<p>Have you visited both east coast lacs and Pomona? Apart from obvious geographical and climatic differences, how are they alike/similar.
Has anyone sat in on comparable types of classes? Do the students seem as well-prepared, involved, sharp; professors as engaged, interesting etc?
How about outside the classroom? Is there a comparable interest in intellectual, athletic, social pursuits? Thanks so much.</p>
<p>D, now a first-year at Pomona, was seriously considering Swarthmore, and attended the Discovery Weekend there the fall of her senior year. She felt that the students were of comparable caliber, and we observed interaction among students of diverse ethnicities at both schools. I think that students at East Coast LACs are not as laid-back as their West Coast counterparts, but then as a native East Coaster, I've been accused of talking at hyperspeed, etc. The atmosphere at Pomona seems to be more relaxed than some LACs on the East Coast. That, to me, is the biggest, and perhaps, only difference (other than the climate, as you've noted).</p>
<p>Hi. My son is a Junior at Pomona. Often, LAC kids get bored after a couple years, because the campus and environs seem to get smaller and smaller. But at Pomona, the other Claremont schools create more of a university environment, where students can mingle in any of the dining halls, coffee shops, or other venues around the campuses. Also, classes can be taken at one of the other colleges, creating more opportunities to meet people. Finally, the larger campus community can bring in major speakers or performances, or just larger parties! I am biased, but having visited Williams and Amherst, there is no comparison in lifestyle (unless you prefer a more rural and rustic one).</p>
<p>there's actually a ton of ppl on my floor who had a tough time deciding between swarthmore and pomona. they liked swarthmore bc your whole freshman year is pass/no credit, but after that i think it's a more intense academic atmosphere than pomona. but pomona def. won location wise...if you wanna be on the east coast, this is the place to be!</p>
<p>Don't you mean "West Coast"? ;)</p>
<p>I agree that Swat has the reputation for being much more intense academically (and perhaps more competitive that way as well).</p>
<p>People who think a better college should be "intense" and "competitive" should ask themselves what they hope to accomplish there. I think Pomona rejects that style of education and is better for it.</p>
<p>Just for the sake of accuracy, "competitive" is not an accurate description of Swarthmore's academic environment. Nor, is it "intense" in an "old school-marm, ruler on the knuckles" way.</p>
<p>I don't know Pomona that well, but I think the substantive differences between Pomona and Swarthmore or Amherst mostly relate to their locations - not just in 2005, but in the ways those locations have shaped the history and culture of the schools for a century or more. No question that "LA" is more laid back than "NE". No question that the weather is very different. No question that the physical layout and setting of each campus is very different.</p>
<p>I've never had a chance to hear from an actual student, but great input could be had from one of the students who have taken advantage of the Swarthmore/Pomona semester exchange program.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I think a preference for one coast or visits to both schools would probably settle the question for most students.</p>
<p>The Claremont Consortium adds an interesting twist that I find really intriguing, although it seems to be less beneficial to Pomona than to the other schools in the consortium.</p>
<p>IMO you will find intense, competitive, laid back types anywhere and everywhere. With that said, I think the clear and obvious difference here, as mentioned, is certainly the location of the schools. However, as also mentioned above, the Claremont consortium and immediate/adjacant location of the 5 Claremont schools presents a HUGE difference IMO.</p>
<p>Rather than attending a school that may have 1500 or so students, the Claremont colleges presents an enviorment of about 5000. Certainly you can choose to limit yourself to only Pomona (or whichever of the 5 schools you attend), but why. </p>
<p>while the consortium is arguably the least beneficial to Pomona and Pomona would well succeed on its own, there are enormous tangible and intangible benefits to Pomona students by way of the consortium in terms of social and athletic events, a chance to meet a broader base of students, the ability to choose from 11 dining halls, rather than the two at Pomona, the chance to take classes at other schools (my S has taken language courses at Scripps each year that are not offered at Pomona), etc. etc.</p>
<p>I truly believe that the Claremont Colleges present a situation that is completely unique (of course not to say that Swat, Amherst, Williams, etc. are not truly wonderful institutions).</p>
<p>I went to Swarthmore (graduated '03) and I would say that the largest differences between Pomona and Swarthmore are the Claremont Colleges and the student atmosphere. People go to Swarthmore because they want to work hard - really hard - and that's what the student body does. It's not the slightest bit competitive, but it's also not at all "laid-back".</p>
<p>Swarthmore is theoretically part of a consortium with Haverford and Bryn Mawr, and students can take classes at Penn as well, but as a practical matter getting to those other schools is enough of a pain that there's not much interaction. The Claremont Colleges are physically located in the same place, and that makes a big difference.</p>
<p>
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The Claremont Colleges are physically located in the same place, and that makes a big difference.
