Pomona Vs Williams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eph ‘03 here. Remember that reality happens and you might be too stressed/overworked to even take up a tutorial- they’ve improved, but before only 30ish% of students took up tutorial. It also can be extremely taxing not having anywhere to go. Williams is very isolated and as a woman of color growing into herself, I do think it was a bit of a detriment to be so far away from anything of interest.

The math department is very strong. One of Williams’ golden Children up there with Econ. I was an art history major which…had some support, not as much as those majors for sure. Seeing where my class went, if DC wants to be a researcher, head over to Pomona. Most of the math majors in my class ran straight to finance.

Very important consideration. You are likely to not take a tutorial, or not be prepared to take one. Williams is MUCH more pre professional and ivy-like culturally than Pomona, which is closer to Stanford.

I do think Williams is more ivy-like culturally than all of the other SLACS, for the better and for the worse. Its academics are incredibly impressive (there's a reason it's the perpetual #1), yes including the tutorials, but we also detected snobbishness in professors and students we didn't care for. Our student tour guide said the gulf between wealthy and financial-aid kids was problematic and was especially hard to deal with during the long, remote winters. So much to love about it, but DC worried about being happy there. We ended up crossing it off the list. Loved the feel of Pomona and the consortium, especially the opportunity to take classes at Mudd. DC not eager to go that far, and really not a warm-weather kid in general, but there wasn't anything about Pomona we didn't like.

Its endowment is the reason it’s number one and the exact same reason that Amherst is number two.

The academics are great but they are not greater than Amherst, Swat, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wellesley, Pomona, Haverford, Carleton, and likely several others. They are all uniformly superior to any other undergraduate academic environment and more alike than different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eph ‘03 here. Remember that reality happens and you might be too stressed/overworked to even take up a tutorial- they’ve improved, but before only 30ish% of students took up tutorial. It also can be extremely taxing not having anywhere to go. Williams is very isolated and as a woman of color growing into herself, I do think it was a bit of a detriment to be so far away from anything of interest.

The math department is very strong. One of Williams’ golden Children up there with Econ. I was an art history major which…had some support, not as much as those majors for sure. Seeing where my class went, if DC wants to be a researcher, head over to Pomona. Most of the math majors in my class ran straight to finance.

Very important consideration. You are likely to not take a tutorial, or not be prepared to take one. Williams is MUCH more pre professional and ivy-like culturally than Pomona, which is closer to Stanford.

I do think Williams is more ivy-like culturally than all of the other SLACS, for the better and for the worse. Its academics are incredibly impressive (there's a reason it's the perpetual #1), yes including the tutorials, but we also detected snobbishness in professors and students we didn't care for. Our student tour guide said the gulf between wealthy and financial-aid kids was problematic and was especially hard to deal with during the long, remote winters. So much to love about it, but DC worried about being happy there. We ended up crossing it off the list. Loved the feel of Pomona and the consortium, especially the opportunity to take classes at Mudd. DC not eager to go that far, and really not a warm-weather kid in general, but there wasn't anything about Pomona we didn't like.

Its endowment is the reason it’s number one and the exact same reason that Amherst is number two.

The academics are great but they are not greater than Amherst, Swat, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wellesley, Pomona, Haverford, Carleton, and likely several others. They are all uniformly superior to any other undergraduate academic environment and more alike than different.

100% agree. I’d say Williams academics are less impressive than Pomona’s just as a natural fact that it doesn’t have something equivalent to the Claremont Colleges, where your single department can have different interpretations and curriculums across colleges. Williams would be preferable for a student who likes the small campus size with a focused degree plan, while Pomona is good for an explorer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eph ‘03 here. Remember that reality happens and you might be too stressed/overworked to even take up a tutorial- they’ve improved, but before only 30ish% of students took up tutorial. It also can be extremely taxing not having anywhere to go. Williams is very isolated and as a woman of color growing into herself, I do think it was a bit of a detriment to be so far away from anything of interest.

