<ol>
<li><p>In terms of the town of Claremont, it's basically a quaint, suburban town. There are a couple good shops and restaurants, so a lot of people generally go to L.A. to do things. But, most/many people remain on campus for the majority of the weekend---going into L.A. can be time-consuming and exhausting, because with traffic, it can take about 45 minutes just to reach city limits, then another 30 just to hit Santa Monica or the Valley. There's a lot to do on campus, though---literally, every day, there're many club meetings, concerts, food events, cultural/social events, and guest lectures (a lot of notable speakers, actually), in addition to whatever is going on at the other C's. Social life is not really a big issue. In terms of "fun stuff", hit up the activities I just mentioned, or hit a party or throw one yourself. There are definitely parties happening every weekend at 2 or 3 C's (Scripps is a dry campus, and never throws parties), and Pomona offers a kegger on every night of the week except Sunday. Carding is a bit lax. But, don't feel the need to head out to a party all the time...many people set up social functions in their rooms. It's not difficult to abuse substances here at all...trust me.</p></li>
<li><p>Registration for classes is a bit odd, but mostly it's painless and fast. Basically, when you enroll, they'll ask you to fill out a page about yourself and your academic goals, and when you send it in, they'll match you up with an "advisor"---a professor who will meet with you and help you choose classes. Most of the time, the professor will be from the department/program you indicated on that little essay thing. Over time, you can change your advisor if you find that you are no longer interested in that field---most people actually end up switching. To enroll, they will email you in the first week with a randomly-generated appointment time in the Registrar's office, where you show up with a class list (discussed with and signed by your advisor). Because Pomona's a liberal arts school, there are GenEd requirements as well as class size limits (frosh are last to register for classes, so many are full before you even arrive), so it might seem frustrating at first. But, it always ends up working out, and Pomona's administration and registrar are run very well. A note about double majoring and preprofessional study: if you plan on doing either of these things, you will have to start the degree requirements in the first-year. This is because even though Pomona has many resources, it is still a small, liberal arts school---classes usually don't have multiple sections unless they're intro classes, so times might not work out. For example, there are many upper-level classes which are held only once every two years. Also, Pomona does not have a pre-law or pre-med program, per se, but in terms of pre-law, any liberal arts degree and course or two in logic works, and with pre-med there's a list of classes that fulfills most med school's requirements for admission. Pomona is a powerful, powerful feeder school in terms of graduate school preparation---so far, the two seniors I know are going to UChicago Law and Yale Law.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Personally, as a frosh, I recommend taking a wide array of intro courses to find out what you're really interested in. Intro courses are usually mainly frosh/soph, and you also get to know the professor and department better. The fact is, MOST people don't know what they want to major in or do with their lives, and the ones that do will probably end up changing it. Don't fear trying new courses---the whole point is to take whatever you'd like. But, also keep in mind that there are GenEd's, so you might want to start knocking those off freshman year as well (language requirement, P.E. req, etc.).</p>