any opinions on Pomona?

Parents Forum
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<p>I’m sure there are a few negatives about Pomona, just as John Wesley has pointed out. However, if we are to be honest, every school has something that could improve.</p>

<p>The most important information is as others have said: Pomona is one of the best LAC’s in the country and because of the Claremont Consortium it offers more possibility than most LAC’s. The entrance requirements are quite rigorous so that classmates will be well prepared for rigorous classes.</p>

<p>It is likely that most Pomona students don’t make use of the consortium as much as Pitzer students. This is the same situation with Amherst and Hampshire, for example. Although Amherst students can take courses at Hampshire few do. I think this speaks to the satisfaction they feel at the offerings at their home campus.</p>

<p>The “drawbacks” – the town of Claremont, the smallness of the institution may be seen as advantages to the right students.</p>

<p>OP: I understand the intent of your question, and I think the answer is that Pomona will afford your student an excellent education in very pleasant surroundings. I am not sure the other choices you have on the table, but it may or may not be the one that meshes best with the personal preferences of the child you raised. That’s something for him (? too lazy to check) to explore.</p>

<p>A purely anecdotal piece of info is never too telling, but I’ll offer it anyway. The two students I know well who attended Pomona have faired one. One is from the East Coast and was extremely happy he made the trek. The other, from the Pacific Northwest, is now in a PhD program in chemistry at MIT.</p>

<p>Both were very enthusiastic about their school.</p>

<p>A small LAC with never be everyone’s cup of tea. I remember that JHS’s family used Williams as a barometer of everything they didn’t want in a college. Fair enough.</p>

<p>My S has thrived their untouched by the “alcohol culture”. His other final choice was U of Chicago, which I had actually hoped he pick. However, he is a bit introverted, and he was wise to choose an environment he felt confident he could master. Doesn’t comment at all on the merits of U of Chicago which speak for themselves.</p>

<p>So, to sum up if Pomona appeals to your child he can feel confident in attending. If it doesn’t, no reason to force himself to attend.</p>

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<p>I think the only negative I can think of is that the Pomona students do not seem to take advantage of the consortium as much as students from the other college. My CMC kid has taken courses at Scripps and Pomona and has had kids from Mudd and Pitzer and one or two from Pomona in classes. I remember from our Pomona tour the tour guide talking about being able to take classes at all five colleges and I asked if she had and the answer was she had taken all of her classes at Pomona. I asked about her friends and she said one friend had taken one course at another college. </p>

<p>Kind of a small nit to pick really. I think it will be an amazing experience for your child.</p>

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<p>My daughter will have taken courses at all the other colleges except Mudd, as of this fall.</p>

<p>Regarding air quality, I don’t go out too often. The time I felt the air was the worst was a couple of years ago in late August. The wildfires were really affecting the air quality. The college did warn athletes to not go running if I remember correctly.</p>

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<p>Thank you. I’ve found this extremely useful, and I think my daughter has, too. Her other choice also is a great school. She still has a few days to decide, so feel free to continue posting…</p>

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<p>It is the best in the country not just west of Mississippi, no comparison imo. Who is better than Pomona in the east? Swarthmore? Not in mind. I doubt that Swarthmore is as comprehensive as Pomona standing alone. Swarthmore’s consrotium is not much of a consortium. It takes at least half an hour to travel from Bryn Mawr/Haverford. Besides, they don’t complement each other as well as at Claremont. The same goes with Amherst. Williams? It is of different culture. I doubt anyone choosing Williams will consider Pomona.</p>

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<p>^^Well, it’s interesting that for a conglomeration of colleges with a 6,000 student footprint, there is so little federal research going on between the 6C. Harvey Mudd and Pomona together still only equal half the federal funding that Wesleyan attracts and Wesleyan is only half the Claremont Colleges in size:
<a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/sciences/sciencefacts.html[/url]”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/sciences/sciencefacts.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I did ask DS, who has been at Pomona for three years, what the negatives are. He said there really aren’t any. Then he said that he thinks the tenure process there is convoluted, but I don’t know if it’s any more convoluted than other schools.</p>

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<p>Why should that be a surprise? The Claremont colleges, including even Mudd, style themselves as LACs, whereas Wesleyan is a PhD-granting university. And as we know from innumerable University vs. LAC threads on CC, LACs focus on teaching way over research.</p>

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<p>^^yes, but, the point is, there aren’t that many undergraduate institutions (whether you call them LACs or universities) with 5,000 undergraduates and nearly 2,000 graduate students all within a square mile radius that <em>don’t</em> produce Ph.Ds of some sort.</p>

