<p>I’m with Little Mother and MNKeeper.</p>
<p>Readers will draw their own conclusions about the nature and content of each poster’s contribution to this site. I realize that we all get overly invested in the schools with which we are associated, but the vast majority of posters are well-intentioned, and therefore thin-skinned accusations of bad intent or deception are neither polite nor warranted under any circumstances.</p>
<p>I really don’t want to continue this discussion, but now I am accused of being thin-skinned and having bad intent. I realize I am posting on a Pomona thread where all the posters are invested in their school, but I have given you concrete evidence of the type of behavior to which I object without engaging in personal attacks. Maybe you have trouble observing or perceiving information that conflict with your own biases or prejudices.</p>
<p>Here is my problem with the post by MNkeeper in this thread: He said that the Pomona economics dept is just as good as CMC and then goes on to say that Pomona is more well-rounded. The only evidence for this is that he has some CMC friends who took an economics class at Pomona because they thought the professor is better. If he want to help readers understand the differences between the two schools, then state whatever facts or perceptions you may have without subjectively comparing the schools in a favorable or unfavorable manner, as it does not help educate prospective applicants. For example, I totally disagree with his assertion that Pomona’s economics dept. is equal to CMC, and I offered concrete facts regarding the breadth and depth of their course selection. But I only did this because he felt it necessary to subjectively compare the programs. </p>
<p>Finally, if this had been the only example of this type of behavior, i probably would not have posted, but as I pointed out in another post, he tends to do this repeatedly. I have been following this thread for sometime and, unfortunately, you seem to have a few posters who like to compare the schools in this manner. For whatever reason, I don’t see anyone doing this in the CMC thread.</p>
<p>Parent57:</p>
<p>I was not “attacking you” personally. I was categorizing the remarks of people that take the comments on this site too seriously as thin-skinned. If you feel you fit into that category, then the worst I was implying is that you are far too sensitive. </p>
<p>When I also wrote that “accusations of bad intent or deception” were not fair or called for, all I was trying to say is that neither you nor anyone else should impugn the intent of posters – I didn’t mean YOU were exhibiting bad intent. After all, nobody’s getting paid here for their time and comments (that I know of), and if someone gets a little too proud of their school or says something you feel is unfair to a school you favor, then so what? Take it with a grain of salt and move on.</p>
<p>Honestly, does anyone believe that the type of person that could gain admission to top-tier, highly selective schools such as Pomona or CMC would rely solely on the info provided by anonymous posters herein? The info found here is just “insider” gravy on the meat and potatoes of dedicated college websites, admissions brochures, high school counselors, friends, Fisk-type college guides of all shapes and colours and personal visits. </p>
<p>Relax, everyone. Context is everything.</p>
<p>bb: If you are choosing Pomona over CMC because you overnighted at both and you prefer the vibe at Pomona I’m sure you are making a good choice.</p>
<p>S chose to apply to CMC and not Pomona based on what he read. He didn’t have the benefit of a school presentation or a campus visit. He is not a frat type, jock or the stereotypical CMC kid and neither are his friends there. His leadership was more of the nontraditional sort than the type that everyone recognizes. He like you was attracted to the philosophy of learning for practical purposes in the working world. He is considering a philosophy major so I would say he matches you in a love for intellectual endeavors. </p>
<p>My point is that he loves CMC and he has no regrets about not applying to Pomona. Even though he is happy with his choice I wouldn’t say that because this works for him it would work for you too. What I would say is that if there are things about CMC that you prefer you shouldn’t assume you would be uncomfortable socially because of the stereotype. This doesn’t match S’s experience and if you had a chance to spend more time on campus you might find that you fit in just fine. </p>
<p>If you are making your decision based on the feeling you got when being around students of each campus there is no arguing with that. If you are making the decison based on what you hear is the way it is you could have an inaccurate perception. </p>
<p>From the way you describe yourself you probably can’t make a bad choice between the two. I just wanted to discourage you from being dissuaded because of a canned image. </p>
<p>Good luck whichever way you go!</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, that’s good to hear. I’m still going to apply to Pomona ED, but if I don’t get in I’ll definitely apply to CMC. Glad your son is enjoying it!</p>
<p>BB-
if you take nothing else from all the advice, there is one thing you must adhere to. you must not, under any circumstance, consider applying to pomona, or anywhere, early decision, unless you do an overnight stay. if pomona does not offer this, i would not apply. there are too many instances of students loving a school, even after touring it, speaking with students, and then doing an overnight stay and either being disillusioned or absolutely hating what they experienced. ED is a big, big, big decision which does not work in your favor financial aid wise and you need to proceed on the basis of finding out everything you can about a school.</p>