The math department is very strong. One of Williams’ golden Children up there with Econ. I was an art history major which…had some support, not as much as those majors for sure. Seeing where my class went, if DC wants to be a researcher, head over to Pomona. Most of the math majors in my class ran straight to finance.

Very important consideration. You are likely to not take a tutorial, or not be prepared to take one. Williams is MUCH more pre professional and ivy-like culturally than Pomona, which is closer to Stanford.

I do think Williams is more ivy-like culturally than all of the other SLACS, for the better and for the worse. Its academics are incredibly impressive (there's a reason it's the perpetual #1), yes including the tutorials, but we also detected snobbishness in professors and students we didn't care for. Our student tour guide said the gulf between wealthy and financial-aid kids was problematic and was especially hard to deal with during the long, remote winters. So much to love about it, but DC worried about being happy there. We ended up crossing it off the list. Loved the feel of Pomona and the consortium, especially the opportunity to take classes at Mudd. DC not eager to go that far, and really not a warm-weather kid in general, but there wasn't anything about Pomona we didn't like.

Its endowment is the reason it’s number one and the exact same reason that Amherst is number two.

The academics are great but they are not greater than Amherst, Swat, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wellesley, Pomona, Haverford, Carleton, and likely several others. They are all uniformly superior to any other undergraduate academic environment and more alike than different.

100% agree. I’d say Williams academics are less impressive than Pomona’s just as a natural fact that it doesn’t have something equivalent to the Claremont Colleges, where your single department can have different interpretations and curriculums across colleges. Williams would be preferable for a student who likes the small campus size with a focused degree plan, while Pomona is good for an explorer.

The C5 have a bit of a monopoly on smart CA kids who want a LAC while staying on the west coast. Pomona was high on my kids list but she ultimately chose to go east. They all have their vibes but are more academically similar than different. The C5 model is a special resource to those who attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eph ‘03 here. Remember that reality happens and you might be too stressed/overworked to even take up a tutorial- they’ve improved, but before only 30ish% of students took up tutorial. It also can be extremely taxing not having anywhere to go. Williams is very isolated and as a woman of color growing into herself, I do think it was a bit of a detriment to be so far away from anything of interest.

The math department is very strong. One of Williams’ golden Children up there with Econ. I was an art history major which…had some support, not as much as those majors for sure. Seeing where my class went, if DC wants to be a researcher, head over to Pomona. Most of the math majors in my class ran straight to finance.

Very important consideration. You are likely to not take a tutorial, or not be prepared to take one. Williams is MUCH more pre professional and ivy-like culturally than Pomona, which is closer to Stanford.

I do think Williams is more ivy-like culturally than all of the other SLACS, for the better and for the worse. Its academics are incredibly impressive (there's a reason it's the perpetual #1), yes including the tutorials, but we also detected snobbishness in professors and students we didn't care for. Our student tour guide said the gulf between wealthy and financial-aid kids was problematic and was especially hard to deal with during the long, remote winters. So much to love about it, but DC worried about being happy there. We ended up crossing it off the list. Loved the feel of Pomona and the consortium, especially the opportunity to take classes at Mudd. DC not eager to go that far, and really not a warm-weather kid in general, but there wasn't anything about Pomona we didn't like.

Its endowment is the reason it’s number one and the exact same reason that Amherst is number two.

The academics are great but they are not greater than Amherst, Swat, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wellesley, Pomona, Haverford, Carleton, and likely several others. They are all uniformly superior to any other undergraduate academic environment and more alike than different.

100% agree. I’d say Williams academics are less impressive than Pomona’s just as a natural fact that it doesn’t have something equivalent to the Claremont Colleges, where your single department can have different interpretations and curriculums across colleges. Williams would be preferable for a student who likes the small campus size with a focused degree plan, while Pomona is good for an explorer.

The C5 have a bit of a monopoly on smart CA kids who want a LAC while staying on the west coast. Pomona was high on my kids list but she ultimately chose to go east. They all have their vibes but are more academically similar than different. The C5 model is a special resource to those who attend.

