Chance me for Pomona + Looking for match schools

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pomona College
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Hi all!

I am going to be a senior at a public high school in Alabama. Pomona is my dream school (right now) but the low acceptance rate is kind of daunting. I know there’s no way to be a guaranteed shoe-in but I’d still like to know what you guys think.

Also, all the schools I’ve been looking at are reach schools or state schools so I really need some match schools. I don’t know where to start though!

State: Alabama
Race: black
Gender: female
Unweighted GPA: 3.85
Weighted GPA: 4.36
AP classes in school: I don’t really know, but it’s a lot…
AP classes I’ve taken: 7 (APES Bio CalBC Stats CSA CSP Chem), and I’m taking 4 or 5 senior year (I know)
AP scores: 4s on APES, AP Chem, and AP CSP. The rest aren’t out yet but I know they’re a 4 or 5
SATI: no scores back yet but 1500 (760M/740EBRW) on PSAT
ACT: 33C 36R/34W/33M/30S
Class rank: top 25% and our school doesn’t rank more specifically than that

Awards/Extracurriculars:
State Science Bowl (we were national alternates!)
Regional Science Olympiad
2x winner of regional NCWIT award which is basically for girls who like computer science.
Placed in state at Alabama High School Programming Contest
Mu Alpha Theta vice president, done a lot of volunteer tutoring in Algebra II and AP Chem
Worked as a summer camp counselor in 2016
Working as an intern at City Hall
Doing research in emotional AI this summer, might be done by application time
Studying for JPLT N5 this December (i’m excited)

I’m also applying to the Pomona fly-in and I’m doing Questbridge, so I might apply through them. Lemme know what you think;;; I really wanna go here.

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Forgot to say my intended major is computer science.

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What is it you love about Pomona (for helping find matches that you’d like as well)? Occidental is a LAC in Los Angeles that’s easier to get into than Pomona but still quite good. Harvey Mudd is part of the same consortium as Pomona and equally selective but probably worth applying to as well since you are a female URM CS major. What other schools are you currently looking at?

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I'm also looking at Georgia Tech, UMich, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, USC, Harvey Mudd, + a bunch of 80+% acceptance rate state schools, and I'm going to apply to your typical elite schools. 
I like the advantages of LACs in general (small class size, wide range of academic study), but Pomona also has high diversity, good location, a well-respected computer science department, and most students I've seen have said that the environment is low-stress, which is good because I want to learn Japanese in college and I know that's going to take a lot of dedication.
I've heard of Occidental College but I've never looked into them. I'm adding them to my potential lists of colleges right now, thank you!
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Scripps is a match, in the same consortium with Pomona; in fact, Scripps students can do the CS major through either Pomona or Mudd (and all the same foreign languages). I actually think you’ve got a good shot at Pomona, as you have both geographic and racial diversity in your favor, which improves the odds when you’re already well qualified, as you obviously are. And Pomona gives the best financial aid of the 5C’s, even outside of Questbridge. (They all meet full need but they’re not all no-loan) But if you really love the Claremont Consortium, adding Scripps to the mix as a solid match/low-match isn’t a bad idea. Mudd is a great school too, but I’m not sure anybody has ever described it as low-stress. (Scripps + Mudd-CS would in fact be a lower stress way to get the same major, without Mudd’s grueling STEM core - the HMC Core is great if you are really passionate about lab sciences and accelerated higher math, but it’s very intense and the question of whether it’s too stressful has been hotly debated in recent years.)

USC could be a great choice, either through QB or not. Also from the Questbridge list, consider Tufts, Wesleyan, and Macalester in addition to the super-reaches.

NYU and CMU do not necessarily meet full financial need (on average, they meet 60% and 85% of need, respectively), so be prepared for potentially inadequate aid. And UMichigan also doesn’t meet full need for OOS. But then again, there may be particular scholarship opportunities that are more generous at any/all of these so it doesn’t hurt to try if you really like the school.

Potential non-Questbridge match schools that have CS programs and meet full need: Case Western, Reed, Lafayette, and Smith.

Almost-full-need-met match schools (meeting more than 95% of need on average) that might still give you a good aid package: Tulane, Lehigh (apply for their fully-funded “diversity” fly-in if you’re interested), and U of Rochester.

My gut says you’ll end up at a Pomona-tier school, if not Pomona itself, but of course you can’t construct a list based on such assumptions.

Lastly… if Pomona is really a clear first choice for you, you’ll need to weigh the merits of Questbridge Match vs. an Early Decision application to Pomona, as the ED acceptance rate has been more than double the overall acceptance rate in recent years, and from what I understand QB Match (while providing a somewhat more generous aid package if you do get it) is even longer odds. But others know more about the intricacies of that decision than I do. Pomona does also have EDII also, whose deadline is after QB Match decisions.

P.S. Mudd has a fly-in too: https://www.hmc.edu/admission/fast/ (and the Sept. one ends when the Sept. Pomona fly-in begins, so theoretically one could do those two back-to-back, leaving aside the whole needing-to-go-to-school thing!)

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Thanks for the info! I was unaware that Scripps let you get you CS major from another college, so that’s really nice to know. And I’m still split between QB and ED I; I’ve emailed my GC and the Alabama Pomona admissions officer for their thoughts, but I know I still have time to decide. Thanks again :slight_smile:

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If you haven’t seen it yet, Scripps also has a diversity fly-in program http://www.scrippscollege.edu/admission/discoverscripps

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Have you considered applying to Harvey Mudd too? They’re strong in science. I think you would be a good fit for Pomona especially with questbridge.

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I think you should prob do Scripps instead.