Hello, everyone! I have a couple of questions related to which college I should choose. I have narrowed my choice down to three colleges: Pomona, Duke, and UCLA. I have a lot of trouble deciding which college would be best for me, particularly because of my particular needs. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated and thank you in advance
So, first, Iām a physically disabled student who is wheelchair-bound. My first requirement therefore is that the school is accessible. I am majoring in Psychology but am definitely planning on doing an Art minor (my passion) (I know that UCLA doesnāt offer an Art minor and so am entertaining the possibility of doing a double major or asking them to please allow me to take some courses) so accessibility for these two departments are of more importance to me. However, I am also hoping to take some interesting elective courses, so overall accessibility would be great. Additionally, I would really love a school that is flexible and willing to accommodate.
Secondly, Iām not going to live in the dorms but rather am going to live with my parents near the campus. I am a domestic applicant but am living abroad and my parents (especially my mom) want to come and live with me in the US because we all miss it. I would thus really appreciate a student culture that is not too dorm-focused and that has a lot of opportunities for me to make friends (perhaps by participating in a lot of clubs?) I would also love to attend a college that has a relatively less competitive and more friendly and caring student body.
Third, because of my medical condition, I would like to avoid cold places (partly to avoid sicknesses and partly to avoid heavy snow). I was born and raised for a couple of years in Ithaca and so know how that feels like Any information on the weather would be amazing.
Finally, my dream is becoming a psychology professor, so I would like to attend a college that will help me get into graduate school.
So to conclude: I would love to receive information on accessibility, student life, weather, and opportunities for attending graduate school. Thank you for reading this super long post and for helping me!!!
All the schools you are considering should provide you with great opportunities for graduate school. A couple of comments about Pomona. In many ways it seems perfect for you, because the atmosphere is definitely more collaborative than competitive, weather is pretty perfect, and the campus is compact and the classes small. Hereās a link to the webpage about disability services: https://www.pomona.edu/students/disability-accommodations/mobility. It even says that classes can sometimes be moved to first floor classrooms to accommodate students with mobility issues. On the other hand, very few students live off campus. A big part of the social experience freshman year is the āsponsor groupā program which involves creating groups of freshman who are housed near each other and matched up with two sophomore sponsors. https://www.pomona.edu/new-students/guide/residential-life/sponsor-groups. Iām not sure how they handle freshman who live off campus, so I would ask about that.
These are internal statistics in the department according to a psych major who is going to UCLA for a PhD in clinical psych (#1 program in the country), but Pomonaās psychology ranks #1/#2 pretty much every year in terms of students going off to top graduate school per capita. Itās a super well-respected program with a heavy research and seminar emphasis. The five colleges also enhance your psych offerings- last I checked there were 90 or so distinct psych courses offered at one given year. I feel that Pomona would be the best academically of your three options.
I agree Pomona would be the best fit for you, but DO NOT live off campus with your mom.
Youāre no longer a little kid. You can become autonomous and figure things out on campus - if you need accomodations, including someone to help you, ask the Office of Disability Services at each campus and see what they offer.
Most importantly, living in the dorms is crucial to āfitting inā, making friends, getting involved, etc. Research shows that students who live on campus actually are more involved, benefit more from their experience, and get better grades, than students who live off campus.
I understand that your mom could live nearby for reassurance and maybe because she wants to move along with you, but donāt live off campus. Itād be terribly lonely and difficult to handle.
How would you do with the study groups that take place at 10pm? Youād either miss them to be with your mom, r youād leave your mom alone and would feel guilty.
Wouldnāt you want to live 5mn from the library, especially at exam time when youāll be in there till midnight, one, or two (and wouldnāt it be a problem to wake your mom up at 2 am to get you from the library? Even if she claims it isnātā¦ come onā¦ it is.)
I have to agree with @MYOS1634 you will be missing out on a huge part of the Pomona and liberal arts college experience if you donāt live on campus, especially freshman year. That doesnāt mean your parents couldnāt live nearby if thatās important to them and reassuring to you.
Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for all of these comments! Theyāve been super helpful and Iām really glad to be part of this great community
@Corinthian Thank you so much for all of this information and for answering practically all of my questions! Iām really glad to hear that the atmosphere at Pomona is more collaborative than competitive.
