<p>My D is currently a high school sophomore, but already sold on Pomona. She has an unweighted GPA of 4.0+, has taken all honors courses, will be taking AP Biology, AP US History, Honors English, Latin 4 and tri/precalc as a junior, and is set to take AP English Lit, AP US and Comparative Gov't, perhaps AP Calc or AP Physics, Latin 5 her senior year. Her major extracurricular is with the largest youth theater our state, where she has starred in performance, volunteered and taught classes to young children. She also participated in Wesleyan's Center for Creative Youth this past summer, as the youngest participant. We just got back her PSATs, and she scored well into the 600s on reading and writing and in the 500s in mathematics, so we're fairly confident she'll break into the 700s on at least reading and writing and the 600s in mathematics next year.</p>
<p>The college application process was exhausting and disappointing with her older sister, so we'd hate to set her up for failure.</p>
<p>Given that we are on the east coast, a small rural town in CT, does anyone have any sense of whether she'd be Pomona material?</p>
<p>Pomona is very competitive in admissions. In the class of 2013 (stats I could find) 73% score >700 (90% >650) on the Math SAT and 80% score >700 (90% above 650) on CR SAT. My D1 applied to Pomona in 2009 (now a Sr at CMC). I would suggest your daughter try the ACT and study for the SAT. If possible I would visit and interview (showing interest never hurts). She has time to tackle the tests and her grades are excellent. Her class rank would probably be an asset too (assuming top 10%). Coming from New England doesn’t hurt either!</p>
<p>Good luck. Pomona is wonderful, my daughter chose CMC for fit.</p>
<p>Your D is just a sophomore so I think you can be supportive while pointing out how competitive Pomona is. At this point it would be a good idea to start exposing your D to other schools so when the times comes your D has an appropriate list. Everyone can use a “reach” which Pomona may or may not be when the time comes. Things can change much in the next year and a half. Not that many sophomores are “talking” about colleges so Pomona may or may not be all that during the summer before senior year.</p>
<p>We thought Scripps was better. Better thought-out core curriculum (I thought the best in the country), even more science options, strong in languages, nicer housing, better food. Both are very competitive. </p>
<p>The much more important question is whether your d. will have a safety that she loves, and that you can afford.</p>
<p>It is nice to have a focus, but do not let your child stress about a single school. In this case, consider looking at the entire consortium to develop more reaches.</p>
<p>The grades and activities are great. And that will be part of the minimum expectations for Pomona. The test scores will need a lot of work and the best answer is to start on a program that should culminate in September and October of the Juniir year. Do not let an excessive focus on AP or EC be an excuse for not paying sufficient attention on the basic test scores. </p>
<p>A long term plan should be far from exhausting. Sprinting at the end is what kills people.</p>
<p>I agree with momofthreeboys in #3. I also agree that to get into Pomona or other schools with that degree of selectivity, she will need to improve her test scores. </p>
<p>BTW, if she is taking honors or AP Bio or Chem this year and doing well in it, she should consider taking the SAT II in that subject in June. It never hurts to have one good score in the bank, and takes pressure off testing later. (Note: I would NOT suggest doing this in any subject where study is ongoing, such as math, lit, or language.)</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses, everyone. D is going to take algebra II honors over the summer, and may even take chemistry, as well. That will set her up to take trig/pre-calc for junior year and AP Calc her senior year.</p>
<p>We’re not overly concerned about her PSAT scores, as she’s only a sophomore. But she’s driving the bus here, so we just sit back and enjoy the ride.</p>
<p>My husband has a PhD in Computational Chemistry and we have one son who graduated two years early from college and was admitted into the PhD program in Computer Science program at Stanford and another who graduated two years early from UChicago in Economics and Math, and my husband believe that D is just as talented as the other two, but that she is more artistically inclined and hasn’t decided between going into mathematics/science or the humanities. He believes that her performance on the SATs will improve dramatically once she is exposed to more geometry and algebra II. </p>
<p>Other D is at Hampshire and LOVING it. Younger D, interested in Pomona, loved the educational philosophy at Hampshire but will not consider a college in the northeast and prefers the idea of heading to the west coast for college. We know she’ll have many options, just interested in her chances for Pomona…and she wants intellectual freedom.</p>
<p>My daughter attends Pomona College and loves it there. Your daughter sounds like a fabulous student who would fit in perfectly. Test scores are important but the type of student is as important as her test stats. Pomona looks for students who will fit well into the “type” of college Pomona is, and one great way to show this is through the essays she submits. They should showcase who she is as a person.</p>
<p>My two nieces both attended Scripps and loved it. Interestingly both suggested Pomona to my daughter. One thought it would be a better fit for her and the other always liked Pomona as her favorite but was not admitted.</p>
<p>The great thing about the Claremont colleges is that you can take classes at the other colleges. My daughter took CS at Harvey Mudd and enjoyed the professor tremendously. CMC is a great school as well as Pitzer, she has friends at both who are really happy . All good choices, making any one of the Claremont colleges great colleges to have on her list.</p>
<p>Best luck to your daughter. It sounds like she’s on the right track and based on her siblings I’m sure she’ll do well on the test scores when the time comes. I’d just repeat what others have said - to have her research quite a few schools, and definitely to visit the Claremont Schools Junior or Senior year. I’m not sure how early they do interviews, but we visited in September of Sr. Year and interviewed, and my D is now a student at Pomona and loving it. She likes eating at all the different cafeterias. I think they typically do brunch at Scripps. Fit is taken very seriously by the admissions staff at Pomona… so the more specific her reasons become for wanting to go there, the better. There’s a board for Pomona in the colleges area if you want any more school specific thoughts.</p>
<p>Agree with wildhorse and Kathie that fit is probably the criteria Pomona stresses the most in admissions. I definitely think she sounds like “Pomona material” lol, but make sure that Pomona has the programs that she would be most interested in pursuing.(I’m not sure which of the Claremonts has the strongest theater program.) I also think that Scripps and maybe Pitzer would be of interest to a creative student like your daughter.</p>
<p>I would plan to set up interviews early in her senior year to all three and make a trip out if she’s very serious about the Claremont colleges.
