Diversity at Pomona?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pomona College
1

<p>How diverse is the community at Pomona in respects to: </p>

<ul>
<li>Ethnicity</li>
<li>Socioeconomic status</li>
<li>Geographic origins (state & countries)</li>
</ul>

<p>I've heard that it's very diverse in all of these respects - but I have also heard that its composed of rich white California kids who wear flip flops 24/7.</p>

<p>What's the truth?</p>

2

<p>This post from last year may answer some of your questions - </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pomona-college/1399722-pomona-class-2016-profile.html?highlight=diversity[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pomona-college/1399722-pomona-class-2016-profile.html?highlight=diversity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Ethnicity- very diverse. Class of 2016 is 9% Black, 20% Asian, 16% Hispanic, 1% Native American, 10% International. </p>

<p>Socioeconomic status- 18% get Pell grants, similar to schools like Harvard, Stanford, and Rice. Class issues rarely emerge because the student body is laid back and unpreppy, and the school subsidizes everything.</p>

<p>Geographic origins: 34.4% California, 12.8% Northeast, 12% Northwest (Alaska, Washington, Oregon), 10.3% Hawaii/Nevada/Arizona/Minnesota/Idaho/etc, 10.5% International, 8.5% South, 12% Midwest. From 49 states and 22 countries. Compare with Stanford:</p>

<p>"The largest group of incoming students – 38.1 percent – graduated from California high schools.</p>

<p>The next top five regions represented in the class are the South (15.1 percent); international students and U.S. students who completed high school studying abroad (9.7 percent); the Mid-Atlantic (9.2 percent); Far West – Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii (8 percent); and the Mid-West (7.8 percent). The other regions are Mountain States (6.3 percent); New England (3.7 percent); and the Great Plains (1.8 percent)." Pretty much the same.</p>

<p>55% get some FA, 45% pay the full cost.
14% have both first gen parents, 17% at least one. 32% speak a language different than English at home. 11% are from the Questbridge program. </p>

<p>That’s the truth, and if you don’t believe it come see the class of 2016 for yourself. It’s an extremely diverse, unsegregated group of people.</p>

4

<p>Was talking to my son and girlfriend, both graduates of Pomona, this past weekend and the question of diversity came up. My son said the one underrepresented group at Pomona is the “middle class”. Part of his time there was spent as a senior interviewer in admissions and he never even interviewed a middle class kid. I think Pomona has outreach efforts to reach those in lower socioeconomic groups and the rich kids know about the school. No real effort for those in the middle. Both my son and his girlfriend thought that the lack of a middle class perspective adversely affected class discussion. By the way though we are from California and my son wore flip-flops and shorts 24-7, except when working in admissions, we certainly aren’t rich just cheap.</p>

5

<p>I agree with 70’s Grad for the most part. It is very difficult to gain admittance to Pomona for anyone. In my daughters case she was the first student to ever get admitted to Pomona from her high school, which is the epitome of a middle class school. I don’t think it is a problem with Pomona accepting middle class kids as much as it is a problem with middle class students understanding what a great school it is and applying. Middle class students usually wind up at their state schools because their families have not done enough homework and many guidance counselors are overworked to be much help or ignorant of LACs and the value they offer.
This said, my daughter is very happy and socioeconomic status has no bearing on the friendships she has made.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>I would agree with this with regards to my son. I don’t think he would have any real way of knowing, unless he had been to their homes, which kids were from middle class families, especially in California where everyone walks around campus in shorts and flip-flops. Also, except for the two extremes- the very wealthy and the poor- the experiences of the student’s home lives are probably not all that different.
70s grad- I’m curious how your son, even as an interviewer, knew the socioeconomic status of every kid he interviewed. Is this a piece of information give out to the interviewers by the college? High Schools don’t tell the whole story. I’d be somewhat surprised if the student interviewers were privy to the financial information of the parents.</p>