Why is Pomona so special?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big university comparison with those top few liberal arts colleges, just for comparing how the SLACs relate to each other, does kind of make sense and is interesting to think through for minute. Williams would be the Harvard OG; Amherst the Yale with great recognition and reputation but always comparing itself in relation to the rival OG; Swarthmore the Princeton that is maybe the best of the group now and farther south but without quite as much name recognition and history as a non-rival; and Pomona the up-and-coming western Stanford.

Princeton grad here- sort of bristling at the comparison to Swat although Princeton is also pretty close to Philly. Curious though why one would assert that Swat is now the best of the group? (My beef with Swat is that it seems to have a rep of being painfully competitive and dull - a real grind)

Swat is highly selective and has tended to win the head-to-head admissions "battles" against Amherst and Williams (pretty significantly on the imperfect Parchment site). I guess I'm probably off about Princeton being that way relative to Yale and Harvard though. Looking at Parchment, both are preferred to Princeton by a statistically significant margin. Swat might not like that comparison now other than the more southern location . It was mostly that the primary names and rivalry in the Ivy League involve Harvard and Yale (and not Princeton), despite Princeton being a great school that many find at least on par with the other 2 for undergrads). It is like that for SLACs where Williams and Amherst have a huge rivalry (that carries on in sports today too) and many mention them if they only say two names and are asked about the best small schools.

Hmmm. I don't think Parchment is really accurate or scientific. I've seen some really odd results there. I don't know of anyone who did or would choose Swat over Williams/Amherst and can't imagine why you would (maybe because of science or engineering?) Swat seems most often compared to Chicago-- very academic, intense, intellectual, maybe not so fun. Princeton has ranked #1 on US News for decades. I really don't think it lags H or Y in any sense and trounces them both in terms of the focus on undergraduate education and endowment per capita. Certainly, different students will be drawn to different schools, and culturally they can be very different. I think Princeton/Dartmouth are more like Williams (a little more traditional and up the middle and pre-corporate), while Amherst/Brown are more like Yale (artsty and lefty). I don't know what Harvard is. Prob closer to Amherst too.

Endowment per capita is another fairly unimportant stat that gets reported and thrown around a lot. Endowment isn't ever used by a university on any per student basis except to a degree in some types of aid. A lot of endowment $$ also can't even easily be accessed or used for more than a few specific things.

Princeton is a USNWR darling but isn't in Harvard's league as an overall university and doesn't fully want to be (unlike Yale). Harvard does more across disciplines and does most of it better at the grad school level than Princeton, as does Stanford. Princeton and Dartmouth are an odd middle because the grad programs are not as strong across the board and you still have the PhD students doing a lot of the best research work available for students (unlike at an Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Williams). You get a little more focus on undergrad education but the profs are still dragging their feel having to teach some of the classes.

PP, you may have liked Princeton's town and accessibility to a place like Philly. That environment might very well appeal to you over, say, New Haven. Swarthmore is in a quaint suburban town as I recall and has a train station right on campus to get into the city. Williams on the other hand is in a small NE town with pretty much nothing around. Amherst has a little more in the nice town but Springfield, MA isn't exactly Philadelphia. Likewise, Cambridge might have a tougher winter and be bit more grey than Princeton, which is true of Swarthmore versus Amherst and Williams too. In these situations where you are picking between 1AB&C, other preferences students have matter. For perspective, USNWR has only ever ranked those 3 SLACs #1 for multiple years since starting their rankings and the lowest Amherst and Swarthmore have ever been ranked is 4 while Williams has never even been below 3). Pomona is also great and has never been ranked below 7 by USNWR since 2000. When choosing between these types of schools if you want an amazing small college out west or with warm weather or with a bigger group of cooperative colleges, you could 100% choose Pomona over any other school.

I know people who picked Pomona over Amherst, Williams, Dartmouth and Stanford for several of those reasons. Another picked Pomona over Stanford because of the strong academics and ability to play college tennis. There is no "wrong" choice when you are only looking at great schools.

you are mixing apples and oranges. Princeton is known and valued for its superior undergrad teaching. It doesn't have the large university grad schools that Harvard and Yale do. That's why most ranking services deal with them differently. My kid wanted Princeton. I'm a Harvard grad. They are very very different experiences. Most harvard grads will say that undergrad is a passing experience because the attention is put on the grad schools. Princeton doesn't do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Location isn't that great either. Very far from the beach and downtown LA, very smoggy.

