Pomona vs Williams ED for Chemistry/Neuroscience

[Anonymous]

Would prefer personal anecdotes, but rankings are welcome too! DD adores both of these schools after touring with a slight bias for Pomona (we caught a lucky, sunny day with students tanning and playing spikeball and volleyball on the quad). She's considering both for ED, and they have about equal acceptance rates (~10%) from her school. She really enjoyed the class she sat in on at Pomona, the consortium, and the academic resources for students in chemistry and neuro after catching a lunch with a neuroscience faculty member, but we have spent our lives in the east coast, and she's scared of the transition. Meanwhile, she liked the tutorial system at Williams. Premed isn't out of the picture, but we'd like to get a better glimpse into the student cultures, since we didn't see many students during our Williams tour.

[Anonymous]

I would have her get in touch with kids from her school that went to each and chat with them. I think that will give you the best insight.

[Anonymous]

Well, to start, I’d consider that Pomona has a major in neuroscience with its own faculty, while Williams has it as a concentration. After looking at both faculty hiring pages, Pomona is hiring another tenure track neuroscientist while Williams is looking more towards cell biologists. From her preferences and the department composition, I’d go Pomona.

[Anonymous]

Looking throug

[Anonymous]

There’s not many STEM tutorials when compared to humanities/social sciences. Neuroscience has 1 this upcoming year: https://catalog.williams.edu/pdf/tut.pdf

[Anonymous]

It’s not luck that you had a sunny day - it’s sunny everyday LOL. DD is double majoring in policy and math at Pomona. She has taken classes from CMC and Pitzer and have friends across all 5 schools. Her classmates are extremely intelligent and motivated, many of them are valedictorians of their high schools. The school promotes collaboration than competition, and kids generally seem happy and laid back. Ontario Int’l Airport is only 15 minutes away but there isn’t a direct flight from where we live (east coast). Or, you can fly to LAX and uber to school, uber fare is about $100. Two things other than the weather that make Pomona vastly different from Williams and other LACs - the consortium you mentioned and diversity of the student body. I’ve got no experience with Williams but my other kid dreams of attending the NESCAC schools.

[Anonymous]

Just have a good backup plan after ED1, whichever school you decide. I hate to put a damper on things, but a female neuroscience applicant is as much of a cliche as a male Econ applicant…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s not many STEM tutorials when compared to humanities/social sciences. Neuroscience has 1 this upcoming year: https://catalog.williams.edu/pdf/tut.pdf

Most kids only take one tutorial per school year so that isn’t really an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not luck that you had a sunny day - it’s sunny everyday LOL. DD is double majoring in policy and math at Pomona. She has taken classes from CMC and Pitzer and have friends across all 5 schools. Her classmates are extremely intelligent and motivated, many of them are valedictorians of their high schools. The school promotes collaboration than competition, and kids generally seem happy and laid back. Ontario Int’l Airport is only 15 minutes away but there isn’t a direct flight from where we live (east coast). Or, you can fly to LAX and uber to school, uber fare is about $100. Two things other than the weather that make Pomona vastly different from Williams and other LACs - the consortium you mentioned and diversity of the student body. I’ve got no experience with Williams but my other kid dreams of attending the NESCAC schools.

I don’t know if you’ve considered this, but our DD takes the shuttles by the college to LAX and Ontario. Also for lax, you can avoid the uber if you have light luggage since there’s the flyaway bus (~$9) and Metrolink that goes straight from Union Station to Claremont. Nowadays DD’s friends pick her up from the airport, but this might be helpful for freshman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s not many STEM tutorials when compared to humanities/social sciences. Neuroscience has 1 this upcoming year: https://catalog.williams.edu/pdf/tut.pdf

Most kids only take one tutorial per school year so that isn’t really an issue.

Having one choice for a semester still is pretty bad. Especially if you (likely) have course conflicts- neuro majors take a lot of classes often with lab, so the more availability, the better. If choices are this slim. I wouldn’t make this a deciding factor.

[Anonymous]

Unless hooked, neither is a good ED choice.

Shoot your shots at ivies for ED, then RD Pomona and Williams. If accepted to both, make a selection.

[Anonymous]

I’d look at Amherst instead for ed1 and Pomona ed2 if that didn’t work out

[Anonymous]

Per USNWR, Williams is ranked #1 for National Liberal Arts Colleges + Pomona #5. CA is a much nicer place to go to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d look at Amherst instead for ed1 and Pomona ed2 if that didn’t work out

She doesn't interested in Amherst, so why? But Williams ED then Pomona ED2 would work, if she's not put off by Williams' remote location.

If she's in the top group of applicants at her school, 10% is a solid shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Per USNWR, Williams is ranked #1 for National Liberal Arts Colleges + Pomona #5. CA is a much nicer place to go to college.[/quote

Rankings are meaningless and location is subjective. Rural MA is a beautiful place to go to undergrad compared to the smoggy industrial empire Pomona is in.