<p>I've heard from a lot of sources that Pomona is really, really politically correct. Is that image true? And does that bother anyone else?</p>
<p>i hope not. i like to kid around a lot...</p>
<p>Yes and no. There are, in my opinion, people there who get ticked off unnecessarily. For instance, one time a student was mugged not too far from campus. That kind of thing is pretty rare in Claremont, so one of the deans sent out an email to all students telling us what had happened, asking us to please be careful, and giving a description of the two muggers. Both of the muggers happened to be African-American, and the dean mentioned that as part of the description. Some students found this to be offensive, as though the dean were somehow falling prey to the stereotype that African Americans commit more crimes. They would have preferred to have the dean leave race out of the description. To me, that is ridiculous... a very slippery slope... by that logic, the dean shouldn't have mentioned the gender of the muggers either. </p>
<p>However, that was not a majority of students. I think on any campus there is always someone being offended by something! There are lots of different people with different ideas at Pomona. You can get a sense of that by reading The Student Life (not the joke issue, although the fact that there IS a joke issue tells you something about Pomona). Kosuke, there are a lot of people like you who like to kid around a lot. Most Pomonans are cool with it, but be careful around some of those Pitzer kids.</p>
<p>pomona's rediculously pc. then again, i come from texas. my roommate's from massachusetts, though, and she agrees with me. if you're not a big pc person, you'll still have friends, and you'll joke around about how pc pomona is behind closed doors... you just have to be careful what you say in public, cuz people freak out over bits of conversations they overhear without understanding the context. you'll probably also be really annoyed with some of the "incidents" which get a lot of attention, which aren't really a big deal in any setting other than pomona college. i'm not referring to things like vandalism, which actually do suck, but things like, people posting silly and sarcastic signs that are apparently offensive to some people even though 90% of students just laugh.</p>
<p>I guess whether Pomona turns out to be excessively PC depends on us, the students. I, for one, like to joke around.</p>
<p>The other future students I've been talking to seem pretty laid-back, so I guess if you find your niche you should be okay.</p>
<p>Megs, how long you been at Pomona, and what are you studying? Is the PCishness worse for guys or girls, or does it matter? My D who has been admitted to Pomona is from Tx too. Are many Pomona students laboring under this PC disability (or should I say "tolerance disabled"?)? What about the profs? Are they teachers or advocates for an agenda?
Other than PCishness, what else don't you like? What do you like?</p>
<p>I'd appreciate any thoughts you have on this post that I've placed a few spots on CC:
My D got into Yale, Stanford, Pomona, and Notre Dame. She wants to study English, Psychology, with a little Spanish thrown in. Wants to do a semester or year in Spain, work on school newspaper or news magazine, and likes creative writing a lot, which she is very good at.
With this background I would appreciate any thoughts anyone has about the respective merits of these schools, especially from current students or people who know students at any of these schools. I know about the weather differences, and have heard the debate about the safety issues, so most interested in pros and cons of these depts, and other academic issues.
Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I am a freshman at Pomona, and I'm transfering out to study engineering. Let me first say that my choice to leave Pomona has absolutely nothing to do with the politically correct atmosphere. I'm leaving because Pomona doesn't have an engineering department.<br>
I think the PC-ishness is probably the worst for white males, as it would be everywhere. I recall having a discussion in a class last semester where a teacher told us she didn't like the "his/her" construction in our papers, so she told the guys to use "her" and the girls to use "his" so that we wouldn't be accused of being boors. I wouldn't say teachers are advocates for any agenda, although most of them are pretty liberal, and it's not uncommon for them to make their views clear to their students. You definately have to realize that if you write a paper that your professor will agree with, it's not going to be scrutinized as carefully, and there are people who will just take that easy way out. There are also people who will write what they believe (or what they don't, just to be defiant), and who will make decent grades. You have to work harder if you do that, BUT, realizing that, don't kid yourself into thinking it will be different at other schools. It's really just human nature for a prof to not see the pitfalls of an argument he agrees with. I have never felt any personal pressure from a professor to change my beliefs, but there have definately been times when I've had to bite my tongue in class and there have been times when my class notes wound up actually being rants about how Pomona is it's own little world and we're all going to be in for a huge shock when we get out of here.
As far as your daughter's intrests go, it sounds like she'd thrive at Pomona. There are a ton of opportunities to get involved here. 2 freshmen on my floor write for the student newspaper, and they really love it. I don't know much about the psychology department, but English is amazing here. Attending one of Sarah Raff's classes (British lit) is actually what convinced me I wanted to go to Pomona. Professor Anderson is also supposed to be really awesome. Generally only juniors and seniors can get in her classes because they fill up so fast.