It's one of those cases where "it's great because everyone thinks it's great".

Basically the beaches are at one end of LA county and the school is at the other. DD really liked the campus - as well as Pitzer - but the drive from our hotel in Santa Monica to the Claremont campuses, then back in one hot afternoon was not lost on her.

Yeah, it makes sense that the beaches are in part of LA county that’s … by … the … ocean.

LA is one of the US' largest counties and is roughly 800 square miles larger than a combined Delaware and Rhode Island. Most 17 and 18 year olds don't know that. They hear LA, they think of Hollywood, the beaches, so yeah, they are not imagining driving 50 miles from one end of the county to the other.

Why does everyone assume this is why a student wants to go to Pomona OR that students/families who consider Pomona do not know where it is located? Perhaps your view if LA is beaches and Hollywood...but that doesn't mean everyone else's does.

Our child is interested in Pomona and the only way LA is remotely involved is that it makes it close enough to transportation so that getting there from accoss the country is not a nightmare. They have no interest in the beach or Hollywood. They like the idea of nice weather and are far more interested in exploring internal land features of CA via trips while they are there (Joshua Tree/Yosemite/Redwoods/Desert). They like the school because of the small size of the college with access to 7000 kids over multiple schools. They like a place where kids live on campus 4 years as a community.

Please. DC lives on the East coast and had never been to California, but is a creature of social media. So yeah, thoughts of the beach popped when they first heard that Pomona, which was suggested to them by their college counselor, is in LA. That doesn't seem so far-fetched.

DC ultimately decided they wanted a school that was not that far from home as well as easily accessible to the outdoors - right outside their dorm door. They are now at a top NESCAC.

It’s in LA County. Big county. Ocean and mountains. Trees too. Last I checked, Pomona was easily accessible to the outdoors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big university comparison with those top few liberal arts colleges, just for comparing how the SLACs relate to each other, does kind of make sense and is interesting to think through for minute. Williams would be the Harvard OG; Amherst the Yale with great recognition and reputation but always comparing itself in relation to the rival OG; Swarthmore the Princeton that is maybe the best of the group now and farther south but without quite as much name recognition and history as a non-rival; and Pomona the up-and-coming western Stanford.

Princeton grad here- sort of bristling at the comparison to Swat although Princeton is also pretty close to Philly. Curious though why one would assert that Swat is now the best of the group? (My beef with Swat is that it seems to have a rep of being painfully competitive and dull - a real grind)

Swat is highly selective and has tended to win the head-to-head admissions "battles" against Amherst and Williams (pretty significantly on the imperfect Parchment site). I guess I'm probably off about Princeton being that way relative to Yale and Harvard though. Looking at Parchment, both are preferred to Princeton by a statistically significant margin. Swat might not like that comparison now other than the more southern location . It was mostly that the primary names and rivalry in the Ivy League involve Harvard and Yale (and not Princeton), despite Princeton being a great school that many find at least on par with the other 2 for undergrads). It is like that for SLACs where Williams and Amherst have a huge rivalry (that carries on in sports today too) and many mention them if they only say two names and are asked about the best small schools.

Hmmm. I don't think Parchment is really accurate or scientific. I've seen some really odd results there. I don't know of anyone who did or would choose Swat over Williams/Amherst and can't imagine why you would (maybe because of science or engineering?) Swat seems most often compared to Chicago-- very academic, intense, intellectual, maybe not so fun. Princeton has ranked #1 on US News for decades. I really don't think it lags H or Y in any sense and trounces them both in terms of the focus on undergraduate education and endowment per capita. Certainly, different students will be drawn to different schools, and culturally they can be very different. I think Princeton/Dartmouth are more like Williams (a little more traditional and up the middle and pre-corporate), while Amherst/Brown are more like Yale (artsty and lefty). I don't know what Harvard is. Prob closer to Amherst too.

Endowment per capita is another fairly unimportant stat that gets reported and thrown around a lot. Endowment isn't ever used by a university on any per student basis except to a degree in some types of aid. A lot of endowment $$ also can't even easily be accessed or used for more than a few specific things.

