<p>Just 10 reasons? Why not 47?</p>
<p>1) All Pomona freshmen partake in a three day Orientation Adventure! Trips range from hiking Yosemite National Park to sea kayaking at Catalina Island to community engagement in Los Angeles!</p>
<p>2) Pomona is in a consortium with 4 other liberal arts colleges: Scripps (Also a Questbridge Partner!), Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Pitzer. The consortium makes the Pomona experience the best of both worlds- a liberal arts setting with the resources of a national university. Pomona students enjoy over 2500 classes a semester, nearly 375 student organizations, 7 dining halls, the largest liberal arts library collection, over 7000 students to interact with, and countless events at all the colleges, no more than 15 minutes away by foot!</p>
<p>3) Over 90% of the days that you will be at Pomona are sunny, and the average temperature is 75 degrees. Expect to see flip flops and shorts year-round here!</p>
<p>4) Pomona gives free individual music lessons to all students on financial aid, even if you have no experience. They will lend you an instrument too if you need it.</p>
<p>5) Pomona is within an hour’s distance of Los Angeles, beaches, deserts, snow-capped mountains, national parks, the ocean, arboretums, and other amazing places. Probably the best location of any school in the US.</p>
<p>6) Nearly 40% of freshmen dorms are singles, and nearly 75% of the other dorms are singles. You can very easily get a single each year- just mention in the housing form that you want a single! The dorms are really spacious and gorgeous.</p>
<p>7) SNACK. Pomona’s 4 times a week late night tradition opens the dining halls from 10:30-11:30 to students for soda, coffee, fruit, cereal, and some main entree, such as french fries, pizza, hot dogs, or salad, making late night studying delicious.</p>
<p>8) PCIP- Pomona sponsors unpaid internships in SoCal for its students. You get a salary as well as a car and the transportation costs for it, making it an amazing experience!</p>
<p>9) Social scene at Pomona is very balanced, whether you want a hard party scene or no party scene at all. Parties at Pomona include Table Manners (Tuesday), Pub(Wednesday), TNC (Thurdsday), and parties on Monday at the other colleges. There’s always a party on the weekends. For those who seek an alternative, there are so many things to do each day and night that you won’t feel left out. No fraternities or sororities at Pomona though.</p>
<p>10) Nearly 70% of the faculty at Pomona report enjoying a meal with their students sometime in the school year.</p>
<p>11) Pomona has the largest endowment per student of any liberal arts college in the country, at a mind-blowing 1,070,000$ per student.</p>
<p>12) Over 95% of Pomona pre-med students end up at medical school, one of the highest acceptance rates in the country and more than double the national average.</p>
<p>13) SURP at Pomona is a paid summer research opportunity at Pomona that nearly an eighth of the class does each year. Students work with professors and compose their own research. You don’t have to do science- opportunities available in art history, economics, literature, psychology, and so much more!</p>
<p>14) 60% of Pomona students end up going abroad in over 55 programs in 31 countries in all continents except Antarctica (sorry, penguin lovers).</p>
<p>15) Pomona students get $160 in BoardFlex each semester, which is a form of currency that they can use at 8 of the cafes located throughout the Claremont Colleges, as well the Coop Store, which has some grocery items. A student favorite are the milkshakes at the Coop Fountain, Pomona’s own cafe.</p>
<p>16) 47 Things Pomona Students Must Do Trips- Check out the list at [47</a> Things Every Sagehen Should Do Before Graduating - Pomona College](<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/about/47/47-things-to-do.aspx]47”>http://www.pomona.edu/about/47/47-things-to-do.aspx)</p>
<p>The person who does the most of these trips in a school year gets $1000, as well as an opportunity to give a matching award to a department or club of their choice. </p>
<p>The Draper Center sponsors these trips for students. Some that have already happened include a trip to Santa Monica, a Dodgers game at LA, Hike to Hollywood, and the LA Country Fair. </p>
<p>17) Pomona has its own observatory, which has the largest telescope of any liberal arts college in the country! Since nearly every day is a clear day, stargazing opportunities are abound here!</p>
<p>18) Along the north side of the campus runs the Walker Wall, where all first year students paint a section in the beginning of the year to represent them. Later on the year, this wall is covered with events, art, and messages to reflect the students. Paint is available for rent at the ASPC office!</p>
<p>19) Pomona is one of the most LGBT-friendly schools in the country! It has its own Queer Resource Center, which provides a support group and mentoring for these students. October is designated as the “Come Out of the Closet” month, and many do because of how accepting the community is. In April, the aforementioned wall is a giant rainbow to raise awareness for LGBT issues in the country. All freshmen are shown a play that raises awareness about sexual assault, and nearly every door at Pomona is covered with a banner saying “I Support Queer Rights!”</p>
<p>20) Sponsor groups! All freshmen are placed into groups of 10-20 students, which serve as their immediate friends at the very beginning of the year and help ease the transition into college. These sponsor groups are each raised by spapas and smamas- sophomores and above who have experience with life at college!</p>
<p>21) Pomona has many mentoring programs that help college freshmen cope with a drastic transition. These include Asian, Chicano/Latino, Black, International Student, Queer, and Native American mentoring programs, which all sponsor weekly dinners, events, and get-togethers. It also helps freshmen meet new people that they may have not met before! A very, very nurturing experience.</p>
