<p>In my humble opinion you have asked the wrong question; if all you are concerned about is which college will enhance your chances to get in to a top graduate school I’d say you’d be wasting your time at either school. I went to Amherst and have a nephew there now. I know kids at Pomona. Both are terrific schools. But if you see college as simply a way station on the way to grad school you will have missed the point of getting a good liberal arts education. Indeed, if I were interviewing you as an alumnus and you asked me this question, the one about which college would best enhance your grad school chances, I would not recommend you for admission. Your view of college is too narrow and you are simply asking what can this college do for me, rather than, what can I do for this college? Neither of these places is a finishing school for law, business or medical school, even though large numbers of their grads go into those fields. They are true liberal arts colleges that aim to broaden the mind and grow the person. When you get to the next level are you simply going to ask: which law school will get me a job at the biggest N.Y. law firm? Your question, though I am sure you didn’t realize it, is really quite a sad commentary on what this whole process has become for too many – a resume builder.</p>
<p>Unfortunately LordJeffZ I think we have a misunderstanding. I do not view my undergraduate experience just to be the next stop until grad school and then a law/business firm. If I did- then Amherst would probably be my choice.</p>
<p>However it IS a factor- not the most important one but certainly one to be considered.
If i visited Pomona and absolutely loved it (altho it may not be as high on the grad school lists) no doubt I would choose Pomona; same goes for Amherst.</p>
<p>Do not assume this whole process is a resume builder- if I wanted a school which was more widely known by the general populace- and also respected by employers I would be considering Northwestern which I also was accepted to. However, I did not like Northwestern for the school although it has great national prestige.</p>
<p>Yes I want to grow as a person, learn from my peers and broaden my horizons, and I will attend the college which is the best fit for me. However, I think it is also important to consider what undergraduates do with their lives after they have graduated. A broad mind and pensive mind will not keep you from not living in your parents basement for the rest of your life. </p>
<p>I made this thread to gain new insights from each school- if it was just grad placement perhaps Amherst would be slightly better than Pomona (although this is controversial as explained by a previous post in this thread).</p>
<p>Now if you were kind enough to share any experiences you had at Amherst I would greatly appreciate your input.</p>
<p>are you definitely a twin pair?</p>
<p>^ haha we were considering each of us goes to one and switch each semester
no but- Yea it is a real possibility that we will go to college together- why?</p>
<p>My experiences at Amherst are so dated I doubt they’d be all that helpful; I was there in the 1970s and it was ALL male! </p>
<p>You have an enviable choice and can’t go wrong. If weather is important to you (and it’s a legitimate concern, especially if you tend to get blue during the winter; my son is deciding between Tulane and Boston College and the weather is a factor for him), then it’s a no-brainer. Pomona. If you like spectacular autumns then Amherst is classic. I have not been to Pomona but my hunch is that it probably feels more laid back than Amherst. Both, of course, are part of larger college communities (the Five Colleges and the Claremont Schools), but for most students this has little impact academically. I can say this about Amherst: 38 years after entering as a freshman I am still in touch regularly with my freshman advisor (now a retired anthropology professor who became my senior thesis advisor) and last fall we went together to an Amherst football game. That’s the kind of engagement and intimacy you can find between students and faculty at Amherst.</p>
<p>Here’s my final thought for you. In the early 1980s, I was a an instructor at Northwestern Law School. I was weighing two teaching offers for the next year and unsure what to do. The best advice I got was from a senior faculty member who told me I could intellectualize all day about it and would probably not come to a decision, at least not the right one for me. Follow you gut, he told me, and you will probably be happy.</p>
<p>in terms of grad school the issue will not be whether you are applying from Amherst or Pomona, but rather how you did at whichever school. Amherst and Pomona are both so academically rigorous that your GPA will be a much, much more important determinant than whether you chose to attend Amherst or Pomona. </p>
<p>Drop the grad school issue, if you’re smart you’ll be able to attend whichever grad school you like from either Amherst or Pomona. Even from Trinity or Connecticut College. If you’re not, then you will have fewer options, but not because of the relative strength of the Amherst or Pomona brand name.</p>
<p>^noted (10 char).</p>