What's the difference between Amherst and Pomona?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

How expensive is it to run a school in the middle of nowhere?

If you want good faculty you still have to pay them decently. Sometimes you actually have to pay them more, because most academics would prefer to live in an urban area.

Also, Massachusetts is not exactly a low-cost state.

Rural Massachusetts is not that expensive of a school to build off of when you look at Cambridge, Mass, Morningside Heights, Palo Alto, …

Williams doesn’t pay more than peers and doesn’t lead for LAC faculty compensation. You’re forgetting that academia is incredibly competitive and Williams is a college people want to work at. Most recent PhDs are gonna take a top job at Williams and brace the cold over a job at Pepperdine. Academia runs off the scam of prestige and you’re gonna have a lot easier time setting up a lab that’s effective with a 2/2 at Williams over Pepperdine if you want to move institutions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

I have kids at Haverford and Hamilton and .. I dont see a lot of money around for extra programming off campus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

I have kids at Haverford and Hamilton and .. I dont see a lot of money around for extra programming off campus

Yeah…pp is kind of full of shit, unless they are extremely unobservant. Sure, there may be similar things across campus, but general funding and ability to access certain opportunities are so much easier at Williams that you’d have to have your head in the sand not to notice. The entire way Williams runs janplan is something really only a school as rich as them could have as a fun side quest aspect of the semester- offering internships and meaningful experiential programs along academic offerings isn’t easy, especially for an LAC in Williamstown. Their aid is superior, their funding for clubs is superior, their research and faculty are stronger, their funding for anything you want is stronger. Not every student will take advantage but it’s hard to ignore outright.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

I have kids at Haverford and Hamilton and .. I don't see a lot of money around for extra programming off campus

Haverford has been financially constrained ever since their endowment debacle during the real estate crash. Plenty of money and resources at Hamilton. I'm sorry that your kid didn't take advantage of them. I met a kid there who started a BBQ club with some friends and ended up with a couple of thousand dollars of equipment to get started along with a budget for meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

I have kids at Haverford and Hamilton and .. I don't see a lot of money around for extra programming off campus

Haverford has been financially constrained ever since their endowment debacle during the real estate crash. Plenty of money and resources at Hamilton. I'm sorry that your kid didn't take advantage of them. I met a kid there who started a BBQ club with some friends and ended up with a couple of thousand dollars of equipment to get started along with a budget for meat.

Hamilton endowment is 1/3 of Williams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

Massive disagreement. Consistent availability and breadth of coursework for DD at Pomona in higher level courses is much more abundant than at lower tier lacs. Most of the economics-accounting/business/corporate finance/fintech coursework available at cmc is not taught at other schools including the PPE seminars (closest is Wesleyan with School of Social Science) and engineering, at Mudd, is available at very few LACs.

Williams, Swat, Bowdoin were other schools that had pretty specific and unique academic offerings.

The offerings at Pomona are not different in any significant way that the offerings at other top schools and the amount spent on instruction is similar as well. Love your school but be real.

I can’t imagine this to actually be true. The differences in resources between Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr were night and day. I don’t know much about Pomona, because I don’t like the west coast- but it has some multiple billion dollars in endowment and strong support on the west coast. There are definitely amazing things I’ve heard about the Claremont consortium. No one’s saying that Williams is washing Haverford, but I don’t agree that they’re the same experience, at all.

[Anonymous]

200 comments and most comments don’t mention either of the 2 schools that are of interest, and most of the ones that do are brain dead prestige takes that make 0 freaking sense

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:200 comments and most comments don’t mention either of the 2 schools that are of interest, and most of the ones that do are brain dead prestige takes that make 0 freaking sense

welcome to dcum

[Anonymous]

It’s like the difference between Somalia and Zimbabwe.

[Anonymous]

Neither is elite

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:200 comments and most comments don’t mention either of the 2 schools that are of interest, and most of the ones that do are brain dead prestige takes that make 0 freaking sense

The vast majority of this thread is two boosters going at each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

I have kids at Haverford and Hamilton and .. I don't see a lot of money around for extra programming off campus

Haverford has been financially constrained ever since their endowment debacle during the real estate crash. Plenty of money and resources at Hamilton. I'm sorry that your kid didn't take advantage of them. I met a kid there who started a BBQ club with some friends and ended up with a couple of thousand dollars of equipment to get started along with a budget for meat.

I don't think anyone is talking about access to BBQ clubs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:200 comments and most comments don’t mention either of the 2 schools that are of interest, and most of the ones that do are brain dead prestige takes that make 0 freaking sense

The vast majority of this thread is two boosters going at each other.

Everybody knows difference between two schools are slim, but, we like ranking, don't we?

Majority people will look into ranking when choosing college, of course, depends on your interests, talent, career goal, it would be wise not based on ranking alone.
Factual and data based discussion are helpful, people will come and read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:200 comments and most comments don’t mention either of the 2 schools that are of interest, and most of the ones that do are brain dead prestige takes that make 0 freaking sense

The vast majority of this thread is two boosters going at each other.

Everybody knows difference between two schools are slim, but, we like ranking, don't we?

Majority people will look into ranking when choosing college, of course, depends on your interests, talent, career goal, it would be wise not based on ranking alone.
Factual and data based discussion are helpful, people will come and read.

Ranking is just foolish at these levels. Boosters from various schools whine, yell, and fight but there isn't much actual difference. This poster had it right.

"There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well."

The WASP supporters hate hearing it but there isn't a real difference in resources. A few things here and there but far more similarities than differences. They all spend large amounts of money educating their students (more than most Ivies) and they all provide excellent experiences.

But, let the games continue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:200 comments and most comments don’t mention either of the 2 schools that are of interest, and most of the ones that do are brain dead prestige takes that make 0 freaking sense

The vast majority of this thread is two boosters going at each other.

Everybody knows difference between two schools are slim, but, we like ranking, don't we?

Majority people will look into ranking when choosing college, of course, depends on your interests, talent, career goal, it would be wise not based on ranking alone.
Factual and data based discussion are helpful, people will come and read.

Ranking is just foolish at these levels. Boosters from various schools whine, yell, and fight but there isn't much actual difference. This poster had it right.

"There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well."

The WASP supporters hate hearing it but there isn't a real difference in resources. A few things here and there but far more similarities than differences. They all spend large amounts of money educating their students (more than most Ivies) and they all provide excellent experiences.

But, let the games continue.

If it weren't for the ranking, I don't think you can pick the 8 out of rest, or it's just your opinion means nothing to others.