<p>22) There are mentor sessions held every other day for most classes, with mentors being experienced graduates of the class. You can form a learning community of 5-7 people, which are led by a mentor and ensured that no one falls behind in a class. Free one on one tutoring is also offered by the Draper Center- just sign up on their website for a subject!</p>
<p>23) Can’t go back home during Thanksgiving or Spring Break? No problem! Pomona will take care of you.</p>
<p>Thanksgiving: Pomona invites all to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal, and professors host students over for events and meals throughout the rest of the break.</p>
<p>Spring Break: The Draper Center for Community Partnerships sponsors trips to San Diego and San Francisco called Alternabreak, which is a community service week long trip that is all expense paid and also covers some local sightseeing. Having fun and giving back at the same time, best of both worlds!</p>
<p>24) Love hearing others perspectives? You’ll love Pomona! From distinguished speaker series to faculty speaker series to the Athenaeum at CMC to TedX Claremont Colleges to discussion groups to just one on one conversations with some of the smartest people you will meet! Pomona really emphasizes learning outside the classroom.</p>
<p>25) Pomona is a very nurturing and sunny place to get an education, but it is very, very difficult. Professors expect a lot from their students and problem sets can take from 6 to 12 hours to complete for some classes. The number one stress factor for students according to a survey are the academics. However, students also think they are very fulfilling and impacting, and the difficulty is eased by a collaborative nature to the school instead of a cutthroat, competitive one.</p>
<p>26) Support is available at Pomona! Along with the various mentoring programs, the Monseur Counseling Center provides all free access for all students to psychologists and psychiatrists. Tranquada Student Center has massage chairs, deans to whom you can talk one on one, and a developed health center.</p>
<p>27) Pomona is only a step away from the Claremont Village, a charming, beautiful, and scenic part of the city containing various restaurants, salons, stores, and a movie theater.</p>
<p>28) Pomona is very diverse, with the class of 2016 composing of 44% students of color and 21% low income students.</p>
<p>29) Pomona is very, very environmentally friendly. These range from little things like lending out compost bins to students to huge endeavors such as using solar panels to power facilities in the school.</p>
<p>30) Pomona has a low-income and high achieving high school summer program as well, called PAYS. Most PAYS graduates end up at top colleges in the country. Pomona students give back by serving as mentors for this program.</p>
<p>31) Pomona’s Bridges Auditorium is considered one of Southern California’s finest avenues for programs, performances, and marriages.</p>
<p>32) Pomona is building a new Studio Arts and Physics/Math building to support the rising number of majors in both of these areas and to make all of its academic facilities stunning.</p>
<p>33) Pomona freshmen enjoy a free copy of the New York times each day thanks to a fund established by a Pomona alumni who works for the NYTimes!</p>
<p>34) Pomona’s On the Loose club, its most popular club, sponsors free trips to national parks, surfing opportunities, biking, climbing, sea kayaking, and the like!</p>
<p>35) Pomona college students have access to Dial-a-Ride, a $2.50 service to go anywhere within a 5 mile proximity of the campus.</p>
<p>36) Pomona has been ranked among the top 15 colleges (both liberal arts and national universities) for placement in the nation’s leading graduate programs and alumni satisfaction.</p>
<p>37) Pomona’s campus is extremely safe, with a 24/7 on campus security, blue lights all over campus, and in one of the safest cities in California.</p>
<p>38) Pomona’s the ideal place for the undecided person. Nearly 80% of Pomona students end up changing their majors because of how intriguing the classes are. </p>
<p>39) Financial aid- 100% need met, no loans, need-blind</p>
<p>40) Pomona’s humanity departments are just as good as its science and math departments. Pomona offers excellent disciplines in just about everything. </p>
<p>41) A retention rate of 99% and a six-year graduation rate of 96% are among the highest of any college and shows how happy and eager the students are.</p>
<p>42) Ski-beach day. Puppies, Jamba Juice, Starbucks, and bunnies the week of finals. A Yule Ball. </p>
<p>43) The Career Development Office is really accessible and genuinely cares about the students here.</p>
<p>44) The administration is awesome. The deans really try to get to know you, you introduce yourself to the President and his wife the first week of school, and the admission office will remember your name and application.</p>
<p>45) The campus is so drop-dead gorgeous. Amazing landscaping, facilities, trees, etc.</p>
<p>46) Pomona students- diverse in every way except being friendly, extremely smart, and well-rounded. Not stuck up at all and never competitive for the sake of hurting one another. </p>
<p>47) The academics! (Saving the best for last). I have learned in a semester at Pomona than at my four years at high school. That is saying a lot. Professors are as accessible, encouraging, and brilliant as the rankings would suggest. It’s definitely not easy to get an A, but professors aren’t bent on demolishing the morale of their students. Grades aren’t the priority, as many of them point out, but rather improvement and learning, and I agree. The facilities are beautiful and up-to-date. Students are so helpful- I’ve made some lasting friendships by struggling in a particular class and forming mentor groups with other students.</p>