What Claremont McKenna College looks for
- A clear link between your goals and CMC's mission of leadership in business, government, and the professions.
- Genuine openness to changing your mind, central to the Open Academy prompt.
- Specific reasons for CMC rather than generic praise of a small liberal-arts college.
- Intellectual engagement and constructive dialogue over winning an argument.
Claremont McKenna College supplemental prompts (2026-27)
Why CMC
250 wordsRequired“CMC's mission is to prepare students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions. With this mission in mind, please explain why you want to attend Claremont McKenna College.”
How to approach it. Anchor your answer in CMC's leadership mission and name specific programs, institutes, or the consortium that fit your goals. Connect what you want to do after college to the path CMC offers. Specificity signals you understand what makes CMC different from other small colleges.
Open Academy / Viewpoint Diversity
250 wordsRequired“A critical part of fulfilling our mission is living out the commitments of CMC's Open Academy: Freedom of Expression, Viewpoint Diversity, and Constructive Dialogue. Describe a time when engaging with someone about a specific topic resulted in you changing your attitude, belief, or behavior, or you changed the belief or behavior of someone else.”
How to approach it. Choose a real exchange where minds actually moved, and be honest about the discomfort of changing or being changed. CMC values constructive dialogue, so show respect for the other person even in disagreement. Focus on one specific topic and trace the shift concretely rather than describing debate in general.
Score your Claremont McKenna College draft, free
Paste your draft into Halo and get instant feedback scored against a Claremont McKenna College-specific rubric — line by line, exactly what is working and what reads as generic. Halo never writes your essay for you.
Try Halo freeYour angel in admissions.
Claremont McKenna College essay FAQ
- How many supplemental essays does Claremont McKenna College require?
- Claremont McKenna requires two supplemental essays, each up to 250 words: a Why CMC essay and an Open Academy essay about changing or being changed through dialogue.
- How long are the Claremont McKenna College supplemental essays?
- Each of the two CMC supplemental essays is limited to 250 words.
- How can I tell if my Claremont McKenna College essay is strong?
- A strong CMC set shows mission-aligned reasons for attending and genuine openness in dialogue. Halo scores your drafts against a CMC-specific rubric so you can check whether your fit and your willingness to change your mind come through before you submit.
Sources & official links
- Claremont McKenna College official website
- Claremont McKenna College on College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education)
- Prompts and requirements are published by Claremont McKenna College on its official application and admissions pages.
Prompts shown are from the 2026-27 cycle and reflect each school’s officially published questions. Schools release new supplements each year; we update these guides each cycle.