Along with a new batch of valedictorians, star athletes, and campus leaders, the 5Cs welcomed a more geographically diverse first year class this fall. As the reputation of the Claremont Colleges grows within the United States and oversees, more students from around the world are choosing Claremont as their educational destination.

According to profiles of the Class of 2014 and the Class of 2015 at Harvey Mudd College (HMC), the number of students from California decreased six percent from last year, and the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho experienced an even larger decrease in representation. According to HMC Director of Admissions Peter Osgood, some of those numbers have been replaced by students from “New York, and also China.” At HMC, China ranks sixth on the list of U.S. states and foreign nations from which the college enrolls students.

Pomona College experienced a similar phenomenon at the start of the last decade, which has resulted in the college becoming “the least Californian of all the Claremont Colleges,” according to Pomona Admissions Officer Jonathan Peterson.

"At Pomona, the goal is to have a geographically diverse campus," Peterson said. "Sometimes, there are geographic shifts between years [to meet this goal], and sometimes there are not.”

The most dramatic difference this year involves the increase in international students at the 5Cs. According to Scripps Admissions Counselor Kayla Brooks, Scripps is “seeing an increase in international applicants” though “the geographic distribution [within the United States] has remained fairly consistent.”

Pomona determines students to be international, according to Wei Jun Mun PO '12, if they are “neither a U.S. citizen nor a permanent resident, regardless of where he or she may live or attend high school.” According to this definition, Pomona has seen a 20 percent increase in the total number of admitted international students between the Class of 2014 and the Class of 2015.

Numbers across the 5Cs vary according to different interpretations of "international." Both Mun and Tim Campos, Assistant Dean of Admissions at Pitzer College, mentioned that there are many students in the Class of 2015 with “a significant and measurable international background,” which gives the class additional social diversity. At Pomona, for example, the total number of students that have extensive international experience, including visa students, immigrant students, and others, totals to 67 people or about 17 percent of the graduating class.