Pomona or Columbia?

<p>They are the two best finaid packages I've received but as much as I love Columbia and NYC, there is something that pulls me to little Pomona.</p>

<p>I feel that Columbia doesn't give much of a rat's ass about its students whereas Pomona "runs like butter". But the main thing that worries me is that Columbia will provide better future job prospects etc because of its Ivy League status, and to be honest, not many people have heard of Pomona...</p>

<p>Both campuses are beautiful as far as I can see. I do like the idea of University taking good care of you since you're paying a phuckload to them.</p>

<p>What do you guys reckon</p>

<p>Hi vesalvay! Congrats on your acceptances! Pomona and Columbia are both fine schools, but as you seem to realize, there are huge differences in the dynamics of a university versus a small liberal arts college. As for the name recognition factor, you will find that the people who matter - especially graduate/professional school admissions - know about Pomona and know that it is an exceptionally good school. I noticed, however, that your profile says Australia, so if you are considering returning to Australia for grad school or to work, there is probably something to be said about the usefulness of the Columbia name brand. However, since plans tend to change a lot in the course of four years, you might just want to think about the present and where the best fit is for you. Either way, both schools are great and I don't think you can go wrong with either one. Good luck!</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for your help choppy!</p>

<p>to be quite honest, i'd like to stay in the states and work and see if i can do grad school, but as far as i've seen on the net, it looks really hard to do so. unless i get married to an american? lol (still dnno if that would work :P)</p>

<p>Pomona is very well known among all of the top employers</p>

<p>Street recognition for Pomona will be low, but employers and people in academia (and graduate schools like Business, Law, Medicine) will know Pomona, and you will definitely get a better academic experience there. I remember reading on this site that Harvard professors were known to say, Our best educated students are those from Pomona.</p>

<p>such a bloody hard decision...</p>

<p>What draws you to Columbia? Academics are the same or better at Pomona, so it must come down to size of school (you seem to lean toward Pomona in this regard), social life, street recognition, and location. Which of those is/are most important to you?</p>

<p>Don't be too stressed out about it. Both are fine schools. You can think of it as, "Either way I'll be missing out" or "Either way I'll be making the right decision." ;)</p>

<p>i just want the best opportunities after college. and if it means coming back home to Australia, im thinkng Columbia. But Pomona seems so friendly and sweet, like I honestly feel bad about rejecting them. The Dean wrote me a special letter in his own handwriting saying that he really liked my essay!!! i mean thats so nice! lol</p>

<p>This might help: Highlights a freshmans decision between Columbia and Pomona. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.tsl.pomona.edu/author.php?article=1972%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.tsl.pomona.edu/author.php?article=1972&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>wayyyy different circumstances brassmonkey. plus columbias athletics spirit sucks. if i were an athlete, i would definitely go to pomona over columbia</p>

<p>I went to Harvard, but my brother went to Columbia and he loved it--I have another bro who went to Cornell. Personally I think Columbia is the obvious choice if you want the prestige and the NYC experience. Before spending some time in California, I hadn't heard of Pomona. Of course, that's not to say that it isn't a good school. It seems like the Claremont schools have a good reputation, especially in Cali.</p>

<p>Look at the % of those in Columbia vs Pomona who end up in grad school....Pomona wins hands down. Look it up</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pomona.edu/cdo/parents/where.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pomona.edu/cdo/parents/where.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>^Those are some Pomona grad school placement stats from quite a while ago. I'm having trouble finding reliable stats. Most of the comparisons I'm finding are really skewed and unreliable (the Wall Street Journal one is outdated, includes only controversial "top 15" graduate professional schools in its calculations, uses a weird percentage to rank, etc.)</p>

<p>thanks aberam, u got some links for that info tho?</p>

<p>I graduated from Pomona College in 1982. My daughter goes to Columbia. To me the obvious choice is Columbia. The ivy league status carries a lot of weight. You can't beat the New York experience and everything the city offers. Only certain people are familiar with the Claremont Colleges. Even people who live in southern California never heard of the Claremont Colleges. If I would have had some guidance when applying to college I would have gone somewhere else that had more name recognition.</p>

<p>I see some validity in your point, but must mention that Pomona's reputation is growing</p>

<p>Hey, do you by any chance have a facebook account? Because there's a Pomona 2011 group that I'm in where a lot of admitted students who haven't made up their minds have been asking questions and getting a feel for the students who'll be going next year. Thought that might be helpful, and I'm sure there's a Columbia 2011 group as well. Good luck!</p>

<p>Depends on what you want. If you're interested in international relations, look at the number of Fulbright Scholarships awarded to each institution. Pomona had 12 this year <a href="http://www.pomona.edu/events/news/NewsItems/051806fulbright.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pomona.edu/events/news/NewsItems/051806fulbright.shtml&lt;/a>. Columbia had 10 last year (couldn't find this year's numbers) <a href="http://us.fulbrightonline.org/program_students_us_list.php?first_name=&last_name=&sc%5B0%5D=51&yr%5B0%5D=2005%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://us.fulbrightonline.org/program_students_us_list.php?first_name=&last_name=&sc%5B0%5D=51&yr%5B0%5D=2005&lt;/a> despite the fact that Columbia's class is about 4 times larger.</p>