They're pretty academically different depending on your department. DD is a psych/politics double major at Pomona. The psych science at Pomona and psych department at CMC are very different-CMC emphasizes Quantitative psychology, Diversity Psychology, and Organizational Psych, meanwhile Pomona is a very Psychological SCIENCE heavy department with long lab courses, more stats coursework, more clinical psych opportunities. Same with Politics at Pomona and Government at CMC; completely different departments, same major. DD has told me this is true also for Math, Computer Science, Chemistry, Sociology, English/Lit, and many other subjects.
At williams, you'll have fewer faculty who do those different fields, so you'd choose between social psych or organizational psych (which scrolling through, it doesn't seem they have a professor in this field) all under one department. It means that DD is using very different methods, tools, and gaining many experiences in her two degrees: she's had to use SAS, R, Python for coursework and has had to use this in terms of clinical trial results and fMRI research. Those types of opportunities would be difficult to mirror without multiple different departments or a university.

[Anonymous]

For colored, middle class, non athlete, no legacy, extremely smart, compassionate and ambitious kids, Pomona is a better choice than Williams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For colored, middle class, non athlete, no legacy, extremely smart, compassionate and ambitious kids, Pomona is a better choice than Williams.

Thank you for that unbiased conclusion, Pomona parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eph ‘03 here. Remember that reality happens and you might be too stressed/overworked to even take up a tutorial- they’ve improved, but before only 30ish% of students took up tutorial. It also can be extremely taxing not having anywhere to go. Williams is very isolated and as a woman of color growing into herself, I do think it was a bit of a detriment to be so far away from anything of interest.

The math department is very strong. One of Williams’ golden Children up there with Econ. I was an art history major which…had some support, not as much as those majors for sure. Seeing where my class went, if DC wants to be a researcher, head over to Pomona. Most of the math majors in my class ran straight to finance.

Very important consideration. You are likely to not take a tutorial, or not be prepared to take one. Williams is MUCH more pre professional and ivy-like culturally than Pomona, which is closer to Stanford.

I do think Williams is more ivy-like culturally than all of the other SLACS, for the better and for the worse. Its academics are incredibly impressive (there's a reason it's the perpetual #1), yes including the tutorials, but we also detected snobbishness in professors and students we didn't care for. Our student tour guide said the gulf between wealthy and financial-aid kids was problematic and was especially hard to deal with during the long, remote winters. So much to love about it, but DC worried about being happy there. We ended up crossing it off the list. Loved the feel of Pomona and the consortium, especially the opportunity to take classes at Mudd. DC not eager to go that far, and really not a warm-weather kid in general, but there wasn't anything about Pomona we didn't like.

Its endowment is the reason it’s number one and the exact same reason that Amherst is number two.

The academics are great but they are not greater than Amherst, Swat, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wellesley, Pomona, Haverford, Carleton, and likely several others. They are all uniformly superior to any other undergraduate academic environment and more alike than different.

Last I checked, the highest per capita SLAC endowment was…Swarthmore.
https://www.collegeraptor.com/college-rankings/details/EndowmentPerStudent/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eph ‘03 here. Remember that reality happens and you might be too stressed/overworked to even take up a tutorial- they’ve improved, but before only 30ish% of students took up tutorial. It also can be extremely taxing not having anywhere to go. Williams is very isolated and as a woman of color growing into herself, I do think it was a bit of a detriment to be so far away from anything of interest.

The math department is very strong. One of Williams’ golden Children up there with Econ. I was an art history major which…had some support, not as much as those majors for sure. Seeing where my class went, if DC wants to be a researcher, head over to Pomona. Most of the math majors in my class ran straight to finance.

Very important consideration. You are likely to not take a tutorial, or not be prepared to take one. Williams is MUCH more pre professional and ivy-like culturally than Pomona, which is closer to Stanford.

