<p>that Pomona is a better school to go to than Big Midwest State School (that she went to herself)</p>
<p>It is driving me insane. There is no reasoning with her, especially about the whole name recognition thing. </p>
<p>I read a post sort of similar to this a while ago but can't find it anymore :/</p>
<p>Anyone have similar problems and advice on what to tell her? I'm so frustrated with arguing about it.</p>
<p>Wow, I don't really know what to say. Does she just think it's better, or is she concerned about money?</p>
<p>Tell her that a smaller school would give you a better education, versus the detached environment of a large school.</p>
<p>If she really has that much pride in her school, you're not going to have an easy time trying to persuade her that Pomona or any other LAC is necessarily BETTER than her college.</p>
<p>Try and convince her that Pomona is a better school for YOU.</p>
<p>Bring your mom to admitted students day if accepted . That will give her a chance to have lunch with professors and get a true sense of how amazing Pomona is. One visit is worth a thousand words!</p>
<p>basically she keeps telling me that it is the person, not the school that makes the education great. according to her, i can go anywhere and get a great education because i will make the most of what i am offered. while i will make the most of it and her argument is to some extent true, pomona IS a better fit for me (so good point wd90)</p>
<p>is it true that pomona has a really great alumni network for grads?</p>
<p>1 thing you should say which is what I tell my parents (who know NOTHING about college, but want me to go to berkeley) is that I want the individualized learned environment that pomona provides, as apposed to being a sheep in a huge herd at berkeley.</p>
<p>I don't personally know whether the alumni network is super, but it was one thing that a senior at Pomona mentioned during my interview. I'm confident that it's strong enough to help you with jobs and etc.</p>
<p>I don't know a whole lot about Pomona alumni (I'm only a freshman), but I see a lot of announcements on daily like Pomona alumni seeking interns in an LA PR firm, or consultants formerly from Pomona giving talks on campus about what consulting is all about, etc. </p>
<p>Seniors and some recent grads rave about the support they get from the career development office (CDO) - because whether you are a current student or someone who has graduated 5 years ago, the CDO will always be more than willing to assist you. Pomona College takes care of their own.</p>
<p>As far as alumni go, we've got a pretty nice list. Granted, I don't know most of them (I'm an international student), but we have a lot of talent. You be the judge:
Pomona</a> College - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>Oh, and did I forget to mention that (according to what I was told), Pomona College is the only school in the entire nation to pay you to do an internship?</p>
<p>=)</p>
<p>D.T. -</p>
<p>Sadly that is not true. I know at least Smith College does a nice $2000 Praxis Internship guaranteed for each student.
More info here: Smith</a> College: Academic Programs</p>
<p>Volleysnap - </p>
<p>Point out that Parents' Weekend is in February. A lovely time to get out of the Midwest.
I'm near Madison, which is where a lot of kids I know end up. A lot of them get lost in the ridiculously huge school. A TA I know there told me about how she has seen kids just disappear into the party scene. One of my friends is transferring after finding out she has absolutely zero in common with the other kids in her dorm. </p>
<p>Pomona is a lot more nurturing and supportive, set up to help you succeed - the professors are teachers first and researchers second, which isn't necessarily the case at Madison. At Pomona, the other kids have a similar respect for academia and scholarship that you do, which creates a much better learning environment. </p>
<p>Instead of just being with other students from your state, you will be in a completely different culture, learning with people from all over the world. You will gain much more self-confidence and experience breaking out of the Midwest, much like being an exchange student, finding yourself in another part of our ridiculously huge and diverse country. </p>
<p>Our world is so big - point out that you've earned the chance to explore it from another perspective.</p>
<p>Well my son goes to Pomona and my daughter to a large mid-west State university. The differences: about as different as night and day.</p>
<p>Class sizes, faculty to student ratio, social life, weather, costs. </p>
<p>The experiences could not be more different.</p>
<p>Please, please, please don't take offense at this nor should your mom, but she already went to college. Time for YOU to have YOUR college experience. You pretty much only get to do it once.</p>
<p>Although its ultimately your choice, I do agree with your mom that name recognition of the school is helpful, especially in the region where you will be seeking for a job.</p>
