<p>Any opinions? Academics, atmosphere, social, culture, diversity, etc. Will be a physics/studio art double major (if possible!) From the NE but has been to and likes Calif.</p>
<p>Both are awesome...you really should visit both schools. Given the choice, I would probably go for Wesleyan, but that's because I prefer the East Coast to California.</p>
<p>burnt-- here's a related thread comparing Pomona to Williams....may get some perspective especially on the geography/weather.</p>
<p>I'd go for Pomona, it's beautiful year round except smog, (less of a problem than it used to be) plus the 5 colleges make for more social life. It's also probably more politically balanced because of Claremont McKenna.</p>
<p>Pomona anytime. </p>
<p>Academics: Pomona is better ranked (though I personally couldn't care less about a ranking)
Culture: Pomona is more socially and especially politically diverse.
Weather: Pomona is in CA, not CT.
Grad placements: Way better for Pomona.</p>
<p>Pomona and Wesleyan share a very similar level of diversity; both have a non-white student body population in the 30% range. Likewise, Pomona's percentage of Pell grant recipients is only slightly below Wesleyan's (12% to 14.5 %):</p>
<p>I haven't visited Pomona but a couple close friends of my son are there. (They love it, by the way.) Weselyean was probably my son's second choice. For general academics I'd say they are similar. Culturally, one is California and one is Connecticut -- very different. I think of Wesleyan as being a bit more PC liberal, but there's a fair amount of overlap in student type: friendly, smart, going, active.</p>
<p>For studio art I'd give Wesleyan the edge. I don't know much about physics at either. </p>
<p>Other LACs with strong studio art departments: Williams, Hamilton, Conn College, Skidmore, Vassar, Kenyon and Smith if you are female. For the combination of art + physics Williams would be an excellent choice.</p>
<p>I love Pomona, but I would inquire carefully about going there for physics. As a practical matter, you would be spending a lot of time at Harvey Mudd and I'm not sure how that would work for a double major.</p>
<p>Yeah... Pomona has some pretty sweet programs (including the sciences), but if you want to kill yourself (regarding difficulty of academia) take your physics classes at Mudd.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Mudd physics = good.</p>
<p>Studio arts are pretty weak at Pomona, but better at Scripps (where you can cross-register, though they are often oversubscribed.) The Scripps department is almost triple the size of Pomona's, and with only roughly half the number of students. The number and range of offerings is vastly superior. You can take them through Pomona, but first crack is given to Scripps students.</p>
<p>I don't know if you are female, but I would think a studio arts major at Scripps, with a physics major out of Mudd, would be much superior to either of the other two.</p>
<p>I'm curious what that would be like for her/him socially, to be taking two different majors at two different colleges, albeit close by ones.</p>
<p>I'm a little lost here. Pomona has its own science departments -- quite good ones actually. There would be no need for a Physics major at Pomona to take courses at Harvey Mudd, although the option would be there if something struck his fancy. Not all of the Claremont Colleges have their own science departments -- Pitzer, Claremont-McKenna, and Scripps shares something called a Joint Sciences Department, which is a department with rudimentary bio, physics, and chem offerings sufficient for three schools with few students interested in sciences. Harvey Mudd is specialized in the other direction -- a pure science, math, and engineering tech school with only rudimentary offerings in a "Humanities" department. Pomona is the full-service tratidional liberal arts college of the five -- and has an endowment that dwarfs the others.</p>
<p>The studio art courses at Scripps are probably a more realistic consideration. Given the choice, I'd rather be a Pomona student and register for those at Scripps as desired. All of the buildings of the two schools are closer together than the buildings of any one LAC "back east". The combined five campuses of the Claremont Consortium occupy less real estate than, for example, Swarthmore or Williams.</p>
<p>ALL sciences at Scripps are done through a combined Scripps/Claremont-McKeena/Pitzer science program (Keck) which, taken together, is slightly larger and has more offerings than Pomona. Hardly rudimentary, again, compared with Pomona, or Swarthmore for that matter (Swarthmore's being considerably more robust than Pomona's).</p>
