<p>I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but I was too lazy to search the threads. What is dorming like at Pomona? Are the dorms big? are they suites? do they have communal kitchens? etc. Please tell me as much as possible, I'm trying to help out a friend who's trying to decide wether or not to go.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>I don't really know too much about the school since I'm a high school junior but I visited this April and I can give you some basic details.
From what I understand, all freshmen are put into sponsor groups where about 10-12 freshman (co-ed) live on the same floor with 2 sophomores as advisors and this forms your "core" group of friends throughout those four years, at least for a majority of students. From what I saw rooms were mostly doubles and there was a communal bathroom. The dorm we visited had a few kitchen units on the first floor for any of the students to use when they needed, but I don't know if all dorm buildings have that. The rooms looked like a pretty good size to me.
Overall, I really liked the whole idea of a sponsor group, it provides you with a base of support and lets you start make friends as soon as you get there. The student giving us the tour said you were usually matched up with people who were similar to you but also different in other ways so you could learn from each other. When you get in and decide to go there, Pomona sends you this huge housing survey that asks about your preferences and they match you up to your sponsor group from there.<br>
The only thing I didn't like about the dorms was the communal bathroom idea but honestly, it shouldn't be that bad.</p>
<p>However, the nice thing about the shared bathrooms is that you don't have to clean the bathroom. Students who live in suites on campus with private bathrooms have to clean them themselves, whereas we have housekeeping coming through every day to take care of our share spaces!</p>
<p>Actually, housekeeping comes in to clean the suite bathrooms as well. My two-room double roommate and I share a full bathroom by ourselves, and every week a very friendly housekeeper comes in to clean it! Dorms are VERY nice here, all will be recently renovated by the time your friend lives in them, and 2/3rds of the rooms on campus are singles or two-room doubles.</p>
<p>Pomona's dormitories are palaces. Most are 2 stories, and have around 150 rooms. A large number of the rooms are singles. If you get a double, it will be HUGE in size. Some of the rooms have balconies and fireplaces, or face out onto landscaped courtyards. The south campus dormitories each have their own lounge, and mostly interior hallways. The north campus dormitories have many outside entrances, and one main lounge in Walker Hall. Many of the dormitories date from the 1920's, 30's and 40's, and have beautiful architecture. Oldenborg is more modern, and it has air conditioning.</p>
<p>Pomona definitely has some of the nicer college dorms I've seen in general, but individual rooms are not always the greatest. Choose wisely. One year my son's room was simply inexcusable. It is in Harwood, which will soon be renovated so many rooms have been left in a rather sorry state. Wig also has some questionable rooms that are basically not much more than walk in closets.</p>
<p>Again, in general, the dorms are quite nice, but there are some notably BAD exceptions to that rule; and, presently other than Mudd-Blaisdell, don't think anywhere else has a/c.</p>
<p>So where would you recommend a freshman to stay? And do you know where next year's sub-free dorms are going to be?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, lintu, you actually don't have a choice - freshmen are assigned to housing and sponsor groups. Next year, Lyon 2 and Wig Basement will be sub-free, I'm not sure where else but those are definitely not the only locations. Both are really nice places to live. Half of Harwood will be renovated this summer, and Wig was actually redone the summer of 2005 so it's really new and the rooms are huge. Lyon's rooms are bigger, though... Mudd-Blaisdell is the only freshman dorm that has AC, but you really don't need it except for two weeks at the beginning of fall semester. Good luck and see you here in the fall!</p>
<p>Beware of the Harwood renovation. The last time they renovated Harwood over the summer, they didn't have it finished in time for the start of school. They split the residents up between a couple of motels, one up on Indian Hill Blvd, and the other south of Interstate 10. And for meals they had to travel all the way back to campus anyway, so it was extremely inconvenient. Way far from campus, it made for a very long walk if you missed one of the infrequent shuttle vans. Half of the rooms were completed with the renovation around 3 weeks later, and the remaining rooms were completed 6 weeks later.</p>
<p>Because of the disaster that ensued last time, they are really playing it safe, and doing half of it this summer, and half next summer (ample time to finish before startup in August)</p>
<p>Pomona seems to go out of its way to match students with compatible roomates, sponsors, and sponsor groups. This is a huge plus in the dorm experience that many schools don't stress, or don't have the resources to stress. My D received a detailed 2 page dorm questionnaire asking about everything from preferred bed time to musical preferences. It's capped off by a half page essay:</p>
<p>"New students are matched with upperclass student sponsors who will welcome them to Pomona, live nearby, provide them with information about the College, and be available throughout the year as advisers, friends and role models. In order for us to house you with a compatible roommate, sponsor and sponsor group, it is important that you describe yourself as accurately as possible. Tell us about yourself, your lifestyle, what you value, your background, personal and social habits, hobbies and interests, extracurricular activites, possibe major, and anything else you would like us to know - or that we might need to know - in order to place you".</p>
<p>Plus Pomona ranks #6 nationally in Princeton Review for "Dorms like Palaces"...</p>
<p>Hey guys, I have this really REALLY burning question and I would appreciate it greatly if anyone can help me soon coz' I'm sending in my deposit and forms tomorrow to Pomona and I still can't decide on whether to go for a substance free dorm or not.</p>
<p>Basically, this is the dilemma:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I'm a drinker, but i hate the smell of cigarette smoke and well, weed and all those drugs just don't do it for me. I don't want cases where i can smell weed from my neighbours or worse my room mate or something. </p></li>
<li><p>But I've been hearing from facebook, and other threads that if I choose to like go to a substance-free dorm, there's some sort of stigma attached to the substance-free? I want to be as normal as possible (though i admit the cultural difference is something I have to overcome, as a Chinese Singaporean) and I want to be part of Pomona without having people look at me as some Jacobin freak or something just because I stay in substance free. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, the stigma exists, but do u think it's actually widespread? And is alcohol and drugs allowed in 'normal' dorms?</p>
<p>Not trying to be divisive or derogatory here to anyone, I'm just trying to get around this difficulty in choice. Thanks.</p>
<p>D.T. - I signed up for substance free, and thought about it quite a bit as well. Honestly, I don't think it's fair to, say, people who really don't like alcohol for you to drink in the dorms. (It's the same situation as you not liking drugs...) So if you intend to drink in the sub free hall, that's probably not a great idea? </p>
<p>You can also request a "low-sub" hall by writing on your housing forms that you prefer to avoid drugs. I hear that Pomona is pretty good about placing people. </p>
<p>As for the stigma ... it didn't bother me when I heard about it. From what I hear, as long as you make an effort to be nice to people and to make friends, you'll be fine. You can PM me if you want to chat more about this. Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>Oh debatechic nope I didn't mean that I would drink in my dorm, I wouldn't do that. I just meant to say that I'm ok with drinking.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to say um I don't like guys who do this or girls who do that, not my intention at all. It's just that people have different preferences when it come to accomodation, so I'm trying to figure where would be a good place for me, that's all.</p>
<p>Thanks anyway for your advice! Ugh, I've made countless cancellations on my housing form already LOL</p>
<p>Personally I would never live in sub-free freshman year. It definitely attracts a "different" group of people, and there is a good deal of hallway cohesiveness (to some degree). If you're a drinker who doesn't like to have the stuff near you, I would recommend requesting a single in a normal hall. That's what I had and it worked out great. Also, low-sub is one of the stupider terms Pomona has come up with. Just a side note.</p>