Princeton is a USNWR darling but isn't in Harvard's league as an overall university and doesn't fully want to be (unlike Yale). Harvard does more across disciplines and does most of it better at the grad school level than Princeton, as does Stanford. Princeton and Dartmouth are an odd middle because the grad programs are not as strong across the board and you still have the PhD students doing a lot of the best research work available for students (unlike at an Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Williams). You get a little more focus on undergrad education but the profs are still dragging their feel having to teach some of the classes.

PP, you may have liked Princeton's town and accessibility to a place like Philly. That environment might very well appeal to you over, say, New Haven. Swarthmore is in a quaint suburban town as I recall and has a train station right on campus to get into the city. Williams on the other hand is in a small NE town with pretty much nothing around. Amherst has a little more in the nice town but Springfield, MA isn't exactly Philadelphia. Likewise, Cambridge might have a tougher winter and be bit more grey than Princeton, which is true of Swarthmore versus Amherst and Williams too. In these situations where you are picking between 1AB&C, other preferences students have matter. For perspective, USNWR has only ever ranked those 3 SLACs #1 for multiple years since starting their rankings and the lowest Amherst and Swarthmore have ever been ranked is 4 while Williams has never even been below 3). Pomona is also great and has never been ranked below 7 by USNWR since 2000. When choosing between these types of schools if you want an amazing small college out west or with warm weather or with a bigger group of cooperative colleges, you could 100% choose Pomona over any other school.

I know people who picked Pomona over Amherst, Williams, Dartmouth and Stanford for several of those reasons. Another picked Pomona over Stanford because of the strong academics and ability to play college tennis. There is no "wrong" choice when you are only looking at great schools.

you are mixing apples and oranges. Princeton is known and valued for its superior undergrad teaching. It doesn't have the large university grad schools that Harvard and Yale do. That's why most ranking services deal with them differently. My kid wanted Princeton. I'm a Harvard grad. They are very very different experiences. Most harvard grads will say that undergrad is a passing experience because the attention is put on the grad schools. Princeton doesn't do that.

I think that was what the PP meant with the comment about Dartmouth and Princeton being in the middle between the SLACs and top research schools like Harvard.
As a family with people in academia, those 2 are an oddity. Princeton in particular is still currently interested in high-end research enough that it isn't a teach-first school like a Pomona. The professors' successes and core interests are squarely related to the research and publication side, maybe not quite to the extent of Harvard or Stanford but close. I didn't go to Princeton but have doubted the undergrad teaching mantra at least to a degree because of the tensions the professors have there being so similar to other top research schools and a few of their comments; however, who doesn't complain about undergrads from time to time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Location isn't that great either. Very far from the beach and downtown LA, very smoggy.

It's one of those cases where "it's great because everyone thinks it's great".

Basically the beaches are at one end of LA county and the school is at the other. DD really liked the campus - as well as Pitzer - but the drive from our hotel in Santa Monica to the Claremont campuses, then back in one hot afternoon was not lost on her.

Yeah, it makes sense that the beaches are in part of LA county that’s … by … the … ocean.

LA is one of the US' largest counties and is roughly 800 square miles larger than a combined Delaware and Rhode Island. Most 17 and 18 year olds don't know that. They hear LA, they think of Hollywood, the beaches, so yeah, they are not imagining driving 50 miles from one end of the county to the other.

Why does everyone assume this is why a student wants to go to Pomona OR that students/families who consider Pomona do not know where it is located? Perhaps your view if LA is beaches and Hollywood...but that doesn't mean everyone else's does.

Our child is interested in Pomona and the only way LA is remotely involved is that it makes it close enough to transportation so that getting there from accoss the country is not a nightmare. They have no interest in the beach or Hollywood. They like the idea of nice weather and are far more interested in exploring internal land features of CA via trips while they are there (Joshua Tree/Yosemite/Redwoods/Desert). They like the school because of the small size of the college with access to 7000 kids over multiple schools. They like a place where kids live on campus 4 years as a community.

Please. DC lives on the East coast and had never been to California, but is a creature of social media. So yeah, thoughts of the beach popped when they first heard that Pomona, which was suggested to them by their college counselor, is in LA. That doesn't seem so far-fetched.

