Columbia or Pomona

[Anonymous]

Hard to think of two schools that are more different from one another. Size, location, vibe are all opposites. Surely your kid can figure this out after about 30 minutes at each campus on a re-visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids at school (and some teachers), as a slight paraphrase: “Columbia of course. It’s more prestigious. Nobody has heard of Pomona.”

Kid: “Everyone except for you (parents) think Columbia is more prestigious.”

Response?

My response is, who cares? Does the student want the Columbia/NYC experience? If not, the prestige alone won't make a good experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids at school (and some teachers), as a slight paraphrase: “Columbia of course. It’s more prestigious. Nobody has heard of Pomona.”

Kid: “Everyone except for you (parents) think Columbia is more prestigious.”

Response?

Columbia certainly has much better name recognition, if that's your priority. But Pomona is a T-5 SLAC that offers a superior undergraduate education, a nice community, and also has great resources. If this is the choice though, I'd let my kid make the decision after visiting both. They could not be more different!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids at school (and some teachers), as a slight paraphrase: “Columbia of course. It’s more prestigious. Nobody has heard of Pomona.”

Kid: “Everyone except for you (parents) think Columbia is more prestigious.”

Response?

My response is, who cares? Does the student want the Columbia/NYC experience? If not, the prestige alone won't make a good experience.

NYC experience, yes. Common Core for 1/2 the classes freshman and sophomore year (and 1/4 of classes junior year), no. Not sure the former can (or should) outweigh the latter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Columbia values a combination of brilliant and social. The place is intentionally edgy and someone who wants a more intimate college environment could be crushed. At Columbia, a solid 75+% of the total course load you take to graduate is required courses or your major (the core required courses stretch into junior year - the most extensive of any traditional liberal arts curriculum in the US). Columbia, university-wide, is well over 2/3 graduate and professional students. Columbia values GPA. The #1 subway line stops in the center of the Columbia/Barnard footprint. Columbia is in the north/south geographic center of a Manhattan, and the City is running 24x7 literally one footstep outside of most of the dorm footprints. Columbia does not care where you come from (much), and if you are flat on your back they will cover all your costs and pay you a stipend as long as you are in good standing. Columbia is big and busy and hurried and everyone you deal with will learn your name, and you should learn their’s.

You can do almost anything (probably pretty well) and figure out almost anyone if you go to Columbia.

Actually, I was surprised by how closed off, separate, and quiet Columbia felt once behind the gates. I don't think it's the "north/south geographic center" of Manhattan; it's Morningside Heights, north of Central Park, closer to Harlem and upper Manhattan. True that it's very accessible.

[Anonymous]

I would choose Pomona 100 times out of 100, but what matters is what your kid wants.

NYC vs. California
East coast vs. west coast
Bohemoth of an institution vs. focus on undergrads
Core curriculum vs. not
Prestige vs. heart (Ok, that's my bias showing and why I'd pick Pomona. But again, what matters is what speaks to your kid.)

[Anonymous]

How has no one mentioned the shit show of professional and performative protesting that goes on at Columbia on the daily yet? Pomona’s administration handling of the students who violently stormed one of their classroom buildings and tried to prevent others from leaving was handled properly, if you care about such things. Not so at Columbia!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids at school (and some teachers), as a slight paraphrase: “Columbia of course. It’s more prestigious. Nobody has heard of Pomona.”

Kid: “Everyone except for you (parents) think Columbia is more prestigious.”

Response?

My response is, who cares? Does the student want the Columbia/NYC experience? If not, the prestige alone won't make a good experience.

NYC experience, yes. Common Core for 1/2 the classes freshman and sophomore year (and 1/4 of classes junior year), no. Not sure the former can (or should) outweigh the latter.

Either way, the slight difference in prestige is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How has no one mentioned the shit show of professional and performative protesting that goes on at Columbia on the daily yet? Pomona’s administration handling of the students who violently stormed one of their classroom buildings and tried to prevent others from leaving was handled properly, if you care about such things. Not so at Columbia!

It's not quite daily. And is it within the campus, or on the other side of the campus gates? Security is very tight there now. The campus is walled off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How has no one mentioned the shit show of professional and performative protesting that goes on at Columbia on the daily yet? Pomona’s administration handling of the students who violently stormed one of their classroom buildings and tried to prevent others from leaving was handled properly, if you care about such things. Not so at Columbia!

It's not quite daily. And is it within the campus, or on the other side of the campus gates? Security is very tight there now. The campus is walled off.

Don't let facts get in the way of comrade's narrative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How has no one mentioned the shit show of professional and performative protesting that goes on at Columbia on the daily yet? Pomona’s administration handling of the students who violently stormed one of their classroom buildings and tried to prevent others from leaving was handled properly, if you care about such things. Not so at Columbia!

Turn off your Fox News. Columbia had major issues a year ago. The admin handled it horribly. It has not totally gone away. The campus is now locked down (which is ridiculous). But it is far from daily.

I live near Columbia. Several members of my immediate family went there for grad school. Most kids have a very binary response. It is either exactly what they are looking for. Or it is a total turnoff. The student body is actually incredibly diverse - lots of kids from all over the country and world. Plus the diversity of NYC. Pomona is a relatively homogenous bubble. One is not better than the other.

All of the Fox News worshippers who might have considered it will no longer be applying for the reasons demonstrated in the quote above. I personally think this is a good thing. But from the perspective of diverse points of view, you will not be exposed to how half of America thinks.

[Anonymous]

Pomona, and I say that as a Barnard grad. Columbia has completely bowed down to the administration and given over control in a shocking way. It is lost and will never be the school it once was. Pomona I’m all the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How has no one mentioned the shit show of professional and performative protesting that goes on at Columbia on the daily yet? Pomona’s administration handling of the students who violently stormed one of their classroom buildings and tried to prevent others from leaving was handled properly, if you care about such things. Not so at Columbia!

Turn off your Fox News. Columbia had major issues a year ago. The admin handled it horribly. It has not totally gone away. The campus is now locked down (which is ridiculous). But it is far from daily.

I live near Columbia. Several members of my immediate family went there for grad school. Most kids have a very binary response. It is either exactly what they are looking for. Or it is a total turnoff. The student body is actually incredibly diverse - lots of kids from all over the country and world. Plus the diversity of NYC. Pomona is a relatively homogenous bubble. One is not better than the other.

All of the Fox News worshippers who might have considered it will no longer be applying for the reasons demonstrated in the quote above. I personally think this is a good thing. But from the perspective of diverse points of view, you will not be exposed to how half of America thinks.

Nope on the above. Pomona is actually the most ethnically and racially diverse LAC-they pride themselves on that. Maybe get your facts straight.

[Anonymous]

I live near Columbia and think even the coverage of the protests last year was overblown (NYU was worse for example), but I also think the fake news has successfully pinged Columbia's reputation.

Columbia's undergrad experience is better than some think, but I'd pick Pomona for something new.

[Anonymous]

It's about core course requirements versus less onerous distribution requirements and it's about living in NYC versus living in a suburban college community.