Claremont McKenna College

The academic emphasis at Claremont McKenna is on political science and economics, but students can take classes offered by other members of the Claremont Colleges, a consortium that includes Pomona College, Scripps College, Harvey Mudd College and Pitzer College. CMC itself is small, with around 1,300 undergraduate students. The college's core curriculum includes some first-year seminars and a senior thesis, but it also requires students to complete three semesters of physical education within their first two years, though there are a variety of course options to help fulfill the requirement, like breakdancing, horseback riding and surfing. Graduates of Claremont McKenna often go on to have lucrative careers, with median earnings around $86,600. Well-known alums include Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and Michael Jeffries, the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch. In their downtime, CMC students can relax at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum, a college club where students and faculty gather to dine and listen to guest speakers ranging from Condoleezza Rice and Karl Rove to Jonathan Franzen and Ta-Nehisi Coates.