<p>I'm asking here because I'm hoping to get some of the negatives, not just the positives that I'm sure would greet me on the Pomona forum. My daughter was on the waiting list and got an offer. She really likes the school whose offer she accepted but she is tempted by Pomona's offer, too (although much depends on the financial aid, which we don't know the details of yet). Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>My son is accepted at Pomona. It is a very well respect LAC. Something like 24% of its freshman class were valedictorians. Kids there are supposedly scary-smart but somewhat laid back about it…the kind who compete with themselves and not with each other. I’m thrilled hes accepted there, but he is also WL’d at Brown and Princeton. It will be a difficult decision for him if he were to get one of those calls. He is very much looking forward to a rarified LAC experience with a close knit community in a laid back California vibe.</p>
<p>Thanks, ProudMomofS. Can you tell me what area of the United States you live in (generally)? (We live in the Midwest; our older daughter goes to college in SoCal.)</p>
<p>Sure. We live in the DFW area. He chose Pomona over acceptances to Duke, Davidson, UNC (with a full ride scholarship), UT plan II, and Boston U (also a merit scholarship).</p>
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<ol>
<li><p>It is tiny;</p></li>
<li><p>It is not well known outside of academia (even in California);</p></li>
<li><p>While the campus and immediate area is supposedly beautiful (I’ve never visited), it is not located near the beach or other stereotypically exciting or well-known venues in So Cal.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My son just completed his junior year. He’s my third kid. The first went to UCLA, the second to Yale so I have something to compare it to. It is very difficult to come up with any negatives quite honestly. I think they overstate the ease of getting research positions. My son found it harder to get one last year than is promoted, in part, because some funding was cut due to the economy. But he’s doing paid research there this summer so it does exist. He’s yet to cross over to any of the other schools, but that’s because he loves the choices at Pomona. He has gone to events through the consortium though. </p>
<p>Other negatives – it’s not the place for someone who wants to be in an urban area. No matter how much they tout the great location, the location is not great, although it is safe and the village is nice. It’s not easy to get to LA without a car and it’s not that convenient to get to an airport for those who need to fly. For the kid who wants a big bustling university with grad students, etc. it’s not the right place. The name of the school confuses people in SoCal because of Cal Poly Pomona. </p>
<p>The professors are amazing and accommodating, the reputation for the school operating “smooth as butter” is absolutely true. I can’t say enough about this college. There has not been one significant glitch, not one unhappy moment in three years and that is really saying something. When I talk to DS, I’ll try to remember to ask him what the negatives are.</p>
<p>It’s not easy to get to LA without a car and it’s not that convenient to get to an airport for those who need to fly.</p>
<p>I disagree; the college has an agreement with a shuttle service. You call and make an arrangement to and from the airport at a discounted rate. We find it convenient and worry free. DD uses Ontario airport because it is the closest but Long Beach is also easy to use.</p>
<p>One other trivial negative. Their mascot is kind of ridiculous. But that’s true for a lot of schools.</p>
<p>My son graduated from Pomona , and I honestly can’t think of any negatives from our point of view. It’s not a school where there is a big sports following, so it that is important to you, it might not be the right choice. There are student athletes, but they don’t dominate the campus the way that they do in some of the east coast LACs. There are many opportunities to play sports informally, however, outside of the varsity teams.
The scholarship standards are really high, I will admit, but if your daughter is a serious student she shouldn’t have any problem with the academic rigor. My son didn’t get straight As in college, but he still made Phi Beta Kappa at Pomona. He had two great internships and a wonderful semester abroad, and he was able to establish some close mentoring-type relationships with a few really outstanding professors.