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</p>
<p>In many ways. The five Claremont Colleges (approximate 5000 students) occupy about the same amount of real estate as the Swarthmore campus (1474 students), so the physical setting and population density is very different.</p>
<p>My D is currently a sopho at Pomona. She was accepted by Amherst and Swarthmore last year as well. Both Amherst and Swarthmore tried to recruit her heavily. She only visited Amherst but this is her findings. Since she is an Asain American girl from CA, We asked the admission folks to put her in a room with a girl from Califorina during the visit. But instead they roomed her with a girl from China. She talked to the pre-med advisor about med school admission for Amherst graduates but they thought she is an international student from China again. My D was born and raised in Ca and speaks English without a trace of accent. This is somewhat troubling for her. At the diining room, asians eat with asians and black students ate with black students. They are diversified but highly segregated. Certainly, more students there are from boarding schools and preppy. The very first question kid asked her was which boarding school are you from. Don't get me wrong! Amherst is a great school with longer histroy and tradition. But you have to make sure you like the environment there. The students there tend to be more preppy and snooty than Pomona students. My D feels a lot more comfortable with Pomona probably because of it laid-back environment and you can't tell the kid's family background just based on the way the dress. But quite a few students asked her why would you consider Amherst if you can go to Pomona in Ca. Hope this info is helpful. By the way, she did not get any financial aids from all these three schools. She make the decision independent of economic factors.</p>
<p>I want to clarify the "laid back" as I fear it has been misunderstood after reading one of the posts. Pomona students do work very hard and are extremely bright. They take their work seriously. However they believe in balance and lead full lives. They are social, they are involved in their community and world and they know how to enjoy the process. That is what got them into the college in the first place. Pomona does not like "just serious students" they want students who are involved in a full life. My S a sophomore has never been happier in his life. He liked that Pomona students were not arogant which he found at similar ranked colleges he was accepted to.</p>
<p>I concurred with Arizonamom. Laid back is by no means easy at all. My D manages to get good grades but she has never worked so hard in her life. She is in the science, pre-med track. If you work hard, reasonable to get a B+, get A- needs a lot of hard work and talents. Getting an A is really difficult. Certainly, kids help out each other. No cut-throat or back-stabbing. She is happly but a bit stress out. One interesting observation is that kids don't like rich kids driving fancy cars there unlike USC. </p>
<p>We did ask the buring question to Dean Poch at Pomona the difference in soul and culture between Pomona and eastern elite LAC. His answer is more economic and racial diversities. In fact Prof. John Seales of Politics department at Pomona is an Amherst graduate. His reply is Amherst student may know a little more (highly encrypted comment), but he is also not sure now since he left Amherst almost two decades ago. At Amhest, more students from boarding schools simply because it's too close to Deerfield and Andover. </p>
<p>Also a lot of old money there. I asked the same question at Amherst. The response is the two schools are very similar. It's a geographical decision. Both schools have absolute respect toward each other. In terms of quality of students, very comparable. My D made some interesting comments during the admit day at Amherst from a high school girl's perspectives. Guys at Amherst are better good looking and dress well but they were talking about politics. She thought it's weird for high school kids to talk about politics all the time. May be this is Prof. Seale's point.
