Why is Pomona so special?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Location isn't that great either. Very far from the beach and downtown LA, very smoggy.

It's one of those cases where "it's great because everyone thinks it's great".

Basically the beaches are at one end of LA county and the school is at the other. DD really liked the campus - as well as Pitzer - but the drive from our hotel in Santa Monica to the Claremont campuses, then back in one hot afternoon was not lost on her.

Yeah, it makes sense that the beaches are in part of LA county that’s … by … the … ocean.

LA is one of the US' largest counties and is roughly 800 square miles larger than a combined Delaware and Rhode Island. Most 17 and 18 year olds don't know that. They hear LA, they think of Hollywood, the beaches, so yeah, they are not imagining driving 50 miles from one end of the county to the other.

Around 5 miles from campus, according to GoogleMaps. Nice!

Why does everyone assume this is why a student wants to go to Pomona OR that students/families who consider Pomona do not know where it is located? Perhaps your view if LA is beaches and Hollywood...but that doesn't mean everyone else's does.

Our child is interested in Pomona and the only way LA is remotely involved is that it makes it close enough to transportation so that getting there from accoss the country is not a nightmare. They have no interest in the beach or Hollywood. They like the idea of nice weather and are far more interested in exploring internal land features of CA via trips while they are there (Joshua Tree/Yosemite/Redwoods/Desert). They like the school because of the small size of the college with access to 7000 kids over multiple schools. They like a place where kids live on campus 4 years as a community.

Please. DC lives on the East coast and had never been to California, but is a creature of social media. So yeah, thoughts of the beach popped when they first heard that Pomona, which was suggested to them by their college counselor, is in LA. That doesn't seem so far-fetched.

DC ultimately decided they wanted a school that was not that far from home as well as easily accessible to the outdoors - right outside their dorm door. They are now at a top NESCAC.

It’s in LA County. Big county. Ocean and mountains. Trees too. Last I checked, Pomona was easily accessible to the outdoors.

Clearly,
you haven't been there. There are trees on campus, but it's in a desert wasteland. There are hills behind it. It's flat. very flat. That's
what Claremont/Ontario is. FLAT. And no one from out there would say it's in Los Angeles County. It's on the far east end of Los Angeles county near San Bernardino. Do you have any idea how big Los Angeles County is? And that descriptor isn't a positive anymore.

These are the “hills” PP is talking about, they include a 10,000 foot “hill.” My kid who is at one of the 5Cs spends a lot of time in the Angeles National Forest because it’s right nearby.

Around 5 miles from campus, according to googlemaps. Nice!

When I was there I never heard of anyone going to Mt Baldy. That photo is deceptive, a view of the mountains is very uncommon, mostly they are obscured by smog.

The way I would describe the area around campus for many miles is “boring suburbia” - somewhat like if you went to GMU.

There’s nothing like Claremont Village in the hellscape known as nova.

There is no Clairemont “Villagr”. Nice try. There isn’t even a google if Yelp on it. I know well. It’s a N/S street with some mom and pop stores on it in tge middle or sprawl. Old town Fairfax is much more interesting. Actually so is Alexandria, and so on

NP. What are you even talking about? I was there today and Claremont Village is lovely. Large gracious trees, tidy village streets with good restaurants, shops. Beautiful campus. Something about it is calming. I can see why students want to go there.

[Anonymous]

It’s a street with some mom and pop stores on it like Highland Ave in Los Angeles. Nothing extraordinary about it all and whe done with walking up and down it where are you going to go? San Berdoo for a big night out? East coast people forget that California is a car culture. It’s very difficult to get around without one. You aren’t going to pop on the 5, the 91 etc just to Sanger over to the beach. How are you going to get from LAX? Fly into Ontario? My relatives went to the Claremont colleges. I understand Pomona is way up there in rankings (I don’t understand why - I would go to Williams or any other of the east-coast SLACs over Pomona) and Claremont is good but Scripps? Pitzer? Not with the money. East coast students have stars in their eyes about SoCal which is quickly destroyed once they get out there.

