<p>I have been accepted to both colleges and am having a difficult time choosing between the two. I am from Northern California and attended an all girls catholic high school for four years. I want to become involved in the international relations program and minor in a language. Also I will be a part of the school's golf team. Partying is not very appealing to me either, but some kind of social scene is important to me. Which school do you think would be best to meet my academic and social needs?</p>
<p>Congratulations. Great schools. Both schools are part of a cluster of colleges that share resources and students, so the social scene could, if you wanted it to, extend beyond your own campus at Amherst. At Pomona you’ll pretty much have no choice. Amherst offers a 7 course certificate program (21 cr.) in IR that has some simple language requirements. Pomona is much more the full-blown major of 30-36 credit hours with heavier language requirements and a two-semester senior thesis. If you’re pretty sure that IR is for you, that might make you look a little closer at Pomona. Frankly, doing IR without the language chops is missing the point imo. Socially, I’m a lot more friendly in flip-flops than mockers, but that’s just me. Something about sunshine. Remember, it was in Amherst that Dickinson spoke of winter days thus: There’s a certain Slant of light, / Winter Afternoons – / That oppresses, like the Heft / Of Cathedral Tunes. Hope this helps a little bit. I have no horse in this race.</p>
<p>Go to Pomona! Much better location (Yes, while you might be in the same state, NorCal and SoCal are world aparts), a consortium that you can utilize not just socially but academically without it being much of a hindrance (CMC has Arabic, Scripps has Italian), a better developed IR program (with some amazing Pitzer and CMC classes that can enhance Pomona’s offerings), and a friendlier vibe. There are over 270 clubs and organizations in the Claremont Colleges, all no more than a 15 minute walk away, all open to students from all the schools, whereas that sort of integration is not present with the 5 Colleges.</p>
<p>Congrats, this is a great problem to have. Most of this will come down to feel rather than academics - both are great schools, but you’ll do better at the one you feel more at home at.</p>
<p>Both are great schools, but you know that. I think both trade somewhat on their “member of a consortium” status, but Amherst and its consortium schools are separated by bus rides of up to an hour, whereas Pomona and its sister schools are, as I understand it, within walking distance. I have a D who went to Smith; for her to take classes at Mt Holyoke and UMass meant a big bite into the possibilities for scheduling (I don’t think she ever tried to take a course at Amherst, which might in fact be the closest college to Smith). Pomona seemed to have a more lively party scene, when my other daughter visited. Pomona has a core curriculum requirement; Amherst doesn’t, which means that there are lots of double and even triple majors at Amherst. So there are important differences, and I wish you the best in deciding between the two.</p>
<p>Just some points to the above:</p>
<p>The core is extremely easy to satisfy and is sort of inherent to everyone’s’ desire to explore here. Your major will satisfy 3 of the 5 requirements in of itself (as well as the foreign language requirement). Most Pomona students finish the 5 class requirement by freshman year.</p>
<p>Pomona has a party culture, but not as pervasive as some other places. A student who never parties will still find the campus lively and filled with interesting things to do (I’m one of them). </p>
<p>Congratulations! An amazing future awaits you. Excellent college choices. The decision of which college to attend can be as daunting as the application process itself,.</p>
<p>We are from So Cal; son’s a 1st year at his college of choice. Amherst & Pomona were among his 4 LA choices. Son determined it came down to where you feel you will fit best. Have you visited both campuses? Attended admitted students days? Overnights? Campus feel/impressions? Gut reactions? </p>
<p>Son’s final decision came down to where he could envision himself, felt most comfortable; included a sense of community on & off campus, students more like him, friendly, an energy & creativity that permeated the campus, active social scene, great college town, “no alcohol” options, and on campus parties open to everyone. He has developed deep friendships & is involved in numerous organizations. He is happy with his choice.</p>
<p>Major: I’d advise you to personally research IR majors at Amherst & Pomona, weigh credit/hours, programs etc.accurately; I think you’ll find them more similar than not. Pomona offers IR as an multidisciplinary major with pol sci,econ,hist, for lang. Amherst is similar, you can either customize/design your own interdisciplinary major (pol sci, econ, history, for lang,IR cert program etc., or choose to double or triple major with IR cert. There are no minors at Amherst. Thesis are a part of the interdisciplinary & double/triple major at Amherst as well. Travel abroad is easily accomplished at both colleges. All clubs/organizations are open to everyone within each consortium. Claremont Colleges consortium is all within walking distance, Amherst College consortium is accessible by a free bus system. Pomona & Amherst students tend to use the consortium far less than other colleges within each consortium.</p>
<p>Your college choices are excellent, You will be fine in the long run with whichever you choose. They are both very similar, after all Pomona modeled itself after New England LA colleges. It comes down to where you feel you’ll fit best.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. </p>