DC ultimately decided they wanted a school that was not that far from home as well as easily accessible to the outdoors - right outside their dorm door. They are now at a top NESCAC.

It’s in LA County. Big county. Ocean and mountains. Trees too. Last I checked, Pomona was easily accessible to the outdoors.

Clearly,
you haven't been there. There are trees on campus, but it's in a desert wasteland. There are hills behind it. It's flat. very flat. That's what Claremont/Ontario is. FLAT. And no one from out there would say it's in Los Angeles County. It's on the far east end of Los Angeles county near San Bernardino. Do you have any idea how big Los Angeles County is? And that descriptor isn't a positive anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Location isn't that great either. Very far from the beach and downtown LA, very smoggy.

It's one of those cases where "it's great because everyone thinks it's great".

Basically the beaches are at one end of LA county and the school is at the other. DD really liked the campus - as well as Pitzer - but the drive from our hotel in Santa Monica to the Claremont campuses, then back in one hot afternoon was not lost on her.

Yeah, it makes sense that the beaches are in part of LA county that’s … by … the … ocean.

LA is one of the US' largest counties and is roughly 800 square miles larger than a combined Delaware and Rhode Island. Most 17 and 18 year olds don't know that. They hear LA, they think of Hollywood, the beaches, so yeah, they are not imagining driving 50 miles from one end of the county to the other.

Why does everyone assume this is why a student wants to go to Pomona OR that students/families who consider Pomona do not know where it is located? Perhaps your view if LA is beaches and Hollywood...but that doesn't mean everyone else's does.

Our child is interested in Pomona and the only way LA is remotely involved is that it makes it close enough to transportation so that getting there from accoss the country is not a nightmare. They have no interest in the beach or Hollywood. They like the idea of nice weather and are far more interested in exploring internal land features of CA via trips while they are there (Joshua Tree/Yosemite/Redwoods/Desert). They like the school because of the small size of the college with access to 7000 kids over multiple schools. They like a place where kids live on campus 4 years as a community.

Please. DC lives on the East coast and had never been to California, but is a creature of social media. So yeah, thoughts of the beach popped when they first heard that Pomona, which was suggested to them by their college counselor, is in LA. That doesn't seem so far-fetched.

DC ultimately decided they wanted a school that was not that far from home as well as easily accessible to the outdoors - right outside their dorm door. They are now at a top NESCAC.

It’s in LA County. Big county. Ocean and mountains. Trees too. Last I checked, Pomona was easily accessible to the outdoors.

I first visited Pomona from a top eastern SLAC on a basketball trip. More than one of us mentioned that we wished we had looked at Pomona more closely! It was beautiful, especially considering what it was like out east in the middle of winter.
From a D3 basketball perspective, Pomona is great (they play with Pitzer on a combined team) and made the D3 NCAA tournament this year. Williams did as well and Swarthmore will be in the Final Four later this week.

Gregg Popovich, the Hall of Fame coach of the Spurs, was Pomona's head coach: https://grantland.com/features/nba-gregg-popovich-san-antonio-spurs-history-coach-division-three-pomona-pitzer-college-sagehens/
Mike Budenholzer, the coach of the Bucks, also played basketball at Pomona.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out a somewhat dated virtual tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yM4MSU4eI0
I'm interested in Pomona now but hadn't thought to apply!

Wow, nostalgia, he walks right past my freshman dorm room, and then his room is one where one of my sponsors lived and I spent many hours hanging out. Also some impressive new developments since my time there decades ago, like the Studio Art Hall. Thanks for sharing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Location isn't that great either. Very far from the beach and downtown LA, very smoggy.

It's one of those cases where "it's great because everyone thinks it's great".

Basically the beaches are at one end of LA county and the school is at the other. DD really liked the campus - as well as Pitzer - but the drive from our hotel in Santa Monica to the Claremont campuses, then back in one hot afternoon was not lost on her.

Yeah, it makes sense that the beaches are in part of LA county that’s … by … the … ocean.

LA is one of the US' largest counties and is roughly 800 square miles larger than a combined Delaware and Rhode Island. Most 17 and 18 year olds don't know that. They hear LA, they think of Hollywood, the beaches, so yeah, they are not imagining driving 50 miles from one end of the county to the other.

