It is the founding member of a local consortium of colleges, the Claremont Colleges. The Claremont colleges try to deliver the attention of a small college, with the resources of a large university (shared by the consortium).
It is a top-10 liberal arts college, as rated by U.S. News and World Report. In ratings by students, it usually scores as one of the top five "fun" schools. One student said "It's sort of like going to a summer camp where you also work very hard."
It is very selective. Roughly one in three students applying is accepted.
It is expensive. In 2003, a year of tuition, room, board and textbooks cost about $38,000.
The school's athletic program participates, in conjunction with Pitzer College (another consorium member), in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the NCAA's Division III. The school's sports teams are called the Sagehens.