As my D23 considers some application-round options (related to choosing ED2 for a particular school or sticking with RD applications everywhere), it would be helpful to know what student life is like at Pomona/The 5Cs this year in comparison to pre-Covid. Her old brother started college in the Fall of 2021, and his school has opened almost everything back up this year, but given a post from someone in relation to Scripps and the 5Cs on the HS Parents of the Class of 2022 thread, I wanted to check in with those who are at (or have kids at) the 5Cs now to see what things are like in comparison to what’s described in the quoted post below. D23 is specifically considering Pomona while the details below are in relation to Scripps, but of course a big part of the draw is the consortium, so I’d be grateful for any information about how both Pomona and the 5Cs are operating Fall of 2022 in relation to student life, dining, study spaces, events, etc. Thank you!
What is the situation at Scripps this fall? That post is from the spring…
(My personal preferences remain toward caution but understand and respect other points of view…)
Yes, that’s exactly it - the fact that the post is from the spring is why I’m hoping for an update. 
My family, too, has been cautious. My S21 (at a different school) had a first year of masking and twice weekly mandatory testing and was 100% glad to do it for the experience of living on campus, getting involved, having in-person class, etc.
It would helpful to have a sense of what the 5Cs experience is like at this point just because I know many colleges did change their policies this fall, and the consortium specifically is a strong factor in my D’s interest. If options to eat at the other colleges, engage in clubs with students from the other colleges, etc. don’t exist, it may affect, for my D, whether she would still experience Pomona as having the benefits of both the small liberal arts college and the broader access to more resources/students.
My kid is at the 5Cs now (not Pomona though), as a freshman. They’ve had cross-college dining since nearly the beginning of the school year (not for the first two weeks of school I think), and the 5C clubs are running in-person. Intramurals are going, classes are in-person (although I have seen a couple mentions on FB of a prof who is only teaching online), office hours are open, the rec centers are open, sports are in full force, etc. In the first two weeks of school there was twice weekly testing, but nothing required after that; students can voluntarily take covid tests if they choose. They’ve adopted a “mask-friendly” stance, meaning no one is to be shamed for wearing a mask so it’s up to the individual to wear or not according to their own comfort level. I’m not sure if they’re masking during lectures and labs? I think the only place with mandatory masks are at the health services center. There was an immediate outbreak at the beginning of the school year, not surprisingly. Covid dashboards are no longer being kept so who knows what the transmission rate actually is. My kid was able to get the new bivalent booster and flu shot on campus at health services. Kids can ride the train into LA with their public transportation pass; mine has gone to a theater production and to Santa Monica pier that way. My impression is that life is running as if there is no covid around. Our school required proof of vaccinations at the beginning, including for attending admitted student days, so there is heavy reliance on vaccinations providing protection against severe cases, which is what the data show to be the case.
There is a 5C student run news website which is a good way to check on how things are at the 5Cs. Look up tsl.news and you can see what’s being reported. You can also try the Pomona subreddit r/pomonacollege to see what people are posting there.
It’s an ever-evolving situation, like the virus itself, so there’s no guarantee that how things are now are how they will be in a year from now. Just like Fall 2022 is nothing like Fall 2021.
This is really helpful, and I appreciate the mask-friendly policy.
Agree!
I hope your student is having a good experience so far. Thank you for the info.