<p>The Minority Student Action Program is a diversity coalition at Pomona which aims to bring in more students who are traditionally underrepresented in a college atmosphere. One of these initiatives is the Fall Weekend Program, a 3 day weekend in which students can explore the school, visit classes, do an interview, experience the residential life, and learn more about the location. The Fall Weekend program is all expense paid, and those requesting travel who are admitted will be given a round trip ticket.</p>
<p>The two weekends take place October 11-14th and November 8th-11th. </p>
<p>This is a great opportunity for underrepresented minority, low income, and/or first generation students to visit one of the nation's premier institutions. Usually, they also take into consideration geographic distribution, trying to bring more students in from rural areas and the South.</p>
<p>"Early submission of Fall Weekend Interest Forms is strongly encouraged."</p>
<p>TrueDreamer, nostalgic is a current Pomona student, he was letting the CC community know about the MSAP program. October 8 was the final deadline for applications for the November program.</p>
<p>Oh. Sorry. I’m new to cc. I didn’t know nostalgic was a current student there. I applied a while ago, but I was just wondering if anyone else had because there has been no discussion about it. Do you know how selective it is?</p>
<p>No problem re: being new. Everyone is at some point! </p>
<p>I’m glad you got your MSAP application in. The fly-in programs are all selective. How selective really varies year to year. They might accept 10%, 20% , 50% - it depends on how many applications the program gets. I know that this year has been one of the toughest years to get into most of the fly-ins. Many really qualified applicants have been turned down for lack of space. Amherst and Williams accepted fewer than 20% this year and Middlebury, Bowdoin, Carleton, Colby etc. were also harder than usual. Pomona hasn’t notified for the second session and I haven’t heard any numbers. </p>
<p>What is true every year is this: if you are accepted to a fly-in, its a good sign that the college is interested in you, but it doesn’t guarantee an acceptance. If you’re not accepted, it doesn’t mean you’re not a good candidate. If you are really interested in the college, apply anyway. Every year many students who were turned down for the fly-in are accepted to each college. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Ok. Thank you so much for the advice. I really hope I get in because I really like Pomona and this is the only way I’d be able to visit the campus (I live on the east coast). I definitely agree with this year becoming really selective. I heard at Swarthmore, 900 people applied for the fly-in program, but only 160 got in. That’s almost equivalent to their overall acceptance rate for admissions into the school. I know that Pomona also has very low acceptance rates for admission into the school, but I thought I saw somewhere saying that 50 students get in, so I was kind of freaking out because if they have a similar number of applicants as Swarthmore their acceptance rate for this program must be crazy low. Ok. I just need to stay calm and think about something else. Thanks again for the info</p>
<p>Yes, calm down or go work on your Pomona supplement (they have really cool prompts this year!) Yes, admission to DiscoSwat like the others was super selective this year. So, again, if you aren’t accepted to MSAP don’t let it affect your motivation! </p>
<p>The other thing I wanted to remind you about is admitted student days. Once you are accepted to Pomona, a/o other colleges you really love but haven’t been able to visit, there will be opportunities for overnight visits to campus in the spring, so you’ll be able to confirm your impressions and make an informed choice. Stay calm :). I know the waiting is the hardest part but it will all work out for the best…</p>
<p>That is hugely disappointing, TrueDreamer. I thought that these flyins guaranteed the airline ticket. After all, isn’t the point to provide transportation so that kids can visit the colleges? It would seem the farther one comes from, the more likely assistance would be needed and given.
Scripps flew in kids from across the country, why would Pomona not? I would call them and find out (respectfully) why you were not offered the travel funds and explain that without them you simply cannot attend.</p>
<p>taben1112, that’s the third east coast kid I’ve heard of getting “accepted” to the MSAP weekend but not being offered a travel grant. The other two reported on another forum that they are not able to attend either because of no funding. But another who was offered a fully funded place is going to decline so that may be good news for one of these. The Pomona application was a two part thing, the application or ‘interest form’ itself and then requesting a travel grant/voucher separately. They seem to be extending invitations for the weekend but without funding to some students who requested the travel funds. And oddly, many many students who applied have heard nothing at all yet while the acceptances have trickled out over the past three days. Pomona is not hurting for resources to support this program so it’s strange how they are managing it. For students who get accepted to a good number of these fly-in’s and have the opportunity to compare, it’s hard not to evaluate the schools based on the quality of communications and how well these programs are run.</p>
<p>^ I mean, I haven’t received any notice (nor even a confirmation e-mail) and I submitted my app like at the beginning of September. I guess I should just take this as a rejection?</p>
<p>A Pomona student just posted on facebook that they are sending out acceptances in batches. ??? Idk but it sure is cutting it close to arrange cross country flights for dozens of students two weeks from today. Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams etc. had the travel arrangements made many many weeks ahead of time. I just feel for all the kids who are waiting so anxiously to hear, to schedule their lives, who may have other fly-ins offers that same weekend, and who are hoping to visit Pomona before deciding whether to apply ED.</p>
<p>Bowdoin, Smith, Wesleyan and Bryn Mawr are all the same weekend and all (I think) sent out acceptances and requirements for confirmation quite awhile ago. It would be a shame if someone turned down one of these in hopes of getting Pomona and then ended up not getting the travel grant.
