Dartmouth Pomona Split HELP!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>I'm a longtime reader, first time poster with a big problem. I'm amazed at how evenly torn between these two amazing schools I am. Pomona has been my dream school since seventh grade, but after visiting Dartmouth this summer I was just blown away with the beauty of the campus and the warm greetings of the students and faculty. I created a pro and con list for both schools, warning its long, and I'd appreciate some other opinions, and possibly a correction of one my views if you deem them to be wrong. I live in Eugene, Oregon by the way.
First Dartmouth College: Pro/Con List
Pros
1. Many options for outdoor recreation, i.e. swinging off of the rope swing and plunging into the river, snowboarding and skiing, mountain biking and hiking the nearby mountains, camping, canoeing, etc.
2. Incredibly strong sense of camaraderie
3. Abundance of on campus activities and the vast majority of the student body is present on campus at any time
4. Excellent employment options in finance and consulting, has perhaps the finest alumni network of all of the Ivies
5. Low cost of living
6. Effective administration
7. Wonderful housing
8. Great on-campus dining
9. Unique and effective academic calendar, the D-Plan
10. Close and friendly professors who care that you learn, for the most part
11. Beautiful scenery
12. NAME BRAND COLLEGE WITH BIG, IVY LEAGUE PRESTIGE!!!
Cons
1. Lack of a structured core curriculum similar to Columbia’s
2. Lack of public transportation
3. Boring isolation
4. No other college students or students of relative age within a 2 hour radius, thus the dating scene and pool of friends is probably going to be exclusively Dartmouth students, for better or, probably, for worse
5. Very fierce winter temperatures, heavy snowfall, and dark winter days
6. Lack of social alternatives to the Greek scene
7. I may get very bored without any other alternatives
8. The D-Plan will get intense, more so than the average college academic experience
9. Very far from home</p>

<p>Next, Pomona College: Pro/Con List
Pro
1. The weather, enough said
2. Gorgeous campus, very lush with beautiful eclectic architecture
3. Small LAC interactive education and nurturing environment with the resources of a major research university, thanks to the Claremont Consortium
4. Access to other college students, UCLA, USC, Occidental, etc.
5. Access to SOUTHERN California beaches
6. Plentiful option for the outdoorsy, albeit not as many options as Dartmouth offers, such as skiing and snowboarding in the San Gabriel Mountain in the winter, surfing year-round, hiking the many trails, camping, etc.
7. Access to LA, which is a little over 30 minutes away, and at least some civilization in the form of the depressing suburb of Claremont
8. Close enough to home while being far away enough from home
9. Proximity to Las Vegas
Cons
1. Cost of living in LA
2. Severe lack of prestige, or at the very least name recognition
3. Admittedly less options than other larger colleges, like Dartmouth
4. Weaker sense of camaraderie than Dartmouth
5. Lacking scenery
6. Smog, which reflects poor air quality, and mediocre scenery
7. Los Angeles style traffic
8. Lacks the D-Plan
9. Lack of strong social scene, i.e. weak Greek scene and fairly far from other social options in Pasadena and West LA
10. Career prospects are weak compared to Dartmouth
11. Lack of a core curriculum like Columbia's</p>

<p>Any help would be great</p>

2

<p>I've never thought the lack of a core curriculum "like Columbia's" was ever a bad thing. In fact, the distributive requirements are set up in the most beneficial way possible. If you have no idea what you want to do, your distribs will make you take courses in majors that you would never have dreamed of liking. On the flip side, if you decided you wanted to triple major from freshman year with a set goal, your distributives will generally not get in the way. That's my impression.</p>

<p>What kind of public transportation are you looking at? We do have Advance Transit, which is free and runs places.</p>

<p>Also, I'm sure there is plenty to do other than fratting, because needless to say, there are a great deal of nondrinkers here.</p>

3

<p>In most cases whenever I refer to public transportation I mean transportation throughout the city. In Dartmouth's case I mean transportation from Hanover to any city, be it Burlington, Boston, Albany, New York, anything and I didn't see any rail lines but there probably are buses.</p>

4

<p>Actually vermont transit runs several times a day to boston- south station and logan airport.</p>

<p>there is a greyhound bus that runs daily to NYC.</p>

<p>You can catch the amtrak in white river junction (about a 5 minute ride away if you want to take the train to NYC or boston)</p>

<p>During thanksgiving the SA runs a low cost bus service from Hanover to NYC.</p>

<p>Probably the largest contigency of dartmouth students in each class are from NY, with the bulk of them coming from NYC. Followed by students from Ca, Ma, Tx.</p>

<p>If the cold is not your thing, you can set up your D-plan where you are off working or taking classes some where sunny during the winter sophomore and junior year.</p>

5

<p>One of the students told me something about the exchange program you referenced sybbie. He said that it would be possible to study for up to three quarters at a different college. What are some colleges that you could study at? Would Stanford or UCLA be an option? Are you restricted to only colleges with quarter calendars? Again is Stanford an option? And would it be possible to craft your D-Plan so that you could avoid studying during the winter for your Sophomore, Junior and Senior years?</p>

6

<p>There is a Dartmouth -Stanford Exchange for Native American Studies</p>

<p>Native</a> American Studies at Dartmouth College</p>

<p>there are also a vast number of off-campus and exchange programs including UCSD</p>

<p>Programs > List</a> All > Off-Campus Programs at Dartmouth College</p>

<p>Since there is a residency requirement you must be "on" (in Hanover) freshman and senior year and sophomore summer.</p>

<p>My D has a friend who is a '9 who took internships in NYC last winter, spring and summer. He was just on during the fall of 2007, and has returned for senior year.</p>

7

<p>My son goes to Dartmouth and thinks it's awesome. My niece-in-law went to Pomona and absolutely loved it.</p>

<p>One consideration: When you're done with college, do you want to be in the East or the West? If you want to be West, Pomona might be better -- more name recognition there. And, of course, the exact opposite for the East and Dartmouth.</p>

<p>{Whoo hoo! My 1,500th post!}</p>

8

<p>Good for you, VeryHappy!</p>