<p>I'm accepted to both these schools, and I know that they're just about on equal footing academically, but poles apart in terms of environment.
In terms of job placement post-degree, which might open more doors--I'd be a sociology/econ major.
Oh by the way, I'm a central american international student, and I've never been to california, but I have been to the east coast a couple of times.
I'm quite torn! Can anyone help me out by describing the social scene and work oportunities?</p>
<p>Where do you plan to live after college? Do you plan to go to grad school, or back to Nicaragua?</p>
<p>Congratulations on getting accepted to two excellent LACs! Although both schools are not in cities, per se, it's easier to get to LA from Pomona than it is from Amherst to Boston. If you would like access to a city, then Pomona would be better. Check out the Career Development Office at Pomona <a href="http://www.pomona.edu/cdo/students/%5B/url%5D">http://www.pomona.edu/cdo/students/</a> as well as the one at Amherst to get a sense of work opportunities.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>I'd like to know more about these two schools, too. Can anyone contribute?</p>
<p>Pomona and Amherst were my two top choices, but I ended up applying ed to Pomona for a variety of reasons. Below is a list of pros and cons regarding each school:</p>
<p>Amherst:</p>
<ul>
<li>Extremely prestigous</li>
<li>Great Wall Street recruiting opportunities</li>
<li>Excellent Humanities and Social Sciences</li>
<li>Pretty, historic campus</li>
<li>Mediocre to very good science and math (particuarly physical science--i threw up in my mouth when I entered the main science building)</li>
<li>Drab social life</li>
<li>Very preppy, lots of popped collars and pink pants. There are many students who graduated from private and boarding schools</li>
<li>Many arrogant students </li>
<li>Weak consortium</li>
</ul>
<p>Pomona:</p>
<ul>
<li>Outstanding reputation (particuarly on the West Coast--many people back east aren't familiar with it...however, those who do know about it are impressed when you tell them that you're going there)</li>
<li>Awseome job and grad school placement. Many recruiters based on the West Coast recruit directly on campus. Also, students can interview with recruiters visiting any of the other 5-Cs. </li>
<li>Great balance of work and fun. The parties are great, the students are laid back and there are many fun traditions (see: Snack, Ski Beach Day, Death by Chocolate, etc)</li>
<li>Equally as strong in humanities, social sciences and math/science fields. The science facilities are beautiful and new (there are buildings for each scientific discipline).</li>
<li>Very dynamic consortium. CMC and Harvey Mudd are awseome schools, and their courses supplement those that you can take at Pomona. Therefore, you have the academic offerings of a small university within the setting of a liberal arts college. Also, the campuses are contiguous, meaning that you can walk to classes at other colleges. (At Amherst you have to take a 20 min bus ride to get to Mt. Holyoke or Smith...and those school's aren't nearly as good as CMC or HMC.)</li>
<li>Living in Southern California with beautiful weather year round. The campus is gorgeous and skiing, mountains, the beach, the desert and LA are all close by. </li>
<li>Name recognition is not widespread</li>
<li>Though charming, Claremont is not an exciting town</li>
<li>Travel is a burden if you live outside of California</li>
</ul>
<p>In terms of your interests in your majors, Econ is the most popular major at Pomona (albeit, at ~11%). It is known to have some stellar professors, including Professor Conrad, who once won the California Professor of the Year Award. As for the sociology department, Professor Ochoa is also known to be very amazing, and I know of people who got to spend the summer during research in Vietnam with another Sociology professor (for which a Pomona grant paid). I suggest comparing the course offerings and requirements at Amherst and Pomona. In terms of languages, they are also strong, with it being supplemented by the language dormitory and dining hall - Oldenborg. Although the percentage of international students at Pomona is small (around ~2% as a group, but apparently the accepted students this year make up ~6% international students), the consortium makes up for it and has a resource center for international students, called I-Place. They often have events, help with visa/passport issues, and plan subsidized trips during long breaks (like going to the Grand Canyon or San Francisco) for international students who may not be able to go home during these times.</p>
<p>"- Mediocre to very good science and math (particuarly physical science--i threw up in my mouth when I entered the main science building)
- Drab social life
- Very preppy, lots of popped collars and pink pants. There are many students who graduated from private and boarding schools
- Many arrogant students
- Weak consortium"</p>
<p>Many of the consortium schools at Amherst have some extremely strong programs (film studies at Hampshire, languages at Smith and Mt Holyoke, art at Smith...) Amherst is clearly the strongest school of the bunch, but still, it would be silly to call it a "weak consortium". The benefits of a flagship state university (albeit not a top one, but great for some programs) is tremendous, though.</p>
<p>Also, I doubt Amherst and Pomona students are very different. I don't know the numbers for private school students at Pomona, but I'd guess it would be similar to Amherst's. I don't know who you talked to, but I don't see the students being all so arrogant, either...we're refreshingly self-deprecating. ;) </p>
<p>Both phenomenal schools, at this point, I'd base it entirely on weather and which coasr you'd prefer :)</p>
<p>"I don't know the numbers for private school students at Pomona, but I'd guess it would be similar to Amherst's."</p>