I do think Williams is more ivy-like culturally than all of the other SLACS, for the better and for the worse. Its academics are incredibly impressive (there's a reason it's the perpetual #1), yes including the tutorials, but we also detected snobbishness in professors and students we didn't care for. Our student tour guide said the gulf between wealthy and financial-aid kids was problematic and was especially hard to deal with during the long, remote winters. So much to love about it, but DC worried about being happy there. We ended up crossing it off the list. Loved the feel of Pomona and the consortium, especially the opportunity to take classes at Mudd. DC not eager to go that far, and really not a warm-weather kid in general, but there wasn't anything about Pomona we didn't like.

Its endowment is the reason it’s number one and the exact same reason that Amherst is number two.

The academics are great but they are not greater than Amherst, Swat, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wellesley, Pomona, Haverford, Carleton, and likely several others. They are all uniformly superior to any other undergraduate academic environment and more alike than different.

100% agree. I’d say Williams academics are less impressive than Pomona’s just as a natural fact that it doesn’t have something equivalent to the Claremont Colleges, where your single department can have different interpretations and curriculums across colleges. Williams would be preferable for a student who likes the small campus size with a focused degree plan, while Pomona is good for an explorer.

The C5 have a bit of a monopoly on smart CA kids who want a LAC while staying on the west coast. Pomona was high on my kids list but she ultimately chose to go east. They all have their vibes but are more academically similar than different. The C5 model is a special resource to those who attend.

They're pretty academically different depending on your department. DD is a psych/politics double major at Pomona. The psych science at Pomona and psych department at CMC are very different-CMC emphasizes Quantitative psychology, Diversity Psychology, and Organizational Psych, meanwhile Pomona is a very Psychological SCIENCE heavy department with long lab courses, more stats coursework, more clinical psych opportunities. Same with Politics at Pomona and Government at CMC; completely different departments, same major. DD has told me this is true also for Math, Computer Science, Chemistry, Sociology, English/Lit, and many other subjects.
At williams, you'll have fewer faculty who do those different fields, so you'd choose between social psych or organizational psych (which scrolling through, it doesn't seem they have a professor in this field) all under one department. It means that DD is using very different methods, tools, and gaining many experiences in her two degrees: she's had to use SAS, R, Python for coursework and has had to use this in terms of clinical trial results and fMRI research. Those types of opportunities would be difficult to mirror without multiple different departments or a university.

This is a long way of saying your DD is a STEM major. Nice try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eph ‘03 here. Remember that reality happens and you might be too stressed/overworked to even take up a tutorial- they’ve improved, but before only 30ish% of students took up tutorial. It also can be extremely taxing not having anywhere to go. Williams is very isolated and as a woman of color growing into herself, I do think it was a bit of a detriment to be so far away from anything of interest.

The math department is very strong. One of Williams’ golden Children up there with Econ. I was an art history major which…had some support, not as much as those majors for sure. Seeing where my class went, if DC wants to be a researcher, head over to Pomona. Most of the math majors in my class ran straight to finance.

Very important consideration. You are likely to not take a tutorial, or not be prepared to take one. Williams is MUCH more pre professional and ivy-like culturally than Pomona, which is closer to Stanford.

I do think Williams is more ivy-like culturally than all of the other SLACS, for the better and for the worse. Its academics are incredibly impressive (there's a reason it's the perpetual #1), yes including the tutorials, but we also detected snobbishness in professors and students we didn't care for. Our student tour guide said the gulf between wealthy and financial-aid kids was problematic and was especially hard to deal with during the long, remote winters. So much to love about it, but DC worried about being happy there. We ended up crossing it off the list. Loved the feel of Pomona and the consortium, especially the opportunity to take classes at Mudd. DC not eager to go that far, and really not a warm-weather kid in general, but there wasn't anything about Pomona we didn't like.

Its endowment is the reason it’s number one and the exact same reason that Amherst is number two.

