<p>My daughter just received her letter of acceptance to Pomona; should she go? She was turned down at UCLA (!), and is interested in UCSB, but Pomona seems better. I think that the experience will be more like UCLA. What think?</p>
<p>I don’t think Pomona and UCLA are the same at all! UCLA is a huge state school with something like 40 thousand students, lots of research opportunity, and a large sports/greek scene. It is also located in an urban/big city area. </p>
<p>Pomona College is a small, liberal arts school which has 1500 students. If your daughter has not visited these schools you need to make arrangements for her to do so before committing for 4 years. The surrounding area has more of a small town feel.</p>
<p>They are both excellent schools. Your daughter needs to decide what kind of atmosphere she wants to be in.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter!!</p>
<p>Pomona is a great school. I took a few classes there when I was at CMC years ago.</p>
<p>Not a lot like UCLA, but better.</p>
<p>Congratulations! I have a son at Pomona and a son who graduated from UCLA – I think they are quite different. Our son loves Pomona and so do we. Definitely go to the admit day – they do a great job there and you’ll get all your questions answered. The classes are much smaller than at UCSB and if you want university research experience, you can still get it in the summer. DS did research at UCLA last summer and will again this summer. That is one drawback of Pomona – it’s not as easy as they say to land a research position there, especially since they had to tighten their belt, although maybe as a junior next year he will be able to do so. However, we love having him home for the summer (which we would not get to experience if he stayed there) and we think that the UCLA positions will be a positive for him if/when he applies grad school. Every class he has had has been strong and some have been really exceptional. The quality of teaching there is very strong and the peer group is also very strong. There is also no comparison in terms of access to an advisor (one who actually knows you) between Pomona and UCLA.</p>
<p>Pomona is wonderful. Son graduates this May. He really isn’t sure he wants to leave!
The school is small, but because of the consortium, it has the feel of a mid-sized college. The kids often eat and hang out and the other colleges besides their own, which really keeps things from seeming too tiny.
Classes are small, however, and the professors really teach as well as get to know the students. I have the sense that the profs really"get" my son, and he’s been given a lot of opportunities.
My son had a great summer internship as well as internships during the school year in areas related to his major. He has also held a few on-campus jobs on a sort of contract basis-- things like photography for the yearbook(paid), web-design (paid) and making a administration video, (paid).<br>
He’s been very involved with several activities, served on some campus committees, took up two new sports, enjoyed his classes (great teachers with maybe one exception) and made a bunch of great friends. He also had an amazing study abroad experience in the spring of his junior year.<br>
Pomona has a large endowment. There won’t be any noticeable budget cutting like there will be at the state universities in the next few years. I think the education at Pomona can compete with any school in the country, including the ivies.
(Daughter went to an ivy, and honestly, I think my son had every bit as wonderful an experience.)
Congratulations to your daughter! What a great option.</p>
<p>And I forgot to answer your question. Yes, she should definitely go! :)</p>
<p>I’ll warn her though- prepare to be humbled by the student body. One of the first things my son said after he’d been at Pomona for a couple of weeks was, “Wow. These people are crazy smart!” The students are a very bright crowd, but not competitive with one another.</p>
<p>Yes. She should go. I would put Ponoma in the top ten of all colleges and universities in the country. It is certainly top 10 in terms of fianancial resources, which is pretty important with colleges slashing their budgets left and right.</p>
<p>You have to compare your cost and all that. Those are obviously individual issues. But, there isn’t any Univ. of California campus that come close to Pomona for undergrad education. Not even close.</p>
<p>Stanford would be close, for a big school.</p>
<p>Wait a minute. Did she get accepted to **Cal Poly Pomona **or Pomona College?</p>