<p>My son often has early classes. I’d say almost every semester he’s had early classes, but it’s because he’s a science major and has to squeeze labs in, etc. Re the Disneyland dynamic, I think there is some truth to that. Not so much the camping, etc. but the student support services are excellent and the freshman groupings (I forget what they are called) are very helpful. But it’s not really any different from what my daughter had at Yale – a camping trip before school started, freshman residential housing with counselors just for the freshmen, etc. There are a number of private schools that make a big effort to care for freshmen. That said, my son has made a number of things happen on his own. He’s spent summers doing research elsewhere, he’s written for a 5C publication, he got himself onto teams (I hesitate to give details because that is one negative about a small school – too easy to identify a kid on the Internet!) – no one came after him to do those things. But these kids were go-getters before they got to Pomona – that’s part of why they got in. They were already kids who make things happen and had that drive. Next to UCLA or Berkley, I’d say it’s Disneyland. Next to any small or elite private school, I’d say it’s probably not too different. I think the support system frees the kids to focus on their academics.</p>
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<p>Insisting on having early language classes might be the reason why foreign languages remain the bane of American students. It seems that every college wants to wake up their students through immersing them in foreign voices.</p>
<p>The Pitzer kids were probably still up from the day before. They do like to change the world in late night debates. :)</p>
<p>I can’t imagine what negatives the OP expects to hear. Pomona is consistently regarded as one of the four or five top liberal arts colleges in the country. Students love it. It doesn’t seem to have the alcohol culture of Williams. As with other elite colleges, outsiders sometimes wish that the students were a little humbler, although part of that is no doubt due to the observers’ expectation that the students will be arrogant, as opposed to actual arrogance on the part of the students. Still, I’m sure actually arrogant students exist there, just not the ones I have met. </p>
<p>People do complain about the smog sometimes.</p>
<p>Hello again. I don’t know that I expected to hear any particular kind of negatives; my point was just that I didn’t want to ask on a college’s own forum. The financial aid package is good at first sight, although I haven’t looked at it in detail. So Pomona is definitely a contender. The fact that the school is giving my child a week to decide is also a plus!</p>
<p>I second the negative about smog. Air polution in SoCal is generally much improved over what it was in the 50s and 60s, but there are still bad days. And Claremont is on the east side where the smog accumulates the most. There are still days when, because of smog, you can’t really see the mountains east of Claremont even though you sitting basically right at the foot of them.</p>
<p>On the positive side Pomona College is one of the finest colleges in California and perhaps the best LAC in the entire western half of the US. And they serve excellent food too - the best we encountered in our many college tours.</p>
<p>To TTT: It’s so interesting to read these threads, so see what different people value. There is certainly no right or wrong answer, and it hadn’t occurred to me before that while we all want what is best for our kids, we don’t all have the same priorities or the same definition of what is “best.” Our son ended up being thrown in the deep end - he’s at Berkeley, where he’s surrounded by super smart kids and great academics, but he’s had to scratch his way through. For him, it’s the perfect environment and he’s thriving, because he needed that challenge. But I could see how it could be overwhelming for some kids.</p>
<p>As someone mentioned above, Pomona is probably the best LAC west of the Mississippi, however if I had to zero in on a negative it would be it’s rather byzantine cross-registration guidelines. The Claremont Colleges are a bevy of different faculty and departments, some shared, others are stand-alone schools or parts of schools. Pomona’s guidelines seem to imply that some courses are more appropriate for cross-registration than others. For example, students are encouraged to take “courses that are not offered at Pomona such as Italian and Korean”. </p>
<p>However, if one wants to major in Italian or Korean (as opposed to dabble in a few courses) one would be unable to do so because Pomona requires all majors to be “completed at Pomona”. Perhaps, to get around this technicality, the same teacher may offically be assigned to Pomona one year and at another college the next. I’m sure it all works out in the end; but, you have to admit, it does sounds tricky.</p>
<p>Another head-scratcher is the suggestion that courses in which Pomona is a “joint-participant” are of particular “appropriateness”; what follows this part of the guidelines is a long list of such programs, including art history at Pitzer, Astronomy at Harvey Mudd, mathmatics, Media studies, Religious Studies, gender Studies, etc. etc. What’s missing is any mention of the Joint Science Department (JSD) which is jointly administered by Pitzer, Scripps and Claremont-McKenna. Is this a deliberate omission? It’s hard to tell from the way it is written:
<a href=“http://pomona.edu/administration/registrar/catalog/advising-enrollment.pdf[/url]”>http://pomona.edu/administration/registrar/catalog/advising-enrollment.pdf</a></p>
<p>Negatives:
- smog
- one mile too far south ;)</p>
<p>Positive/Neutral:
- (obviously) one of the top very few LACs in the country
- the consortium helps mitigate the smallness of the LAC (although there aren’t as many classes as a school of 5000 because many are duplicated within the various colleges)
- nobody’s heard of most ANY LAC, not Williams, not Swarthmore, not Pomona. It’s no worse off than the others.