The foreign language departments at Pomona are probably some of the best in the country. Spanish is a very popular language, of course. I'm studying Russian right now. I'm sure you know about Oldenborg, the language dorm. Most language courses require that students eat lunch at the language tables at least once a week, and many require participation in the special dinner. Pomona has a native speaker of each language who lives in Oldenborg and sits at the langauge table every day. Once a week these language residents each lead a "study break" where students can go eat and learn about the culture of whatever country. Intro language classes are 5 days a week. Depending on the language, they can continue to be 5 days a week through the 4th semester, but I think Spanish meets less often in the higher courses. Either way, you feel like you're speaking the language every day, which is great. Lit classes usually meet twice or three times a week, and there are also conversation classes that don't have homework (1/4 credit) that you can take to keep up your speaking skills after you finish the 4th semester language course. Additionally, study abroad is very common and encouraged. So.... yeah, it seems to me that Pomona might be a great place for your daughter.</p>
<p>Oooh...while you're here...my son is also considering Pomona, also from Texas. Although he's very liberal for our neck of the woods, and loves to debate. </p>
<p>How's the poli sci and philo? He's debating between schools with quarters, trimesters and semesters.</p>
<p>He's visiting in two weeks...any suggestions?</p>
<p>Hmm... I suggest that he should attend classes in both areas. Politics is the easiest major here... 8 classes, no thesis. I haven't heard the greatest things about it. I know one person who's double majoring in physics and philosophy, and he seems to like both departments pretty much. I also know someone who took a philosophy class and didn't like it, but she was only taking it to fulfill a PAC, anyway. I haven't taken any classes in either of those departments, so I don't know too much about them. </p>
<p>One thing about being liberal from Texas... Things have calmed down significantly this semester, but last semester (election!) there was a lot of conservative bashing and Christian bashing going on. A small group of us southerners actually had a meeting to talk about how upset we were about the whole election atmosphere. Even though we personally weren't all conservative and/or Christian, all of us who attended have close relatives and friends who are. The blatant disrespect of people you love has been one of the toughest things I've dealt with at college... Just a heads up. But like a said, things have calmed down a lot since the election.</p>
<p>hmmm, good to know. What's funny is that he's liberal if you look at his surroundings, but move him elsewhere and he's probably closer to center than he realizes. I don't like the bashing, though. </p>
<p>He was intrigued by the PPE major, but worried that it doesn't look at any one area indepthly. The trimester school he is looking at seems to have more offerings across the board, but we were thinking it had more to do with semester v trimester.</p>
<p>Can you pick up a senior thesis if you want to?</p>
<p>Does your S know that Pomona has an interdisciplinary major called PPE-- philosophy, politics, and economics? Sounds like that could be something he is interested in.</p>
<p>Prof. Sontag is well liked by many in the philosophy dept., so that's one suggestion for a class to sit in on. He's been there since about 1952, longer than any other prof, I believe. He jumps to mind because about 4 years ago a mentally ill student attacked him with a small knife, and despite being STABBED IN THE NECK, he was supportive of the student as the kid tried to get his life back on track. </p>
<p>Note to lurkers: I realize that I keep posting about violence at Pomona/ in Claremont. This kind of thing really does not happen that often! </p>
<p>Irene, Pomona '03</p>
<p>woops, sorry, didn't see your post about PPE.</p>
<p>Thank you, Irene. Yes, he is looking at the PPE as an option. We notice that only 30 are selected, but keep forgetting that you are not talking about a huge school where that would be an impossible achievement.</p>
<p>Dear Megs: Thanks so much for your very thoughtful and lengthy comments! Good luck with the Engineering major!</p>
<p>Hi
I'm a current freshmen at pomona and just wanted to put in a few words.
I agree that pomona's administration might be too pc but most of the students here are laid back. i think this year seems to be extremely PC because of the occurrences the year before (i.e the cross burning up at Harvey Mudd).
Pomona is definitely filled with lots and lots of democrats and finding a republican is rare. but we don't have any political riots or anything. =D
And since elections over, I havent seen/heard any bashing this semseter.
umm as for majors. I am actually a computer science major and thinking of doubling in psychology. im taking classes at harvey mudd, pitzer and pomona, so its not that hard to pursue what ever major you want because if pomona doesnt have classes for a major, it's probably offered on one of the other campuses. Although pomona does not have an engineering major, I think you can still do it if you arrange something with Harvey Mudd. The rule is that you have to have one major thats from you campus ??? or something, i cant remember.</p>
<p>isnt there a 3-2 engineering degree you can do with Caltech or WashU, which ever one you prefer?</p>
<p>I'd rather be at the school where I'm majoring.</p>
<p>yea
i choose pomona because I wanted to do comp sci and psych (both majors are offered by pomona). harvey mudd only has five majors i think, math engineering compsci etc etc.
If i had been only an engineering major i might have not chosen pomona.</p>
<p>My D is interested in physics and french. Does anyone know how the physics dept at Pomona compares with those of the other CCs?
ample research opportunities? Thanks.</p>
<p>im no expert on those but I know lots of people take language courses at scripps cause scripps has a lot of language courses. but french is offered at pomona too. and oldenborg has a french hall. doesnt matter if you take french at pomona or scripps, both count for credit</p>
<p>physics i think the best place to look for info is on the pomona site. i've found out a lot of interesting press releases and news articles there. for example i just found out that my current CS professor just recieved a $400,000 grant from NSF. Shes looking for 4 students a year to research with her (and considering theres only 6 people in my class right now...and 2 of them arent interested in research). yea small class sizes = very good oppurtunities for research.
I also get alot of emails from pitzer (psychology) and harvey mudd college (comp sci) about research/ lectures /job oppurtunities cause im on the mailing lists for those majors. The emails always specify that all 5C students are encouraged to participate etc etc</p>
<p>whew that was a long ramble</p>