Pomona Vs. Scripps... Please Help!

<p>Which one would be a better fit? If it is Pomona, is it worth the money?</p>

<p>Major: Neuroscience</p>

<p>I got into both Pomona and Scripps... I am positive that I am attending one of the two. I have always been in love with Pomona, however, I received a half-tuition scholarship from Srcripps. I am not receiving any financial aid from Pomona.</p>

<p>What I am looking for:
-an acidemically stimulating environment
-research opportunities
-getting into a prestigious grad. school or med school upon graduating. </p>

<p>About me:
i love science, I am pretty friendly, a bit quirky</p>

<p>Thank you for your help!</p>

<p>I guess the choice depends on how much you need the tuition help. For some folks half tuition is just pocket change; for others it’s the difference between being able to attend college and not.</p>

<p>I will say that if you need to take the difference in loans it’s not worth it.</p>

<p>If the money is really no object then you should go ahead and attend Pomona since it obviously inspires you more.</p>

<p>I checked my 2009 edition of Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) and at the time of that publication, Scripps College had an agreement with George Washington University School of Medicine and offered its Early Selection Program to students at Scripps College. That way you can apply to medical school as a sophomore in college and have an acceptance to medical school in the bag. (MCAT not required.) This decreases the typical premed anxiety and allows students to branch out in their studies. But I think the program may be binding to GWU med school.</p>

<p>Check with the school to make sure this program still exists, if you consider this a tipping factor.</p>

<p>Wow, congratulations!</p>

<p>Son loved Pomona- but honestly, Scripps at half the price is hard to beat. It’s gorgeous and you’ll get an excellent education. And you can go to the Pomona dining halls any time… my son goes to Scripps’ often…:slight_smile:
You know you can take courses at all the colleges from either college. If you were my daughter, I’d hope you would look at Scripps very seriously. You’re looking at 75K that could be used for med school. That’s a lot of money.</p>

<p>beardedhorse - i am in an extremely similar situation to you. i, too, was accepted to both scripps with a JES scholarship and pomona, although im not yet positive that i will be in claremont. however, just looking at scripps vs. pomona, i am having a similarly difficult time. I am also looking to major in neuroscience or psychology, and like you, pomona has long been my first choice, yet they are not giving me any aid either. so, i feel your pain.</p>

<p>if it’s any help, here are some of my thoughts:

  • i certainly can’t say that money is no object. half price at scripps is an incredible offer, especially since it’s just down the street from pomona, shares many of the same classes, etc.
  • did you go to the JES scholars weekend? if so, what did you think? although it did not surpass pomona in my mind, i had a great time and could see myself there. however, there’s something to be said if it really didn’t click for you.
  • i visited pomona about a week ago to, if nothing else, gather some more insights on the scripps v. pomona issue. although i continue to love pomona and would definitely choose it if money weren’t a concern, i left feeling like there wasn’t as big a difference between the two schools as i previously thought.
  • i did have lunch with some students who were talking about how much more challenging pomona is than the other schools. someone even called the joint science department a “joke”, but there was some obvious bias. like i said, i still left feeling like there maybe wasn’t as big a difference as i thought.</p>

<p>i realize that this extremely long message offers no conclusive answers (i still haven’t taken either school off of my list), but at least know that there is someone out there who feels your pain!</p>

<p>I was in the same boat… And I just sent in my enrollment to Pomona yesterday.<br>
For me the choice was a hard one to make. I’m interested in music and science and although the science departments seemed pretty equal, the music department at Pomona seemed much stronger. Also, I much prefer the freshman core class at Pomona.<br>
I guess I came to my decision by researching everything that both schools had to offer and then figuring out what fit me best.
Also, the dining hall looks like Hogwarts.</p>

<p>If you like Pomona better, you might be able to use the Scripps scholarship as a means of inciting them to give you more money. I was in the exact same situation, and my college counselor told Pomona about me getting the JES scholarship, and Pomona upped my financial aid offer to $26K per year with work study.</p>

1 Like

<p>i have a few questions.

  1. I live in new england. is that an advantage or disadvantage in getting into either?
  2. of pomona and scripps, is one more difficult across the board to get into? If this is helpful, i have a 3.9 gpa, i am a sophmore waiting on psat scores and i have taken all my classes honors unless ap or the class is not offered in honors?
  3. do you perceive the all girls school environment to serve as a disadvantage in any way. (i know i asked a similar question in a different thread on scripps
  4. in general, what are the main reasons you find the claremont college consortiums to be better than other schools.</p>

<p>I’m an incoming Pomona student, so I may not be as helpful as a current student, but here’s what I’ve got:</p>

<ol>
<li>They are private schools, so I doubt it, but I don’t know the answer for sure.</li>
<li>Both are selective, but Pomona is far harder to get into. Pomona’s 2010 acceptance rate was about 14% and Scripps’ was around 35% (? Not sure there, multiple sources say different things) However, Scripps has a very selective half-price merit scholarship, the James E. Scripps scholarship, that is only awarded to about 10% of those who apply (for the scholarship), so look into that, as well.</li>
<li>I was sure for a while that I was going to go to Scripps, and had no problem with the all-girls environment when I spent the weekend. Boys are allowed to hang out all around campus and in the dorms, just not sleep there, and being all-girls allows the school to have a sort of quaint femininity it couldn’t have otherwise. However, when I visited at Pomona, I found that having boys in the same dorms was quite fun, as well.</li>
<li>Unless you want a big research facility (and yes, the Claremonts do have research, just not BIG research), you can find just about everything you need at the Claremonts. Each school has such a distinct personality and range of courses that you can meet just about every kind of person or take any class you could ever dream of. Also, the academic prestige of the schools combined with the lack of street prestige assures that the students are for the most part smart, but not superficial.</li>
</ol>

<p>Keep in mind, though, that Pomona’s acceptance rate for girls is much lower than the total acceptance rate - well below 10%, from what I’ve heard. If you like the Claremont Colleges, Scripps is highly regarded and has presented no social obstacles for the students I’ve known.</p>

<p>i go to scripps…so im invading this thread…i just wanted to point out that all the claremont schools are amazing. also, i go to scripps but i major at pomona, so you can take classes at pomona or any other school if you want. i’ve almost taken a class at every school and i’m only going to be a sophomore…so you can make it happen. also, i love going to a women’s college. at first i thought–no way, i’m not going to a women’s college, but then i actually went and visited it and it was amazing. the community is really supportive (as is pomona), but its really great to have a strong community of women, and it really makes for a strong alumnae network.</p>

<p>also, i’m from the east coast. the reason i looked at scripps was because it is really hard to get into east coast schools if you’re from the east, so i cant help but think it helped me a little bit…they are trying to get geographic diversity…and almost everyone from california applies to one of the 5-Cs.</p>

<p>I’d say come to the 5-Cs, Pomona, or Scripps, because the consortium is just amazing :)</p>