<p>As a recent graduate from Pomona I would offer some perspective on my experience.
While my teachers were generally top notch and the setting in Southern Cal was incredible I and many of my classmates were disappointed in the careeer services offered. Compared to my older brother and sister who attended equally prestigious colleges/universities Pomona had very poor placement services. The school's name recognition outside of Southern California is virtually nonexistent. Even when I applied to some positions in LA many employers thought I had graduated from Cal Poly Pomona!!</p>
<p>Is the administration trying to change any of this? Do the student’s bring this to the attention of the school?</p>
<p>As a current senior at Pomona College I want to give a more accurate perspective of the Pomona College CDO. The CDO staff is very helpful in all areas of searching for internships, jobs, fellowships, graduate school, etc. I am in the process of searching for a job and the staff has been incredibly helpful! They have aided in my previous intern search, writing cover letters and resumes, and looking for a full-time job. In addition they have encouraged me to contact alums in my field and are always there to lend an ear.
Some people who claim the CDO is not helpful tend to have a sense of entitlement, and are not willing to do a lot of the leg-work in searching for jobs. Don’t expect that just because you went to Pomona College, or any other school for that matter, that you should be handed a job upon graduation. It requires hard work and the CDO is there to help you - not do it all for you. And while I agree that Pomona’s name is not universally know, if you know how to sell yourself in the right way to employers, they won’t care where you went - they want smart and hardworking individuals, not people who plan to ride on a name.</p>
<p>My experiences at the Pomona College Career Development Office have been nothing but good. The people that work in the CDO are very helpful and are extremely knowledgeable. Their hours are fairly flexible and they are always willing to meet with and help students. As a current sophomore I was looking for a Summer internship. The CDO staff was extremely helpful in helping me find an internship that fit what I was looking for perfectly. I would definitely recommend using the CDO.</p>
<p>The problem with the CDO is not the CDO itself. It is the fact that so few students actually head in the doors and use them. </p>
<p>The CDO has brought this problem to the administration, and has worked tirelessly to get students in the door, but it can only help people who are willing to show up.</p>
<p>I agree - the main problem is the lack of interest and action on the students’ part. I didn’t actively go to the CDO until senior year, but once I started, I had a wealth of opportunities - even the ability to walk in unscheduled and talk about a job opportunity that had just come up and whether I should take it.</p>
<p>I think Pomona’s lack of recognition is not entirely the CDO’s fault, and may even depend on where you are. In the bay area, I get enthusiastic responses when I talk about Pomona.</p>
<p>I am also a current student at Pomona, and judging from my personal experiences as well as the consensus of the professors I’ve spoken to–mostly within the Politics & IR departments–the CDO is indeed subpar compared to Pomona’s otherwise excellent academic and intellectual offerings. However, your opinion of the CDO will vary depending on your point of reference and your field. </p>
<p>Specifically, I’m a IR major who has looked into internships at prominent think tanks, nonprofit groups outside of LA, human rights and humanitarian groups, federal agencies, and international organizations. Though my major is specialized, I would argue that these types of organizations interest a significant number of people on campus–from sociology to Asian Studies to economics majors. Despite the fact that there were many alumni employed at these organizations, the CDO was unable to offer any specific advice regarding how to tailor my resume, cover letter, or even my internship search–just a few websites (idealist, for instance) that I already knew about. Even the website that’s supposed to connect students with Pomona alumni–sagehen career connection–is missing contact information for a significant number of alumni, causing a lot of frustration among my friends who are looking into fields like journalism for which the CDO offers very few resources beyond a few books.</p>
<p>Moreover, as someone who’s used the CMC career center on numerous occasions, I can attest to the clear superiority of their career center. Within moments of sitting down with one of their student consultants, they were able to modify my resume to specifically suit the preferences of employers in DC, correcting everything from the placement of my address on my resume to the descriptions of my previous experiences and the kinds of skills to emphasize. They also tailored my cover letter in accordance to what has worked for previous students seeking internships in DC. I think the expertise of CMC’s CDO and the fact that CMC funds internships is why 70% + of my CMC friends had substantive internships their freshman year, compared to barely 30-40% of my Pomona friends. To be fair, Pomona is much more research based than CMC, but that’s an argument for another day.</p>
<p>The field you’re interested in is very important; if all you want is a consulting internship, then the Pomona CDO will be satisfactory. If, however, you want a job outside of consulting that’s not located in the immediate LA region, the CDO becomes much less helpful. In that sense, I think that Pomona does lack a degree of recognition in the outside world.</p>
<p>I am a senior at Pomona College and will be graduating in a few days.
I have found my experience at the CDO to be extremely helpful. As a rising sophomore, they were able to help me figure out my interests and talents in order to come to a firm decision on my major. The personality tests as well as one on one times with the counselors also helped me come to a better understanding of myself.</p>
<p>With respect to jobs, I will admit that finding an internship my freshman year was extremely stressful. However this was mainly because I was a freshman and internships are really lacking for freshman especially in finance. The CDO did help me reach out to alumni, some of whom offered advice.</p>
<p>However with the CDOs help in writing my applications, cover letters, tailoring my resume as well as mock interviews I was able to secure an internship the summer of my junior year which led to a full time offer in Massachusetts. Although quite a number of people had not heard of Pomona, my managers and supervisors clearly had.</p>
<p>Like mc2009 said, its a lot about selling yourself. Also if you think that your potential employer doubts the caliber of your school, you can always mention our various rankings to them .</p>