<p>For academic preparation for advanced degrees, Pomona is ever so slightly ahead of Wesleyan.</p>
<p>For all-around preparation for different vocations, Wesleyan has few peers:</p>
<p>
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For academic preparation for advanced degrees, Pomona is ever so slightly ahead of Wesleyan.
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</p>
<p>And Oberlin and Bryn Mawr are further ahead of Pomona, and yet most people would probably argue that Pomona is the more prestigious/"better" school in those battles…</p>
<p>Also, that list is not necessarily an indicator of which school better prepares students for advanced degrees, not when the gap is so small, as much as which school has more people who go after advanced degrees at all. After all, many Wes film students, for example, are probably going to go straight into the industry and not bother getting an advanced degree. </p>
<p>PS. And my mother's colleagues at one of the top Universities in the country adore Wesleyan. </p>
<p>The point being that this is not a vs. thread. I think all the evidence seems to show that these two schools are just about equal: you are going to get a great and prestigious education at both. So once again, it comes down to other factors: east cost vs. west coast. Quirkier, more liberal student body vs. [insert right adjectives for Pomona, I can't really judge]. Unbelievably cute town vs. larger working class town. Etc. etc. etc. </p>
<p>To the OP: Why are you struggling with this decision? What attracts you to Wesleyan? What don't you like about Pomona? What DO you like about Pomona that makes you want to stay? What kind of information are you looking for?</p>
<p>All right I give up brand. I must say I'm surprised by that info. And to the OP- yeah some clarification on your experiences and motives would be nice.</p>
<p>hahaha sorry I just gotta stick up for my school. Wes is just one of those schools with a cult-like applicant pool.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses guys.</p>
<p>The personal reason is mainly distance from my significant other. I didn't originally want to attend Pomona, and would have preferred to have attended a school like Wesleyan or Vassar, but, the way things worked out, I ended up at Po-Mo. It turned out to be a great school, and I've definitely carved myself out a nice little niche, participating in a lot of extra stuff and doing well in classes.</p>
<p>But it's been really difficult being so far away from my serious boyfriend, who is located on the east coast. I applied to his school and Wesleyan to see what would happen, and was accepted to Wesleyan. Now I'm faced with the decision of whether or not to relocate, and it's been very difficult. </p>
<p>On one hand, Wesleyan is a slight step down from Pomona in terms of prestige/selectivity/whatever, but most importantly for me, in terms of the music program. I'm very involved with music at Pomona, and Wesleyan seems to lack any sort of strong choral program. Is this true?</p>
<p>I know it comes down to a very personal decision that only I can make, but I was interested in other people's perspectives/views about the schools.</p>
<p>I don't know if our choral program is what you would consider strong (maybe not), but we do have a concert choir and a group that does gospel music (as well as many a cappella singing groups). I know many people who love music, and they all seem satisfied with what Wes has to offer. Have you tried emailing anyone involved in the music program about it?</p>
<p>Anyway, I love Wes! So, yeah. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you come. OTOH, Pomona is a great school, and I can imagine it would be very hard to leave someplace you've made yourself happy at.</p>
<p>brand- I looked at that survey and it states that it's not measuring the probability of winning in a head-to-head tournament. Otherwise Harvard would win would win over all other schools 100% of the time.
And those revealed preference rankings were suspect. Why is BYU ranked higher than Wes and Pomona?</p>
<p>It's not a matter of "probability of winning in a head-to-head tournament." The ranking reveals the actual decisions of accepted applicants to two schools. In that case, Harvard would not win 100% of the time because Harvard doesn't have 100% yield/people don't always choose Harvard. Note though that Harvard is the #1 school on the ranking, but it loses a decent number of applicants to other schools with Yale being its biggest competitor.</p>
<p>The row school is compared to the column school and the decimal represents the probability (based on a percentage) of students that would pick the row school (Wesleyan) over the column school (Pomona). According to their data, there is a .66 probability that a student will choose Wes because in their examination they found that 66% of students admitted to both chose Wesleyan.</p>
<p>The report discusses BYU in particular. It should be expected for BYU to rank very highly because, like Wesleyan but even much more so, BYU has a self-selected applicant pool - Mormons. There is only really one great Mormon school out there and the environment is extremely unique, so most Mormons that get into BYU will choose it over just about anything. Caltech and MIT will also rank very highly as they are specialty schools, directed towards math/science and students that apply to these schools usually have a clear goal in mind.</p>
<p>I find myself leaning towards one school one second, and the other school the next. </p>
<p>Alas.</p>
<p>okay ignore all the crazy kids who keep turning this thread into stats and survey arguments. that's POINTLESS. transferring is a difficult and personal decision and you have two great schools on your hands! transferring is for personal reasons, i think comparing prestige or sats between two top ranked schools is moot; its the people, the environment, the academic EXPERIENCE that makes one like or dislike their school. that being said, i think if you're happy somewhere... transferring could be VERY difficult because starting over has to be something youre completely ready to do. and wes and pomona ARE very different in feel (have you visited both) and i know kids who love both. i think it more comes to are you prepared to start over, do you dislike pomona that much, and i know this is a touchy topic (ive done the long distance thing for a year now), but do you really want to make this decision based on the bf? and it could be totally legitimate if you do!! but it could be difficult, if you didnt like wes, and then fell into a pattern where it was his fault, you did it for him, etc. just things to think about!
i know its past the deadline but oh well... how'd things turn out?</p>
<p>maybetransfer, those are all great points that I heavily considered while making my decision. Thanks for the thoughtful response.</p>
<p>I ended up deciding to make the change. I was, for the most part, content at Pomona, but not happy. I feel like I can be happy at Wes, for many reasons other than the proximity of my boyfriend, which is a definite added plus. His location was something that tipped the scales, but wasn't the ultimate deciding factor. </p>
<p>I'm actually excited to start over, to meet new people, although I will greatly miss my choir and some of my connections with professors that I built at Pomona. I hope to build equally strong connections at Wesleyan, and I'm prepared to work my butt off to do so.</p>
<p>I'm excited to have the options that I didn't have coming out of high school, and am really looking forward to Wes, but will definitely miss some aspects of Pomona.</p>
<p>:) See ya in the fall.</p>