The academics are great but they are not greater than Amherst, Swat, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wellesley, Pomona, Haverford, Carleton, and likely several others. They are all uniformly superior to any other undergraduate academic environment and more alike than different.

100% agree. I’d say Williams academics are less impressive than Pomona’s just as a natural fact that it doesn’t have something equivalent to the Claremont Colleges, where your single department can have different interpretations and curriculums across colleges. Williams would be preferable for a student who likes the small campus size with a focused degree plan, while Pomona is good for an explorer.

The C5 have a bit of a monopoly on smart CA kids who want a LAC while staying on the west coast. Pomona was high on my kids list but she ultimately chose to go east. They all have their vibes but are more academically similar than different. The C5 model is a special resource to those who attend.

They're pretty academically different depending on your department. DD is a psych/politics double major at Pomona. The psych science at Pomona and psych department at CMC are very different-CMC emphasizes Quantitative psychology, Diversity Psychology, and Organizational Psych, meanwhile Pomona is a very Psychological SCIENCE heavy department with long lab courses, more stats coursework, more clinical psych opportunities. Same with Politics at Pomona and Government at CMC; completely different departments, same major. DD has told me this is true also for Math, Computer Science, Chemistry, Sociology, English/Lit, and many other subjects.
At williams, you'll have fewer faculty who do those different fields, so you'd choose between social psych or organizational psych (which scrolling through, it doesn't seem they have a professor in this field) all under one department. It means that DD is using very different methods, tools, and gaining many experiences in her two degrees: she's had to use SAS, R, Python for coursework and has had to use this in terms of clinical trial results and fMRI research. Those types of opportunities would be difficult to mirror without multiple different departments or a university.

This is a long way of saying your DD is a STEM major. Nice try.

Nice try makes absolutely no sense, but keep on with whatever you're going on about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eph ‘03 here. Remember that reality happens and you might be too stressed/overworked to even take up a tutorial- they’ve improved, but before only 30ish% of students took up tutorial. It also can be extremely taxing not having anywhere to go. Williams is very isolated and as a woman of color growing into herself, I do think it was a bit of a detriment to be so far away from anything of interest.

The math department is very strong. One of Williams’ golden Children up there with Econ. I was an art history major which…had some support, not as much as those majors for sure. Seeing where my class went, if DC wants to be a researcher, head over to Pomona. Most of the math majors in my class ran straight to finance.

Very important consideration. You are likely to not take a tutorial, or not be prepared to take one. Williams is MUCH more pre professional and ivy-like culturally than Pomona, which is closer to Stanford.

I do think Williams is more ivy-like culturally than all of the other SLACS, for the better and for the worse. Its academics are incredibly impressive (there's a reason it's the perpetual #1), yes including the tutorials, but we also detected snobbishness in professors and students we didn't care for. Our student tour guide said the gulf between wealthy and financial-aid kids was problematic and was especially hard to deal with during the long, remote winters. So much to love about it, but DC worried about being happy there. We ended up crossing it off the list. Loved the feel of Pomona and the consortium, especially the opportunity to take classes at Mudd. DC not eager to go that far, and really not a warm-weather kid in general, but there wasn't anything about Pomona we didn't like.

Its endowment is the reason it’s number one and the exact same reason that Amherst is number two.

The academics are great but they are not greater than Amherst, Swat, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wellesley, Pomona, Haverford, Carleton, and likely several others. They are all uniformly superior to any other undergraduate academic environment and more alike than different.

Last I checked, the highest per capita SLAC endowment was…Swarthmore.
https://www.collegeraptor.com/college-rankings/details/EndowmentPerStudent/

Fluctuates depending on source: https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/blogs/learning-innovation/2023/09/08/endowments-full-time-equivalent-student

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eph ‘03 here. Remember that reality happens and you might be too stressed/overworked to even take up a tutorial- they’ve improved, but before only 30ish% of students took up tutorial. It also can be extremely taxing not having anywhere to go. Williams is very isolated and as a woman of color growing into herself, I do think it was a bit of a detriment to be so far away from anything of interest.