- Southwest Airlines flies to Ontario airport
- Great food (I’ve heard)</p>
<p>I’m a Pomona Alumna. When I attended, in the late 1970’s, the school was virtually unknown outside of academic circles. It still is. I found out about Pomona from my Mom who grew up 5 miles from it. We used to pass it every time we went to Grandma’s house, and I decided that I wanted to go there because I liked the ivy that grew on the buildings, something that you just didn’t find anywhere else in southern California. When I visited the campus as a high school senior, I was stunned by how beautiful the dormitories were. And the courtyards, rose gardens, tree lined streets, Quad, and camellias planted everywhere were a plus also. My favorite thing was the sweet orange blossom scent on College Avenue in the springtime. Every time I smell orange blossoms it reminds me of walking to class.</p>
<p>I will never forget my orientation. We all went into Bridges Hall of Music to hear President Alexander speak. I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the building was on the inside, and after I graduated, I returned the next year to get married there. Bridges Auditorium is equally stunning, both inside and out. It was a glorious place to graduate, too bad they now hold the graduation ceremony outside instead.</p>
<p>Pomona sporting events were fun to go to, but we almost always lost. Football scores were a joke, and our mascot was silly, but we still had fun. We went to class with the guys out on the field, and they were our friends. We cheered them on as our fellow students.</p>
<p>I used to pass the college President every morning on my way to class, he would be walking towards Sumner Hall, and I would be headed up to Seaver Science Center. He was genuinely friendly as we passed on the sidewalk. It used to amaze me that he knew my name on day one. When I graduated and shook his hand, I was truly honored to have known him.</p>
<p>I had some amazing professors, but some clinkers as well. The math, science, and music professors were the best. They all had so much personality, and made the classes so interesting. On the other hand, some of the art, history and foreign language professors I had were mean spirited. But I didn’t care, because I was a science major.</p>
<p>An interesting group of people formed my freshman class. This was well before US News started ranking colleges, so there were no students who chose the school just because it was high on a list, as is often the case nowadays. Rather, there were lots of public high school students from So. California, combined with private prep school students from everywhere else in the country (many of them Stanford rejects). Students were all very hard working, the professors gave massive amounts of homework, and studying was our main activity. But we still found time for school pranks, donut runs, and trips to Mount Baldy to play in the snow. </p>
<p>The smog and heat was really bad in September, the smog is much improved now over what it was, but the heat was bad if you had a south facing room in Harwood Court. Otherwise, I loved going there.</p>
<p>The smog has improved over what it was, but it is still the worst smog of all of southern California. It may not be a problem for your kid, but if she likes to run outdoors every day, or has sensitive eyes or other health issues, it could be unbearable. But other locations may not be much better.</p>
<p>Air quality information for Pomona, CA:</p>
<p>Measurement Total
Days measured 366
Days with good air quality 114
Days with moderate air quality 140
Days w/ poor A.Q. for sensitive groups 75
Days with unhealthy air quality 37</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>Pomona air quality index & pollution index
Index Pomona California National
Air quality index 67 48 37
Pollution index 22,790,900 22,613,348 6,623,939</p>
<p>The Pomona, CA air quality index is a median value which considers the most hazardous air pollutants. The Pomona, CA air quality index is 38.7% greater than the California average and 81% greater than the national average.</p>
<p>The Pomona, CA pollution index is the sum of the most hazardous air pollutants displayed in pounds. The Pomona, CA pollution index is 0.8% greater than the California average and 244.1% greater than the national average.</p>
<p>It may not make any difference to you, but there’s the info on the smog. On the other hand, we think of San Diego (right on the coast) as having much better air quality than Pomona, but, measurements do not seem to support that conclusion:</p>
<p>The San Diego, CA air quality index is a median value which considers the most hazardous air pollutants. The San Diego, CA air quality index is 20% greater than the California average and 56.7% greater than the national average.</p>
<p>The San Diego, CA pollution index is the sum of the most hazardous air pollutants displayed in pounds. The San Diego, CA pollution index is 102.6% greater than the California average and 591.7% greater than the national average.</p>
<p>^^^^yikes!</p>
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<p>Donut Man, right? :)</p>
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<p>Haha, the only head-scratcher is to find the relevance of discussing the difficulties of majoring in Italian or in Korean. </p>
