<p>What stands out about Pomona?</p>
<p>What made you personally choose Pomona?</p>
<p>Also, regarding class size and professors... what is an average class like? Do prof try and get to know their students, or do you really have to make the initiative?</p>
<p>What kind of students do you find at Pomona generally? Preppy, jocks, artsy, nerdy..etc.</p>
<p>What is the social life like?</p>
<p>How about general and career advisers?</p>
<p>hello32, scroll down to answer what kind of students are at Pomona, that was a recent post, class sizes vary but are small, for example my S's spanish class had 6 students, psych class had 20, bible as lit a popular class had about 30(but the proffessor let extra students in), calculus class around 20 or so. My S chose Pomona after an overnight, I'd say the students and professors, even administrators were what made it for him, small classes, personalized attention, research and internship opportunities but most of all the other students. I'd say the mentoring for grad school placement is extremely strong but career advisers are about average. General advisers again hit or miss but my S just finished freshman year so maybe upper level students can comment better on this. Social life sounds amazing, the school spends a lot of money on events to cater to students and prevent stress, there are always a million things going on and beach opportunities, tons of intramurals and on and on. My S is thrilled with his choice feels it is one of the best decisions he ever made.</p>
<p>What stands out about Pomona? Well it's one of the best liberal arts colleges in the country, so it follows that it has amazing professors, great academics, and bright students. If you're wondering what makes it different from other LAC's like AWS, it's one of the few on the west coast, it's in a suburban setting in a big city, and it has a 5-college consortium. The consortium is unique in that all of the colleges have adjacent campuses, cross-registration is easy (expanding course offerings), almost all the clubs and events allow members from all 5-colleges (allowing more social options), and the campuses share a library with over 2 million volumes, similar to the size of a large university. I've never visited any of the other LAC's on the east coast, but I think Pomona students are generally laid-back and unpretentious. The architecture (mostly Spanish) is probably pretty different than most east-coast schools.</p>
<p>When I was choosing where to attend, I was deciding between mid-sized universities and Pomona. I really was attracted to the whole consortium idea - I would have small classes, where professors could get to know me, as well as having lots of social/extracurricular/academic offerings. I thought it would be a great combination and would prevent any claustrophobic feelings I might have attending a school of approximately 1,600. I also love California, it's diversity, attitudes, and weather, and when I visited the campus, the people were all very friendly. It felt like a place I could be. Finally, they were one of two schools that offered me the best financial aid, so that made it all the easier. WUSTL was the other one, but I didn't want to stay in town.</p>
<p>The average class really depends on your major. Intro classes are usually capped at 30 students, unless it's chemistry. Often, they can be smaller. Language classes are usually capped around 15 or 20, although it can be as low as 5. Upper division classes are usually 20 or under, and sometimes smaller. I'm a Psych minor, and I've noticed this upcoming semester that a few of my mid-level courses are kind of larger than I expected (~25, 30, and 40 students). I think part of it is due to two really great professors being on sabbatical next year. Freshmen are put into seminar classes capped at 15 students. I hear that there are only 5 classes over 50 students at Pomona.</p>
<p>Professors definitely try to get to know their students. They try to get to know your name and learn stuff about you, even in my largest class (organic chemistry, with about 60 students first semester and 40 the other). I think if you're open to talking to professors (not necessarily making the intiative), you can really forge a relationship with them.</p>
<p>There was another thread about the type of students at Pomona earlier, like arizonamom mentioned.</p>
<p>As for the social life, there's lot of options. Fairly recent movies every Thurs-Sun, game room open all the time, parties often (dorm parties or school run ones, where they have free beer and ppl who card), they invite bands/comedians on campus (Gavin Degraw, Jason Mraz, the Ataris, the Root, John Mayer, Margaret Cho, Dave Chappelle have come previously), guest lectures come, the Coop (kind of a grill/hang out place) is open at night, and most people don't venture out into LA until the weekend (beach, club, Pasadena - but you or friends will need a car unless you want to go to Chinatown or Alvera Street). They also have random sub-free events every weekend (spa night, in-n-out truck, karaoke, free food, snow day, casino night, etc.). A lot of people like to hang out with ppl in the hall too.</p>
<p>The Career Development Office seems pretty helpful. They aren't going to come get you, but they invite everyone to do an individual open house during your first year. Of course you can come in anytime and do that too. My general advisor was very friendly, but they gave me a Spanish advisor since I basically told them I was undecided. Some people get great advisors in their field of interest, while others have ones that are unrelated, as I did. You can switch advisors when you decide on a major, so that will probably be much more helpful for me next year (I just declared for Neuroscience). You could probably switch earlier if you wanted to also.</p>
<p>Sorry that was so long - I hope it helps.</p>
<p>wow this sounds like the perfect school for me.</p>
<p>however i live in ny and idk if i want to travel that far for school- i know my parents don't want me to. oh man. :(</p>
<p>I think it's still worth applying and visiting to see if it would be worth traveling that far for college, especially if it sounds like the perfect school for you. Perhaps the visit could convince your parents otherwise. Cliff, who usually visits this board periodically, is from North Carolina, so he might be able to give you some insight on what it's like coming from the East Coast.</p>
<p>What makes Pomona special?
