<p>So, I think I've narrowed down my acceptance list to 2 colleges, Vandy and Pomona. On the table right now, I have a full-tuition scholarship at Vandy, and around 33k from Pomona. Although Vandy's aid is slightly more, they listed their estimated cost of attendance at over 56k! Pomona's cost of attendance, on the other hand, is around 52-53k. As of right now, I'm planning on doing pre-med. In addition to pre-med, I'm also interested in finance and Spanish. I checked out Vandy last weekend and really loved it. I'll be visiting Pomona in the next few days. Any comments would be greatly appreciated, as you guys may see something that one of the schools offers that I don't come across while visiting them. Currently, I feel that both schools would give me a world-class education; however, Pomona's classes may be slightly smaller with more engaging professors. On the other hand, Vandy has one of the best social scenes on any campus in America and the D1 sports to go with it. Can anyone help me with this huge decision?</p>
<p>Ehh, I would probably say Pomona.</p>
<p>I’d say you need to decide what you want culturally from your school. If you’re a very liberal, vegan, Clinton-supporting treehugger, you may want to stay away from Vanderbilt, but politically correct Pomona would be great. If you’re looking for a more conservative, refined, religious, and culturally Southern place, Pomona is not for you, but old-money Tennessee would work out well. </p>
<p>You’re right, both schools would give you a fantastic education. Both schools are internationally renowned for academic excellence, but I don’t really think they have that much in common. Vanderbilt is more of a Greek-party school, and Pomona has more of the UChicago uber-nerd atmosphere (not trying to bash Pomona here!). Claremont is also more of a college town than Nashville, which is a huge urban area (although Claremont would give you the Los Angeles proximity… that can be good and bad). I don’t know a lot about Pomona’s pre-med program, but Vanderbilt is fantastic in that respect.</p>
<p>It really comes down to how you fit in at each school. If Vanderbilt clicked for you and Pomona doesn’t, then you have your answer, and vice versa.</p>
<p>Pomona is a small liberal arts college, while Vanderbilt is a medium size undergraduate program within a full research university. That is the essential and relevant difference, and of far more consequence than current eating habits or political persuasion. In general, the differences between small LACs and renowned research universities are huge; in this case, the effect is slightly muted because Pomona is part of a consortium, and Vanderbilt is well-known for placing far more emphasis on the undergraduate program than many, if not most, other universities of its size.</p>
<p>Nashville is now a large city, but–with apologies to our friend from Montana–is not a “huge” urban area. The area on the perimeter of Vanderbilt provides most of the amenities to be found in a good college town, and the downtown is only a mile and a half away.</p>
<p>Many people love the atmosphere of liberal arts colleges, while others find it a bit small and tiresome for a whole four years. On the other hand, some students find larger universities isolating and hard to get close to. </p>
<p>This sort of decision is quite personal, but I think the differences between the two types of undergraduate experiences are significant enough that the choice should not be too difficult.</p>
<p>When I entered the college search process, I knew I wanted a school that was somewhat large, which obviously ruled out most liberal arts schools, but I have to say, you really can’t go wrong with Pomona.<br>
I visited the Claremont schools initially looking at Pomona, but I reaaaally loved Claremont McKenna College, the social atmosphere was much more what I was looking for and it too is a very good school. I think the Claremont consortium is great, even if you attend Pomona you can take classes at all the schools and attend parties at Claremont, so the social atmosphere is still very lively and similar to Vandy, minus southern culture. Plus, all the students living in the same area really makes up for the size of the individual school and makes the amount of people more comparable to the undergrad size of Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>While my heart was already stolen by a certain school in Nashville, if I had done RD and got into Claremont, it definitely would have been a strong contender. </p>
<p>Really it comes down to where you want to be located for 4 years. I have always planned on moving to LA after college, and although 9 of the schools I initially applied to were in Southern California, I decided I wanted a brand new experience living in Nashville. And especially after visiting Vandy, I knew it was the place for me.</p>
<p>But really, both great schools, and not as completely different as they may seem.</p>