<p>There comes a time in your life when you sometimes want to pull your hair out of your head, and then not know what to do with it.</p>
<p>One of these times are now.</p>
<p>Pomona has selective prestige. What does this mean? This means that your local grocer is not likely going to gush "OMG YOU GO TO POMONA! YOU MUST BE SO SMART AND CAPABLE! I WORSHIP THE GROUND YOU SPIT ON!" But you can bet those investment banks, yes, the smaller ones included, will know what Pomona College is. You can bet the Ivy League schools will know what Pomona Students can do in their graduate schools. You can damn well bet that government agencies, NGOs will know what Pomona College is and that it is a fine school, worthy of being called one of the very best in the nation.</p>
<p>Let's face it. The facts show that we do not end up on the streets.</p>
<p>Name recognition is great if you want your ego to be stroked left, right center, in between, so that you feel good about yourself. If you like that, then Pomona is not for you. But I'm telling you, and ASK AROUND, Pomona is recognized alright. By those who matter. Northeast, West, South or otherwise.</p>
<p>Having said that, I'm not denying that bigger schools tend to have better name recognition. But the difference lies between a GOOD SCHOOL and a BAD school, not a LAC or a university. You WILL HAVE PLENTY OF NAME RECOGNITION if you GO TO A TOP 10 LAC (and make the most of your time there).</p>
<p>Ultimately, as donjuan said, it's your choice. Be bold.</p>
<p>d.t., you somewhat contradicted yourself while saying that you will have plenty of name recognition if you go to a top 10 LAC, yet your local grocer doesnt know about pomona lol</p>
<p>lol back at you donjuan. You obviously have a lot to learn.</p>
<p>I was talking about selective prestige. So you get plenty of name recognition from the people who matter. Plenty enough. Not from the grocer though. Or do you think having the grocer recognize your school is going to land you a great job after college? </p>
<p>Try to think of things in a more nuanced manner than resorting to a path-beaten, fallacious, monotrack, badly conceived categorical interpretation of my words. If my words strike you in the nerve - so they should. </p>
<p>Good schools carry name recognition that bring their graduates jobs. Bad schools don't. That distinction will help you and every other college-finding kid much more than ivy-obsession.</p>
<p>I doubt his/her midwestern school is "bad." He/she did not mention the name of the school; it could be Uwisconsin-Madison or UMich-Ann Arbor, which are definately not bad schools at all. In fact, they will definitely carry more weight in the typical job market than pomona college would in a midwestern state.</p>
<p>First, other than the fact that she went there, why does she want you to go? Why does she think that Pomona isn't right? That will give you arguing points.
Second, if you believe that strongly that one is better than the other, you might offer to pay the difference, either by setting up an official loan with them so that you reimburse them over time, or by taking out loans. In my experience, that is most parents' problem with a private school-- cost. If you've applied for financial aid, the problem might be solved when you get in and the school offers you a huge package. Of course, it could all be about going far away from home, and that's a whole different beast.</p>
<p>Here's a Wall Street Journal piece about getting into 8 of the best schools in the country - and Pomona's one of them</p>
<p>Addendum to my previous post - I was probably inattentive or something during the information session - Pomona is not the only LAC to give money for an internship in the nation, but it is one of them. Still a pretty sweet deal, and the internships are all very respectable. You have to do at least 65% real work, (not grunt work like faxing, copying, making coffee) so you will learn a lot.</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions everyone! Since I posted my first post in this thread, I was accepted to Madison (not the school she went to though) and that is now the current comparison...
I guess the main problem is that she is concerned I will not have the same amount of resources available to me that I would at a large university. My impression is that at a smaller college, such as pomona, there may be less clubs and classes to choose from, sure, but you have the chance to take a much larger role in these as there are less students. is this an accurate way to portray this?
in any event, i will know in less than two weeks. if i do get in, i plan on attending the accpeted students weekend-i think that is a good idea to bring her along if it is still one of my top choices.</p>
<p>well i mean you have to remember, pomona itself is a little small but its part of a five college consortium so it actually has TONS of resources at its hands.</p>