<p>Hey everyone,
I was wondering what Pomonas reputation in comparison to other elite liberal arts colleges, (Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury) Is it as well known and respected as those schools? How prestigious is a degree from Pomona?</p>
<p>It's right up there. I like the WASP league anagram for Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore and Pomona because it's elitist, although Bowdoin and Wesleyan should be in there too. The school has seen increased apps every year and the selectivity rate is going at 16.2%, making it the second toughest to gain admission to. An interesting caveat to this is that the students who attend Pomona are oblivious to its elitist stature...they're truly attending the school because it looks fun and interesting and an opportunity to indulge all the different creative sides of themselves. So it's laid back and no one is trying to prove themselves.</p>
<p>Well if you look at Newsweek, they'll tell you that Amherst and Pomona are rivals when it comes to consortium jewels. But anyone will tell you that only Pomona has a real consortium. Others have to drive a while, whereas you can walk across the street for a party or for classes.</p>
<p>Pomona is slightly less well known as Amherst or Williams, but I doubt any other school can claim more name recognition. The thing about Pomona's name is that it's associated with the Claremont Colleges. So students can say either Pomona College or Claremont Colleges.</p>
<p>The 5 college consortium (Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, UMass) doesn't compare to the Claremont consortium. Amherst is about a five minute drive from Hampshire and UMass and 20 minutes from Smith and Mt. Holyoke, so the schools are not as close together as you might think.</p>
<p>And I just wanted to point out that Bowdoin is fairly elitist. Or at least that's the impression that I got from the students, faculty and admissions department when i visited.</p>
<p>A lot of people have never heard of Pomona. For the most part, the students who choose it aren't that interested in how well it stacks up against the other well known LACs.<br>
My son is at Pomona and many people think he means Cal Poly Pomona when they ask where he's going. He doesn't mind. He didn't pick it for it's name recognition. But if that would bother you, it may not be the right spot for you.</p>
<p>Plenty of people also haven't heard of the other LACs. What matters are the big employers (banking, consulting, etc), research institutions (brookings, hoover, RAND,etc.) and grad schools. They definitely know about Pomona.</p>
<p>Like Cronie says, if you really care that much about name recognition on any street. Pomona's not going to provide that for you. You need to go to a big univ.</p>
<p>Prestige is in the eye of the beholder. There is no way to get an objective measure. Most of the schools you mention in your post are not well known outside of select circles although certainly they are better known in New York City than Pomona.</p>
<p>But the community at Pomona doesn't care particularly about prestige. If you are looking for fellow students who are careerist and thinking about where they are going to go next, then Pomona is not a good fit for you. It happens that Pomona students do wonderfully on the job and graduate school market, but they are totally chill about it. Sounds like you're not.</p>