<p>Hey all!</p>
<p>Right now I am beside myself between Pomona, my current school, and one other high-caliber school.</p>
<p>I am visiting Pomona (hopefully) in a few days. What should I be sure to check out while there?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>-A Cajun bumpkin</p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptance as a transfer!</p>
<p>Because Commencement was on the 16th, the campus probably will be pretty quiet; however, if you call/e-mail ahead, you might be able to meet with administrators or faculty members in areas of interest to you. Definitely walk around the campus and try to chat with any students you encounter. Make sure you take in the scenery - the mountains, the palm trees, the other CC campuses, and Claremont Village. Check out Smith Campus Center and the different offices there. Just soak everything in so you can get a sense of the fit.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Okay, thanks for the advice! Can’t wait to visit. :)</p>
<p>Make sure that you get a burrito at Juanita’s, on Indian Hill Blvd. south of the 10 Freeway. </p>
<p>Drive all the way up to the end of Mt. Baldy Road. You will be amazed that you can get up to 7000-8000 feet elevation 35 minutes from campus. There will still be snow at the top.</p>
<p>Many faculty will be around and in their offices part of the day, so I’d make sure to contact one or two and see if you could drop by and say hello. Most are very friendly, and probably have a bit more time now that the year is over and students have left.
There are some students who are working with profs or in labs over the summer, so there might be a few around. You might also check to see if there is an Admission’s Office tour when you’d be visiting, which would be worth doing, even though you’ve been admitted.<br>
Congratulations, btw. My son graduated on Sunday. He absolutely loved Pomona.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll definitely do everything you’ve mentioned. I sent emails to some heads of departments earlier today, so hopefully I can meet with a few professors as well, and I plan to attend an information session and tour.</p>
<p>Anything I should ask the tour guide to talk about in particular?</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>Just know that if you decide to transfer to Pomona, you’ll be in a sponsor group with transfer and exchange students so you’ll have that in common with them. If you’re not familiar with sponsor groups, the tour guide should be able to fill you in.</p>
<p>Okay! I’ll read more about them and then be sure to ask the tour guide to elaborate! </p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>very nice! congrats! I’m looking into Pomona as a transfer next year. In all honesty, it’s really hard to find info/transfer tips for Pomona and other small liberal arts colleges. If you don’t mind me asking what other college accepted you? and what were you stats?</p>
<p>Congrats!</p>
<p>If you don’t mind, what were some of your stats and can you explain how the process went? I’m looking to transfer there too</p>
<p>Hey! Thank you guys. I unfortunately have decided not to attend Pomona, but hopefully I can be of some help.</p>
<p>For transfer I was accepted at McGill, Davidson, and UPenn in addition to Pomona. I was waitlisted at Columbia. I was rejected from Yale, Amherst, and Williams.</p>
<p>It was a bit different than other schools, because Pomona required its own application to be filled out. One tip – the financial aid forms are due before the application itself! Make sure to get those in!</p>
<p>My stats were as follows:
Applying to transfer as a junior;
APs of 4 in AP Bio and AP Eng. Comp., 5 in AP Eng. Lit.
GPA of 3.8 from Sewanee (The University of the South), a small lac
SAT IIs of 720, 740, and 760
ACT of 34
SAT of 2380
Involved in both branches of student gov’t at Sewanee
Participated in annual dance exhibition at Sewanee (2 years)
Submitted link to various art/video/audio work (not sure if they saw this, even)
Various community service; volunteering at AIDs hospice in high school, tutoring high schoolers and non-native English speakers at Sewanee
Created a club centered around converting an automobile to ethanol
Applied with the intention to major in philosophy and minor in physics </p>
<p>I think the essays play a big role at Pomona, since my stats are okay but nothing super insane (and I received a written comment about my application – not sure how common this is). One of mine chronicled my disappointment with my current institution all the while alluding to Ulysses’ odyssey home, but more focused on what I -did- get out of Sewanee and how it helped me figure out what I really wanted to learn and do. I focused also on what I ideally wanted out of college as far as academics and experience and why Pomona in particular fit the bill. </p>
<p>After you establish that you can get the most out of the school (and why), make sure you portray yourself as yourself. My second essay recounted a very interesting series of greyhound trips, and in it I made sure to reference how the people I encountered affected my eventual volunteering and how the story depicted my desire to extend myself beyond my comfort zone (important parts of who I am) all without simply stating the above or (hopefully) appearing insincere. I tried to include a few humorous episodes as well. (This was something I wasn’t able to include in all of the college apps)</p>
<p>Definitely just show that you have a passion for something and then establish why it “speaks” to you and why it will help you give and take from Pomona. Also ignore anything that isn’t genuine, because if it’s genuine you’ll be able to express why you love doing it and why it’s important for them to know – otherwise they can probably tell you’re doing it just to buff your stats (obviously you don’t have a huge amount of time to find genuine passions, though, so that’s understandable). </p>
<p>Show who you are, but don’t tell. After reading your essays and application they should have an idea of how you act in real life and interact with people, how you will organize and focus yourself in a college environment. </p>
<p>I hope that helps somewhat… definitely ask any questions if you have them! Transferring is difficult. blah.</p>