Why does everyone assume this is why a student wants to go to Pomona OR that students/families who consider Pomona do not know where it is located? Perhaps your view if LA is beaches and Hollywood...but that doesn't mean everyone else's does.

Our child is interested in Pomona and the only way LA is remotely involved is that it makes it close enough to transportation so that getting there from accoss the country is not a nightmare. They have no interest in the beach or Hollywood. They like the idea of nice weather and are far more interested in exploring internal land features of CA via trips while they are there (Joshua Tree/Yosemite/Redwoods/Desert). They like the school because of the small size of the college with access to 7000 kids over multiple schools. They like a place where kids live on campus 4 years as a community.

Please. DC lives on the East coast and had never been to California, but is a creature of social media. So yeah, thoughts of the beach popped when they first heard that Pomona, which was suggested to them by their college counselor, is in LA. That doesn't seem so far-fetched.

DC ultimately decided they wanted a school that was not that far from home as well as easily accessible to the outdoors - right outside their dorm door. They are now at a top NESCAC.

It’s in LA County. Big county. Ocean and mountains. Trees too. Last I checked, Pomona was easily accessible to the outdoors.

Clearly,
you haven't been there. There are trees on campus, but it's in a desert wasteland. There are hills behind it. It's flat. very flat. That's what Claremont/Ontario is. FLAT. And no one from out there would say it's in Los Angeles County. It's on the far east end of Los Angeles county near San Bernardino. Do you have any idea how big Los Angeles County is? And that descriptor isn't a positive anymore.

You've never been there. Huge mountains are visible from campus, not hills. The whole area of Claremont is green and definitely not "desert wasteland". The csa is hot mediterranean, not arid. There is a huge and acclaimed wilderness park close by. https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/11bnen2/spent_some_time_getting_lost_in_the_beauty_of/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big university comparison with those top few liberal arts colleges, just for comparing how the SLACs relate to each other, does kind of make sense and is interesting to think through for minute. Williams would be the Harvard OG; Amherst the Yale with great recognition and reputation but always comparing itself in relation to the rival OG; Swarthmore the Princeton that is maybe the best of the group now and farther south but without quite as much name recognition and history as a non-rival; and Pomona the up-and-coming western Stanford.

Princeton grad here- sort of bristling at the comparison to Swat although Princeton is also pretty close to Philly. Curious though why one would assert that Swat is now the best of the group? (My beef with Swat is that it seems to have a rep of being painfully competitive and dull - a real grind)

Swat is highly selective and has tended to win the head-to-head admissions "battles" against Amherst and Williams (pretty significantly on the imperfect Parchment site). I guess I'm probably off about Princeton being that way relative to Yale and Harvard though. Looking at Parchment, both are preferred to Princeton by a statistically significant margin. Swat might not like that comparison now other than the more southern location . It was mostly that the primary names and rivalry in the Ivy League involve Harvard and Yale (and not Princeton), despite Princeton being a great school that many find at least on par with the other 2 for undergrads). It is like that for SLACs where Williams and Amherst have a huge rivalry (that carries on in sports today too) and many mention them if they only say two names and are asked about the best small schools.

Hmmm. I don't think Parchment is really accurate or scientific. I've seen some really odd results there. I don't know of anyone who did or would choose Swat over Williams/Amherst and can't imagine why you would (maybe because of science or engineering?) Swat seems most often compared to Chicago-- very academic, intense, intellectual, maybe not so fun. Princeton has ranked #1 on US News for decades. I really don't think it lags H or Y in any sense and trounces them both in terms of the focus on undergraduate education and endowment per capita. Certainly, different students will be drawn to different schools, and culturally they can be very different. I think Princeton/Dartmouth are more like Williams (a little more traditional and up the middle and pre-corporate), while Amherst/Brown are more like Yale (artsty and lefty). I don't know what Harvard is. Prob closer to Amherst too.

Endowment per capita is another fairly unimportant stat that gets reported and thrown around a lot. Endowment isn't ever used by a university on any per student basis except to a degree in some types of aid. A lot of endowment $$ also can't even easily be accessed or used for more than a few specific things.

Princeton is a USNWR darling but isn't in Harvard's league as an overall university and doesn't fully want to be (unlike Yale). Harvard does more across disciplines and does most of it better at the grad school level than Princeton, as does Stanford. Princeton and Dartmouth are an odd middle because the grad programs are not as strong across the board and you still have the PhD students doing a lot of the best research work available for students (unlike at an Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Williams). You get a little more focus on undergrad education but the profs are still dragging their feel having to teach some of the classes.

