Claremont McKenna College - Inside Scoop

School Slang

• 5Cs - The Five College Consortium: Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, Scripps, Harvey Mudd, and Pomona.
• Camp Sec - Campus security force.
• GE - General Education; basic requirement classes you need to take to graduate.
• Green Beach - The grassy spot between Green dorm and Parents field, named a beach because we’re too lazy to actually go to a real beach.
• Informs - The e-mail information messages sent to students daily.
• Mix Bowl - Local fast food Thai place open late. Avoid the Hotdog Pad Thai.
• Parents - The big grassy field to play on between Green and the Towers.

• Pods - The little lounge buildings attached to the North Quad dorms with huge rooms on top.
• Ponding - Getting thrown in the fountain on your birthday (and sometimes for no reason at all).
• Poppa - The main computer lab on campus. Actually named after an alumnus, and not because it’s the big daddy lab.
• Prospie - A visiting high school student, so, you.
• Round Table - Pizza place open late. Kinda like cheesy cardboard.
• RTA - Resident Technology Assistant, the person who can solve all your computer troubles.
• South Park - The computer lab in South Quad in the Stark Dorm.

• Story House - The facilities office, responsible for keeping the campus looking amazing 24/7.
• The Ath - The Athenaeum, the nice dining room where we host our speaker series and eat delicious food.
• The Buf - The Buffalo Inn; has good happy hour deals.
• The Lei - Shady strip club on foothill—funniest signs ever.
• The Towers - Auen, Fawcett and Stark, the South Quad seven story dorms.
• The Village - The little four block shopping area a few minutes away with great restaurants and cool local clothing boutiques.

Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School

• ASCMC, the student government, buys your alcohol.
• CMC is about more than economics and government.

• CMC’s Orientation is about as much fun as any human being can have.
• Fly into Ontario Airport; avoid LAX!

• Go on a WOA! trip (Wilderness Orientation Adventure).

Tips to Succeed

• For the love of all things holy, go abroad!
• Go to all the tech orientation sessions.
• Go to office hours!

• Go to tutoring and use the Writing Center.
• Go to your local new students party.
• If you don’t own a pair or flip flops, get some Reefs or Rainbows.

• Make your RTA your best friend.
• Read the informs, or you’ll have no idea what’s up.

Urban Legends

• Abercrombie & Fitch is the only interview the Career Services will tell you not to dress up for.

• Before building the towers, CMC bought the town of Claremont a fire truck tall enough to reach the top so that the school could get their building plans approved.

• Robin Williams was expelled after just a semester for crashing a golf cart into the dining hall.

Traditions

• Monte Carlo - For Homecoming each year, ASCMC turns the dining hall into a giant casino with blackjack, poker, and roulette. Outside there is a hardwood dance floor where couples can swing dance to big band music all night long. Chips won in the casino can be traded in for raffle tickets with two tickets to Hawaii as the top prize.