First, please allow me to apologize for repeating any of the excellent comments posted above.
In any event, IMO, Pomona is recognized to provide one of the finest liberal arts educations in the country-amazing faculty and resources. You will NOT be disappointed in the education you receive. It is second to none.
It is located in beautiful, sunny Southern California and you are less than an hour away from the mountains (skiing, hiking, etc.), beaches, Los Angeles (museums, concerts, sporting events, etc.), Orange County (Disneyland, more beaches, etc.). There is mass transit (Metro Link) that goes from campus directly to downtown Los Angeles. You will certainly know someone with a car.
Pomona is most certainly a national, if not international school and environment. Only about 1/3 of the students are from California and the student population is very diverse. It tends to be liberal and very "politically correct" (perhaps too much so for some).
Pomona is a beautiful campus, designed by the same gentleman who designed Stanford, Occidental College, the Hollywood Bowl and many other venues. All facilities (classrooms, sports, etc.) are first rate.
Immediately adjacant to the campus is "The Village", with wonderful shops, restaurants, music stores, etc. and the area is being expanded to include "fine arts" theatres, a "Bed and Breakfast, more shops .... There is also plenty of other shopping, movie theatres, concert venues, restaurants, markets within a very short drive of campus.
The dorms at Pomona are very nice and the food is tremendous (not just for dorm food, it's great food). There is cable TV hookup and, of course, necessary computer/internet connection.
The students, faculty, administrators at Pomona are simply the friendliest people you will ever meet. There is a reason Pomona students have been found in surveys to be the "happiest" college students. Many refer to it as an excellent summer camp with classes. I think it's more like Disneyland, "the happiest place on earth".
I could go on and on, but with all of the above, what puts Pomona "over the top" IMO is the Claremont College Consortium. Including Pomona, you have 5 schools, plus two graduate schools that share resources (academically and otherwise). For example, a student may eat in the dining hall at any of the 5 schools, so you have a choice of 11 dining halls. If there is room, I believe you can even live in the dorms of another campus (guys, just don't try to sneak into Scripps). In sports, Pomona and Pitzer form one athletic program and Claremont, Harvey-Mudd and Scripps form one. With this, you have a duplicate of every type of sporting venue/facility (two gyms, two weight rooms, two football fields, etc.). With this, there is always something going on, sports and otherwise, as each school plans events open to everyone.
With the 5 schools and with them being very different, you are exposed to even more diversity, opportunity, etc. You can take classes at any of the 5 schools, with some limitation. You are truly getting 5 schools for the price of one. Best of all, unlike the "sister" school arrangement of say Haverford, Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr or the "5 colleges" in the northeast, the Claremont schools are immediately adjacant to each other, forming one large campus. If not for the fairly dramatic change in architecture from one school to the next, you'd be hard pressed to realize you are going from one school to another.
The only thing I can imagine missing from the Pomona experience is if you want big time sports, 100,000 people screaming at a football game, etc. this is not the place. If you want to be anonymous, this is not the place. Otherwise, you could not pick a finer school. I would conclude in noting that I have had the chance to meet people from all the 5 Claremont schools and alums, both recent and stretching back for decades and have NEVER spoken to one who regreted attending Pomona or any other of the Claremont colleges.</p>
<p>Tiger Tennis-2005 Season Review</p>
<p>Although still a work in progress, the Occidental men's tennis team showed plenty of promise in 2005. The Tigers posted a 12-9 overall record, just two years removed from a disastrous 3-17 campaign in 2003.</p>
<p>The Tigers' fourth-place finish in the SCIAC, long considered one of the toughest Division III conferences in the nation, was their best since 2001. All three teams above Occidental in the league standings finished the season with a national ranking: Redlands (5th), Cal Lutheran (9th), and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (11th). </p>
<p>The Tigers twice defeated longtime rival Pomona-Pitzer and edged Division II Cal Poly Pomona 5-4 April 7.</p>
<p>What makes Pomona special is Oxy tennis? I don't get it.</p>
<p>okidoki, why do you keep on comparing pomona with oxy? </p>
<p>"At this pace, Oxy will be as competitive as Pomona by year 2007."</p>
<p>sorry, but probably not.</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=20746%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=20746</a>
and also, in this thread, you have HMC above pomona...unlss you're talking about the sciences, i have no idea what youre talking about. def not selectivity.
im sorry but itll probably be more than just a couple years before oxy becomes as selective as pomona.</p>
<p>There was another Oxy student bashing Pomona on college boards previous years. I think they have an inferiority complex...</p>