CMC is known for its faculty's conservative political orientation relative to comparable liberal arts colleges.

Notable alumni include prominent politicians and financiers such as Henry Kravis, a significant benefactor of CMC.

CMC founded with the mission to foster leadership in its students in the fields of government, economics, and international affairs.

[14] The women of the earliest classes of CMC are known as "Pioneers" and graduated with degrees that still bore the "Claremont's Mens College" moniker.

Then-president Jack Stark told The New York Times he did not wish to comment on "whether [the incident] was or was not degrading to women".

[22][23] A 2013 Time article opined that "such a small differential could not have significantly affected U.S. News & World Report rankings".

[24] A report commissioned by the college claimed to have found no evidence that these misrepresentations were made to inflate the school's rankings.

[31][32] On April 6, 2017, a group of approximately 300 student protesters (many of whom attended the other Claremont Colleges) blockaded the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum in an attempt to shut down a speech by conservative pundit Heather Mac Donald.

The college disciplined seven of its students who participated in the blockade, including suspending two for a semester and three for a full year.

[37] The Campaign for CMC: Responsible Leadership raised more than $1 billion to double the size of its campus and expand science programs, faculty and financial aid.

[40][41][42][43][44][45][non-primary source needed] CMC is chartered as a private, non-profit organization and is a member of the seven-institution Claremont Colleges consortium.

[46] The privately appointed, 40-voting-member board of trustees elects a president to serve as chief executive officer of the college.

[48] U.S. News & World Report's 2025 rankings rated Claremont McKenna as tied for 8th-best liberal arts college in the United States.

[60] The college, which operates on a semester system, has 12 academic departments, 11 research institutes and 33 on-campus majors, the most popular of which are economics, government, psychology, economics-accounting and international relations.

Claremont McKenna's curricular emphasis is on its social sciences, particularly economics, government, international relations, and psychology.

CMC also offers an Oxford-style tutorial Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major with two separate tracks of 14 students each.

[76][77] Although the college's social scene draws students from the other schools in the consortium and is enjoyed by many, it has also drawn criticism.

A 2012 Campus Climate Task Force report published by the school described a "pervasive, 'hyper-masculine' and heteronormative ethos at CMC" and noted that "while female students are valued as friends and intellectual colleagues during the day, at night and particularly on the weekends, female students reportedly feel they are objectified targets for sex or 'hook-ups.

The Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum hosts more than one hundred dinner and lecture events with speakers representing a range of disciplines and ideological perspectives each year, serving as the college's central intellectual and social hub.

The Athenaeum hosts speakers four nights a week,[87] and also serves daily afternoon tea in its library, featuring chocolate-covered strawberries and pastries.

The Athenaeum has hosted such speakers as former President Bill Clinton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, authors Gore Vidal and Salman Rushdie, cybernetics expert Kevin Warwick, former Attorney General Janet Reno, filmmaker Spike Lee, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak, The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, U2 frontman and activist Bono, CNN journalist Anderson Cooper, former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, Harvard Professor Danielle Allen, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, retired U.S. Army General Stanley A. McChrystal and former governor of Massachusetts and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

CMC's Mid Quad is home to Beckett, Berger, Benson, Phillips, Crown, Marks and Claremont Halls, which feature long interior corridors, double and single rooms, large shared-bathroom facilities and all-dorm lounge areas.

[88] Berger, Claremont and Benson Halls are connected, and make up a larger building known on campus as BCB.

The tallest buildings in Claremont are "The Towers", Auen, Fawcett, and Stark Halls, which make up South Quad.

Auen and Fawcett underwent complete interior renovations in the summer of 2008.The Student Apartments lie to the east of the college's athletic facilities and to the west of Claremont Boulevard.

The Senate is chaired by the executive vice president of ASCMC, and is tasked with passing resolutions to influence institutional policy, funding student-led initiatives, and bringing in administrators and other college stakeholders for town hall discussions.

[98] The teams participate in NCAA Division III in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Student life revolves around the colleges as they interact socially and also share seven dining halls, four main libraries and other facilities spread throughout the campuses.

This is the general academic policy at the schools and is meant to give students the resources of a larger university while still maintaining the qualities of a small, liberal-arts college.

Claremont McKenna completed what was then the largest fundraising campaign ever initiated by a liberal arts college, raising $635 million, from 2008 - 2013.