PP, you may have liked Princeton's town and accessibility to a place like Philly. That environment might very well appeal to you over, say, New Haven. Swarthmore is in a quaint suburban town as I recall and has a train station right on campus to get into the city. Williams on the other hand is in a small NE town with pretty much nothing around. Amherst has a little more in the nice town but Springfield, MA isn't exactly Philadelphia. Likewise, Cambridge might have a tougher winter and be bit more grey than Princeton, which is true of Swarthmore versus Amherst and Williams too. In these situations where you are picking between 1AB&C, other preferences students have matter. For perspective, USNWR has only ever ranked those 3 SLACs #1 for multiple years since starting their rankings and the lowest Amherst and Swarthmore have ever been ranked is 4 while Williams has never even been below 3). Pomona is also great and has never been ranked below 7 by USNWR since 2000. When choosing between these types of schools if you want an amazing small college out west or with warm weather or with a bigger group of cooperative colleges, you could 100% choose Pomona over any other school.

I know people who picked Pomona over Amherst, Williams, Dartmouth and Stanford for several of those reasons. Another picked Pomona over Stanford because of the strong academics and ability to play college tennis. There is no "wrong" choice when you are only looking at great schools.

you are mixing apples and oranges. Princeton is known and valued for its superior undergrad teaching. It doesn't have the large university grad schools that Harvard and Yale do. That's why most ranking services deal with them differently. My kid wanted Princeton. I'm a Harvard grad. They are very very different experiences. Most harvard grads will say that undergrad is a passing experience because the attention is put on the grad schools. Princeton doesn't do that.

I think that was what the PP meant with the comment about Dartmouth and Princeton being in the middle between the SLACs and top research schools like Harvard.
As a family with people in academia, those 2 are an oddity. Princeton in particular is still currently interested in high-end research enough that it isn't a teach-first school like a Pomona. The professors' successes and core interests are squarely related to the research and publication side, maybe not quite to the extent of Harvard or Stanford but close. I didn't go to Princeton but have doubted the undergrad teaching mantra at least to a degree because of the tensions the professors have there being so similar to other top research schools and a few of their comments; however, who doesn't complain about undergrads from time to time?

Princeton is differentiated because you have two junior papers where you work with a faculty advisor (a senior prof not a grad student) and then you have your senior thesis advisor who when I was there could have been someone like Ben Bernanke or Joyce Carol Oates. Princeton is unparalleled in terms of the academic experience. No compromises

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Princeton doesn't have professional schools, like Harvard and Yale, if that is what you mean. Undergraduates are the primary focus of the university and it probably does a better job than any school in America of providing an intensive small LAC environment with the resources of a large research university. The professors do not drag their feet. The accessibility to Philly is less relevant than the accessibility to NYC. Princeton is the gold standard for undergraduate education in America.

Endowment per capita is extremely important because endowment distributions are what fund about half the budget of these schools. The larger the endowment, the more money gets spent on students. Princeton's endowment per capita dwarfs all others.

But schools are not spending on a per student basis for most endowment expenditures beyond aid, especially once you reach different levels of scale. The metric has meaning but I'd still take Harvard's endowment!

Princeton isn't within 3 of Harvard or Stanford in any of the larger scale university rankings:
https://www.phdportal.com/ranking-country/82/united-states.html

Their graduate schools are good but not on the same level plus they have no professional schools. My partner and I would choose to spend another 6 years in Palo Alto doing it all over again. Princeton does have the most impressive set of eating clubs!

You misunderstand how endowments work. Schools distribute 4-5 percent of the endowment value every year into the operating budget of the school. It all gets mixed together with tuition and other revenue. So the larger the endowment and the smaller the student body, the more money is being allocated from the endowment to each student. Princeton is literally kicking off over a billion dollars every year to serve its midsized student population. Many good schools not so much smaller than Princeton have endowments that are less than what Princeton just spends from its endowment annually. It’s actually pretty nuts at this point

[Anonymous]

It's fascinating how a thread started to discuss a LAC can morph into an argument over which of HYPS is best. Makes one wonder about the insecurity of those who attend these schools that they need to debate ad nauseum which is the absolute best. They're all excellent in their own way, give it a rest!

