<p>Claremont McKenna is the "conservative college" b/c according to someone I know there its split ~60-40 Democrats to Republicans (pretty conservative for a LAC). Also, maybe some of the faculty is conservative..but Pomona is liberal I'm sure (as is Bowdoin).</p>
<p>EDIT: and I would go w/ Pomona, it's in CA with the 5-colleges...yeah..</p>
<p>I would go to Pomona. Great weather, prestige, and beautiful campus. Since you've lived in MA long enough, it'll be a fresh change to attend a college in CA.</p>
<p>I would say the big differences are climate, location, and the five-college consortium. Attending Pomona is more like attending a small university than is any other LAC. I think the choice is mostly a matter of individual preference: do you want a more intimate community or a larger one? Cold weather or warm? A more rural location or a definitively suburban one?</p>
<p>RussianHopeful- My D graduated from Pomona in '02 and she was considered more conservative than all of her friends. She had many constructive and lively discussions during her 4 years there but she never felt uncomfortable. Actually she had a lot of fun being the minority viewpoint.</p>
<p>Bowdoin is rated 94 by Princeton Review for Academics, Pomona 97. Pomona is much better for getting into a great graduate school.</p>
<p>The Princeton Review "ratings" are highly unscientific and differences as minute as three points are nonexistent. This goes for pretty much every one of their rankings, incluing the food one (Bowdoin has extremely good food nonetheless).</p>
<p>Speaking of food, at Pomona you'll have the chance to eat at any of the Claremont Colleges dining halls. Menus vary, and some schools have special nights such as steak night.</p>
<p>We were really impressed by the variety and quality of the food at Pomona/ Claremont colleges. And we're from Cali, so we're pretty picky about fresh foods and feel "entitled" to fresh fruits and veggies year 'round.
There also are a few good eating spots in town for a change of pace - or when the 'rents come and are paying the bill.</p>
<p>I am a first-year at Pomona, and I have a comment for whoever said/heard that Pomona is conservative: what EXACTLY are you smoking these days?</p>
<p>Pomona has a much higher acceptance rate to top graduate schools than does Bowdoin. <a href="http://wsjclassroom.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://wsjclassroom.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf</a></p>
<p>can anyone find the list of the "15 select graduate programs" that was used to make this list, i can guess a couple:</p>
<p>harvard law
harvard med
harvard MBA
chicago mba
penn wharton mba
yale law
yale med</p>
<p>but i can't find the list on the website</p>
<p>I had to do a little digging, but the 15 schools were:</p>
<p>"So for medicine, our schools were Columbia; Harvard; Johns Hopkins; the University of California, San Francisco; and Yale, while our MBA programs were Chicago; Dartmouth's Tuck School; Harvard; MIT's Sloan School; and Penn's Wharton School. In law, we looked at Chicago; Columbia; Harvard; Michigan; and Yale."</p>
<p>This quote is near the bottom of the page: <a href="http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/college/feederschools.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/college/feederschools.htm</a></p>
<p>We visited Pomona and absolutely loved it! You can also do a year exchange at Swarthmore if you yearn for the east coast!</p>
<p>Pomona is ranked much higher than Bowdoin in terms of gaining admission to top graduate schools.</p>
<p>Pomona is ranked only 6 spots higher accordng to the Wall Street Journal ranking mentioned above. Pomona is #13 and Bowdoin is #19. I have absolutely no knowledge of Bowdoin beyond that, though, so this post is not at all meant to advise the OP to choose Bowdoin, only to point out that the difference between the two schools in terms of sending students to top graduate programs is not really that big.</p>
<p>Joshua Lawrence Chamberlin, the most amazing American hero of all time, was president of Bowdoin back in the day, but other than that Pomona's gotta win.<br>
1. West Coast = laid back, less competetive.
2. BETTER WEATHER
3. 4 Colleges next door, more peeps, more fun, more options
4. Academics wise, what do you know of the differences? What do those rankings mean? They're both great lib arts, so stop worrying about academics.
5. LA is right there. More internship options than Maine...</p>
<p>So there you go, either one'll get you to grad school if you want to go. </p>
<p>But seriously, check out the life of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlin. Civil war vet, accepted Lee's surrender, held a critical point at every day of the battle of Gettysburg namely with a bayonet charge to hold the flank on day 2 (?) and holding the center for Picket's Charge. He's the only reason to go to Bowdoin.</p>
<p>Bowdoin and Pomona are both really good schools, but I think the deciding factor is whether you are looking for West Coast influence or Northeast.. they're sooo different. I'm from Maine and although I don't wanna stay here (wanna be away from mum and dad for a bit) I really like Bowdoin. Winter in Maine can be terrible, but it's tough to beat the crisp fall days that are just to die for. Bowdoin students (from my impression) seem really nice, friendly, athletic, smart.. and they like to have fun. Bowdoin is in Brunswick, which isn't far from Portland- a great city (about 30 mins)</p>
<p>Personally, as a Mainer, I want a change and I would go to Pomona. But I think if I hadn't already spetn 17 years of my life here, I would chose Bowdoin.</p>