<p>How does Pomona admissions base it's decisions? I don't know if I can get in. It's my dream school. I have amazing ECs but a 3.7 gpa right now with a 32 ACT ranking is top 15%</p>
<p>Pomona bases its decisions like everyone else - no one knows.</p>
<p>Have you searched Pomona’s own webpages? Or at least read the Pomona forum.</p>
<p>Everyone says it’s random</p>
<p>According to data on Pomona’s website for their class of 2017, over 92% were in the top ten percent of their high school class, and nearly a quarter were valedictorians. Mean ACT was 32. Out of a total class size of 397, 120 were accepted ED. Any school with an admit rate of 14% should be considered a reach with your stats; you’re not so far out of the ballpark that applying to Pomona is a waste of time, but you will want to have some safeties that you really like.</p>
<p>Despite my earlier snarky comment, I will relate this about Pomona admissions - our public HS usually has one or two admits a year, though we don’t have a student attend every year. It’s as tough to get in as an Ivy - but with a twist. The students we get in all seem to be very nice people who are genuinely great kids. Many are them the children of teachers at our school, so they don’t attend our HS by virtue of living in our rather upscale district, but they get to go as a perk of their parents teaching there. This year’s admit, who just announced she will go there over several Ivies, has been a superstar since middle school. She’s well liked by everyone, not a grade grubber, and has a certain quality that you just can’t fake, and is the youngest in her class by the fact she skipped a grade.</p>
<p>In short, you’ve got to be good, really good academically to get in. But you’ve also got to have something else, and it’s not generally what you see in Ivy kids - instead it’s just a general agreeableness, something you know when you see it, like a natural leadership type of thing that is not aggressive. Sure, this is anecdotal, but somehow, kids that choose to attend Pomona from our HS seem different somehow from the HYPSM crowd. That might be the nature of the school, but it also might be the nature of who they select to admit.</p>
<p>I disagree with MrMom62 a bit. Pomona puts heavy, heavy emphasis on grades and test-scores. All the kids we know that got into Pomona over the years are fantastic kids… but they are fantastic kids with perfect to near perfect stats. We’ve seen more flexibility at the Ivy Leagues (though… not like it’s a LOT of flexibility lol… just more 3.7’s with amazing EC talents getting into Penn or Brown or Cornell, ect.) Check out the common data set. You’ll find that it’s a very small number of kids below 10th percentile that get in.</p>
<p>That’s not to say you shouldn’t apply and put your best foot forward! Just cast a wide net. Consider Scripps or Pitzer as well which would allow you to take classes and be part of Pomona activities. There are so many fantastic LAC’s out there!</p>
<p>I don’t disagree. There seem to be far more developmentals, legacies, and athletes admitted to the Ivies than to Pomona. In that sense, Pomona seems like a “purer” academic environment - I haven’t spotted anyone who gets in with anything less than stellar academic credentials, though I’m sure it happens. My comment was just that the kids that get in Pomona also seem to be more than academic jocks - they also seem to be genuinely nice, unlike some of the cutthroat kids I see trying to get into HYPSM.</p>
<p>^^Pretty high praise. It seems like it should be at the top of any list.</p>
<p>I have a lot of unique leadership positions and hours. I basically led a surgery at a hospital. That’s my essay story. I have 3 e board positions. I created my own event for Alzheimer’s and led it. I have done research in labs and almost published it as a first author. My GPA is so low because I moved after freshman year. My ACT will end up going up to a 33 senior year. I lead museum guests at the msi-Chicago and give them presentations about science. I contributed to an exhibit there! I may be a weak student grade wise but I have junior year to bring it up. I’m more afraid of my gpa than anything. </p>
<p>We have VERY HIGH grade Deflation at my school. It’s so hard to rank high. My class is over 1,000 students. Just my class. </p>
<p>My daughter just selected Pomona over an Ivy and several other top schools. Still wait listed at other Ivies. There is no way around having a high ranking in your high school as far as I can tell. And superior SAT’s. Unless you go to a private high school known to have superb scholars all the way down to the 50th percentile, you will have to be in the top 10% to get a serious look. These colleges know more than you think about every major high school in the country. And all of these kids with high grades who are getting in have superb EC’s. My daughter is an author of a paper in a major medical journal and one of the top jazz musicians in the state. Everyone she met at admit day had something like that. My advice is to get straight A’s from now on and realize that there are many fine colleges out there. My D did not get into her dream college (Stanford). Sometimes you learn more from life when things don’t go 100% your way.</p>
<p>Is your GPA weighted or unweighted? That is vitally important. Like most selective colleges, the first thing they consider is the rigor of your high school curriculum. If your weighted GPA is a 4.0 or better, you would probably qualify for consideration. Have you taken SATs, also? It would be worth a try, in case you do better on them. A 32 is certainly respectable, but you need to be more than respectable for Pomona. I recommend taking the ACT again in the fall. My son went from a 28 or 29 to a 31. A two-point increase could make a decisive difference for you. Pomona is a great place, but you should start looking at some other top-notch colleges that offer many of the things that attract you. I agree that the other Claremont colleges are obvious options, along with Occidental, Reed, Colorado College, Swarthmore, et al. </p>
<p>I have all APs junior year and senior year with Calc 3/Linear Algebra. I’m taking an insane rigor of courses. That 3.7 is unweighted. I think pomona and claremont mckenna have something special that I really like. They have the happiest students, good social scene, amazing academics, and good FA. I’m a sophomore in high school and my ACT is 31. I think I can improve a couple of points next year. </p>
<p>Wait you have a 31 or 32? </p>
<ol>
<li>It’s a typo on the top.</li>
</ol>
<p>Yeah you need to get that up to a 33 or better. My friend and I both were accepted to Pomona this year (where she’ll be attending). She has a 33, and I had a 34 (a low, rounded 34, granted… haha)</p>
<p>I hate to put it so bluntly but while you’re a very strong student, your current statistics seem too low for Pomona. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/news/2014/03/21-admitted-students-day.aspx”>http://www.pomona.edu/news/2014/03/21-admitted-students-day.aspx</a></p>
<p>Of the admitted class, 93% were in the top decile of the class, and the median ACT was a 33 (the range, according to admissions, was 31-35). You’d therefore be at or below the 25% for both rank and ACT- one of them is probably fine, but two of them will hurt you. Remember that the bottom 25% of the admitted class (in terms of ACT scores) makes up for it in other ways- URM status, first gen, low income, athletics, etc. so if you don’t have a similar hook, it would be to your best interest to get that ACT up (as well as work hard in school to rank in the top decile- again, the 7% who don’t rank in the top decile have great hooks to make up for it).</p>
<p>@nostalgicwisdom is absolutely right. Plus, you’re only a sophomore you said? You have PLENTY of time.</p>