[Anonymous]

Stop responding to the location troll folks...

[Anonymous]

Clearly someone's kid was rejected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop responding to the location troll folks...

Exactly. What would be the motivation for a real person to spend so much time trying to dissuade people from going there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a street with some mom and pop stores on it like Highland Ave in Los Angeles. Nothing extraordinary about it all and whe done with walking up and down it where are you going to go? San Berdoo for a big night out? East coast people forget that California is a car culture. It’s very difficult to get around without one. You aren’t going to pop on the 5, the 91 etc just to Sanger over to the beach. How are you going to get from LAX? Fly into Ontario? My relatives went to the Claremont colleges. I understand Pomona is way up there in rankings (I don’t understand why - I would go to Williams or any other of the east-coast SLACs over Pomona) and Claremont is good but Scripps? Pitzer? Not with the money. East coast students have stars in their eyes about SoCal which is quickly destroyed once they get out there.

It appeals to a certain type of applicant. Not sure why you’re so angry seeming about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a street with some mom and pop stores on it like Highland Ave in Los Angeles. Nothing extraordinary about it all and whe done with walking up and down it where are you going to go? San Berdoo for a big night out? East coast people forget that California is a car culture. It’s very difficult to get around without one. You aren’t going to pop on the 5, the 91 etc just to Sanger over to the beach. How are you going to get from LAX? Fly into Ontario? My relatives went to the Claremont colleges. I understand Pomona is way up there in rankings (I don’t understand why - I would go to Williams or any other of the east-coast SLACs over Pomona) and Claremont is good but Scripps? Pitzer? Not with the money. East coast students have stars in their eyes about SoCal which is quickly destroyed once they get out there.

+100
I went there and I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop responding to the location troll folks...

Exactly. What would be the motivation for a real person to spend so much time trying to dissuade people from going there?

Maybe just trying to drive home the point that this isn’t the part of southern CA near “the beach” and Mailibu and all that? Anyone with the iq of a turnip would know that from 14 seconds of research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a street with some mom and pop stores on it like Highland Ave in Los Angeles. Nothing extraordinary about it all and whe done with walking up and down it where are you going to go? San Berdoo for a big night out? East coast people forget that California is a car culture. It’s very difficult to get around without one. You aren’t going to pop on the 5, the 91 etc just to Sanger over to the beach. How are you going to get from LAX? Fly into Ontario? My relatives went to the Claremont colleges. I understand Pomona is way up there in rankings (I don’t understand why - I would go to Williams or any other of the east-coast SLACs over Pomona) and Claremont is good but Scripps? Pitzer? Not with the money. East coast students have stars in their eyes about SoCal which is quickly destroyed once they get out there.

+100
I went there and I agree.

Times have changed. Public transit is a lot better in the area.

DS went to Pomona from the East Coast without a car and was able to do just about all the touristy things LA has over my time. Pomona funded a bunch of trips regularly and even sponsored a competition for those undertaking their list : https://www.pomona.edu/life-at-pomona/47-things-do-leaving-pomona

Getting to DTLA/Union Station is a direct train ride from campus. If you want to go further, you can then directly connect to the Red Line to go to USC or Hollywood, take the purple line to Koreatown, take the LAX Flyway bus to get to the airport, connect to the silver line to go to Santa Monica or UCLA, take the Metrolink to Oceanside or Amtrak to San Diego, take the yellow line to Chinatown and Pasadena, take a bus to the Hollywood Bowl on concert days, and take FlixBus or Megabus to San Francisco.

The outdoors club funds student led trips to all the natural beauty in the area. DS went kayaking in the channel islands, several times to Ski-Beach day (ski and surf on the same day- a Pomona tradition), Joshua Tree, Sequoia NP, and more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Loose_(outing_club)

He loved his time at Pomona. While he did wish Claremont had more to offer for college students, he appreciated coming back home to a safe and cozy place after a bustling weekend getaway in LA.

