Rice vs Pomona

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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<p>Silentsailor, thanks :)</p>

<p>Adamb, that sounds awesome! I didn’t expect much from Rice’s residential system but it’s sounding better and better. Almost like Hogwarts :smiley: It’ll definitely be something I consider over Pomona.</p>

<p>So far, this is what I have:</p>

<p>Both are virtually identical in-
*Weather
*Student Body
*Life Quality
*Retention Rate
*Campus Dorms and Food
*Endowments
*Financial Aid
*Academic Quality
*Prestige
*Intellectuality</p>

<p>Pomona has the edge in
*The Claremont Consortium
*General Location</p>

<p>Rice has the edge in
*Residential Life
*Absolute location
*Convenience</p>

<p>This is so hard :frowning: I really wish I can apply to both but I’m facing some personal, time, and financial issues right now…Do you think I can ask them for an extension?</p>

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<p>Feel you on the financial constraints applying to college - application fees have gotten ridiculous (they’re worse for grad apps now, yeesh). I don’t think an extension would work, but I think it’s worth contacting the admissions offices explaining to see if they’ll waive your application fee, or ask your high school counseling office. Re: time constraints, my Rice essay was basically a fancy copy/paste of my other essays and things worked out fine :slight_smile: Best of luck deciding!</p>

<p>(And for what it’s worth, I had two roommates turn down Pomona for Rice ;))</p>

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<p>Hello Debakianmj! I’m a lurker at College Confidential and I decided to make an account to answer your question. I had the same dilemma last year: Rice or Pomona, and I ended up choosing Pomona. It may be due to the fact I lived in Houston for all of my life and detested it, so take note of that when you consider my post.</p>

<p>Houston is a great city, but it has its cons too. The weather is not perfect. It’s very fickle and can change from sunny and warm to cold and cloudy in a matter of hours. Do not underestimate the humidity here- it gets very miserable in the summer and some days in the fall, as well as a few spotty days throughout the year. Claremont’s weather is perfect. It was around 80 when I moved into it and is currently around 50-60 each day. There are rarely cloudy or rainy days…it’s nearly perpetually sunny. Nights are pretty chilly but in a good way chilly. Humidity at Claremont is far less than it is at Houston. Houston isn’t particularly an active city for a college person…the attractions there get old fast, and there’s not that much of a music scene there. The same applies to Claremont, but not to LA. It takes about an hour to get to LA via car and it’s not unbearable…LA traffic is just as bad as Houston traffic. There’s a train that goes there too and is relatively cheap, but the hours for it sucks. LA like Houston is a car based city, but it has, in my opinion, the better culture, food, and museums. I think the fact Rice is so close to Houston attractions can be counteracted by the fact LA is a better city.</p>

<p>A lot of people worry about smog. Yes, in LA it is pretty bad. Much worse than Houston. Claremont doesn’t get any of it though. It’s a wonderful place to be in- each day I wake up to a picturesque view of mountains and lush green. Both Pomona and Rice have beautiful campuses, but I personally preferred Pomona’s to Rice(Scripps is better than both though). Claremont isn’t particularly a college town…lots of old folks, and it’s pretty expensive. Most stores in it close pretty early. However there are amenities available and the town has everything a college town needs, such as Walmart and Trader Joes. Rice Village is a better place in my opinion because it’s catered towards Rice kids, but it lacks a lot that Claremont does have, and to access most of it you need a car while Claremont is walkable.</p>

<p>Pomona kids and Rice kids are virtually identical. Both are laid back, ultra-friendly, intelligent, charismatic and well rounded kids with a multitude of passions. While Rice does have a residential college system, and it’s a pretty big thing going for it, Pomona took me in open hands even though I wasn’t a rich white kid. I made the best of friends here. The student body is so interknitted and coexistent that I think we all end up making a residential college of our own(with the other residential colleges being the other Claremont schools). There’s the occasional elitist, racist, and homophobe, but which college doesn’t have that?
I can’t comment on academics for Rice, but Pomona’s academics are PHENOMENAL. All of my professors are the best I’ve ever had in my life. They’re so dedicated to us that it humbles me. They’re all incredibly smart and insightful in not just their disciplines, but many integrated ones. And that’s Pomona’s true strength- how integrated it is. You’re required to take classes in many areas, but they all link together nicely. Classes are tough, but the professors grade you on merit of who you are, not in relationship to everyone else(as in, there is no curve). So what may seem like grade inflation is actually a representation of how intelligent Pomona’s body is. The fact you can cross enroll at the other colleges truly supplements the experience, because all of the other schools have the same amazing professors. Harvey Mudd has amazing science courses that I’ve heard rival those of MIT and Caltech, and Claremont McKenna probably has the best economics undergraduate program in the country, after U’Chicago. I as a Pomona student get to take classes at those fantastic schools all while enjoying the luxury of being a Pomona student(more on that later).</p>