[Anonymous]

If your child’s goal is to make money, don’t send them to an SLAC. Such institutions primarily send students to graduate school, where they enter relatively low-paying careers in scientific research, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Princeton doesn't have professional schools, like Harvard and Yale, if that is what you mean. Undergraduates are the primary focus of the university and it probably does a better job than any school in America of providing an intensive small LAC environment with the resources of a large research university. The professors do not drag their feet. The accessibility to Philly is less relevant than the accessibility to NYC. Princeton is the gold standard for undergraduate education in America.

Endowment per capita is extremely important because endowment distributions are what fund about half the budget of these schools. The larger the endowment, the more money gets spent on students. Princeton's endowment per capita dwarfs all others.

But schools are not spending on a per student basis for most endowment expenditures beyond aid, especially once you reach different levels of scale. The metric has meaning but I'd still take Harvard's endowment!

Princeton isn't within 3 of Harvard or Stanford in any of the larger scale university rankings:
https://www.phdportal.com/ranking-country/82/united-states.html

Their graduate schools are good but not on the same level plus they have no professional schools. My partner and I would choose to spend another 6 years in Palo Alto doing it all over again. Princeton does have the most impressive set of eating clubs!

You misunderstand how endowments work. Schools distribute 4-5 percent of the endowment value every year into the operating budget of the school. It all gets mixed together with tuition and other revenue. So the larger the endowment and the smaller the student body, the more money is being allocated from the endowment to each student. Princeton is literally kicking off over a billion dollars every year to serve its midsized student population. Many good schools not so much smaller than Princeton have endowments that are less than what Princeton just spends from its endowment annually. It’s actually pretty nuts at this point

+1

For those who think that a school's endowment is not important, try attending a school with a paltry endowment and enjoy black mold and an unkempt campus with aged facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The factors that make it #1 on this ranking that includes both LACs and universities explain at least part of it.

https://lesshighschoolstress.com/blog/6/

That is a very odd list.

I thought it was an interesting set of criteria, and one that I think my kid would also value in a school (small class sizes yet also a wide variety of available courses; diversity among both professors and the student body; well-educated professors; general student satisfaction). It's at least as valid as the factors that US News values heavily.

But the results are ridiculous, which suggests the methodology is flawed. Garbage in, garbage out. Way too much emphasis (as always nowadays) on diversity, especially when all these schools are committed to diversity. Anyone who chooses a school based on diversity stats is a true imbecile

Decades ago, I attended an LAC which lacked diversity. I cannot recall a single Asian student or even one Jewish student. There were two black students in my class. No even one Hispanic student. And this Northeastern US LAC had over 2,000 students. Lots of wealthy white students from Westchester County on Long Island and lots of wealthy kids from Connecticut and from the Boston area. Yes, we had diversity as some came from families who belonged to different country clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The factors that make it #1 on this ranking that includes both LACs and universities explain at least part of it.

https://lesshighschoolstress.com/blog/6/

That is a very odd list.

I thought it was an interesting set of criteria, and one that I think my kid would also value in a school (small class sizes yet also a wide variety of available courses; diversity among both professors and the student body; well-educated professors; general student satisfaction). It's at least as valid as the factors that US News values heavily.

But the results are ridiculous, which suggests the methodology is flawed. Garbage in, garbage out. Way too much emphasis (as always nowadays) on diversity, especially when all these schools are committed to diversity. Anyone who chooses a school based on diversity stats is a true imbecile

Decades ago, I attended an LAC which lacked diversity. I cannot recall a single Asian student or even one Jewish student. There were two black students in my class. No even one Hispanic student. And this Northeastern US LAC had over 2,000 students. Lots of wealthy white students from Westchester County on Long Island and lots of wealthy kids from Connecticut and from the Boston area. Yes, we had diversity as some came from families who belonged to different country clubs.

If they were white from west Chester then many were Jewish without you knowing

[Anonymous]

Again Pomona is the only warm weather elite lac on the west coast. Whether or not it’s actual location is desirable to the posters of dcum, that is enough to drive up a lot of interest, which combined with a class size of 1500 or so, leads to a very low acceptance rate.