@nostalgicwisdom I never knew that so many students go to graduate school from Pomona! Thatās really interesting to hear and I think that it would be great to be surrounded by students with similar career goals. I also had one question: how easy is it to take courses at the other colleges? I have seen some really interesting Psychology courses at CMC and Scripps and would love to take those as well.
@MYOS1634 Thank you for the advice. I do plan on becoming much more independent when I go to college and actually plan on practicing it before I go to college (attending high school classes on my own, going out with friends alone, etc.) Living on-campus definitely sounds appealing for the reasons you have stated and I do understand that Iāll be missing a lot of opportunities by living off-campus. Unfortunately, after talking with my counselor, we have decided that it would still be more beneficial for me to live off-campus, whether with my parents or not, to avoid illnesses that tend to go around all at once at the dorms. I hope that I will still be able to practice independent living off-campus, but will definitely take your advice into consideration. Thank you!
Have you talked to your physician about this issue and whether you can mitigate it while living in the dorms for frosh year? Frosh year is probably the most beneficial to live in the dorms.
Note that nearly all students live in the dorms at Pomona. At UCLA and Duke, nearly all frosh live in the dorms, but a large percentage of UCLA students live off-campus in later years, as does a smaller percentage of Duke students.
āIllnesses that go around all at once in the dormsā isnāt a phenomenon thatās really big. Youāll have a single room with a bathroom (do make a request) and youāll have to be with others from about 9 in the morning until about midnightā¦ (il not sĆ»re what heās referring toā¦ In fact Iāve never heard if itā¦ Except for some outbreaks which are linked to specific conditions that wouldnāt apply since youād have your own room/bathā¦)
I donāt think your physician realizes how uncomfortable and difficult itāll be day to day to not live in the dorms at a residential college, because most international systems are not residential. Frosh year really is the year you need to/want to live in the dorms, to facilitate integration.
I wouldnāt pick UCLA as the level of accommodations canāt be the same (public university = les money.)
Itās very easy to take classes at the other 5Cās.
OP have you been on these campuses? The UCLA campus is huge and hilly. Iāve never been on the Duke campus so I canāt compare that one. You may want to post your question in each schoolās forum, but the most reliable way is to call each schoolās disability office.
I can understand your parentsā desire to be protective and to be available if you need help. But it also sounds like they want to tag along for the ride and enjoy the experience with you. There are schools (usually large publics) that are have a significant number of commuters and students living off campus. Thatās definitely not Pomona though. The residential life experience is considered to be one of the great attractions of liberal arts colleges.
Have your parents thought through where you and they are going to live, and where to park if they are taking you to campus? Have they looked into the availability and cost of off campus housing for a family? I think the ideal situation would be to live on campus at Pomona but have your parents living in one of the neighboring suburbs. But they should let you have as much independence as possible.
Did you contact disabilitys ervices?
^I agree. Living on campus, in one of the rooms that have special accomodations, with your parents living in the neighborhood, would be the optimal solution for your situation (considering you want your parents to be around).
Have you spoken with disability services at these three schools yet? I suggest you do so and see what they can offer you. A friend who has a physical disability did just that and the differences and accommodations offered were very different between her top 3 choices. She chose the college that had the most support and was the most welcoming and says it was a very good decision.
I wouldnāt rule out UCLA altogether, but I agree with @Corinthian that it is a very steep and hilly campus and I would think that it would pose more of a challenge than a place like Pomona, which is pretty flat. I also agree with the posters who are saying that you will miss out if you canāt live in a dorm freshman year.
My son got his BA in Psychology at CMC and took psychology courses at Scripps and Pitzer. (He took other courses at Pomona.) It is extremely easy to take classes at the other 5Cās as it is one course list at registration and the classes are quite close. On the other hand, youāll need to take into account the time needed for you to get from one campus to the other - which will take a bit more time. Even the Pomona campus is quite large and youāll want to schedule classes with plenty of time in between.
I agree that you should do everything you can to live on campus Freshman year - especially at a college like Pomona where 95% or more (Iām pulling this out of a hat) of the students live on campus all four years. California, in general, is very good about access & accommodations for those with disabilities. The Center for Independent Living started at UC Berkeley.
