UCLA vs UC Berkeley vs Pomona College

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Factors under consideration (in order of importance):</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Best environment for someone with little idea of what career he wants to pursue. Right now I am thinking medicine, but I'd really like for college to help me discover my true passion.</p></li>
<li><p>Academic prowess; accessibility of research and internships.</p></li>
<li><p>Overall vibe of student body. I'm a rather introverted person, not looking to be involved in Greek life and to abstain from lots of drinking, partying, etc.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Please help me decide where to enroll this fall! This has been causing me mental anguish!
Thank you!</p>

2

<p>this is an easy choice:</p>

<ol>
<li>Pomona
.
.
.</li>
<li>UC Berkeley</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
</ol>

3

<p>1) All of the above
2) All of the above
3) You won’t find much greek life at Cal or Pomona and really not at UCLA but you CAN find it at UCLA is you seek it out but it certainly does not dominate campus. That aside, I think given that you feel like you are a bit introverted, Pomona might be a good place to make more personal connections with people. It is a MUCH smaller place and community, but at the same time people know each other. At Cal and UCLA, it is easy to get lost in the crowd, especially if you are shy - most definitely at UCLA. I would rank them 1) Pomona 2) Cal and 3) UCLA in your particular case. </p>

<p>If cost is an issue then I might reconsider.</p>

4

<p>I agree. Pomona at #1 for you… then Cal in 2nd, and UCLA at 3rd.</p>

<p>As vociferous said, Pomona will coax you out of your shell better b/c it’s a smaller, tighter community. I completely agree that “at Cal and UCLA, it is easy to get lost in the crowd.” A lot of people who go to UCs have a ton of friends going there as well. Are you going to be able to make new friends with people who already have friends? Or, if you know a lot of people going to Berkeley and UCLA, will you take the initiative to meet NEW people? As an introvert, probably not–I’d go with Pomona. You can always go big for grad school.</p>

5

<p>also, an important thing to consider is the sheer difference in class size at Pomona compared to the other UC schools…</p>

<p>a small class size will tend to mature an introverted person a lot quicker and give him more confidence in life…</p>

<p>% of Classes with 50 or more students
Pomona = 1%
UC Berkeley = 15%
UCLA = 19%</p>

<p>% of Classes with less than 20 students
Pomono = 70%
UC Berkeley = 61%
UCLA = 54%</p>

6

<p>How does money factor into a choice? If money is not an issue, definitely Pomona.</p>

7

<p>Definitely Pomona.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>lol .</p>

9

<p>For prestige, employment prospects, ROI, access to top and world-class professional schools:</p>

<h2>1. Berkeley</h2>

<p>-
2. UCL
3. Pomona</p>

10

<p>For you - Pomona, no question. And all the graduate and professional schools in the US know that Pomona is a highly selective LAC and an academic reputation at least as good as Berkeley’s, if not better. The only exception to this would be if you are looking at graduate school overseas or plan to spend your career overseas. Liberal arts colleges are less well known internationally because they don’t have grad schools that draw international students to the same degree.</p>