seven-institution Claremont Colleges consortium.

• Location and access: Campus is 45 minutes from Ontario International Airport and 90 minutes from Los Angeles International Airport by Metrolink train or shuttle.
• Housing: On-campus housing is guaranteed for all four years, and roughly 95% of undergraduates live in residence halls.
• Consortium access: CMC students cross-register at Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Scripps and Pitzer and use the shared Honnold-Mudd Library.
• Research centers: The Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies and Rose Institute run funded student research year-round.
• Indian community: International students make up about 14% of the student body, with a South Asian Students Association and Diwali on the Roberts Pavilion lawn as anchor events.

What Indian students say: Small class sizes with an 8:1 student-faculty ratio give direct access to professors, and the campus dining hall accommodates vegetarian and Jain requests on advance notice.

Claremont McKenna College Scholarships 2027

Claremont McKenna College offers both need-based aid and merit-based scholarships to international undergraduates, funded through the college’s endowment rather than external donors. Indian applicants must indicate a request for financial aid at the point of application; retroactive requests are not accepted.

Merit scholarship priority closes December 1, 2026. Indian applicants aiming for both need-based and merit consideration should submit the Common Application and the CMC International Financial Aid Application together before that date.

Planning note: The Robert Day Scholars Program is selected in the sophomore year and is not an entry-year scholarship, so first-year Indian applicants should plan for need-based aid or family funding for at least the first two years.

Read More: Claremont McKenna College Scholarships Guide

Claremont McKenna College Rankings 2027

Claremont McKenna College is ranked #7 among National Liberal Arts Colleges in the US News Best Colleges 2026 edition, tied with Pomona College. QS World, THE World and ARWU Shanghai do not rank US liberal arts colleges as single institutions in their world editions, so US News, Forbes and Collegedunia Study Abroad are the load-bearing bodies for CMC.

CMC also ranks strongly for undergraduate economics and government in US News subject lists, and the Rose Institute of State and Local Government carries independent policy-research recognition. On the Collegedunia Study Abroad global list, CMC sits at #295 of 824 universities across all countries.

Key insight: The #7 US News rank matters for Indian applicants because major Indian education loan lenders like HDFC Credila and Avanse recognise top-25 US LACs on their preferred list, which unlocks higher collateral-free loan slabs.

Read More: Claremont McKenna College Rankings Analysis

Claremont McKenna College Placements and Career Outcomes 2027

Claremont McKenna College reports that more than 95% of graduates are employed, in graduate school or in fellowships within six months of graduation, according to the CMC Soll Center for Student Opportunity outcomes report.

• Post-graduation outcome rate: Over 95% employed, in graduate school or in fellowships within six months.
• Median starting salary (recent classes): $80,000 or ₹75.6 lakh (estimated, based on public labor-market data for CMC economics graduates).
• Sector concentration: Investment banking, management consulting, technology, public policy and law school pipelines.
• Representative recruiters: Bulge-bracket banks, top-tier consulting firms and tier-one technology employers recruit on-campus through the Soll Center; specific 2027 recruiter list not disclosed publicly.
• Post-study work: 12-month OPT for all F-1 graduates; 36 months total for STEM-designated concentrations such as Data Science and Neuroscience.

Insider note: Indian graduates targeting US finance roles benefit from CMC’s Silverstein Financial Recruiting Trek to New York, which runs each January and gives second-year students first-round interviews with investment banks.

Claremont McKenna College vs Peer Universities

Peer comparison uses the top National Liberal Arts Colleges most cross-applied by Indian students who target CMC, spanning the Claremont Consortium and the East Coast NESCAC and Little Three cohorts.

CMC stands out on two axes among peer LACs. It runs the most vertically integrated economics and finance track through the Robert Day School, and it retains full-tuition need-based aid for admitted internationals, which some peer LACs restrict.

Claremont McKenna College suits Indian students who want a small residential college with 8:1 faculty access and a clear line into US finance, consulting or public-policy recruiting. Four-year direct-cost investment sits near $301,200 or ₹284.6 lakh before financial aid, and CMC’s need-based aid can compress that meaningfully for eligible families. The unique advantage is the Robert Day School pipeline plus F-1 to OPT to H-1B continuity for STEM-designated majors.

CMC is not the right choice for Indian applicants who want a large research university, direct entry to a Masters degree in India-style engineering, or a January intake. Those applicants should compare with universities in USA at the R1 research tier such as University of Michigan, Purdue University or the University of California system.