A Duke student who was recently awarded a Rhodes scholarship is wheelchair bound and he made a concerted effort to make Dukeās campus significantly more accessible.
Pomona was one of the schools I chose Duke over. I was more excited by the prospect of attending a research university. You should visit the campuses if at all possible and make a decision based on fit. I wouldnāt pick UCLA over the other schools on your list.
Hi, everyone! Thanks so much again for all of these comments They are SUPER helpful!
I truly appreciate everyoneās advice about living on-campus, and I am starting to seriously consider it. However, considering that I need to make a decision within the next week or two (I need to commit earlier so that I can apply for a gap year, etc.), I think it is unfair to my parents (who are paying for my education) to drop the bomb now, as well as having other concerns for the whole family that are more personal. In fact, I casually told my parents the other day about all the advice Iād been receiving about living on-campus, and they brushed it off. I think I can live off-campus, even though I understand all the amazing opportunities Iāll be missing. Thanks to everyone regardless for opening my perspective and for truly caring about my college experience!
That being said, could I please receive advice regarding coping with living off-campus? I understand that it will be much harder to integrate and have a great social life, as well as being far away from resources, but could this be balanced by participating in some clubs? Do you have any tips for having a good social life while living off-campus? Iām starting to understand the implications of living off-campus and would like to prepare for the difficulties!
I have contacted all the disability offices and am in the process of gaining more information by continuing to talk with them. Theyāve all been really helpful and so far, all services appear to be similar, which will make it even more difficult to choose!
Unfortunately, I am in enrolled in the IB program, so I have my final exams in May. That means that I canāt visit the campuses because I need to revise. Also, because of my condition, a trip to the US and from end-to-end will probably take a lot longer than for other people. However, I have been to UCLA (thank you to those who have told me about its campus - I didnāt realize that it was so hilly and am really glad to have this information!) and my dad visited Pomona last year while on a trip. Of course, at that time, we all thought Pomona was a reach so he focused more of his efforts on Scripps and didnāt really check the Pomona campusā¦
Thanks to everyone for this great advice! Iām really learning a lot.
Pomona may also have an on-campus living requirement for the first year (ask them to find out). If the college you choose has such a requirement, you may have to apply to get that requirement waived.
Hi, everyone! Upon reflection, I believe that in my last comment I unfairly and unintentionally suggested that my parents were forcing me to live off-campus and I would like to fix my mistake to help my conscience. Living off-campus has been a family decision as well as a personal one and Iāve made the decision after carefully weighing the pros and cons with a lot of consideration of my complex condition. I do understand that Iāll be missing out on a lot of opportunities but have still chosen to live off-campus because it is the most appropriate and realistic choice for me in this situation and as of now. I apologize for my previous inaccurate post and thank everyone for their kind concern.
@ucbalumnus Thank you for telling me about the requirements! I have talked with the offices and received a waive
Have your parents done any investigation of the cost and availability of suitable off-campus housing near each of these campuses? There will be logistical issues to transporting you to and from campus that should be considered. It seems to me that your parents should be investigating that since they want to live with you. Again, Iām not familiar with Duke but I would think it would be easier to find family housing to lease in the suburbs around Pomona vs. UCLA. Also traffic will be less congested and campus parking more available. The easier and faster it is to transport you back and forth to campus, the more often youāll be able to do it, so thatās an important consideration.
All of these schools will have lots of clubs and events that will provide an opportunity for socializing. Hereās a link to the website for the Associated Students of Pomona College: https://aspc.pomona.edu/. There is also a Facebook page for PEC (Pomona Events Committee.) You can see from the event calendar that a lot of activities take place after 5:00 pm. This is why I emphasize the question of logistics. A bigger school like UCLA will have even more clubs and events but they may be more difficult to get to from off campus.
In an earlier post I described the Pomona sponsor group program. I suggest you email the Office of Housing and Residential Life and ask whether a freshman living off campus can participate in a sponsor group. I have no idea, but maybe they have a way to make this work. https://www.pomona.edu/administration/housing-residence-life. Good luck with your decision and finishing your IB exams.
Any information on the weather would be amazing.