<p>Pomona is now one of my top choices for colleges. I know for certain that I want to be majoring in computer science.</p>
<p>How's the program at Pomona for computer science? Compared to say, Harvey Mudd, will I get a similar education and the same career opportunities, and are those good career opportunities? What are the benefits/drawbacks of Pomona, not just in computer science but in general?</p>
<p>I know Harvey Mudd is more the engineering/computer science school but they also ask for a recommendation from a humanities teacher, and I don't have one or time to get one. So Pomona seems awesome, but I'm wondering about the career opportunities I will get there and if it's a good choice for computer science.</p>
<p>Pomona and Mudd CS majors take CS classes at both schools. Mudd has a better intro sequence, and their upper division courses tend to be more rigorous (which may or may not be a good thing). But Pomona CS majors can take the Mudd intro sequence, and even do a Mudd clinic (senior project), so there is really not much difference. I’m going to be working at a top tech company this summer. This is my impression of what CS majors from the junior class will be doing next summer, in decreasing order of frequency:
Internship at top tech company
Research.
Internship at other tech company.
Other.</p>
<p>We are invited to the Mudd career fair, and I got several interviews from that. However, Mudd has an amazing reputation, and having that name on the resume probably makes getting interviews easier. If your college with about 50 CS majors in a class brings in almost 100 employers looking for CS majors to its job fair… you’re probably going to get a job.</p>
<p>The main difference between Mudd and Pomona is the baseline level of academic rigor. Everyone at Mudd has to take a ton of hard science, math, and humanities classes. At Pomona, you only need to take one of each (and complete a major) to graduate.</p>
<p>That honestly makes both Pomona and Mudd sound amazing.</p>
<p>I’d probably love it at either school and it sounds like there’s not really much of a difference in the opportunities I will get. But let’s say I go to Pomona and then decide that I’d prefer to go to Mudd. How easy/hard would it be to transfer after my first year at Pomona? Would there really be any benefits to doing that anyway? I mean honestly I’d probably like Pomona enough to just stay there and not transfer, but right now I really like the sound of Mudd’s program and it seems more suited to my interests because I’m more of a math/science guy (although I love to write and really enjoy English, I’m just naturally good at math and science and like it more, and I don’t like history that much).</p>
<p>Surprisingly, you would be required to take about eight humanities courses at Mudd, while at Pomona you only need to take two or three.</p>
<p>Transferring between the C5s is very rare, because you realize once you get here that it wouldn’t make much of a difference. A lot of schools talk about how they have cross-enrollment, and students are rightly skeptical that someone from, say Wellesley would actually find it convienent to take a bus to MIT every day. But at the 5Cs, the furthest you can possibly need to go is a five minute bike ride. Some people hardly even take classes at the school they are enrolled in. You can actually get your major from one of the other schools, and I know people who are doing that.</p>
<p>The differences in living environment could be important. There is a lot more open partying at Mudd and CMC than the other schools, for example.</p>
<p>I think it’s a good idea to apply to every 5C school you think you might want to go to. They have differing merit and need-based aid policies.</p>
<p>Well Pomona has recently shot way up to the very top of my list – I realize it would probably be pointless to transfer to another Claremont College anyway. Pomona and Harvey Mudd are the only Claremont Colleges that I’m really super interested in though.</p>
<p>Now this question is more about admissions though: I didn’t get a chance to request an interview (and honestly I’m not sure if I could have gotten one since I live in Alaska, and I may have done poorly anyway because I stutter slightly but whatever that’s not important), so I’m afraid that it may seem that I’m not really as interested in Pomona as I am. My counselor also wrote on his recommendation that my top school was a school that I was recently rejected EA from (so it’s clearly not my top choice now, in fact Pomona is). Is there something I could do to show how really interested I am in Pomona, like write an email to the admissions counselor for my state or something? Or describe it in the additional section of the app? I just don’t want them to think that I’m not too interested and reject me for it, but at the same time I don’t necessarily want to apply ED2 in case I decide I might want to go somewhere else or want to keep my options open. Speaking of which, would applying ED2 affect my chances at all compared to RD?</p>
<p>Ugh sorry for these questions, I’m probably rambling and worrying too much but I just don’t want to screw up this app somehow.</p>
<br>
Your instinct not to apply ED2 is right on. What you don’t need right now is another rejection before you have other acceptances in hand, which could happen.
Apply widely. Have several reaches, like Pomona and Mudd, but also have some matches and at least one, but preferably more than one school that you know you will get into that you wouldn’t mind attending.<br>
I’m a little confused about your comment that your counselor wrote in his rec letter that the other school was your first choice. I can see why he would do that for the EA school, but that comment surely wouldn’t be in the letters for your other schools, would it? Why would he/she do that? It certainly won’t help you get in somewhere else. Make sure that your counselor writes a letter that is appropriate for all of the other schools where you are applying. And apply to several.
Good luck. Rejection is tough, but these top schools reject most of their applicants. You’re in good company.</p>
<p>Well basically for the common app school report where the Counselor writes the recommendation my Counselor mentioned what my top choice was. Since it was part of the common app I don’t think he can change it? Regardless, it no longer represents my view as the school is no longer my first choice. Other than that the recommendation was excellent though. </p>
<p>So I guess I could see if the Counselor can change this, but in the meantime I would like to email the admissions expressing my interest, asking a couple questions I have, and perhaps addressing the Counselor thing. So 1) is this a good idea and 2) should I email the specific admissions officer for my state or just the admissions office in general?</p>
<p>Maybe this has changed in the past few years, but I was able to make multiple copies of my common app and modify them individually. Not sure if it was possible to get a different recommendation, but it seems pretty important to not have that line going out to every school. Important enough to try to avoid using the common app at schools that don’t require it. Mentioning right in the letter that the student actually wants to go somewhere else really makes it look like a major risk that you will pick that school and hurt the yield rate - this is what demonstrated interest is all about.</p>
<p>Well I know you can create new versions of the common app but I don’t know if the counselor can change his rec.</p>
<p>And I obviously won’t be picking the school that he said is my top choice because it’s no longer my top choice and I was rejected. I guess Pomona wouldn’t necessarily know that though.</p>
<p>So tomorrow I’ll ask my counselor what he can do about it. Should I also write an email to the admissions explaining how Pomona is my top choice? And do I email the individual admissions rep for my state or the admissions office in general? I’m thinking the admissions rep might make more sense but I just want to make sure.</p>