<p>So we all know that Pomona's just a little less than heaven...but what about the other Claremont schools? How much relations do Pomona students hold with these other students and how are the classes there? I was just thinking, if Pomona's so wonderful, is there actually a need to take classes from the other schools?</p>
<p>I'm thinking that there just might happen to be subjects/classes that may not be offerred at Pomona that students may want to take. Or vice versa. For example, I observed a Japanese class at Pomona, but there was only one actual student who was from Pomona. The rest were Pitzer. I'm sure there are other classes that are the same.</p>
<p>Bump!</p>
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<p>With that attitude, you'll probably fit right in at Pomona...</p>
<p>But seriously, go to the websites of the different schools and look at their course catalogs. You'll see that there are many interesting classes offered at all the schools.</p>
<p>All of the Claremont schools have very different things to offer, and they're each pretty wonderful in their own way. Pomona students have a reputation for interacting the least with the rest of the Consortium, which, if true, does seem reasonable...they have more facilities/space/students/etc. available on their own campus than do students at the other schools. Unfortunately, I think that Pomona also has more than its share of students who arrive with attitudes like the OP describes ("This school's the best, so why bother with the others?"), and really miss out because of it. I don't think the majority feel this way, but the sentiment exists. The best advice I can give to prospective students is to avoid this thought pattern like the plague! I certainly understand where it comes from (so this is no criticism of the OP), but it's misguided, and will close you off to too many great opportunities.</p>
<p>Pomona is a fantastic college, but many prospective (as well as current) Claremont students are too anxious to pigeonhole the individual schools based primarily, I imagine, on their rankings. No single college's classes are uniformly the most or least difficult, informative, well-taught, or interactive. Just to cite a few examples of why students might venture off-campus (due to need rather than just interest): The German department is joint between Scripps and Pomona, so each level is generally only taught on one of the campuses at a time; I had Pomona students in my Joint Science course because nothing similar was offered through the Pomona Bio department; I knew a few Pomona Math and CS students who frequently took upper-level electives on Mudd, because they tended to offer a deeper selection; Sometimes there are Pomona students in the 4C (i.e. non-Pomona) music ensembles because their schedules conflict with Pomona's orchestra or choir. The list goes on, of course.</p>
<p>There's a good amount of communication between the colleges, even within departments that aren't joint. Typically, they try to avoid too much overlap between the campuses, so many courses will only be offered on one or two campuses at a time, depending on the popularity of the course (for example, a random elective will only be offered on one campus, while something like "Ancient Philosophy" might be offered on two, and something like "Calc I" will probably be offered on four). The course schedule is really set up with the expectation that students will cross-enroll.</p>
<p>As always, I want to give the disclaimer that I'm not saying the colleges are interchangeable. I took multiple classes at each college and was lucky that my very favorite place to take them was my home campus. Each of the colleges really differs in "academic atmosphere"--the attitude of students, expectations of professors, etc. within the classroom. I know of a professor who teaches on both Scripps and Pomona...one class at a time, switching campuses each semester. I took multiple courses with her, spanning both campuses. Totally different "vibes," despite the fact that the courses were all in the same subfield and all followed very similar formats. It was just due to the different student makeups. Obviously it's nice if one's personal preferences match up with his home campus, but I really advise cross-enrollment as a way to be sure (and, of course, to take the fullest advantage of Claremont's offerings as well as to meet new people).</p>
<p>If you close yourself off to the rest of the consortium for any reason, be it social, academic, or whatever, then in most cases, you're closing yourself off to the majority of what Claremont has to offer its students. Doesn't seem like a good idea, however much one loves his own campus.</p>