[Anonymous]

sorry- over *his time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a street with some mom and pop stores on it like Highland Ave in Los Angeles. Nothing extraordinary about it all and whe done with walking up and down it where are you going to go? San Berdoo for a big night out? East coast people forget that California is a car culture. It’s very difficult to get around without one. You aren’t going to pop on the 5, the 91 etc just to Sanger over to the beach. How are you going to get from LAX? Fly into Ontario? My relatives went to the Claremont colleges. I understand Pomona is way up there in rankings (I don’t understand why - I would go to Williams or any other of the east-coast SLACs over Pomona) and Claremont is good but Scripps? Pitzer? Not with the money. East coast students have stars in their eyes about SoCal which is quickly destroyed once they get out there.

+100
I went there and I agree.

Times have changed. Public transit is a lot better in the area.

DS went to Pomona from the East Coast without a car and was able to do just about all the touristy things LA has over my time. Pomona funded a bunch of trips regularly and even sponsored a competition for those undertaking their list : https://www.pomona.edu/life-at-pomona/47-things-do-leaving-pomona

Getting to DTLA/Union Station is a direct train ride from campus. If you want to go further, you can then directly connect to the Red Line to go to USC or Hollywood, take the purple line to Koreatown, take the LAX Flyway bus to get to the airport, connect to the silver line to go to Santa Monica or UCLA, take the Metrolink to Oceanside or Amtrak to San Diego, take the yellow line to Chinatown and Pasadena, take a bus to the Hollywood Bowl on concert days, and take FlixBus or Megabus to San Francisco.

The outdoors club funds student led trips to all the natural beauty in the area. DS went kayaking in the channel islands, several times to Ski-Beach day (ski and surf on the same day- a Pomona tradition), Joshua Tree, Sequoia NP, and more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Loose_(outing_club)

He loved his time at Pomona. While he did wish Claremont had more to offer for college students, he appreciated coming back home to a safe and cozy place after a bustling weekend getaway in LA.

Cozy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a street with some mom and pop stores on it like Highland Ave in Los Angeles. Nothing extraordinary about it all and whe done with walking up and down it where are you going to go? San Berdoo for a big night out? East coast people forget that California is a car culture. It’s very difficult to get around without one. You aren’t going to pop on the 5, the 91 etc just to Sanger over to the beach. How are you going to get from LAX? Fly into Ontario? My relatives went to the Claremont colleges. I understand Pomona is way up there in rankings (I don’t understand why - I would go to Williams or any other of the east-coast SLACs over Pomona) and Claremont is good but Scripps? Pitzer? Not with the money. East coast students have stars in their eyes about SoCal which is quickly destroyed once they get out there.

+100
I went there and I agree.

+1. Sister went to Pitzer. I was accepted to Pomona but went to Oxy (not great). This is all true. The SoCal schools are not what east coasters are expecting. They want the look of Pepperdine but with more academic chomp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a street with some mom and pop stores on it like Highland Ave in Los Angeles. Nothing extraordinary about it all and whe done with walking up and down it where are you going to go? San Berdoo for a big night out? East coast people forget that California is a car culture. It’s very difficult to get around without one. You aren’t going to pop on the 5, the 91 etc just to Sanger over to the beach. How are you going to get from LAX? Fly into Ontario? My relatives went to the Claremont colleges. I understand Pomona is way up there in rankings (I don’t understand why - I would go to Williams or any other of the east-coast SLACs over Pomona) and Claremont is good but Scripps? Pitzer? Not with the money. East coast students have stars in their eyes about SoCal which is quickly destroyed once they get out there.

+100
I went there and I agree.

Times have changed. Public transit is a lot better in the area.

