D rejected. 1590 SAT, 4.0 UW. National Merit Finalist, decent EC but not much leadership.
Come from average HS in the state, possibly class valedictorian.
I suspect that if you’re not coming from a well-known HS, you won’t have much chance here.
@mapar2019 Not exactly true! I come from an EXTREMELY small private boarding school that you wouldn’t know unless you’re familiar with my area.
Not the case as my D went to a small public charter school completely unknown by anyone and was accepted. Her essays were amazing and she spent weeks on them. There’s no rhyme or reason to who gets accepted if you are over the ACT/SAT and grades thresholds.
Redacted
denied
ACT 32 (33SS)
GPA weighted 4.5, UW ?3.9
top 5 at parochial prepschool
blew deadline to ask for interview which wasn’t a good call
Does any one know what is this year acceptance rate in Pomona College? For some reason, school didn’t publish it on their website! May be the acceptance letters to the students mentions about it?
**Decision: Accepted **
ED 1 then deferred
Objective:
[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 1380 (670 E, 710 M, 22 essay)
[] ACT (breakdown): 33 (35 E, 34 R, 31 M, 31 S)
[] SAT II: didn’t take
[] Unweighted GPA: 3.99
[] Weighted GPA: 4.37
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): my school doesn’t rank
[] AP Lang (5)
[] AP Bio (4)
[] AP Stats (4)
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Chinese, APES, humanities, choir, U.S. History, Science Research class
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none[/li][/ul]
Subjective:
- [] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): GSA (president), Honors Choir (president), musical, calligraphy club, Environmental club
[] Job/Work Experience: Restaurant hostess, tutor (math and Chinese), cleaned apartments
[] Volunteer/Community service: low income resource center, environmental beautification (not a whole lot)
[] Summer Activities: Chinese immersion camp, I worked a lot, tutoring, summer school
[] Essays: Common app: pretty good, I wrote about shaving my head so a pretty weird thing to write about lol 9/10; Pomona specific (location one): I am very passionate about the city I live in so it came across well and I connected it to my interest in social justice 8.5/10
[] Teacher Recommendation: all really good, I am incredibly close with my teachers and had all of them for 2+ years
[] Counselor Rec: also very good, I love my college counselor and I go to a small school so she knows me really well
[] Additional Rec: choir teacher taught me for 5 years
[] Interview: 9.5/10 went really well, we connected on a bunch of things and it really just felt like a conversation
[] Supplementary Material (portfolio, etc.): submitted a music portfolio (singing classical, jazz, and musical pieces)
Other
- [] Applied for Financial Aid?: yes!
[] State (if domestic applicant): don’t want to say but in the mid-atlantic
[] Country (if international applicant):
[] School Type: public charter
[] Ethnicity: white
[] Gender: female
[] Income Bracket: 80,000
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): um, i was raised by a single mom
Reflection
- [] Strengths: essays! and teacher recs
[] Weaknesses: SAT score, ACT score isn’t in the higher range of scores for Pomona
[] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
[] Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Colorado college, NYU Shanghai, UCSC, UCSB (all acceptances)
**General Comments: ** I think I got accepted after deferral because I wrote a really strong letter to my admissions rep about philosophy and my year-long science research project. I can’t believe I got in and I am incredibly excited to most likely attend Pomona!
accepted, and so so so excited!!! 36 ACT/4.6 W/6 APs. i wasn’t expecting this at all, though think my essays helped… congrats to everyone else!
for people that went to fall pop, is it worth it? is anyone going to the spring one?
is there a spring pop for prospective students or are you talking about the admit days?
@caligirl0826 I’m headed there!
Accepted! Not sure if I’ll go to pop cause it’s a lot of school to be missing, especially with other visits on top of that
I think the class size is really small and you have to fit a “need” that the school has. There are only so many buckets, such as first generation, athlete, full pay etc. Once they take kids from their special referral routes like Posse and Quest and others, the pool they can accept is even smaller. For those on the WL, I do think they want to take those students who want them. Try to write an enthusiastic letter outlining your unique contributions and why in particular the programs Pomona has to offer is a good match for you. My student is a rising Senior. If you want PM me, and I am happy to read and edit your letter of enthusiasm.
Little late to post but ACCEPTED!!! So happy, this is my absolute dream school, after Stanford of course.
Stats:
3.6 GPA
1410 SAT
SAT II: 650 Math II, 720 Bio, 700 English
AP classes: World (4), Lit and Comp (5), Calc AB (3), Bio (4), Physics (3), APUSH (5)
Extracurricular: Member of school writing club, had poetry published in school literary magazine four times (aka every time I submitted). Varsity tennis and JV XC. Played piano freshman and sophomore year in jazz band. Went on a mission trip to South Africa.
