<p>As a senior who loves and is about to graduate from Pomona, I thought that I’d share some certain things about the school that have made it an incredible experience for me, since many admitted students are currently making decisions about where they will be attending next year. Of course, Pomona isn’t for everyone, but I want to address some characteristics of the school that prospective students might not be aware of (or at least fully aware of their consequences), but should know before making a decision on where to attend. I encourage any other current students to share their experiences as well or any prospective students to ask me questions about the school in this thread as well.</p>
<li><p>Sponsor Groups:
Sponsor groups are probably one of the best things about Pomona. Every single student who decides to come to Pomona fills out an extensive housing form which asks random preferences, such as music and sleeping preferences, and has a section where you talk about yourself in a paragraph or two. Using these housing forms, first-years are placed into sponsor groups of about 10-20 freshmen who live in a hallway together with two sophomores (one male, one female) who are your sponsors. They all receive a week and half of intense training prior to the beginning of school and act as mentors and big brothers/sisters. There are people who are there to help you pick out classes, help you with roommate conflicts, talk to you if you’re feeling homesick, etc. Not only are you compatible with your roommate (if you have one - a quarter of first-years get singles), but you are put in a hallway with people who share common interests with you. Pomona basically gives you a built-in group of friends when you get here, and you don’t have to worry about who you will be hanging out with and eating lunch with the first few weeks of school. It’s an amazing way to help students transition to college, and many make their best (and often life-long) friends through their sponsor group. The number of first-years who apply to be sponsors the next year (almost half) attests to how successful the program is. In addition, it facilitates diversity - personally, my first-year sponsor group was as diverse as it could get (not only in terms of race, but socioeconomic background, religion, sexual orientation, geography, major, and gender).</p></li>
<li><p>Endowment Per Student Ratio:
According to the following website (<a href=“http://chronicle.com/weekly/almanac/2006/nation/0103301.htm)%5B/url%5D”>http://chronicle.com/weekly/almanac/2006/nation/0103301.htm)</a>, Pomona has the 8th highest endowment per student ration of any college or university in the United States. When removing purely graduate schools and any overly-specialized schools, Pomona is ranked 5th, right after Princeton, Yale, Harvard, and Grinnell. This ranking shouldn’t be taken lightly. The wealth of the college has wide consequences. It allows Pomona to be completely need-blind during admission processes (which is getting increasingly rare), and increases the socioeconomic diversity of the student body, which Pomona prides itself on. When you get on campus too, you hardly have to spend money on anything (making it hard to distinguish people of different classes) because everything is either free or substantially subsidized. The school has so much money to spend on students that there is plenty of money if you want to start a new club or have a particular event. It also allows them to fund many students to do research over the summer. I know of multiple people who are/were able to do research as soon as their first summer after their first year. Also, the campus constantly has construction going on campus, whether it’s constructing a new building or renovating an old one. After this summer, every single dorm except one will have been recently renovated (which will be renovated the summer after next), and rooms are very nice and spacious, some even with fireplaces. Princeton Review ranks us as being one of the top 20 schools with “Dorms Like Palaces,” which isn’t a surprise since half the rooms on campus are singles or two-room doubles. Most of the academic buildings have been recently renovated or are brand new, allowing us to have top-notch facilities, including top lab facilities and equipment for the sciences.</p></li>
<li><p>The Claremont Consortium:
Although most people are aware that Pomona and the other Claremont Colleges are part of a consortium, I think having it definitely makes it a unique strength for the schools because it is the only consortium with adjacent campuses - literally you can walk across the street to get to the next school. It allows for small classes, but combines the resources of the school that allows for a library over 2.1 million volumes, more course offerings, more social events, and more extracurricular activities. Cross-registration is easy, with the schools’ schedules synchronized, and you can make it between classes from the farthest schools in 15 minutes (walking). Also, students can use their meal cards at any of the dining halls and food joints on all 5 campuses, providing much more variety and making it less likely to get sick of the food after eating it for four years. Certain dining halls are known for certain nights (milkshake night at CMC, sushi night at Scripps, steak night at HMC) and you can look up the menus online beforehand too. Overall, the consortium allows the schools to have the advantages of a mid-sized university without sacrificing the intimacy and benefits of attending a small college.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Of course there are many other reasons why Pomona is amazing (the people, academic reputation, intellectual atmosphere, grad school placement, weather, location, selectivity, etc.), but I thought I’d address the ones above first that make it the most unique. Maybe if I have some time later, I’ll add more to this thread if people find it helpful…</p>