Amherst or Pomona?

[Anonymous]

I feel like these two schools are similar on paper- two well regarded LACs within a 5 college consortium with diverse student bodies relative to peer institutions. Besides Amherst's open curriculum and geographic differences, what makes them different?

[Anonymous]

The Claremont Colleges are very unique and add many positives to the Pomona experience/education. It isn’t the same for Amherst.

[Anonymous]

Both great schools in very different settings. I don’t think there is any real similarity on the “5 college consortium” front. That’s a very loose consortium in the case of Amherst. Pomona and the other four Claremont consortium colleges border each other and kids are always on the others’ campuses for parties, or on the way to town, or for classes. There is a lot of cross-enrollment.

It’s also extremely difficult to get into Pomona from around here as an unhooked student. Your odds of acceptance are much lower than the already low acceptance rate would suggest. At Amherst, a significant portion of the students are athletes. This is not true a Pomona, though Pomona-Pitzer has some excellent teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both great schools in very different settings. I don’t think there is any real similarity on the “5 college consortium” front. That’s a very loose consortium in the case of Amherst. Pomona and the other four Claremont consortium colleges border each other and kids are always on the others’ campuses for parties, or on the way to town, or for classes. There is a lot of cross-enrollment.

It’s also extremely difficult to get into Pomona from around here as an unhooked student. Your odds of acceptance are much lower than the already low acceptance rate would suggest. At Amherst, a significant portion of the students are athletes. This is not true a Pomona, though Pomona-Pitzer has some excellent teams.

Doesn't this make Amherst a harder admit since both schools have single digit acceptance rates but nearly double of Amherst students are recruited athletes?

[Anonymous]

Harder admit for non-athletes.

[Anonymous]

Amherst has better name recognition on the East Coast.

[Anonymous]

My DC went to Amherst and a younger DC almost went to Pomona, and I don't think the 5 college consortium is at all comparable to the Claremont colleges setup. Pomona is geographically contiguous to the other colleges, so in some ways it's like one large university campus. There is quite a bit of intermixing of student bodies, in the dining halls, on sports teams, in the classroom.

With Amherst, kids have to bike, drive or take a bus to get to the other colleges. My DC took a class at Smith (in a subject that wasn't offered at Amherst) and one at UMass (mostly so he could eat in their acclaimed dining hall) after junior year when he had a car, because the bus was unreliable. I know Amherst touts the consortium, but it shouldn't be a consideration on your kid's decision.

Also, listen to those who say how hard it is to get into Pomona from the DC area. Unless your HS has a history of unhooked kids getting in ED, I wouldn't bother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both great schools in very different settings. I don’t think there is any real similarity on the “5 college consortium” front. That’s a very loose consortium in the case of Amherst. Pomona and the other four Claremont consortium colleges border each other and kids are always on the others’ campuses for parties, or on the way to town, or for classes. There is a lot of cross-enrollment.

It’s also extremely difficult to get into Pomona from around here as an unhooked student. Your odds of acceptance are much lower than the already low acceptance rate would suggest. At Amherst, a significant portion of the students are athletes. This is not true a Pomona, though Pomona-Pitzer has some excellent teams.

Doesn't this make Amherst a harder admit since both schools have single digit acceptance rates but nearly double of Amherst students are recruited athletes?

Not all the Amherst athletes are recruited.

In terms of ease of admissions from here, check out the most recent totals from Bethesda magazine for the HS class of 2022: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2022/09/13/here-are-the-colleges-where-bethesda-area-high-school-grads-applied-got-accepted-and-enrolled/

From the Bethesda-area schools they list, 55 students applied to Pomona and 4 were accepted. 96 applied to Amherst and 17 were accepted. Perhaps private schools or public schools outside of Bethesda have better luck with Pomona admissions, but I know a reasonable number of very impressive students who have applied over the last decade or so, and none were accepted. My kids’ school has better luck with Amherst.

[Anonymous]

I don't think there is any real difference educationally or in outcomes between these schools. But a student would likely have a strong preference for Massachusetts and the Pioneer Valley environment vs. California's LA suburban environment. Really can't get more different in setting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think there is any real difference educationally or in outcomes between these schools. But a student would likely have a strong preference for Massachusetts and the Pioneer Valley environment vs. California's LA suburban environment. Really can't get more different in setting.

This was my thought, as a parent whose DC visited both and completely ruled out one (and any other school in that region) based on setting.

[Anonymous]

Amherst and Claremont are both suburban towns though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amherst and Claremont are both suburban towns though.

But completely different climates. Do you like pretty fall colors and snowy winters or California sunshine?

And, IMO, Amherst's suburban area seems farther from the "big city" than Claremont.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amherst and Claremont are both suburban towns though.

But the climate, their campuses, and their proximity to their respective consortium schools couldn't be more different.

And being a close suburb to LA vs a far suburb to NY/Boston (or a suburb to New Haven/Hartford) is also a huge difference.

For some, these differences aren't a huge deal and one just chooses the orange over the apple (for some other reason that matters to them) if they have a choice between the two. But for others these differences are key.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn’t Pomona be better if one was interested in tech or media?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both great schools in very different settings. I don’t think there is any real similarity on the “5 college consortium” front. That’s a very loose consortium in the case of Amherst. Pomona and the other four Claremont consortium colleges border each other and kids are always on the others’ campuses for parties, or on the way to town, or for classes. There is a lot of cross-enrollment.

It’s also extremely difficult to get into Pomona from around here as an unhooked student. Your odds of acceptance are much lower than the already low acceptance rate would suggest. At Amherst, a significant portion of the students are athletes. This is not true a Pomona, though Pomona-Pitzer has some excellent teams.

I don’t agree with this at all in terms of the 5-college consortium: there is a free bus system, UMass is on the other side of downtown Amherst (you can walk), and it is easy to get to Mount Holyoke and Smith. There are several 5 college majors and programs, and advanced Amherst students have the opportunity to even take graduate classes at UMass. Also think about the intellectual synergy created by 5 colleges all within 15 minutes of each other in terms of lectures, activities, movies — everything. We are talking, “which famous person can I see speak at which college this week.” I cannot speak to Pomona, but that consortium does not have nearly the same critical mass of students.

Amherst has a ton of athletes (35-40%) and a big athlete divide (problems with them living together exclusively etc.) It is also very big on recruiting URMs. Since athletes are disproportionately white, it creates a very polarized dynamic. (Amherst got rid of legacy, but athletic recruiting favors whites way more than legacy, both in terms of sheer numbers and the magnitude of the admissions boost, so there is just a tad of hypocrisy there.).

From an admissions standpoint, Amherst is probably a tougher admit for white, non-athlete applicants than is Pomona, for the reasons stated…