The only negative I can come up with is the heat in the months of September and October. It can be very warm during those two months, and if your dorm doesn’t have air conditioning, which a few of the older ones don’t, it can be unpleasant. But the weather November on through May makes up for it, because it’s usually ideal the rest of the year.</p>
<p>Artell, glad to hear it and my son doesn’t fly since we live in CA so I defer to your experience. I assumed that Ontario is probably not going to be an airport that works for everyone. My son has had friends who need to fly out of LAX which is quite a distance from Pomona. Does the school provide a shuttle to LAX? The OP should check to see if Ontario or Long Beach airports has flights to their area.</p>
<p>It does have a shuttle to LAX but it is more expensive and will obviously take longer to commute. The other two airports are closer, small in size and easy to get in and out of quickly. We live about 1200 miles away so there are flight options available if people do a little research. Ontario also winds up to be cheaper much of the time!</p>
<p>I agree – if you want an excellent LAC, there aren’t many negatives about Pomona. It is hard to take advantage of the city unless you have a car. But not everybody cares about that.</p>
<p>very easy to get to Onterio airport. Great school. National rep. There can be an L.A smog issue.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the comments. We’re familiar with the airport; our other daughter usually flies into and out of Ontario. Does anyone know about that airport’s viability? I think I recall reading that the number of passengers has been falling, which can’t be good.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Ontario, but I do know that most people in SoCal would do just about anything to avoid flying out of LAX.</p>
<p>You may want more opinions, but this site
[LA</a> Ontario Airport | ONT Airport Ontario, CA United States - Flights, Airport Parking, & More!](<a href=“http://www.ifly.com/ontario-international-airport]LA”>LA Ontario Airport ONT)
seems to indicate a relatively strong activity:</p>
<p>It serves the surrounding population of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, as well as portions of north Orange and east Los Angeles counties - an area of over six million residents.</p>
<p>Ontario Airport has experienced a tremendous increase in passengers and is particularly favored by executives wishing to avoid the delays and congestion of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). It has less congestion on the runways, at the gates and at the centralized rental car center, and due to its long runways, it is often used as an alternate landing site for large aircraft when LAX is inaccessible as a result of weather conditions or other reasons. </p>
<p>With two long runways and an estimated 4.9 milion passengers a year, LA-Ontario International Airport is served by major U.S. airlines and by Aeromexico, offering direct flights throughout the U.S. & Mexico, with connections to all parts of the globe.</p>
<p>Fantastic academics- but a small school in a bit of a bubble. In California, only the academic crowd (people who hire) know how great a school it is. Might be a problem if going back to the east coast. But, grad school could right it all, since all great programs will know the fine reputation the school has.</p>
<p>If you’re still looking for potential “negatives”… I normally wouldn’t put this out there because I realize this is just my opinion, and I mean absolutely no disrespect to Pomona students or parents…But here’s our perspective: We spent a day on campus with our son and got the full tour. At first we were enchanted by the place - it was like Disneyland University, with such mild weather and beautiful campus - and then we learned about some of the perks. The college encourages students to go camping, so they provide coolers full of food and give the kids gear and car fare. They pack BBQ picnic supplies for them; they house them for four years in beautiful dorms; they make sure the kids won’t be lonely by offering an intense freshman orientation program that almost guarantees that they’ll make friends… and on and on. By this point, my husband and I thought, “OK, that’s great, but when do these kids have to learn to make things happen on their own?” Academics is just part of the college growth process, and we wanted our son to come out of school with a good head start on functioning in the adult world. So Pomona wasn’t right for him for this reason.</p>
<p>Mom483, it sounds like you received the halcyon tour of the college. In many ways the college does its best to provide a great college experience but you are mistaken in how “Disneyland” like Pomona is. My child works her butt off to get decent grades, it has not been an easy year. There wasn’t much time to play outside, either at the beach or on picnics. Friday evening and Saturday was her fun time but even then many Saturdays turned into work days for her.</p>
<p>She was fortunate to have good professors and advocated for herself when she needed help, she learned how to seek out and was successful obtaining an intern position for the summer. She also applied to several campus jobs and finally landed one a few months into the fall term. All things that she made happen through diligence, they didn’t magically appear.</p>
<p>While the college has a great program for freshman orientation, she did not automatically fit in with the group of students in her dorm, neither was her roommate a good fit. It took time for her to find her group of friends and when she did she really started to enjoy herself and feel comfortable. </p>
<p>Pomona is first and foremost a top notch college, don’t kid yourself if you think things are handed to kids on a silver plate. These kids work hard and most are driven students who will go on to be successful in whatever they decide to do. The “life experience” might be easier at one college compared to another but it is the learning enrichment a college provides that is most important.</p>
<p>Strong academics and good advisors add in a group of insanely sharp students make a great learning environment, everything else is just window dressing.</p>
<p>You want negatives, right? I would say smog (it is awful!), September heat (90s easily), and the bad shape of the CA economy (may not be easy to get off campus jobs). Otherwise, it is a great college.</p>
<p>Oh, forgot to mention one peculiarity. D sat in on a morning language class and then chatted with the students - all 9 of them were from Pitzer. When she asked where the Pomona kids were, the answer was that Pomona kids did not attend classes that started before noon. :)</p>