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<p>I can assure you that they would have produced as many PhDs as they wish IF they thought that it’s their worthy mission. The thing that makes Pomona and Claremont Colleges standouts is they don’t worry about meaningless technicalities such as the number of PhDs.</p>

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<p>Obviously I do not know what you are thinking. However, it is obvious from your posts that your sources of information are not based on any personal knowledge. </p>

<p>Are you really so insecure about your own alma mater that you have to endlessly google the internet to find negatives about other schools? Don’t you think that the person who asked questions about Pomona could also search the web? There is a differene between personal experiences and hearsay.</p>

<p>While I am certain that people would value your opinion and perception about the schools you have attended, please recognize the limitations of rehashing what you read on web pages without the benefit of personal experience.</p>

<p>Despite having spent years “next door” to Pomona College, I don’t even consider myself a great source of insider information about the school. I am dumbfounded that you think you could do that from a distance. At least with a modicum of objectivity and integrity.</p>

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<p>Now I know how you’ve managed to chalk up >10,000 posts in the time I’ve been on the CC forum. You just like the look of your own posts.</p>

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<p>Oh, what an admirable repartee! At least you did not tell me to stay away from the Chardonnay. </p>

<p>For what it is worth, I cannot make you see the differences between rehashing hearsay and having personal knowledge … if you do not want to! Again, everyone should applaud your knowledge of the school from which you graduated in 1973, and should understand your passion to share what a great institution Wesleyan is. </p>

<p>However, what is less understandable is your constant need to dig up negatives about other schools (founded or unfounded) and engage everyone who happens to have a different set of “favorite schools” or dare to have an opinion different from yours.</p>

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<p>(For what it’s worth, Wesleyan ISN’T number one in NSF research funding among LACs for the past 10 years.)</p>

<p>We visited Pomona some years ago. Loved the school. Hated the admissions office (and loved the school the further away from the admissions office we were.) Thought they were incredibly stuck up (they now have a new director). Thought humanities education (and the food!) at Scripps were better. Enjoyed the location, and didn’t think it was really close to anything that students would make much use of (and didn’t hear of any students engaged significantly in community service - and I’m sure there were some, so it must have been the students and tour guides we met). They were in the middle of a campaign to lower use of hard liquor. Enjoyed the self-deprecating attitude toward athletics. </p>

<p>It’s a really fine school, with great academics, among dozens of very fine schools. Many students would be happy there, and are!</p>

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<p>jeezus, xiggi. Now, you’re just being creepy.</p>

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<p>We met the admissions director at an accepted students event in Massachusetts in 2008. Don’t know if he was the “new” one, but I liked him a lot.</p>

<p>We never had the opportunity to visit the campus. We offered to fly S out to visit after he got in, but he preferred his other choices and wasn’t interested.</p>

<p>Igloo, I don’t see any point in declaring any one LAC to be the “best.” There are a bunch that are excellent, and I think it is more constructive to think of them as peers and pick the one that suits you best financially and in “soft” factors.</p>

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<p>Iglooo, of course there are some differences in culture between Pomona and Williams (or any other top LAC), but there are massive similarities, too. I know lots of students who gave serious consideration both to Williams and to Pomona, and even some who had trouble deciding between them.</p>

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<p>Since colleges are mainly collections of people (yes, facilities do count, but perhaps not as much) it’s very unpredictable which school will offer a better experience to a given student. It’s impossible to interview all the professors, and it’s a great unknown which school has a department that will exactly mesh with the temperament and interests of a particular student.</p>

<p>LAC’s have characteristics that are different from unis – size and higher priority of teaching to research. These can be both pluses and minuses.</p>

<p>To me, it’s silly to parse the difference between the LAC’s too closely. So much is just the impression a student gets from the physical plant, the students and their clothes, the geographic attributes of the surrounding area and the neighborhood of the school.</p>

<p>I credit mini’s celebration of the contributions of Smith to his daughter’s life and beieve she did make a wonderful choice for herself after much intelligent research. </p>

<p>And many other parents have similar stories to tell of students at different LAC’s.</p>

<p>On a different thread mathmom explained her preference for small unis in credible terms.</p>

<p>However, a talented, focused, hardworking young person should be able to find a way to succeed from a variety of locations.</p>

<p>I think rankings of schools beyond a certain point is a measurement of endowments, and that offends my notion of what really constitutes merit in teaching young people, an endeavor I’ve spent the last thirty years pursuing on my own.</p>

<p>I think it really is silly to say Williams is the number one LAC and Pomona is best west of the Mississippi, and why would we need to this?</p>