I grabbed one of the other fly-ins I was lucky enough to be offered awhile ago and a friend took Bowdoin’s offer. I could not wait anymore and Pomona would not even tell us when the decisions would be released. Plus, for me, I thought getting Pomona’s would be a long shot given how selective it is. So, I pulled my application recently.
I totally don’t get why Pomona is offering the weekend but no travel assistance to some!</p>
<p>HSG</p>
<p>Rob1995 Hang in there. You should hear something one way or another.</p>
<p>I agree with hsgrad. Pomona is totally underwhelming on this one. This experience has been stressful and disappointing – unnecessarily so – for so many students.
You made a good call hsgrad, and so you’ll be able to attend another fly-in. But students who decided to wait should not have had to wait this long. And as of today, most still haven’t had a decision for a November 8 program.</p>
<p>Finally got my rejection from them today. Although it did make me feel a little better that according to the e-mail I got, they received over 250 applications and only accepted 30… that’s less than a 12% admit rate. Although that also raises the question if there were only 30 students admitted, then why were they unable to provide transportation assistance for some of these people? It should not even be a dent in their pockets to buy plane tickets for just two dozen or so kids.</p>
<p>On a slightly separate note, I also requested an interview for Pomona about 9 days ago and I still have not heard a word back from them… they said they would take more than a week to get back to me. I usually hear such good things about Pomona but they take so long to get back to you on things.</p>
<p>Shortly after my earlier post ^ I heard from D who had received 4 emails in a row from Pomona over an hour period. First a rejection, saying the usual, 250 applications for 30 spots etc. An hour later, a one line email rescinding the first email - just a subject line no text in the body of the mail. After that arrived a travel itinerary from her home town to LAX. After that an acceptance email. Then an apology for the conflicting emails. </p>
<p>In the acceptance email, they asked for prompt confirmation of the flight plans: “Because airline fares increase as the travel date approaches, it is our goal to confirm and book flights 2 weeks prior to our program”. Since they sent the acceptance at 3:00 PM on Friday, exactly two weeks before the program starts, students have only a couple hours to decide and confirm the cross country flights. </p>
<p>It seems that Pomona has been sending out these acceptances in ‘batches’ starting Tuesday and when students decline they send out a few more acceptances. D concludes that she was right on the cusp since her acceptance was maybe one of the last. And what about the students who were invited to attend (from NY and NJ) on their own dime? Still doesn’t make sense. And there are still kids posting on FB that they haven’t had a decision yet. </p>
<p>None of this has any bearing on how excellent Pomona may be as a college, but it is a vastly different experience and way of operating from the other LAC’s. Is this the laid back West Coast vibe, or just a system that needs some attention?</p>
<p>I’m sorry so many of you are having issues with the Pomona travel program. My DD went to the Scripps program a few weeks ago and everything was top notch. This is a busy time, and the admissions staff are human. I’m sure this is the exception and not the rule with how the Pomona staff handle their business. That said, I hope everyone who wants to attend gets the opportunity.</p>
<p>Wescap, I’m sure you are right, and this must be an anomaly for Pomona. It’s just frustrating to watch the kids get so confused and disappointed etc. I am mentoring a group of QB kids, very very few of whom were ultimately accepted, and they’ve all been waiting since October 7 to get news. Some of them have really been agonizing over whether they should accept other fly-ins and whether they should apply ED without a campus visit and so on. I’m sure Pomona will learn from this. </p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for the reminder that all these programs are in the hands of human beings who do their best and sometimes things go awry. </p>
<p>I do know a number of great kids going to Wesleyan that November weekend. Not sure if they are on CC though…is your D attending that one?</p>
(they have really cool prompts this year!) Yes, admission to DiscoSwat like the others was super selective this year. So, again, if you aren’t accepted to MSAP don’t let it affect your motivation! </p>