<p>The two schools are so different so it may seem like a strange bind to be in. Pomona seems to be a lot more academically rigorous and tight-knit, plus it has the resources of the consortium in addition to the unity of a small liberal arts school. Plus all the classes are small and most kids would know one another, both of which I highly value. I'd kind of like to go to grad school though, and I can't help but feel that UNC would have more opportunities for research and other ways to prepare for grad school, plus the full ride would eliminate the problem of paying for grad school. I love both NC and CA, so the different locations isn't a problem, but the cali weather is probably impossible to beat.</p>
<p>I'm planning to major in psychology but also have interests in foreign languages, which I know are excellent at Pomona. I talked with a psych professor at pomona, which was honestly very reassuring too, the program there seems to have lots of opportunities for undergrads. So right now I'm leaning toward Pomona.</p>
<p>Can you afford Pomona? That’s a major consideration. You shouldn’t turn down a free education unless you can easily (as in no/few loans) afford Pomona.</p>
<p>I don’t really know anything about Pomona, but you might not be so excited about knowing everybody in such a small school after 4 years. It’s like high school. If you’re not sick of your classmates that you’ve spent the last 4 years with then that’s a different story. But I know that a lot of people, including me, cannot wait to get away from seeing the same people every day for 4 years. At UNC, you always have the opportunity to meet new people and expand/change your group of friends which can be really important to some. Despite the size of UNC, if you get involved in clubs and other things you’re interested in, you can find your niche and make it feel like a smaller school.</p>
<p>Undergraduate wouldn’t be a problem. But if I did decide to go to graduate school post-pomona, there would be money but it’d start getting tight. I’ve heard that scholarships/sponsorships for grad school are easier to come by though? I don’t know much for sure.</p>
<p>I ended up turning down several highly selective liberal arts colleges to attend UNC, and at first I was really worried about UNC’s size. But I’ve really enjoyed my time at Chapel Hill and wanted to offer a few thoughts on the difference between UNC vs. a small liberal arts college, from the perspective of someone who ended up at UNC but also considered the other path.</p>
<p>I think it’s important to note that there are a myriad of opportunities to find engaging, intimate intellectual communities at UNC-Chapel Hill, which is one of the things you seem to be looking for college and was one of the most important things I was considering. </p>
<p>My dorm, student groups, and several academic programs (including my department) have all made UNC smaller for me, socially and intellectually. You can also certainly find small classes here. Three of my five classes this semester have 18 or fewer students. Most semesters, I’ve sought out small classes, and I can only think of three or four classes I’ve taken in the past four years that have been over 30-40 students, and most have had around 18-22. </p>
<p>I’m not taking any honors classes this semester (which, just as a sidenote, are also accessible to students outside of the honors program), but those courses are particularly helpful in allowing you to take small seminar versions of what would otherwise be large lectures. Yet, because UNC-Chapel Hill is a research university, as a student here you have a lot of access to research – something which is pretty important in a field like psychology. </p>
<p>In the end, UNC is not a liberal arts college - in ways that are both good and bad. If you have your heart set on the liberal arts college experience, then Pomona is among the finest around. UNC-Chapel Hill is also an incredible institution, though, and a full ride here - along with the smaller classes of the Honors program - is hard to turn down. If you really want to do research, or if the money is at all a consideration, Chapel Hill is also a fantastic choice.</p>
<p>I actually thought Pomona was my dream school before I visited. Seriously, I was going to apply there binding ED and that would be that… Then I toured it and I absolutely hated it. Granted, the dorms were so gorgeous and I’m sure the education is great. But the people were so snobby and my tour guide was just terrible. I have two older siblings and literally have gone to over 30 tours and now give tours myself, I can say this was the worst tour I’ve ever been on. And everyone I met just wasn’t very friendly.</p>
<p>So yeah, less biased perspective because I didn’t say anything actually just now… I can’t speak to what Pomona actually would have been like. Maybe it was an off day for the entire campus. But I can say that it is entirely possible to get personal attention at UNC. Will professors be holding your hands? No, absolutely not (though some TAs/research assistants might)… but I’ve realized that I didn’t really want to be coddled with my education. The professors are still very happy to sit down and talk to you about anything.</p>
<p>I’m getting my BS in Psych and Chinese and our programs for both of those are fantastic. There is a huge demand for undergrads to work in the labs (and you can get started pretty much immediately! I wish I had done that…) for psychology and in other fields and within your lab there will only be a few other undergrads. That’s a great way to specialize and get great recs for grad school. I’ve also been super happy with the Chinese program here. I came in thinking I would do Japanese and made the mistake of taking Japanese and Chinese at the same time (this can be done but you need to be pretty hardcore). I had good experiences with both departments but ended up really loving the Chinese majors here and the professors and so bailed on Japanese.</p>
<p>Ultimately I think people in this economy are realizing that those precious LACs aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, especially for grad school admissions. If you have a full ride there or your parents have the money in hand right now to pay for it, by all means, go for fit and think it all out. But even then it’s not like Pomona blows Carolina out of the water. The silver lining of this recession is that people actually have to think about the decisions they’re making to lay down hundreds of thousands of dollars for an education. If you decide after you crunch the numbers that it’s worth it then that’s a value judgment no one can argue with you (and I can relate to you for grad school). But it’s necessary that you think about it and are realistic about the prospect of debt.</p>
<p>Like cloying, my son came home one day early in his senior year and said he was going to apply ED to Pomona. After I picked myself off the floor, we convinced him that he should maybe visit for a weekend. He knew a girl from his sister school that was a freshman and he arranged the visit. When he got back he had cooled a bit to still applying but RD and not really sure if it was the right place for him. It was the smallest of all schools on his list, and despite having the other Claremont Colleges right there he was not convinced that there would be much academic interaction with the other schools in his case. </p>
<p>Pomona is a great school that suffers a bit of an identity crisis because outside of academia, most people east of California aren’t even aware of it, let alone it’s academic pedigree. It’s one of those schools that has recently found favor among private school counselors especially in the South as an alternative to Amherst, Williams and Swarthmore. It’s certainly an academic peer to those three but without the “brand name” recognition. As a parent who was facing paying for said education, I was honestly less enthusiastic about Pomona than I would have been had it been Amherst or Williams for just that reason.</p>
<p>If grad school is definitely in your future, paying less for undergrad is not a bad thought as long as you are not making a big academic compromise…in this case, I don’t think you are at all…</p>
<p>As far as weather, if I recall correctly, Pomona actually sits in an area with a large amount of smog…and it isn’t the typical SoCal beach weather experience…this was from research I did almost 8 years ago so forgive me if my memory is a bit off here. You might try to verify this on the Pomona site.</p>