Amherst and Pomona

[Anonymous]

Interested in personal experiences that relates these two colleges. DD is interested in the consortium element, a strong culture in both the humanities and stem, a major in linguistics (coursework in computational neuroscience or mathematical bio), access to outdoors. We loved both tours, and found them great places for an undergraduate education.

[Anonymous]

Amherst does not have a linguistics major.

[Anonymous]

DD applied to both in RD, got in Pomona, got WL at Amherst. It’s hot in August and September in SoCal, and it doesn’t help that many Pomona dorms don’t have A/C. But other than that, DD loves everything about Pomona. Besides, Pomona’s FA is the most generous of all she was offered.

[Anonymous]

The CA consortium is much easier to take advantage of— the colleges are not just next door to each other (instead of a bus ride away) but they follow the same calendar and registration and a lot of clubs are 5C-wide (the sports teams are divided into 2 for the 5 schools). The schools are almost indistinguishable.

[Anonymous]

I don’t see any value on the Amherst consortium as the other members aren’t equivalent schools, while the Claremont colleges are more on the same level academically and physically in the same space. Not sure why your daughter wants a consortium though, it’s a strange ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see any value on the Amherst consortium as the other members aren’t equivalent schools, while the Claremont colleges are more on the same level academically and physically in the same space. Not sure why your daughter wants a consortium though, it’s a strange ask.

Agree with both points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see any value on the Amherst consortium as the other members aren’t equivalent schools, while the Claremont colleges are more on the same level academically and physically in the same space. Not sure why your daughter wants a consortium though, it’s a strange ask.

Amherst (#2) and Smith (#13) are much closer academically than Pomona (#7) and Pitzer (#37)

[Anonymous]

MIT for computational linguistics. Yale also has a prof who is leading in that field.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like a good idea to apply to Pomona. There's a few faculty she may want to take a course with/do research with: https://zhulab.sites.pomona.edu, https://www.shannonmburns.com/#about, https://sci.sites.pomona.edu, https://zenkavi.github.io, https://gabrielcook.xyz/cdvlab/, https://www1.cmc.edu/pages/faculty/clreed/, https://www.umanathlab.com, https://natsci.claremont.edu/employees/neuroscience/michael-spezio/, https://www.drstaceywood.com/wood-lab/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see any value on the Amherst consortium as the other members aren’t equivalent schools, while the Claremont colleges are more on the same level academically and physically in the same space. Not sure why your daughter wants a consortium though, it’s a strange ask.

Amherst (#2) and Smith (#13) are much closer academically than Pomona (#7) and Pitzer (#37)

Pomona, Mudd, and CMC are much closer than Amherst and UMass tho.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see any value on the Amherst consortium as the other members aren’t equivalent schools, while the Claremont colleges are more on the same level academically and physically in the same space. Not sure why your daughter wants a consortium though, it’s a strange ask.

Consortiums are great if run well. Just brings in a different crowd and community. Nothing wrong with enjoying that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MIT for computational linguistics. Yale also has a prof who is leading in that field.

Yale has more than one. What a waste of time to read this foolishness by people who don't know the academic excellence of the institutions they are speaking on. Yale trounces both of these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see any value on the Amherst consortium as the other members aren’t equivalent schools, while the Claremont colleges are more on the same level academically and physically in the same space. Not sure why your daughter wants a consortium though, it’s a strange ask.

Amherst (#2) and Smith (#13) are much closer academically than Pomona (#7) and Pitzer (#37)

Pomona, Mudd, and CMC are much closer than Amherst and UMass tho.

UMass has a highly regarded linguistics department though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MIT for computational linguistics. Yale also has a prof who is leading in that field.

Yale has more than one. What a waste of time to read this foolishness by people who don't know the academic excellence of the institutions they are speaking on. Yale trounces both of these schools.

It's a waste of time for undergrad applicants to obsess about the rankings of the departments in which they think they might major.

This information would be pertinent if OP's kid were looking at PhD programs. For undergrad, I'd choose a school with a linguistics major over one that has no faculty on campus. But there's really no need to choose one of the top ten research departments in the country for a bachelor's degree.

My logic is particularly true for linguistics. Very few high school students have studied linguistics in a structured way, so a decision to major in the subject has to be tentative.

[Anonymous]

The Claremont Consortium is an excellent educational environment....top notch academics at all five schools. Caring instructors, amazing opportunities all around.