<p>The dorms are great! I’m currently living in a single and it’s luxurious…even better than my room back home at Houston. Food is better than my mother’s(don’t tell her that), and the fact you get to use your dining money at 10 different places brings a lot of options in choosing. Pomona’s Coop serves the BEST MILKSHAKE I’VE EVER TASTED, Collin’s at CMC makes amazing stirfry, and Scripps cookies are probably my favorite food ever. There is this thing called Snack where we get served food late night, such as pancakes, cereal, and pizza. It’s a great way to meet new people and relieve yourself from the tough academic environment. I’m majoring in Biology and the facilities are amazing…there are lots of current day technological materials in the lab. The gym is just as good as Rice’s recreation center, which I went to often. The library is better than Rice’s in my honest opinion…very comfortable, lots of books available, but do note it’s not Pomona’s personal library but that of the entire consortium.</p>

<p>There is definitely a bubble at Pomona. I can’t lie to you…Pomona is like paradise. There’s always something going on here in terms of parties and events so people don’t want to go off to LA. Pomona’s academics and amenities are so good that you don’t even need to take advantage of the consortium…you’ll have a fantastic time without it[though a perfect time with it ]. The school spoils you to death…finals were recently over and we had this huge chocolate celebration. They even brought us puppies to play with to comfort ourselves! The moment you get into Pomona, you go to this thing called Orientation Adventure where you get to take advantage of the great outdoors, all while getting to know your classmates better. I personally went on the mountain trip because I had never seen mountains in my life, and it was simply an indescribable experience. Only a few weeks ago there was a ski-beach day where they took us to Mt. Baldy to ski(I kinda failed miserably at it xD) and then around midday to the beaches where we had so much fun. Pomona covers everything for you because it has so much money. It pays you for unpaid internships while giving you a car and covering gas fees for that. Need money to sponsor a club or start an event? Pomona will give you the money to do so. They were super generous with my financial aid and covered everything for me. </p>

<p>The consortium is the best part of the experience in my opinion. I have friends in all 5 schools and they’re simply the most diverse group of people I’ve met in my life(and coming from diverse Houston, that means a lot). Any events that happen at those 4 schools you’re welcome to attend, so it brings a lot of experience. For example, at CMC there’s this place known as the Atheneum where you listen to famous people talk all while enjoying dinner. The other schools throw much better parties than Pomona does, I must admit, but the fact I can visit them cancels out Pomona’s flaw :smiley: </p>

<p>This post is getting so long and wieldy, and I still have so much more to say about Pomona. I can’t think of a single flaw about the school…that’s how amazing it is. I turned down Rice, Columbia, Yale, Bowdoin, and Northwestern for Pomona, and I have absolutely no regrets at all. It’s only been the first semester and I can’t wait and see how these 4 years will take me. </p>

<p>You’ll have a good time at both schools. Follow your heart and your dreams! They’re great places, and the hardest part about them is getting in.</p>

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<p>Rice and Pomona are both excellent schools with positives, some that overlap and some that do not. Arguing which is “better” is not really valuable as the “feel” factors such as city, weather, personal taste etc. make a much larger difference than the miniscule difference in statistics.</p>

<p>Rice is not the greatest place on earth for everyone. Neither is Pomona. Arguing tooth and nail for Rice over such a small difference makes us look insecure in our school and decision.</p>

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<p>To the OP - Go with your heart. If I asked you to pick a school right now, which one would it be? That is the place you likely will be happy (if you cannot decide otherwise).</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

<p>EDIT: To add to adamb’s post, each res. college fields sports teams as well. You compete with other colleges. It is quite fun and anyone who wants to join is able to.</p>

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<p>Guys, Rice has granted me a temporary extension, so I’ll be applying to both schools. Wish me the best of luck!</p>

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<p>Great news! (Lucky you!) Hopefully you’ll get a chance to visit Rice at some point during the spring. I think that’s the only way to truly compare.</p>

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<p>OP - That is awesome. IF you have to choose between the two in April, post back!</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

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<p>At Rice, grad students share faculty with undergraduates. At Pomona, you will have NO contact with grad students, and the graduate faculties at Claremont Graduate University and Keck Institute do not teach undergraduates. Only at Claremont McKenna, where the M.A. in Finance program has the same economics/finance professors as the rest of the college, is there any faculty sharing; and even at CMC, the graduate courses and the undergraduate courses are separate. If Rice is like Northwestern (where I did my Ph.D.), upper level undergraduate/lower level graduate courses are one and the same; the experience is nothing like being at a liberal arts college.</p>

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<p>

Nope. Very few shared courses. I’m taking one graduate course this semester, but it isn’t required and is very clearly specified as a grad course that seniors only can take as electives.</p>

<p>Grad students at Rice are kind of a separate group. I’ve had very little interaction with them, except for as TAs, up into this year (when I found out their pub has $.95 beer).</p>

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<p>To clarify, TA’s usually do not teach classes either. TA’s lead study groups, review sessions and are there to generally assist with the class. The class is taught by the professor who also has office hours.</p>

<p>I took one class that was a 600 level graduate course as well and that was the only one with grad students.</p>

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<p>I can’t speak to this (yet), but another area where you will encounter graduate students is if you choose to do research. Rice is trying to foster relationships between undergrad and graduate researchers. Perhaps someone else here will know more about this than I do?</p>

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<p>Oooh the scary, unqualified grad students! God, can people please get a grip and think reasonably about this? I’ve met grad students who are much more capable of teaching than tenured professors. Grad students don’t just show up on campus one day and start working… they have to apply and get accepted too. That’s often more difficult than Rice’s undergrad admission process. A community of undergrad and grad students is preferably in my mind to one without grad students. Serious research demands it.</p>