<p>I think the opportunities my daughter got at Barnard were amazing, and the resources of Columbia amazing, but Barnard doesn’t even show up in the top 25 LAC’s (I think it’s 27.)</p>

<p>It’s clear from this thread that no one has any glaring criticisms of Pomona. There are ways that Pomona is the number one LAC (maybe its weather?) and ways it isn’t – perhaps its commitment to science research. I don’t know. I don’t think that way.</p>

<p>I know that two lovely young people I know were in competition for the same graduate program in chemistry. They didn’t know each other but met up during the interview process and discovered (I’m not sure now) that they both knew my daughter and then by association, me.</p>

<p>They lived at opposite ends of the country.</p>

<p>One attended Pomona. One attended Williams. The Pomona student ended up at MIT for his PhD, the Williams student at Harvard for hers. Since they were both being interviewed by both institutions we can assume the programs considered them froughtly equal. I’m sure there were students from many other LAC’s in the running too.</p>

<p>My daughter, who attends CUNY Law school just got an internship where her friend, who attends Columbia Law, also interviewed for but did not get. Why? Because the judge is a CUNY graduate. Well, she didn’t say that, but I suspect it is the case.</p>

<p>My D worried that CUNY wasn’t prestigious enough, but its $10K price tag proved too enticing for her. (In the interests of full disclosure she didn’t get into Columbia.)</p>

<p>I would not argue that CUNY is a better school. Of course not. But since my D is interested in public interest law only it was a very good choice.</p>

<p>Pomona is an excellent school if a student wants to attend a LAC. Beyond that decisions are quirky and individual.</p>

<p>I know of a brilliant young man who chose Grinnell over Pomona because he preferred the student body. He would certainly argue with the statement that Pomona is the best west of the Miss. I think factually we can say that Pomona has the highest SAT scores and maybe even GPA west of the Miss. </p>

<p>Grinnell has a larger endowment.</p>

<p>Carleton has something else.</p>

<p>Individuals will parse these differences in different ways.</p>

<p>If someone of his/her child has a wonderful experience I thinks that’s absolute and doesn’t need to be compared to other experiences to validate it, although we can share impressions that this dept is good and that bad at a particular school so information freely circulates.</p>

<p>For example, mini has helpfully pointed out on another thread that the Italian instruction at Williams is extremely weak. Doesn’t matter much unless one really wants to study Italian. Then it becomes very significant.</p>

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<p>I agree. Someone upthread mentioned Pomona is the best west of Mississippi. I was objecting to that. I was just saying Pomona is one of the best be that east or west of Mississippi.</p>

<p>JHS - Interesting. I wouldn’t have thought looking at it from my kid’s side.</p>

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<p>I am a Pomona alum (1980s) and have a freshman daughter at Pomona (as well as another daughter at Carleton for comparison).</p>

<p>If you are looking strictly at LACs, you really cant’ go wrong with Pomona. The two biggest advantages of Pomona over comparable LACs (Williams, Swat, Amherst, Carleton, etc.), are the consortium (people argue over this but I took several classes at the other 5Cs and my daughter and her friends have as well, the opportunity is there and it COULD NOT be easier to do) and the weather (despite arguments over the smog). </p>

<p>The town of Claremont is charming and quite a draw for some folks. It’s MUCH more happening than it was when I was a student. It’s artsy and intellectual (think wine walks and art tours, farmer’s market on Sundays) with fabulous craftsman and Victorian mansions. There is a movie theater and plenty of restaurants both casual and more upscale. There is a record store and folk music store. Almost every weekend I have visited my daughter there has been some community event or street fair in the village. My daughter loves going to the village for shopping, eating out and just hanging out. I would rank it near the top of every single college town I have visited so am continually puzzled when it is a posed as a negative for Pomona. It’s definitely not an urban setting if that’s what you are looking for but it has all the amenities with direct access to urban (LA) if that’s what you crave. </p>

<p>The college has zip cars for rent that can be used to access Los Angeles for concerts, etc. (my daughter has done this extensively, much to my husband’s chagrin). The college actually actively encourages exploration off-campus to get out of the Claremont bubble. </p>

<p>Also, due to Pomona’s large endowment, I think the student body is less "privileged” than at some other LACs (this is anecdotal however). There is definitely a mix of students from a variety of socio economic backgrounds.</p>

<p>Negatives could include the extreme political correctness, two weeks of warm temperatures with no AC (honestly I came to Pomona from the Arizona desert and have never been so hot in my life those first few weeks), and maybe poorer air quality (although this is significantly improved).</p>