The math department is very strong. One of Williams’ golden Children up there with Econ. I was an art history major which…had some support, not as much as those majors for sure. Seeing where my class went, if DC wants to be a researcher, head over to Pomona. Most of the math majors in my class ran straight to finance.

Very important consideration. You are likely to not take a tutorial, or not be prepared to take one. Williams is MUCH more pre professional and ivy-like culturally than Pomona, which is closer to Stanford.

I do think Williams is more ivy-like culturally than all of the other SLACS, for the better and for the worse. Its academics are incredibly impressive (there's a reason it's the perpetual #1), yes including the tutorials, but we also detected snobbishness in professors and students we didn't care for. Our student tour guide said the gulf between wealthy and financial-aid kids was problematic and was especially hard to deal with during the long, remote winters. So much to love about it, but DC worried about being happy there. We ended up crossing it off the list. Loved the feel of Pomona and the consortium, especially the opportunity to take classes at Mudd. DC not eager to go that far, and really not a warm-weather kid in general, but there wasn't anything about Pomona we didn't like.

Its endowment is the reason it’s number one and the exact same reason that Amherst is number two.

The academics are great but they are not greater than Amherst, Swat, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wellesley, Pomona, Haverford, Carleton, and likely several others. They are all uniformly superior to any other undergraduate academic environment and more alike than different.

Last I checked, the highest per capita SLAC endowment was…Swarthmore.
https://www.collegeraptor.com/college-rankings/details/EndowmentPerStudent/

Nobody said that it was a perfect correlation but you just highlighted the fact that the single most distinguishing thing about WASP relative to the other elite LACs is their outsized endowments.

[Anonymous]

The C5 have a bit of a monopoly on smart CA kids who want a LAC while staying on the west coast. Pomona was high on my kids list but she ultimately chose to go east. They all have their vibes but are more academically similar than different. The C5 model is a special resource to those who attend.

"The C5 have a bit of a monopoly on smart CA kids who want a LAC while staying on the west coast"- I mean, where else would they go? Reed?

In any case, it is my experience (I live in CA) that most high-achieving students in CA do not want LACs, on the West Coast or not. At our well-known CA private, very few go to WASP, other than athletes. The target is almost exclusively T15 universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The C5 have a bit of a monopoly on smart CA kids who want a LAC while staying on the west coast. Pomona was high on my kids list but she ultimately chose to go east. They all have their vibes but are more academically similar than different. The C5 model is a special resource to those who attend.

"The C5 have a bit of a monopoly on smart CA kids who want a LAC while staying on the west coast"- I mean, where else would they go? Reed?

In any case, it is my experience (I live in CA) that most high-achieving students in CA do not want LACs, on the West Coast or not. At our well-known CA private, very few go to WASP, other than athletes. The target is almost exclusively T15 universities. . It is very true that high achieving students and parents in wealthy suburban locations are name conscious prestige seekers so would look down their nose at WASP. Most of the students that choose to attend these schools fortunately aren’t concerned with name recognition and it doesn’t make them lesser than those who attend Ivys and Stanford. In fact, it’s kind of refreshing to be at a college where everyone is super smart and accomplished but laid back and out of the pressure cooker shark tanks that most private HS’s have become. It pays dividends to do well at WASP-employers and top grad schools more than know and appreciate these students!

[Anonymous]

I like how interest in “hiking” is presented as a variable for choosing a school.

[Anonymous]

I have no interest in arguing with Pomona parents here about which is better. I am sure Pomona is fantastic. As a Williams parents please know my child is not an athlete and not hard core "outdoorsy" and is thriving at Williams. Was attracted to the intellectual life of the school and the beautiful setting. Started out as a humanities major and is now a dual STEM major and got hard core support from professors to develop in this way. And came to be much more outdoorsy due to new friends who shared their love of winter sports and the amazing outdoor opportunities that Williams provides.