<p>Although no consortium will ever be perfect, it is a given that the “byzantine cross-registration” possibilities are still a substantial above what is available at stand-alone LACs. It is totally understandable that the Claremont Colleges will not offer every major, starting with the incredibly obscure and arcane ones. There is no doubt that some LACs offer better options for classes in Arabic, or pehaps Western Swahili, but there is even less doubt that the possibilities of majoring, dual majoring, or double majoring from any of the Claremont Colleges are as good as they’d get anywhere in the country.</p>
<p>I doubt you will find many graduates from the Claremont Colleges to lament about their problems in developing their intended majors. But, of course, you seem to think that what is found through google searches must be THE truth!</p>
<p>The Claremont Colleges are the ones I like the best in California. The UC system just doesn’t do it for me for undergrads, and other than a few other schools, CA just doesn’t make my personal list. </p>
<p>My son’s close friend is a Pomona grad who felt that the biggest disadvantage was the town of Claremont. Felt that the locale was just a bit too far from LA and bit too fare from what envisioned as the California scene. Said he would have gone nuts there without a car. But a lot of schools are off the beaten track and even farther from a city, so that would not have been an issue for me. He would have liked more of a college town that had its own identity there. He’s at NYU now, and loves it, and I know his mom is thrilled that he got his undergrad years in Claremont rather than there. </p>
<p>That and accesssibility/expense in getting there and back are the only issues I’ve ever heard about any of those schools.</p>
<p>bump 10char</p>
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<p>Got any data on Claremont, CA? Logic would suggest that Pomona College is located in Pomona, CA. but it’s not.</p>
<p>Pomona and Claremont are 4.5 miles apart. I believe the air is pretty similar…</p>
<p>I must say, as a New Englander, that it is refreshing to find people talking about bad air quality in Southern California instead of making a big deal about winter. :)</p>
<p>I have a friend who transferred from Pomona to Stanford back in the late 70s. She said that it was just too small for her, and hated being in a place where she felt that everyone knew her business. (To put this in context, she is a California native whose HS was about the same size as the college…often a bad fit omen.)</p>
<p>That is literally the only negative thing I’ve ever heard about Pomona. S was accepted there, and I would have been happy to have him attend. I concur with the opinion that it is probably the best LAC west of the Mississippi, apologies to Grinnell…remind me, which side of the Mississippi is Carleton on? 
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<p>Pomona is known for its large endowment and excellent FA, BTW. Our experience certainly bore that out.I think that like its peer coed LACs–Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst, et al–Pomona’s name is comparatively unrecognized among hoi polloi, but known in academic and other more intellectually sophisticated circles.</p>
<p>Shoot me, I’m an elitist. :D</p>
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<p>No, it was midnight donut runs. At Jensen’s Danish bakery in Claremont Village. Every Saturday night the bakery would open up its back door, so students could buy fresh hot donuts. The donuts would be set out on large tables to cool, and the money paid for the donuts was put into a pile on another table. It was all “honor system”, because the bakers were busy baking pastries for the next morning. Everything else in town was dead quiet except that bakery, and mobs of students would spill out into the dark alley behind the bakery. That was essentially it for nightlife in Clareville. All other nights the sidewalks were rolled up at sunset.</p>
<p>sopranomom, I don’t know where you got those smog stats, but they are way off. I live in San Diego, and in the past have lived in Claremont, and there is absolutely no comparison. Please see attached 5 year readings for San Diego County.
<a href=“http://www.sdapcd.org/info/reports/5-year-summary.pdf[/url]”>http://www.sdapcd.org/info/reports/5-year-summary.pdf</a></p>
<p>San Diego is an Ozone attainment area, whereas Los Angeles/Orange/Riverside/San Bernardino county (aka South Coast) is not. </p>
<p>South Coast air quality is greatly improved from when I was in Claremont. The neighboring town of Upland had horrible smog back in the 70’s, including Stage III smog alerts.</p>
<p>[Last</a> Stage III Episode](<a href=“http://www.aqmd.gov/news1/Archives/History/stage3.html]Last”>http://www.aqmd.gov/news1/Archives/History/stage3.html)</p>
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<p>By contrast, the Inland Empire (where Claremont is located) barely even records Stage I smog alerts nowadays. In the year 2000 there were none at all, down from 42 Stage I alerts in 1990. Things have gotten even better in the past decade.</p>
<p>[Key</a> Events in the History or Air Quality in California](<a href=“http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/brochure/history.htm]Key”>http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/brochure/history.htm)</p>
<p>Luckily, the smog is mostly during the summer rather than during the school year. The first two years I attended Pomona, we were on a “late in, late out” calendar, and started towards the end of September, so we missed most of the heat and smog. Then when we switched to an “early in, early out” calendar starting in late August, it was hot and miserable the first few weeks of school.</p>
<p>Xiggi wrote
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<p>I know. Actually referring to the Pomona Bulletin. What was I thinking?</p>