Claremont McKenna College has released its supplemental essay prompts for the Class of 2031. This year, students applying to Claremont McKenna must respond to two essay prompts, each 250 words. You’ve come to the right place to assess how to best approach these supplemental essay responses to put your best foot forward on your Claremont McKenna application. 

2026-2027 Claremont McKenna College Required Essay Prompts

1. 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. (250 words)

This is a pretty straightforward Why College prompt that is best responded to with specific after specific regarding why you want to make Claremont McKenna your home. But not just any specific. If you think you can get away with citing the names of professors and course titles and call it a day, think again. These details are subject to change from year to year and don’t capture the enduring essence of what sets CMC apart from other schools. Instead, you should research resources and opportunities that remain the same from year to year, including advising structures, fellowships, activities, traditions, student groups, and celebrations. 

With only 250 words to answer this question, every sentence should punch a Claremont McKenna specific that underscores how you’ll pursue your singular hook on campus. And for those of you who don’t already know, your singular hook is the specific pursuit, topic, cause, art form, or discipline that should form the basis of your application. It’s the kind of thing you’ve devoted a ton of time to in high school and will continue to pursue once on campus. Therefore, the specifics you choose to cite in this essay should put forward a narrative, one in which you continue to pursue your singular hook at Claremont McKenna by leveraging the many resources and opportunities you would be able to access if given the gift of admission.

2. 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. We want to learn more about your commitment to listening and learning from others with different viewpoints, perspectives, and life experiences from your own. 

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. What was the change that occurred for you, and what facilitated that change? What did you learn from that experience, and how has it informed how you engage with others? (250 words)

To put it simply, Claremont McKenna does not want to admit students who will spend their four years on campus expounding their intolerance from a megaphone, setting up encampments, or promoting hateful rhetoric in an ideological echo chamber. Instead, they want to admit team players with the capacity to engage across the aisle with those who hold differing opinions. Therefore, in your response to this question, you should use all the tools in your narrative toolkit to craft a compelling response that shows rather than tells that you have a capacity to disagree without conflict. That means reflecting on a specific instance that includes setting, character, and dialogue. And don’t be afraid to admit that this experience caused you to grow as a person. In fact, CMC wants to see that this moment led to other moments of thoughtful, empathetic engagement with others, and will serve as an ideological bedrock for your time on campus. 

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with Your Claremont McKenna Application

If you’re interested in optimizing your odds of admission to Claremont McKenna College by submitting stellar essays that inspire Claremont McKenna admissions officers to root for your case for admission, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch with an outline of our college counseling services for seniors.