New Here orientation guide

New Here? Start with this.

The incoming 5C student guide to not feel lost in Claremont. Send this to a first-year, transfer, grad student, parent, or roommate group chat — it is built to be saved, screenshot, and shared before orientation week gets noisy.

EatCheap food, coffee, and low-stress first meals. DealsStudent discounts and ways to spend less without feeling broke. EventsOne reason to leave your dorm, one to cross campus. HousingLearn the off-campus neighborhoods before everyone panics. MapCampuses, the Village, food, and study spots on one map.

Start here

First 24 hours, first week, first month, first semester

The goal is not to master Claremont immediately. The goal is to avoid being clueless about the basics and make one confident move at a time.

Step 1

First 24 hours

Do not optimize. Get oriented.

Save your campus safety number and learn the fastest way back to your dorm at night.
Walk from your room to Honnold-Mudd Library, the Village, and one dining hall that is not yours.
Put Claremont Station in your maps app so LA without a car feels possible from day one.
Ask two people where they actually eat when dining halls get old.

Step 2

First week

Build the map in your head.

Walk the full Village once: Yale, Harvard, Indian Hill, the bookstore blocks, and the coffee shops.
Attend one event at a college that is not yours, even if you only stay for 20 minutes.
Find a study spot that is not your bed: Honnold, a campus library, a courtyard, or a quiet cafe.
Learn the grocery triangle: convenient, cheap, and car-dependent are usually three different trips.

Step 3

First month

Pick routines before routines pick you.

Choose one weekly anchor off campus: farmers market, coffee, a run, a bookstore lap, or a cheap meal.
Try transit once before you need it. Take Foothill Transit or Metrolink on a low-stakes day.
Bookmark the student discounts page and ask local businesses if they have a student rate.
Learn the social geography: the 5Cs overlap, but each campus has a different default rhythm.

Step 4

First semester

Make Claremont bigger than your dorm group.

Join one cross-college club, lab, publication, volunteer group, or recurring event.
Have one meal in the Village that becomes your reliable cheap food backup.
Start noticing housing streets and commute distances long before leases become urgent.
Take one full day trip by rail so Claremont feels connected to the region, not isolated from it.

Screenshot this

20 things every incoming 5C student should know

A compact list for the group chat: practical, low-drama, and useful before you know the acronyms.

The mountains are not background decoration. Go north and you hit foothills fast.
The Village is your starter city: food, coffee, errands, records, books, and the farmers market.
Honnold-Mudd is the shared academic living room, not just a library.
Cross-registration is real; the best class for you may be at another 5C.
The first good friend may come from a club or event, not your hall.
Ask about student discounts everywhere before paying full price.
Cheap food matters. Have one reliable under-budget meal before finals week.
A bike helps, but a good lock matters just as much.
Metrolink makes downtown LA without a car normal if you plan around the schedule.
Parents and visiting friends will ask where to eat. Keep a short list ready.

Every campus has quiet corners; learn at least one that is not on your home campus.
The Sunday farmers market is a better reset than scrolling in bed.
Campus identity is real, but isolation on one campus is optional.
Go to one speaker, performance, game, show, or dinner you would not have picked at home.
Grad students, staff, locals, and upperclassmen know the practical hacks. Ask them.
The best study spots change by hour: morning cafes, afternoon libraries, evening lounges.
Do not wait until sophomore year to learn where groceries, transit, and urgent errands are.
You can be overwhelmed and still be doing Claremont correctly.
Save useful pages before orientation group chats bury them.
Claremont becomes smaller, friendlier, and more useful every time you cross a boundary.

Social geography

What each campus is like, without making it your whole personality

These are shortcuts, not boxes. Use them to cross campus more confidently, not to stereotype people.

Pomona

Big liberal-arts center of gravity with lots of shared academic and social overlap.

CMC

Policy, economics, speakers, dining-room conversations, and a very intentional social rhythm.

Scripps

Beautiful courtyards, humanities energy, strong community rituals, and places people underestimate.

Pitzer

Creative, activist, outdoorsy, and close to Scripps in both geography and daily movement.

Harvey Mudd

STEM intensity, collaborative problem sets, distinctive culture, and friends who know things work.

CGU + KGI

Graduate-school orbit: older students, professional programs, and useful perspective beyond undergrad life.

Do this early

How not to get isolated on one campus

Pick one recurring thing that is not hosted by your own college.
Invite someone to walk to the Village instead of only meeting in dining halls.
Use events as low-pressure excuses to see other campuses.
Learn the map by walking it; the 5Cs feel far apart until they do not.

Find a cross-campus event

Transit

How to get to LA without a car

Start with Claremont Station, check Metrolink times before you leave, and plan your return before your phone battery becomes the problem.

Open the map before you go

Food + money

Eat cheap, study well

Cheap food is a system, not a single restaurant. And do not wait until midterms to discover where you can actually focus.

Best cheap food habits

Keep one dining-hall fallback, one Village meal, and one grocery meal in rotation.
Coffee plus a pastry is not dinner; find your real cheap food before week three.
Use the Eat guide when parents visit, when friends disagree, or when you need something walkable.

Use the Eat guide Check the free-food radar

Best study spots strategy

Honnold-Mudd for shared library energy and the feeling that everyone is working.
Your home-campus library or academic building for short gaps between classes.
A Village cafe for daylight work when you need to feel like a person, not just a student.
Outdoor courtyards when the weather is good and your room has become a trap.

Next clicks

Turn this guide into a plan

Five minutes now can save you a month of random guessing.

Save money with DealsStudent prices before you pay full price.Learn Housing geographyNeighborhoods and commutes before leases get urgent.Pick one EventOne low-pressure reason to cross campus this week.Choose first mealsWalkable food for week one and parent visits.Pack the right stuffWhat to bring to Claremont, and what to leave home.Browse all guidesGetting around, cheap eats, free food, parents weekend.