Amherst or Pomona?
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Anonymous
| Amherst has seasons. |
Anonymous
Interesting (surprised the Asian percentage, especially, at Pomona is so low), but here’s the overall point: 35% of Amherst students are athletes and 70% or so of athletes are white. Even taking into account that a very small percentage of athletes are international students, most of the white domestic students at Amherst are varsity athletes. That’s perverse. Couple that with very, very strong URM recruiting (think about what a relatively rural place like Amherst has to do to get the numbers Pomona has), first gen whites, and geographically diverse whites, and your typical high stats, non-athlete white kid has almost no chance of RD admission (competing for the remaining 10% of spots in the entire class, when this is by far the largest applicant pool). My gut tells me Pomona would be a slightly easier admit for that type of student, where he or she might not be quite as squeezed out by Amherst’s dual and contradictory institutional priorities of athletics and URM recruitment. But I could be wrong — maybe admission to either school is near impossible. |
Anonymous
They are different but assuming a kid knows what they like, any time spent off campus has good options in both locations. A kid going to Pomona isn't going to be looking to hang out in the suburb next door - they may be interested in San Gabriel Mtns nearby and the many other natural beauties in CA. A kid going to Amherst isn't going to be looking to hang out in Springfield or a farm next to campus either. The whole point those of us have been making on location is that someone who CARES about the geographic location of one of these schools is not likely to choose the other. They both have their benefits. |
Anonymous
| Amherst is not a suburb. |
Anonymous
Never said or implied that the Amherst consortium and Claremont are the same — was only responding to those saying the UMass one had no value. And, no, I have never been to Claremont. But the more I hear about Claremont, the line between “consortium” and “pleasantly laid out mid-size university with discrete residential areas” becomes blurred. Amherst really is a small liberal arts college. I would like to hear more about why Pomona is as well. At a certain point, methinks you can’t have your small liberal arts cake (Pomona!) and eat it too (5 fully-integrated colleges that are, as you say, “really on one campus”). |
Anonymous
Granted I went to UMASS 20+ years ago so who knows if it's still true, but I emphatically agree with this assessment. I regularly took classes at all the other schools and with students from all the other schools, except Amherst. I honestly can't think of a single Amherst student I even met during my time there. A guy from my hometown high school went there and I never ran into him once at a bar or grabbing pizza at Antonio's or anything, despite the Amherst campus being basically on top of all the downtown action. |
Anonymous
Facts. |
Anonymous
The Claremont Colleges are unique because of their contiguous layout, but the five undergraduate colleges themselves are far more similar to traditional liberal arts colleges than to a mid-size university. The biggest reason would be that the two graduate schools are separate from the five undergraduate colleges in terms of faculty, so these are really baccalaureate institutions. The next biggest reason would be the undergraduate faculty, academic requirements, and housing are separate for each of the colleges themselves, so they really are functionally separate. A place like Yale might be sorta similar if there were no grad students and each of its residential colleges had different graduation requirements, different academic advisors, and different faculty offering different courses with preferential enrollment to those attending their affiliated college. The closest the line comes to blurring would be athletics. Pomona and Pitzer share teams and facilities, as do Claremont, Mudd, and Scripps. Other than that, they are separate colleges that happen to be close enough to make cross-registration and consortium-wide social life practical and not just a cool concept for a brochure. For what it's worth, the campuses are pretty distinctive architecturally. I would also say the colleges each have their own sweet spot in terms of strengths and/or appeal. There are valid reasons not to pick a Claremont College. Perhaps one doesn't care for warmer weather, for example (not trying to be sarcastic.) But the consortium itself is a strength. |
Anonymous
| Speaking of athlete-non athletes divide, how well would an Asian female lax player who is pretty good and experienced (varsity captain) but doesn’t want to spent her time playing D3 lax fit in? |
Anonymous
Perhaps this comes down to what you mean by "athlete-non athletes divide." Because LACs have a higher percentage of athletes due to their small size, there's the appearance of a divide during the admission process, as its a more common hook than at a larger school. (I'm assuming a similar number of teams, but that tends to be true.) But once enrolled, I think the situation flips. At these small residential colleges, everyone gets to know everyone and closed events are generally not tolerated. At the larger schools, particularly the ones with only one or two years of on-campus housing, students are more likely to rely on fraternities/sororities or athletic teams to make up for moving off campus, so "divides" form. Larger classes and more time commitment for athletics at the D1 level also plays into this. But amongst LACs, the Claremont Colleges would probably overall have a lower percentage of athletes compared to most of their similarly ranked peers, given there's two teams per sport and over 6,000 students. So even less of an issue there than at most. If there's an exception to that, my guess would be CMC. |
Anonymous
A lot of speculation and judgment in this post. They could use one of those brilliant jump to conclusions mats from Office Space! Pomona doesn't have the East Coast name recognition of Amherst, Swarthmore, Williams, and Wellesley but it is a great school that is extremely well regarded out West. Personally, I prefer the campus and location Pomona has but that really is just personal preference. Pomona actually felt bigger than Amherst because of how all those colleges are campus wise and how easily people move around. Amherst does feel like being at a singular small LAC. |
Anonymous
| That's interesting because it has consistently ranked top 5 in most LAC rankings and currently is #3 on usn, right below Amherst. |
Anonymous
| I would choose based on where I think I’d be after graduation. Pomona is very well known in the west coast, while Amherst is better known on the east coast. Other than that, I’d choose by climate. For me, it would be Pomona, hands down. |
Anonymous
As someone who is LA, keep in mind that the inland empire (where Pomona is) is not Santa Monica. It is very, very hot especially from Aug-Oct and air quality is very poor due to smog, fires, etc. So that is not a better climate for all people. My kid would take Amherst climate (we live on east coast now) over Pomona any day of the week. |
Anonymous
But your kid is looking to try something new just like a northeast kid wants to do the same. This goes back to the those of us saying that if this geographic detail is a key factor in school choice - kids won’t be applying to both . Note - there are plenty of us that understand exactly where Pomona is… there are reasons for a student to still like the school and location despite the fact that doesn’t register on ‘it’ locations among the wealthy in CA. |