<p>Suggest check the respective subforums, do searches there & ask questions.</p>
<p>Pomona is the centerpiece of a consortium consisting of itself and four other undergraduate colleges, a couple of which are about half its size, plus a graduate center. Altogether, they form a series of fairly contiguous campuses consisting of approximately 6,000 students. What this means socially is that, like Barnard, there’s never a shortage of activities or people to form groups; many of the athletic teams combine rosters from different colleges; it is virtually impossible to know every face on campus.</p>
<p>Unlike Barnard, unless you’re willing to put a lot of effort into it, there’s almost no reason to leave the Pomona campus; the main library for all six campuses sits on the main Pomona quad and in many ways it symbolizes its status as first among equals; it’s even common for students from the other campuses to prefer Pomona t-shirts to their own.</p>
<p>Barnard, OTOH, almost suffers from the exact opposite problem; it is not the center of Columbia University (some would argue that not even Columbia College is the center of Columbia, the University); and, Columbia is by no means the center of New York City. Just about the only things keeping Barnard women on the Barnard campus are 1) their work, 2) their friends and, 3) the fact that anything worth doing off-campus costs an arm and a leg. Still, many people report that Morningside Heights has a pleasant neighborhood ambience that is rare for a big city, and that in itself, is a major reason to stick close to home.</p>
<p>Re: the last paragraph, this certainly matches D2s experience there, well put.
Some other parents on the sub-forums seem to suggest otherwise though; sometimes it seems like their kids went to a different school than mine did. Maybe there are two colleges there with the same name??</p>
<p>johnwesley, I have a son who is a junior at CMC, and for you to say that students from the other campuses prefer Pomona t-shirts to their own is just plain wrong. I don’t know what your connection is to the Claremont Colleges, but that statement indicates that you are either making this stuff up or taking guidance from someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about.</p>
<p>One other thing - the main library does not sit on the main Pomona quad. Not even close. Do me favor, stop posting if you’re going to make things up out of thin air. I shouldn’t get angry, but it irritates the heck out of me when people post stuff and try to sound like an expert about schools they know nothing about.</p>
<p>if this is thin air, then I apologize:
[The</a> Claremont Colleges - Pomona College](<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/about/about-pomona/claremont-colleges-consortium.aspx]The”>http://www.pomona.edu/about/about-pomona/claremont-colleges-consortium.aspx)
<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/tours/campusmap/[/url]”>http://www.pomona.edu/tours/campusmap/</a></p>
<p>Library is in the Mudd Quadrangle <a href=“http://www.kgi.edu/documents/TheClaremontCollegesMap2004.pdf[/url]”>http://www.kgi.edu/documents/TheClaremontCollegesMap2004.pdf</a> (Building H on the map) Thats not the center of the Pomona (Marston) quad (#41)</p>
<p>That map in #26 would actually corroborate #25, if it is the case that “the main Pomona quad” is generally considered, by those attending, to be between 1st street and 6th street, as could be the case. The library is beween 8th & 9th street-arguably “not even close”, by some standards of the word “close”. But certainly at the oustskirts of that cluster of buildings.</p>
<p>I’ve no idea what the situation actually is there, never even been there, just reading the posts here and observing.</p>
<p>I agree with you, monydad and parent57. I’ve only been on campus twice, so I am not an expert, but I would not consider the library in the heart of the Pomona campus. Thats an inaccuracy.</p>
<p>^^you’re right. Is my face red! 
The building I mistook for the library was most likely Bridges Auditorium: [Welcome</a> to Bridges Auditorium - Pomona College](<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/administration/bridges-auditorium/index.aspx]Welcome”>Bridges Auditorium | Pomona College in Claremont, California - Pomona College)</p>
<p>But, this raises another important point (aside from taking CC fora with a grain of salt) about Pomona and that is that it really is a part of a much bigger complex of buildings, libraries and student bodies than the standard LAC: <a href=“http://www.kgi.edu/documents/TheClaremontCollegesMap2004.pdf[/url]”>http://www.kgi.edu/documents/TheClaremontCollegesMap2004.pdf</a></p>
<p>Here’s an easier-to-read map of the Claremont colleges <a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/administration/bridges-auditorium/claremont-colleges-map.pdf[/url]”>http://www.pomona.edu/administration/bridges-auditorium/claremont-colleges-map.pdf</a></p>
<p>Honnold-Mudd Library is at the far north end of Pomona’s campus.