DS went to Pomona from the East Coast without a car and was able to do just about all the touristy things LA has over my time. Pomona funded a bunch of trips regularly and even sponsored a competition for those undertaking their list : https://www.pomona.edu/life-at-pomona/47-things-do-leaving-pomona

Getting to DTLA/Union Station is a direct train ride from campus. If you want to go further, you can then directly connect to the Red Line to go to USC or Hollywood, take the purple line to Koreatown, take the LAX Flyway bus to get to the airport, connect to the silver line to go to Santa Monica or UCLA, take the Metrolink to Oceanside or Amtrak to San Diego, take the yellow line to Chinatown and Pasadena, take a bus to the Hollywood Bowl on concert days, and take FlixBus or Megabus to San Francisco.

The outdoors club funds student led trips to all the natural beauty in the area. DS went kayaking in the channel islands, several times to Ski-Beach day (ski and surf on the same day- a Pomona tradition), Joshua Tree, Sequoia NP, and more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Loose_(outing_club)

He loved his time at Pomona. While he did wish Claremont had more to offer for college students, he appreciated coming back home to a safe and cozy place after a bustling weekend getaway in LA.

I have coworkers in LA who tell me things about the public transit there, and I certainly wouldn't want my daughter riding it. Maybe not even my son, tbh.

When I was there, they did have bus trips to the beach (a bus hired by the school) and it was a pretty long and exhausting trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop responding to the location troll folks...

Exactly. What would be the motivation for a real person to spend so much time trying to dissuade people from going there?

Just ignore anyone who says "I'm a local and here's the reality..." Schools don't actually draw that heavily on the local community, so at best it's someone with the same peripheral knowledge as any one else, but more often it's someone with an ax to grind who will never be clear eyed about the place they grew up. Happens in every thread, but 5C threads are particularly bad. That said, I have opinions on Arizona State, and I'll keep posting them...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a street with some mom and pop stores on it like Highland Ave in Los Angeles. Nothing extraordinary about it all and whe done with walking up and down it where are you going to go? San Berdoo for a big night out? East coast people forget that California is a car culture. It’s very difficult to get around without one. You aren’t going to pop on the 5, the 91 etc just to Sanger over to the beach. How are you going to get from LAX? Fly into Ontario? My relatives went to the Claremont colleges. I understand Pomona is way up there in rankings (I don’t understand why - I would go to Williams or any other of the east-coast SLACs over Pomona) and Claremont is good but Scripps? Pitzer? Not with the money. East coast students have stars in their eyes about SoCal which is quickly destroyed once they get out there.

+100
I went there and I agree.

Times have changed. Public transit is a lot better in the area.

DS went to Pomona from the East Coast without a car and was able to do just about all the touristy things LA has over my time. Pomona funded a bunch of trips regularly and even sponsored a competition for those undertaking their list : https://www.pomona.edu/life-at-pomona/47-things-do-leaving-pomona

Getting to DTLA/Union Station is a direct train ride from campus. If you want to go further, you can then directly connect to the Red Line to go to USC or Hollywood, take the purple line to Koreatown, take the LAX Flyway bus to get to the airport, connect to the silver line to go to Santa Monica or UCLA, take the Metrolink to Oceanside or Amtrak to San Diego, take the yellow line to Chinatown and Pasadena, take a bus to the Hollywood Bowl on concert days, and take FlixBus or Megabus to San Francisco.

The outdoors club funds student led trips to all the natural beauty in the area. DS went kayaking in the channel islands, several times to Ski-Beach day (ski and surf on the same day- a Pomona tradition), Joshua Tree, Sequoia NP, and more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Loose_(outing_club)

He loved his time at Pomona. While he did wish Claremont had more to offer for college students, he appreciated coming back home to a safe and cozy place after a bustling weekend getaway in LA.

I have coworkers in LA who tell me things about the public transit there, and I certainly wouldn't want my daughter riding it. Maybe not even my son, tbh.

When I was there, they did have bus trips to the beach (a bus hired by the school) and it was a pretty long and exhausting trip.

I can't imagine going to school where all the homeless in the LA has access to Pomona College for the price of a metro ride.