My son graduated a couple of years ago from Pomona, and if there is one adjective I would ascribe to the students I met there it would be “well-rounded.” My son, no slouch himself, was blown away by the brain power of the students when he first arrived- although that is probably a familiar feeling for most students when they arrive at a top college from HS, where everyone is from the top 10% or so of their HS class. So yes, it’s competitive, but being an all-around good person seems to hold a lot of weight in admissions. Look for teachers who really know your daughter’s character -not just her academic potential- to write her recommendations. </p>
<p>Our family thinks Pomona is definitely worth putting in the effort and expense to attend. Being from Connecticut will help, but being female won’t. I think it may be a little early to focus too much on one school. As you know, there are many wonderful places your daughter would thrive, but an ED app to Pomona might be a way to go if she’s still in love when it’s time to apply.</p>
<p>One thing good about the low score being in math is that as a Soph chances are that she had not yet even had all of the math that was on the psat. The other is that math is one of the easier areas to pick up with basic practice which I highly reccommend. Everything that people have said about casting a wide net is true. All a student can do is put their best foot forward. Several years ago my niece was accepted to Pomona but rejected from Scripps. With small schools with low admission percentages it is hard to tell which great student an admissions commitee will pick as the best great student for their school and it isn’t just a matter of numbers.</p>
<p>She sounds competitive for Pomona. But remember, college admissions is sometimes random. I have a son who graduated from Pomona and it was a wonderful experience. His older sister was waitlisted there even though she was accepted at schools with lower admit rates. I saw that again last year with my youngest – waitlisted at some schools that on paper are easier to get into than ones he actually got into. So it might be a good idea to do some research on schools that are like Pomona and develop some love for those schools. That will increase the odds of getting into a school she will love.</p>
<p>Despite agreeing with about everything others posted in this thread, I am afraid that I cannot endorse the views on standardized test scores. Indeed, Pomona uses a holistic approach in evaluating their applicants, but one would be mistaken to believe that they pay only a moderate attentions to test scores. </p>
<p>Take a quick look at the admissions statistics of the past decade, and you will see that Pomona tends to admit and enroll the students with the highest scores, safe and except for its STEM neighbor (HMC.) Considering that Pomona loses plenty of very high test scorers to HYPS, it is obvious that Pomona sets the bar very high in terms of the SAT and ACT. In addition, you might also consider that Pomona has been quite active with the Questbridge program, and that its average tests score do reflect that participation. </p>
<p>Simply stated, Pomona might very well be the LAC that pays the most attention to very high test scores. And overlooking that part of the admission’s puzzle is a decision that one takes at his or her own peril. </p>
<p>Lastly, I would not rely too much on SAT scores increases resulting from … higher level material in the end of the sophomore and begin of junior year. There is very little material tested on the SAT that has not been fully covered by the end of 9th grade. Increasing one’s scores is, however, directly related to a higher understanding of the test and dedicated practices.</p>
<p>Xiggi, I am sure you are correct in your overall assessment however this was not our experience. My daughter, while having a high GPA is not the best test taker and while she had a good score (31 act) it was no where near being stellar. I don’t know why she was accepted other than she is a passionate writer. They must have seen something in her essays. (BTW-She is a white female)</p>
<p>I do agree it is a crapshoot and be prepared with a list of schools that are well rounded.</p>
<p>Wildhorse, I completely understand the validity of your example. After all, it is nothing short of a real life account. Also, when I mentioned to look at statistics, it is obvious that students who have ACT scores of 31 are accepted and do enroll at Pomona. Those statistics show that the 25th percentile is a constant 29-30 (and 680 on the SAT) and that it is not a requirement to show scores above 34 and 770 (the 75th percentiles) to be admitted. </p>
<p>My point was that among all LACs, Pomona visibly rewards the highest scorers, and is statistically one of the top three LACs in selectivity. Someone who has placed its heart at Pomona should be aware of that element. Obviously, in admissions, we know very well that scores are not everything, especially when people are surprised to be rejected despite almost perfect scores. </p>
<p>And, my other argument was about paying the needed attention to raise the scores WELL beyond the current level of the PSAT scores.</p>
<p>“Younger D, interested in Pomona, loved the educational philosophy at Hampshire but will not consider a college in the northeast and prefers the idea of heading to the west coast for college.”</p>
<p>Pomona does not have an educational philosophy anything like Hampshire (my wife is happy Hampshire dropout.) Pitzer is closer; closest is Evergreen State College. Hampshire doesn’t have any traditional majors organized by departments; Pomona is all about traditional majors organized by departments. Hampshire doesn’t have traditional scaffolding of courses; Pomona’s is very traditional. Hampshire puts a heavy emphasis on hands-on-learning; Pomona does not. Pomona’s curriculum is basically Williams-West. Hampshire’s is nothing like it</p>