Amherst may be slighly stronger in English or pre-law. My D would go to Amherst if she wants to go to law school. But you can't go wrong with either Amherst or Pomona. One of my D's classmates actually has turned down Harvard, Stanford and Princeton to attend Pomona.</p>
<p>Andydad</p>
<p>Thanks for your comments regarding Amherst. My son is applying there, but we won't be able to make a visit until Spring break.</p>
<p>We are Chinese American from California. Although my son goes to a public charter school, we live a very simple rural lifestyle.</p>
<p>One of my son's concerns about colleges outside of the west coast, is how asians americans are viewed/accepted/included. We are trying to narrow down the search to colleges that are 4% Asians or more, but as you said, a college could be diversified but still segregated.</p>
<p>Hope to make Pomona's Visitation day this Friday!</p>
<p>Appreciated your comments.</p>
<p>FresnoMom</p>
<p>FresnoMom</p>
<p>It all depends on your son's personality. My D just does not feel fit in there. How do you feel being born and raised in the country and still being considered as a Chinese instead of American? I think this is due to ignorance rather than arrogance. This is something you need to consider. My S is also a Pomona graduate 7 years ago. He claims all his Asians friends are very happy at Pomona. LACs were not popular among Asians, Because all top Asians students were under pressure to go to HPYS. But recently more Asian students begin to appreciate LAC educations. Another data point is that my D is the first student from her hight school ever accepted by Amherst for the last decade. Her HS average SAT is 1200 in Bay Area. Typically, Pomona takes only one student from her hight school a year. Stanford and Berkeley take about 16 and 40 respectively out of 300 graduates. As you can see, both schools are extremely selective.</p>
<p>Amherst differs from both Pomona and Swarthmore in that it skews towards male enrollment over female. What is really striking is that Amherst accepts considerably more females, but they enroll at lower rate than males.</p>
<p>That is really atypical with today's demographics at elite colleges where females are over-represented in the applicant pool and schools have to accept more males to balance the enrollment.</p>
<p>I think that Amherst is still a male-oriented school culturally, despite the fact that they've been accepting women for a few decades now.</p>
<p>Pomona and Swarthmore were both coed from their founding. That has a significant impact on the culture of a school, more so than people really stop to consider.</p>
<p>I think the "maleness" of their cultures contribute to the much heavier drinking scenes at Williams and Amherst compared to Swarthmore and Pomona.</p>
<p>i only have a few things to add to the above discussion... Pomona and Swat have a very different feel to them. after visiting i felt that Swat emphasized the individual which can be both good and bad. classes can be very small (maybe just 4 students) and profs take a very personal approach to teaching. examples would be inviting students to their homes or using their personal connections to create unique opportunities for students... on the negative side, there seems to be very little sense of school spirit. sports are completely under the radar and students do not attend sporting events. the school does, however, support almost any type of (respectable) student gathering. i heard that the school even bought pizzas for students who gathered to watch "Seinfeld" every week...</p>
<p>Pomona definitely has more school spirit and from the very beginning emphasizes group activities (orientation adventures and sponsor groups). classes are small, but not quite as tiny as Swat can be. Significantly, the Pomona campus is more "alive" than Swat. Maybe it's the weather or the 5 college environs... Swat has a nice campus with very good facilities, but Pomona is just incredible. there is nowhere on the east coast that you will be able to find anything comparable. if you love the snow and the rural setting of a Williams, then go for it, but how can you beat 80 degrees in November? and it's not just the weather, the pomona campus is so beautiful (the buildings, outdoor pools, greek theatre, the grass and trees, and the mountains are visible from anywhere on campus... and, of course, there are the beaches, Disneyland, and everything that L.A. has to offer...</p>