<p>Hey all, I have managed to narrow down my decision to these two institutions. I am an international student from Europe and both are presenting the same financial cost. I am interested in a variety of fields including physics/compsci but also have a strong interest in English literature (and creative writing), am I correct in believing that Amherst has a stronger literary tradition and department?</p>
<p>Right now I am leaning towards Pomona based largely on the more accessible surrounding consortium and cllimate, having visited both I believe I can eaily find my niche in both of the student bodies. Is there any reason to give more consideration to Amherst? I am unsure of my plans post-graduation but I hear that Amherst has the edge in terms of prestige (in terms of name recognition on the street and also placement into graduate school), is the difference with Pomona meaningful? I want to keep my options open.</p>
<p>Check out this thread, OP. It just came up a couple days ago and a lot of posters offered very well-informed answers.</p>
<p>As for your question about graduate school - no, Amherst will provide you little to no advantage in terms of placing into graduate school. Both will be recognized by graduate schools as high quality academic institutions. </p>
<p>Amherst will probably have more name recognition on the street in the East Coast, and Pomona will probably have more name recognition on the West Coast.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t know about the comp sci program at each school, but I don’t remember Amherst having a very great English department for a school of its level. Not that it’s a bad department in any respect - just less ‘good’ than what you’d find at Pomona.</p>
<p>I think you may find Pomona is rising and rising in ranking and prestige, amazing school, wonderful climate and superb internships, my feeling is Pomona may be a better fit for your criteria, the Claremont consortium is amazing and truly different all on one campus a real differentiator, I’d I know which I would choose.</p>
<p>Yeah, I definitely think that Pomona belongs to the LAC trinity (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore). It’s definitely of comparable quality and prestige. </p>
<p>Thank you all for the views, I get the impression that many of the people that set ‘prestige’ tend to be East Coast based and therefore centric. I have also got into Swarthmore but have subsequently decided that the students take themselves slightly too seriously for my liking. I am almost entirely committed with Pomona, perhaps a few more opinions?</p>