I haven’t noticed students from other schools wearing Pomona t-shirts. I guess I wouldn’t really be able to tell, but that sounds odd to me.</p>
<p>Pomona’s social life is exactly what I asked for in a college: a pretty tight-knit community of really friendly and intelligent people. Do we have the stereotypical frat parties associated with “having a social life”? No, but to me that’s a plus. Mudd does a decent job with the parties should the mood strike me, but otherwise I’m content to chill with friends. </p>
<p>Columbia’s social life seemed a bit frantic for me. Pomona is a lot more laid back. Another critical difference between Columbia/Barnard and Pomona is that Pomona has a very campus-based social life. I don’t come from a very wealthy background, and it would irritate me to no end if I couldn’t afford to go run around NYC with my friends.</p>
<p>Moneydad is exactly right. The main Pomona quad is between 1st and 6th streets. The library is actually closer to the center of the Scripps and CMC campuses than Pomona’s main quad. The t-shirt comment just couldn’t be further from the truth. If a CMC student wore a Pomona t-shirt on campus, I don’t think he/she would survive a day before being run of town (possible exaggeration). The students take great pride in their schools and I can assure you that CMC students and faculty, and probably the other schools as well, do not think of Pomona as first among equals. There is actually a friendly rivalry between CMC and Pomona and it tends to manifest itself at the various sporting events.</p>
<p>I will say the consortium does benefit all the students. Besides having the opportunity to use the dinning halls at all the schools, most students take classes at the other schools. It is a terrific benefit that I don’t think is duplicated anywhere else.</p>
<p>Regarding Pomona being first among equals, this cannot make sense as each college has their own clearly articulated target characteristics for admission into their community of students. CMC is CLEARLY more focused on leadership-evidencing ECs than is Pomona. Have a read through a few threads here and there from CMC Adcoms. Though both schools equally reject 84% of their applicants, they do so for different reasons. CMC adcoms are looking specifically for LEADERSHIP, and for lack of a better phrase, social Alpha-ness, above all else, including GPA and SAT (once a reasonable threshold is met, such as 3.8 GPA and 1350 SAT). This will account for the delta in mean SAT between Pomona and CMC of 1475 vs. 1400. And though not numerical in nature, if Leadership quality were numerized, the equally large delta in Leadership between CMC and Pomona would be clear, in the favor of CMC.</p>
<p>This is a parallel to an discussion about Stanford’s 1440 SAT 25/75 ave. vs 1480 at HYP. Stanford was once described to me as the “Student Body President’s” school. i.e. Leadership. combine that with a good percentage of world class DI athletes, and the school profile is decidedly of a different flavor – and by design.</p>
<p>Different strokes.</p>
<p>"Moneydad is exactly right. "</p>
<p>No, it’s exactly wrong.
The handle is M-O-N-Y dad. NOT $$$$$.</p>
<p>“It is a terrific benefit that I don’t think is duplicated anywhere else.”</p>
<p>Except Columbia & Barnard… </p>
<p>The 5 colleges consortium and the Quaker consortium are also functional, however their colleges are not literally across a street from each other like Columbia & Barnard are.
Columbia is big, and has three undergraduate colleges itself. Not to mention graduate schools and other affiliates.</p>
<p>My guess is Barnard students make more use of their affiliation than Pomona does of its consortium.</p>
<p>^^It’s interesting that MONYDad mentions the 5 College consortium of the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts and the tri-college community of Main Line Pennsylvania because in my view they both demonstrate how difficult it is for LACs to form geographically contiguous networks with each other without one of them (Amherst in the former and Swarthmore in the latter) eventually coming to believe that they have more to gain by distancing themselves from the other members of the group than by identifying with them.</p>
<p>err… I mentioned them because those are the only two roughly analogous arrangements I can think of.</p>
<p>I don’t know about all that “distancing”, from what I’ve read on CC the Amherst guys are pretty fine with Smith & Mt Holyoke being around.
maybe the all-girls schools might play it up a little more, just for social reasons, because then it seems like there are some guys around. But academically I don’t think any of them make a huge deal about it, just a little extra thing they have going on there. Probably Haverford & Bryn Mawr focus more on their relationship with each other, because they are actually relatively closer and so share more courses & activities. Maybe Hampshire might play it up, because it offers like no courses itself.</p>
<p>But Amherst students use the consortium a decent amount, seems to me, considering the travel times involved.</p>
<p>From elsewhere on CC:
“375 students from Amherst (about 1 in 4) took a 5 college course during the 05-06 year.
40% of the class of '06 took at least one 5 college course in their time at Amherst.”</p>
<p>Now that I think about it, virtually every multi-college university has essentially a similar, in the manner referenced, arrangement. By the time D2 finishes at Cornell she will have taken courses in four of its seven undergraduate colleges.</p>
<p>I’m applying to Pomona ED, so apply to Barnard. Its definitely better. :)</p>
<p>Monydad, that is pretty funny that your annoyed that I got your CC name wrong. Maybe you forgot that it is not your real name.</p>