Essays: Wrote my essays about trying to go out for football as a girl and the coach not letting me, an essay about going vegan for one day, and an essay comparing Pomona to a cheeseburger (lol you’d have to read it)
Strengths: WRITING and interview. My interviewer and I totally hit it off we talked for like 90 minutes.
Weaknesses: probably my GPA and SAT but numbers aren’t everything folks when they say you more than a number they aint lying
Moral of the story: NEVER GIVE UP!!! People will probably read this and wonder how someone like me possibly got in to Pomona. But my story is a testament that with hard work and PASSION anything and everything is possible.
Don’t be afraid to get a B. Don’t be afraid to take a risk. Write an essay about a cheeseburger. If you want something bad enough, you will find a way to get it. Keep striving my friends, congrats to those accepted I’ll be seeing you next year unless I get into Stanford. (Pray for me please.) To those rejected keep those heads up there’s always grad school. Peace
Got deferred from the ED1 round. denied later on. Was my dream school since my freshman year. Oh well !
**Decision: Accepted **
b**
Objective:
- [] SAT I (breakdown): 1460, 760 M, 700 R+W
[] ACT (breakdown): 30, took this with a fever, didn’t send it lmao
[] SAT II: n/a
[] Unweighted GPA: 4.0
[] Weighted GPA: School doesn’t weigh
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No rank, everyone with a 4.0 is valedictorian
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): APHG (4), AP Chinese (5), APUSH (3), AP Calculus AB (5)
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): Nope
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Calc BC, Wind Ensemble (audition band), Spanish IV, Jazz Band (Audition band), AP Lit, AP Environmental Science, Honors Medical Biology (super hard class my school offers, honestly should be dual enrollment or AP).
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): not really, AP Scholar
Subjective:
[ul]
[ ] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Speech and Debate: 2-year Captain, 3-year State Qualifier, Qualified for Nationals this year but that’s after I submitted my deferral letter rip. Swimming: Varsity swim athlete, 2 times State Qualifier (couldn’t go because it conflicted with Speech and Debate). Piano: Played since I was 7, will have a solo piano recital in May, OMTA Syllabus Level 10 pianist, Oregon Baroque Festival 6 time State Qualifier. NHS Member
[] Job/Work Experience: Ice Cream Scooper, Campaign Staff for a local candidate running for Oregon Congress, who won.
[] Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered occasionally with Speech and Debate, for NHS, and tutored Junior Year.
[] Summer Activities: Work work work work work
[] Essays: CommonApp essay talked about how my parent’s suicide changed my perspective and personality and made me a stronger person I guess, death does a lot of stuff to you. Supplements: Funny, sassy essay about how for me, what changed me isn’t a spatial location but a specific group of people in the location. Also talked about how despite being good at STEM subjects, I felt I was obligated to choose a STEM major, and Cog Sci was the happy medium between STEM and Humanities for me, also I like learning a lot of things, especially the brain.
[] Teacher Recommendation: My Junior English Teacher and AP Lit Teacher: Absolutely loves me, and is an amazing writer and human being, 9/10.
My freshman World History teacher and APUSH Teacher: knows I work really hard and likes me a lot, we talk a lot too. 7/10.
[] Counselor Rec: I worked really hard to build a really solid relationship with her, and she has been with me for all of my struggles and saw how I grew through high school. 8/10.
[] Additional Rec: Speech and Debate Coach who absolutely adores me, and knows my abilities as a leader and a human being 10/10
[] Interview: Didn’t do one
[li] Supplementary Material (portfolio, etc.): Piano Composition portfolio, and piano portfolio。 [/li][/ul]
Other
[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[] State (if domestic applicant): Oregon
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: Asian
[] Gender: Female
[] Income Bracket: Lower-middle class?
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Not really [/li][/ul]
Reflection
- [] Strengths: Essays, I really showed many different sides and interests of mine. I think my recs were pretty good. My Deferral Letter was super influential after I got deferred I think.
[] Weaknesses: Scores. I’m an Asian female, so I probably got compared to a lot of them…and the other plenty of people have higher scores than me.
[] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I have no idea, luck is probably a factor, but I do think the personality I displayed through my essays were a huge factor, and maybe music composition?
[] Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted: Vassar College, Tufts University, Oregon State University, Occidental College. Rejected: the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University (lmao, mega reach schools), Northeastern University, Claremont McKenna College.
**General Comments: ** Congratulations to everyone who got in! I’m 80% going, and I can’t wait to meet you all! If you didn’t, I’m sure you got accepted into other schools and will continue to do great things later on! Where you went to college shouldn’t define you, and the rejection letter you got is not a rejection of you, but a paper, number version of you. For all the juniors and sophomores stalking this thread, go work on those apps!