Transfers from schools that are not considered tier 1? I only ask because a buddy of mine is doing very well- he had around a 3.7 in high school with great ECs, has almost a 3.85 now (with 1 year completed) and is captain of his track team, had a 33 act, and wrote outstanding essays (according to people who looked at them). He also will get great recommendations from his current professors. However, he turned down attending Davidson due to a large scholarship he received at a LAC ranked just in the top 50 that is closer to home. Now, however, he is ready to branch out and would love to go to school in Cali. I know he is very smart, but I don’t want him to get his hopes up if Pomona truly only accepts “only tier 1 schools” or “only ivy league” transfers. Does anyone have any info about this? In addition, are there other schools that are on the level of Pomona that he has a good chance of gaining admission to if he has a slim chance of gaining admission to Pomona?
Yes. Around half the admitted transfers are community college students, and the others are a hodgepodge of all sorts of schools. Only 1 of ~15-20 every year tends to be from an Ivy; the others tend to be mostly from liberal arts colleges. I have never heard of a transfer being accepted from the tippy top LACs beyond Bowdoin, so I don’t think it’s something they really care about.
source: I have known the transfer group in all my four years here
@nostalgicwisdom will spread the word, thanks a lot.
It’s easier for admissions committees at schools like Pomona to make sense of an applicant’s reasons for wanting to transfer when they’re coming from a very different kind of school. Otherwise they may suspect that you’re a malcontent and wouldn’t be appreciably better served by one school than another. I barely squeaked over from Bowdoin to Wesleyan back in 1993, when Pomona trailed both in the rankings. Wesleyan wanted some real justification.
@wesleyan97 Out of curiosity, why did you transfer from Bowdoin to Wesleyan at the time?
You only ask? Did you mean that you ask only because…?
Well, keeping in mind that Bowdoin was ranked 4th and Wes 6th or 7th at the time, it was entirely a lateral movement with regard to prestige. Bowdoin had a huge frat scene back then and there was an offputting homogeneity among the students, at least outwardly. The guys were unreasonably handsome, amiable scholar athletes. Once I’d get to know one, there would be a fascinating individual embedded within the preppy drag. The girls were likewise very preppy but many–perhaps most–had that patrician horsey look, seemed very cliquish, and were kind of bitchy. (At Wesleyan the reverse was true–the women were exceptionally beautiful and open and kind of thrilling while the guys were meh. Again, these are superficial impressions, not appraisals of their character or aptitude.) At Bowdoin my classmates were ostensibly liberal, but the campus had a politically complacent feel–except when the college announced that frats would be phased out–I remember what seemed to be the entire student body picketing that day. The food was great. The professors were brilliant. It was just too insular at that time. And back then, no train! I quite loved the town, too. Brunswick is charming. I thought nothing of it when I was accepted at Pomona. Over the years something has happened there to make it a big deal. For me college always meant New England, so despite some cursory interest, I never seriously contemplated going to school on the West Coast. I have two friends who recently graduated. One is an unmitigated tool, replete with complexes, Napoleon foremost among them. The other is just one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. To succinctly answer your question, Wes was a better fit. The academics were at least as good and the energy of the school was so much cooler (I don’t mean drugs, which I’ve never used) and more joyful. It could be completely different now. Wesleyan seems to be resurging, at least in its metrics, with a 17.5% acceptance rate (roughly equal to Williams and impressive considering it’s 2x the size of many of the other top LACs) and fast-growing endowment (it’ll never have the highest per student like it once did but it needs parity with Bowdoin and Midd at least). A final note about Bowdoin guys–I visited a friend’s nephew last year. They’re still A+++
Always interesting to hear people’s stories, thanks. I think Pomona last long been a great LAC, but what’s changes is internet research, etc. has broken down regional borders more. When I grew up in California we all knew about the colleges in Pomona, but I had never heard of Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Middlebury, etc.
Yeah, I think you’re right.