<p>For what its worth, when I was walking the consortium campuses last year when my daughter did an overnight stay (at pomo, where she goes now), I picked up distinct vibes at each campus. Pomona had a serene vibe, CM was energetic, Pitzer gave me a flashback to NYC’s East Village in the 1970s and HM seemed like it was in lock-down-- you got the feeling everyone was in the labs or the library. It’s funny the things you pick up just walking around.</p>
<p>I’m a current CMC student that would love to chat. Please PM me if you want some more insight about CMC! We would love to have you apply!</p>
<p>bb -</p>
<p>D (Pomona’09) applied ED after touring Pitzer, CMC, and Pomona over two days. It was the best investment of time. I totally agree with ayzdad that fit is very important.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>As a current Pomona student, I can vouch for MNKeeper’s statement that CMC parties and drinks much harder than any of the other Claremont colleges. From Thursday to Saturday night, their main quad area is almost always filled with beer pong tables on the lower and upper decks of dorms while students blare their music at ridiculously high volumes until quite late at night. I don’t necessarily mind this characteristic. I am just saying that CMC on the whole parties significantly more and in a more blatant manner than Pomona students do. This fact cannot be denied. Yes, Pomona kids definitely party a lot too, but on the whole, CMC students are more alcohol/partying-inclined.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with the assertion that one must stay overnight to apply ED. DD was able to gauge the vibe of her school with only day visits. She applied to her school ED, and time revealed all the hidden benefits she hadn’t seen. She never regretted her decision.</p>
<p>Then I have met kids dissuaded by a poor host, so the overnight was misleading.</p>
<p>In most cases, I would agree that an overnight provides good insight for most students, but as a wise friend of mine once said, “The final evidence is never in.” If a student is convinced that ED is the way to go and fiances allow it, I don’t think an overnight visit is a necessity.</p>
<p>It is certainly true that you can get a vibe from a school without an overnite stay and it’s usually more accurate than inaccurate. So, ED works well enough for many, maybe most, students who go ED successfully without an overnite stay. For those happy students, overnite was not, in retrospect, necessary. BUT-- the vibe is not always accurate-- you may have hit a tour guide you like, spoke with some students who tell you everything is good-- and when you arrive, the atmosphere of living there is much different than what you thought, and with ED, there’s no going back. I agree the overnite is not a perfect predictor-- nothing is-- I mean, a school’s personality can vary from one class to the next. But if there is something about the school that you’re not going to like, esp. socially speaking, the overnite stay has no substitute for ferreting that out. The fact that many students go happily ED without an overnite doesn’t change that principle. Without the overnite, it’s a much bigger risk on an irreversible decision. My D had a friend who loved a prestigous college in Virginia-- I won’t say which–after visiting, interviewing, talking with students,etc. Then she did an overnite stay-- as soon as she got in the car going home I’m told her father could tell by her face she wasn’t going to apply. She HATED it. I have heard this over and over again (with less dramatic reaction) from students who thought they were in love with a school they thought they knew well until they did an overnight stay. My D had Dartmouth on her list for ED, we had visited, she had a lot of info, her brother’s friend attended and told her all about it, etc. Then my D did an overnite, and came back with a very different picture, and from what her friends attending Dartmouth tell her now, it was an accurate one (not a bad thing, just not my D’s thing). </p>
<p>On the other hand, you’re right about overnites can leave you with impressions that are not totally accurate. My D had a lousy hostess at a very prestigious school in the Midwest–so your point there is taken-- but you can discount for that (my D did)-- the students at the school even told my D that she was a guest of the ‘one person on campus who shouldn’t be hosting potential applicants’. So it was something she sort of laughed off. Then another school in the midwest she happened to visit during parents visitation week, so things were very calmed down, i.e, dull, that week, but again, she realized this and discounted for it.</p>
<p>So maybe I should rephrase-- if ED is going to enhance your chances of admission, and you’re sure it’s the school for you, you should make every effort to do an overnite stay. If you can’t, or if affordability is a problem, then maybe you take your chances, but understand, that without the overnight it’s a deeper, darker black hole you’re jumping into, and there’s no jumping out until you’ve attended and can transfer out (then you get to go through this joyous application process all over again). Take your chances if you wish, you may hit the jackpot, but understand the risk, and ask yourself, as objectively as possible, how are you so sure you want to go to this particular school so badly? A comprehensive checklist helps keep you more objective.</p>
<p>It is not a nuanced answer. You fit in where you fit in. Go with Pomona if you feel that’s a better social fit for you. There are no tangible benefits to CMC. Pomona students have full access to the Ath, and Pomona does just as much in terms of research institutes (which you have cross campus access to) and they throw more money at you than CMC does. Additionally, CMC has a strong economics department but compared to Pomona its reputation is definitely not ahead (I’ve never heard anyone say it is stronger than Pomona but I have no objective measure of assessing that so I won’t make a statement of fact on the issue). That said, Pomona definitely has a stronger national reputation than CMC. Just do what feels right. Good luck.</p>