<p>For the class of 2010, Amherst had 58% coming from public schools and 41% coming from private and parochial schools, while Pomona had 64% coming from public schools and 35% coming from private or parochial schools. They don't add to 100% because of home- or foreign-school students. It can be argued that this difference is substantial or not, but I thought I'd give out the statistics since they are out there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the statistics. </p>
<p>I don't know how much they tell; there are some very wonderful public schools in very wealthy districts and some mediocre private schools, but they are helpful. I know Amherst is making it its mission to be more socioeconomically diverse (recruiting high achieving community college students, etc) and has a much higher percentage of pell grant recipients than similarly elite schools, I think it suffers from its "old boys network" reputation, though.</p>
<p>"- Drab social life"</p>
<p>Can anyone comment on this?</p>
<p>I think the social life at Amherst is very rich and lovely. I enjoy it thoroughly. There is a lot to do, it's a great place.</p>
<p>To me, I can't imagine how the social life at the Claremont Colleges can compare to a single liberal arts college in a rural/small town. If Pomona were all by itself in the middle of nowhere, I think I would get sick of the social life very quickly. With five adjacent colleges, there are a lot more people and a lot more things to do on the campuses. In addition, there is LA and the surrounding area, with the school sponsoring trips to many places for free or with subsidized costs (including trips to Magic Mountain, Pasadena, the beach, clubs, etc). Granted, there is a consortium at Amherst but you have to go on a bus for 20 minutes, although I'm sure the fact that one of the schools is a large university could help out a bit. If you could elaborate on the social life, unregistered, it might be helpful.</p>
<p>Amherst (and the neighboring town of Northampton) are fantastic towns. Northampton is frequently called "the best small arts town in America" etc etc etc. Within very close walking distance to Amherst's campus, there is a terrific independent cinema, some great coffeeshops that play good live jazz and other live acts, a lovely local homemade ice cream parlor, terrific restaurants, quaint bookshops, gorgeous boutiques...if you go into Northampton you'll get a huge selecton of everything fun to do. Lots and lots of fantastic little music venues, clubs, the academy of music, independent theatre, craft shops (and "create your own pottery" type stores...it's very artsy) and great food.</p>
<p>The Amherst farmers market (May through November) is terrific, too, and I love getting up on weekends and going by there, usually with a good friend of mine.</p>
<p>On Saturday, April 21st there will be a big festival (for the legalization of marijuana) on the Amherst town common. It will be a lot of fun even for non-smokers (great musical entertainments, terrific crafts...it's called the Extravaganja). There are often good festivals on the town common (and a visiting fair). The community has great vibes...it's just a good place to be.</p>
<p>By virtue of the local colleges (and one of them being huge) tons of speakers and musicians come to the area - lots of Nobel Laureates...the Dalai Lama...Ralph Nader....it goes on and on and on. You never run out of things to do. I think the distance between Amherst and the other colleges is perfect; close enough that they're always within reach if you want them, far enough that the campus feels very close-knit and cohesive.</p>
<p>Edit: I should add that Amherst has language dorms and dining tables, as well. Great anthropology/sociology and econ. I'm not familiar with Pomona's, unfortunately.</p>
<p>If I would have known more about the school as a high school senior, I probably would have applied to Amherst - it seems very simlilar to Pomona. The city of Claremont sounds just like the city of Amherst, except there are probably fewer bookshops. There's a farmer's market as well every Sunday (which they have all year long) and they are almost done building a complex in "the Village" that will have a movie theatre showing independent films. Although Claremont isn't where most of the students go for fun every night, it's nice to go into every once in a while, and will certainly be more entertaining when the new complex opens up.</p>
<p>As with the Amherst consortium, we too have brought in our fair share of famous speakers (Nobel Laureates, Ralph Nader, Desmond Tutu, Michael Moore, and most recently Bill Clinton), musicians (Jason Mraz, Gavin Degraw, Ciera, the Ataris, the Roots, Ben Harper), and comedians (Margaret Cho, Dave Chapelle, and Lewis Black).</p>
<p>One other difference - a train station on Pomona's campus <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ClaremontStation.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ClaremontStation.jpg</a> takes you to downtown LA in 30-45 minutes. Amherst is a good 2 hours from Boston.</p>
<p>^Good call^</p>
<p>Metrolink is great if you want to go from quiet surburbia into the center of LA for really cheap in under 45 minutes</p>
<p>gnatcire, I'm sure you have. Pomona seems like a great place, I almost applied there but I wanted to be in New England. I was only referring to the Amherst social scene, though.</p>
<p>I'd base this decision entirely on location preference, both schools are so good.</p>
<p>FYI, the Claremont Metrolink station is not actually on Pomona's campus, although it very nearly is! The station is one block south of the southwestern corner of campus. And yes, it's very convenient for both planned and spontaneous trips!</p>
<p>Thank you for your input. It was really close, but ultimately I chose Amherst. Everyone's detailed info made the decision that much more difficult.</p>