Geography

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pomona College
1

<p>I have a question about the selectivity of Pomona. Is it easier to get in if you are from the East Coast. I'm from Pennsylvania (quite far away, and where very few people have heard of Pomona, but still a very large state with lots of bright students). Will this help increase my chances of getting into Pomona more than if I lived in California? Also, what are my chances of getting in? </p>

<p>I have...</p>

<p>I'm a senior applying to college this upcoming fall. Wash U is one of my top 3 picks for where I am going to apply early. The thing is, I am afraid that if I don't apply early here I won't get in either because I won't be strong enough or I'll be one of the dreaded "too strong" candidates. Do I have a shot of getting in RD or should I apply ED if I want to get in? I am stuck between Wash U, Brown, and Amherst (3 fairly different schools) for where I am going to apply early and I'm just wondering what my shot at getting into Wash U RD would be or should I just screw the other two as I probably wouldnt get in RD and just apply to Wash U early.</p>

<p>I have:</p>

<p>Grades:
GPA (Unweighted) 3.92
QPA (Weighted) 4.82 (My school operates on a system so regular classes are out of 4, Honors are out of 5, and AP are out of 5.5)
Class Rank - 10th/500
Taken hardest classes offered each year.
Attend a large, very competitive, suburban public school (usually gets a student or two into each of the following: MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Stanford plus a couple students into the likes of Northwestern, Tufts, JHU, and Emory. Not too many kids go to LACs but one student did get into Pomona a couple years ago I think...) </p>

<p>Senior Year Schedule:
AP BC Calculus
AP Chemistry
AP English Literature
AP US Government
AP Biology
2 Honors levels history electives taught by the two best teachers in the school
Concert Band during Lunch</p>

<p>SATs:
Math - 760
Critical Reading - 740
Writing - 700</p>

<p>SATIIs:
Math IIC - 780
US History - 760</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-4 years of Percussion Ensemble. We played at the Music Educators National Convention my Sophomore year (one of 30 groups nationwide, one of only 15 highschool groups, and the only percussion ensembe) and the National Percussion Festival my Junior year (one of 12 groups nationwide) and will probably play at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association my Senior year. Keyboard Ensemble Senior year (group made up of the 3 best players out of the 60 in the program)</p>

<p>-4 years marching band in the Percussion Front.
Senior year Percussion Front Captain</p>

<p>-4 Years concert band - Senior year Principal Percussionist</p>

<p>-District Band Junior Year (hopefull regional or all-state senior year)</p>

<p>-President of the Chemistry Club Senior year</p>

<p>-3rd place in a Western Pennsylvania Chemistry Competition Sophomore year</p>

<p>-Ultimate Frisbee team Junior and Senior year</p>

<p>-Volunteer once a week at a local hospital for about 4 or 5 hours</p>

<p>-Started a program in a local middle school that monitors the students' activity, gives them chances to play sports after school/be active, brings in a nutritionist to talk to them about eating correctly and teaches about how rewarding an active lifestyle can be. </p>

<p>-Every summer for the past 5 years have traveled for at least one week to another city to work at homeless shelters or on Habitat for Humanity-style trips.</p>

<p>-Attended Governor's School for Health Care summer between Junior and Senior years</p>

2

<p>Hi there! I'll start off by mentioning that you are qualified for Pomona, but not an "overqualified" candidate. Pomona does not have much trouble getting its top applicants to matriculate, and it is a reach for almost every applicant. The acceptance rate this year was 15.8 percent, and will only be lower next year. Of the other schools you're interested in, I would say that Brown and Amherst are more similar/on par with Pomona than WashU. </p>

<p>I hear that it's slightly harder to be admitted as a California resident, but Pomona's expectations for east coast applicants are still insanely high. I attended a very competitive public high school in New England that has sent over 20 applications to Pomona in the past two years, and only three students have been admitted (one of which was a sports recruit). </p>

<p>If Pomona is truly your first choice college I would suggest applying early decision. However, don't apply early as a strategy. Pomona takes less than a third of its class via early decision, and students admitted in December are equally as qualified as those who survive the intensive regular decision review.</p>

3

<p>If you know already that Pomona is the school for you, you should apply ED, signifying it to admissions, and making your life a whole lot easier through your senior year. If you're going to Pomona, admissions offers from other schools will do you very little good, and (believe me) you'll wish you had applied ED, saved hundreds of dollars, and known where you were going by the holidays. </p>

<p>Based on what you've provided here, it seems you would stand an excellent (but obviously not 100%) chance of being admitted ED, whereas >5 out of 6 very qualified candidates are turned away in the RD round, when admissions become much more of a crapshoot. Geography will also platy more of an advantage in the ED round.</p>

4

<p>I really like everything I have read about Pomona. It just seems like an awesome school. The only thing is, I have never visited the school so I am hesitant to lock myself in to go there when I have never even been on the campus. I must ask though, is the difference going to be likely to admitted if I apply early and unlikely/crapshoot if I apply RD? And if it is, do you think it is worth if to fly out there, see the school, and if I still really like it apply early? </p>

<p>Thank you for any help!</p>

5

<p>If you like Pomona before the visit, you'll absolutely love it once you see the campus (pictures and words can't do it justice). However, you should probably make the trip out there before you apply ED.</p>