<p>While this is pretty subjective, I would go with Pomona, personally. While I’m sure that Amherst offers a wonderful education, the claremont consortium is one of the most unique undergrad experiences, where you’ll be able to have the intimacy of the liberal arts college within the diversity of a much larger (and extremely well-rounded) student body. CMC, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd, and Pomona are all very different sorts of schools that attract different kinds of students - that should be very appealing to you as somebody interested in majoring in international relations (A study which in so many ways is essentially concerned with the vast diversity of peoples in the world). </p>
<p>I’m assuming the money is pretty much equal. Second question would be have you visited both? They are vastly different in environment: location, weather, surrounding area, closest city. My guess is that you would be drawn more to one than the other. </p>
<p>I don’t know anything about golf at either one, but I would guess that at Amherst it’s pretty seasonal.</p>
<p>LAC name recognition tends to skew regionally. A lot of people on the east coast have never heard of Pomona and a lot of people on the west coast react the same to Amherst. Of course graduate school admissions and major employers (like the State Department) know both very well. But if the opinion of your relatives, neighbors and the wo/man-on-the-street is important to you, choose the college closer to where you think you’ll ultimately end up.</p>
<p>I’d rate both about equally in international relations, though Pomona leans more toward Asia-Pacific. Both offer terrific internships and alumni/ae network. Both have excellent track records for getting their students into excellent graduate schools. </p>
<p>One point you might think about is getting some exposure to another part of the country. Amherst has well established connections to Boston, New York, Washington, and it might be fun – and intellectually broadening – to experience life on the opposite coast. Getting out of your geographic comfort zone can be a good thing, especially if you’re interested in IR. I read that that was why Chelsea Clinton went to Stanford. :)</p>
<p>But hopefully you can visit first. </p>
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<p>I doubt if many people on the West Coast (or even in California) have heard of Pomona. Most people probably think it is a community college in Pomona.</p>
<p>Correction: most people think it is cal poly pomona</p>
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<p>I know this is true for Amherst (when we toured Amherst a few years ago, the tour guide was quite snotty when asked about this – he said no one he knew at Amherst had ever taken a class at one of the other schools). But I have honestly not heard that about Pomona. I could not find any sources for that. If there is any imbalance within the consortium, I sort of thought Mudd students would tend to use the consortium less partly because of the very stringent and extensive core requirements that must be taken at Mudd, along with Mudd having the strongest class offerings of the Claremont Colleges in most of the majors Mudd offers (so students aren’t going to be going to the other schools to take physics very often, for example). But I think all the colleges do some cross over in class registration with the other colleges.</p>
<p>That said, if the IR major is stronger at Pomona as describe above, it could very well be the better choice for the OP. The consortium colleges aren’t just “within walking distance”. The 5 colleges in the Claremont Consortium are sort of fit together like big lego blocks, ultimately making up one 5,000 student campus. You can walk across the whole campus in any direction in less than 15 minutes.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the women’s golf team is like at Pomona, but my son played golf on the CMS (rival) team. His good friend was on Pomona/Pitzer’s team. SCIAC is an incredibly strong division, top rated in the country for Div III for men. It’s a terrific area for golf. Year round. Good courses in the area. At Amherst you’ve got something called winter…</p>
<p>“Partying is not very appealing to me either, but some kind of social scene is important to me”</p>
<p>Academic subtleties are not the issue here, this statement is. Pomona seems the clear choice. </p>
<p>I would want to get a taste of the opposite coast and being in college is a great way for that to happen.</p>
<p>"… attended an all girls catholic high school for four years."</p>
<p>If you want more of same for the next four, when D2 was looking at transferring I did some numbers, and the M/fF ratio at the private four members of the five college consortium did not look very appealing to me. IIRC Smith and Holyoke women are often seen at Amherst parties.</p>
<p>Of course this may be of no consequence to you, and I don’t know what Claremont is like in that regard, maybe it’s not much different. And maybe U Mass guys are really nice, I know our friend’s kid who went to Smith made several friends from there</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your insightful and informative responses! I have decided to attend Pomona College after comparing the financial aid packages and visiting the school over night. I am extremely thrilled with my decision and sincerely appreciate all of your responses!</p>
<p>Grats on your decision! Pomona is a fantastic school.</p>
<p>We had a look at both colleges and I think I agree with the majority of the contributors here that Pomona probably has a better IR offering and the Claremont colleges is unique all on one campus, you cant beat that, go for Pomona.</p>
<p>congratulations on your decision. rock the world.</p>