<p>I had the impression that most of the enrolled Scripps students are pre-med; students are also able to cross-register at Mudd (the same way Pomona students can, but Scripps is closer.)</p>
<p>You are right, though, that the big difference is in the studio arts - much bigger than the differences in physics. Scripps compares favorably with any liberal arts college in the country in the depth of its offerings. The cross-registration thing does work, but priority is given to the college's own students and to its majors.</p>
<p>I might be wrong, but I really don't see most of the Scripps students as pre-med. I should walk across the street and ask, but I'm too lazy.</p>
<p>ID - That was my impression; that Claremont is basically a 5,500 student campus divided up between six associated insitutions -- four undergrad and two grad.</p>
<p>My question still stands, i.e., how difficult is it to get to know someone in a different college?</p>
<p>"I might be wrong, but I really don't see most of the Scripps students as pre-med."</p>
<p>Most of those "taking sciences classes at Keck" is what I meant to imply.</p>
<p>It really isn't too hard to socialize with other schools. My "girlfriend" goes to Scripps and I go to Mudd. We sometimes do things together. There are parties (like tonight! If you are in town, come!) where all the 5-C's are invited...and we get pretty good representation of all the colleges when we throw parties here at Mudd.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, there are not nearly as many people taking classes at Mudd than the other schools. The different academic standards in math/science/engineering make it non-attractive to outsiders, unless they are looking for a good challenge and a few C's or D's.</p>
<p>Mini:</p>
<p>Here's the link to the Joint Sciences Department:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.jsd.claremont.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.jsd.claremont.edu/</a></p>
<p>You can spin it anyway you like, but the fact remains that Scripps, Pitzer, and CMC don't have their own bio departments, their own chem departments, or their own physics departments. That's OK, because none of them have any science majors to speak of.</p>
<p>In their most recent Common Data Set, Scripps listed 7 Bio majors, 2 math majors, 1 students majoring in "physical sciences" (chem or physics).</p>
<p>This semester, the Joint Sciences Department offers five physics courses to the students of Pitzer, Scripps, and CMC. Two of these are basic intro courses (General Physics, and Principles of Physics), two are electives (Intermediate Electricity and Magnetism and Computational Physics and Engineeering), and one (by far the largest) is a "rocks for jocks" type course (Energy and the Enviroment). There are four physics professors shared by the three colleges.</p>
<p>Pomona's Physics Department offers eight courses this semester -- one general intro course without calc, one with, plus six upper level electives. There are seven full-time physics professors.</p>
<p>I think the Joint Sciences Department is a great idea for Scripps, Pitzer, and CMC. But, lets not sell it for more than what it is -- a cost-effective way to offer bare bones distribution-requirement sciences to three small schools with virtually no science major students. </p>
<p>BTW, on the Pomona/Wesleyan choice -- that is such a close call that I think the student would really have to visit and explore both colleges for himself. They are so comparable, but very different in terms of geography, climate, style, etc.</p>
<p>BTW, this "Keck Science Center" you refer to is one building that houses all of the bio, chem, and physics for the three colleges.</p>
<p>You guys are terrific; a wealth of information and food for thought. I guess the bottom line is: If lucky enough to have the choice, what would tip the scale in Pomona's favor? Is it really a matter of climate and culture? How have Northeasterner's fared at Pomona? How have Californians adjusted to Wesleyan? If there is anyone out there, speak up!</p>
<p>Umm...let's see. I don't go to Pomona but I have tons of respect for the school. They have tons of respect for us as well. </p>
<p>We have adopted various stereotypes of those at the Claremont Colleges:
Scripps: Girlie and Feminist, aware of world events and social issues, but sometimes ditsy and/or blonde (figuritively).
CMC: Jocks who drink beer.
Pitzer: Artsy hippies.
HMC: Disgruntled mega-nerds who throw crazy parties.
Pomona: Smart, well rounded people who think they are better than everyone else.</p>
<p>Take what I just said with a grain of salt. It is kind-of a joke around here, but has some validity to it. Stereotyping is bad, lol.</p>