<p>Keep in mind that this is 25 awards out of a class of ~375. </p>
<p>So 1 out of every 15 students graduating last year made off with the Fulbright Award.</p>
<p>Help!
My son is agonizing over Pomona or UCLA. We both appreciate Pomona, with everything it has going for it--the focus on undergrads, attention from profs, helpful letters of rec for graduate programs, brilliant student body and faculty, great endowment unthreatened in the near future by state budget cuts, and a full scholarship WITHOUT loans. He spent a four-day visit and his brother and I joined him there at the second admit day. It would have been a slam dunk until we visited UCLA and he fell in love with it! I know it's apples and oranges, but he has to decide quick! He wants to major in Econ and go on to an MBA. UCLA also offered a full financial package, but it includes about $5,000 per year in loans. Does anybody have words of wisdom? We are also wondering about Beccaco's decision...</p>
<p>Sounds like he loves both so could not go wrong either way.I could tell you what I would choose or recommend which is Pomona in a heartbeat but I am not your son and only he and you know which college is the right fit. Pomona is a more personalized education.
If he picks one and sits with that , how does he feel? What does his gut say? How important is $20,000 to your situation?
Let us know what he decides.</p>
<p>The $20,000 - $25,000 debt is very important. Also, he thought his visit to Pomona was great, but just loved the UCLA setting, campus, etc. as well as the kids he stayed with. I think he just happened to be housed with kids he felt a little less instant friendship with at Pomona, but that's just chance and he shouldn't base his decision on it. I feel he'd have incredible friends at either place, and that the personal attention of a wonderful faculty at Pomona, as well as it being an incredible "feeder school" to grad programs would really benefit him. I went to Rice (undergrad and grad), but am not pushing him because of small college bias. I loved UCLA, too. But thinking back on our visit, which was geared to underrepresented populations and was really fun, warm, high energy; I realized we'd met no faculty. At Pomona we had a faculty panel (I loved them) and we dined with faculty. So...
Also, we love the big sports at UCLA, but he could maybe play on the team at Pomona(!) He's still agonizing and needs to decide before May 1. Should he give up his spot at Pomona to someone who's more sure?</p>
<p>spindrift - let the decision be based on what he (and his family) want, not on "giving up the spot to someone who is more sure". </p>
<p>Pomona thinks he'd be a good match. They don't do that lightly. So he/you get to decide on the merits and what your gut feels about the two. </p>
<p>I say this a parent who just went through the same sort of thing with my daughter, who was deciding between Scripps and a large city university. They were both great, in very different ways. BTW - she decided last night to go to Scripps, so I'm feeling a great sense of relief today, that a decision has been made.</p>
<p>Son filled out his paperwork and it's in the mailbox today -- Pomona. Turned down UCLA, Cal, Northwestern, Wash U and CMC. On the Pomona versus UCLA subject I will throw this in. My oldest son graduated from UCLA two years ago with an Econ major. When I asked him if he thought his brother should go to UCLA or Pomona he said he felt he should go with smaller classes. He said in a class of 400 he might be the one that falls behind. In a small class at a place like Pomona that just isn't going to happen. My oldest son wasn't free to take upper division courses outside his major at UCLA because they were given priority to those within the major. He didn't have an advisor who knew him and had a relationship with him and I think that's important. Socially, he loved UCLA -- he loved the sports, etc. But he didn't have enough guidance in selecting courses, etc.</p>
<p>I turned down a full ride at UMD, Duke, Cornell, WashU, Carleton. Tough decision. Hopefully I made the right one.</p>
<p>What a day and evening we had last night; the deadline loomed and action could no longer be avoided. My son knew all the advantages of Pomona, even moreso after the research we'd done in the last days on student loans, paths to graduate school, how top MBA programs judge candidates, serious consideration of the state budget problems, AND after Pomona Econ Dept. Chair spent 20 minutes on the phone with my son, trying to help him find the right choice for him. Yet he had felt so happy on the UCLA campus. We knew that the classroom experience would be another matter and that the undergraduate teaching at Pomona couldn't be matched, but he was bewitched. In the end, my son flipped a coin (!) and luckily it came up Pomona. Today we mailed the acceptance and I, for one, am so relieved. And exhausted. He is also happy to have the agony over with and is looking towards his Pomona adventure. We both know that while that choice was really hard on him, he is above all very fortunate.</p>
<p>Congratulations spindrift and flowersunshine! Great choice and I know the next 4 years will be very rich.</p>
<p>I find in those situations, even if the coin had 'unluckily' come up on the other side, I usually resign my self to saying that choosing my destiny by coin flip is imprudent, and make the right choice anyway. It can be revealing...</p>
<p>spindrift-- if you mailed everything today, are you sure it is going to get to Pomona by May 1?! The acceptance letter says "the deadline for receipt of your decision is May 1, 2008."</p>
<p>...I wouldn't worry about it</p>
<p>You can fax and then mail it to be sure.</p>
<p>I was choosing between UCLA and Pomona too...but it wasn't too tough for me. Pomona has, pretty much, the best undergraduate education you can get anywhere. Factor in the location and the personal attention and community and the ability to play sports and I was sold, even though I've been a Bruin fan since I was five.</p>
<p>Also turned down Cal, HMC, UCSD, USC.</p>
<p>I turned down Harvard.</p>
<p>spindrift, There's always UCLA for grad school. ;) And, for grad school it can't be beat.</p>
<p>Congratulations Grim Shogun, I read your post ,Turning Down Harvard. Sounds like Pomona is a great fit for you. Enjoy!!</p>
<p>I am a transfer applicant (decisions to be released on the 15th)
and I'm definitely turning down UCB and UCLA (accepted) for Pomona without ANY doubt or the slightest hesistation......</p>
<p>i think i'm gonna go crazy if i get an acceptance package.
i'll probably scream like a madwoman and cry in happiness right after..
this is how badly I want to go.</p>
<p>please accept me pomona, i'm begging you.......... :(</p>
<p>Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, Rice, Yale, Columbia, Northwestern, and Swarthmore! (Through Questbridge :)</p>
<p>Daughter is a Pomona sophomore. She happily chose Pomona over several UC’s, Penn, Cornell and Brown, and I can honestly say it’s the best choice she’s ever made.</p>