Pomona vs Williams ED for Chemistry/Neuroscience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the Williams athletic influence is real and prevalent everywhere- 40% of kids on teams, cliques everywhere

If NARPs can navigate the social piece, think how much less academic competition there might be. There will be exceptions of course but stereotypes rarely come out of nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not luck that you had a sunny day - it’s sunny everyday LOL. DD is double majoring in policy and math at Pomona. She has taken classes from CMC and Pitzer and have friends across all 5 schools. Her classmates are extremely intelligent and motivated, many of them are valedictorians of their high schools. The school promotes collaboration than competition, and kids generally seem happy and laid back. Ontario Int’l Airport is only 15 minutes away but there isn’t a direct flight from where we live (east coast). Or, you can fly to LAX and uber to school, uber fare is about $100. Two things other than the weather that make Pomona vastly different from Williams and other LACs - the consortium you mentioned and diversity of the student body. I’ve got no experience with Williams but my other kid dreams of attending the NESCAC schools.

I don’t know if you’ve considered this, but our DD takes the shuttles by the college to LAX and Ontario. Also for lax, you can avoid the uber if you have light luggage since there’s the flyaway bus (~$9) and Metrolink that goes straight from Union Station to Claremont. Nowadays DD’s friends pick her up from the airport, but this might be helpful for freshman.

Thanks, that’s good to know. She usually flies to Ontario and her friends pick her up there.

Fyi Southwest just started a nonstop from BWI to Ontario

OP you’ve gotten a surprisingly reasonable/constructive thread.

The weather really is nice a lot (although it can be hot at times) and I think the SoCal location makes the kids just a bit more relaxed and happy. If your kid “clicked” at Pomona then I wouldn’t really fight it.

Also that fact that the social scene at Pomona includes all of the 5Cs was important to my kid. The balance of having a small school but not just having a small school worked out. Even with a semester abroad I think things would have felt too small otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Williams is better regarded so I’d do Williams ED1 and Pomona ED2. There’s a reason Pomona offers ed2 and Williams doesn’t- it’s more of a back up school.

[Anonymous]

^^^Barf to the above-Williams is coasting on an old reputation. I’d expect the 5C’s to be dominant in 10 years or so-Claremont McKenna is particularly rising fast.

[Anonymous]

Pomona-Pitzer about 20% athletes compared to 40% at Williams. Big difference!

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Williams is better regarded so I’d do Williams ED1 and Pomona ED2. There’s a reason Pomona offers ed2 and Williams doesn’t- it’s more of a back up school. [/quote]
Yeah, and yet Williams still has a worse yield and higher acceptance rate. Maybe it should take notes.

[Anonymous]

Williams 42% submitted SAT, 18% ACT
Pomona 29% submitted SAT, 15% ACT

admitted and matriculating students from last cycle

that’s Uuuge!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Williams is better regarded so I’d do Williams ED1 and Pomona ED2. There’s a reason Pomona offers ed2 and Williams doesn’t- it’s more of a back up school.

Do not follow this advice. If there is an ED2 in the offing, it needs to be a step down. Too many applicants make the mistake of not going down a notch for ED2 after an ED1 rejection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Williams is better regarded so I’d do Williams ED1 and Pomona ED2. There’s a reason Pomona offers ed2 and Williams doesn’t- it’s more of a back up school.

Do not follow this advice. If there is an ED2 in the offing, it needs to be a step down. Too many applicants make the mistake of not going down a notch for ED2 after an ED1 rejection.

+1, especially applying to a more competitive college where there’s bias against those who aren’t from the west coast.

[Anonymous]

Avoiding Amherst is a good choice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Williams is better regarded so I’d do Williams ED1 and Pomona ED2. There’s a reason Pomona offers ed2 and Williams doesn’t- it’s more of a back up school.

For anyone who knows anything about Pomona, this is a deeply hilarious comment.

OP - Pomona admissions, like those for any highly selective school, are a lottery. My nephew (1600 SAT in one go, D1 sports recruiting interest, multiple significant music competition wins, etc.) graduated with nearly perfect grades in double STEM majors from an Ivy and won just about every academic award offered (all while finishing a novel). He was flat out denied admission to Pomona.

[Anonymous]

My daughter was down to these two schools and chose Williams as a chemistry major. She's loving it. Great faculty and research opportunities as early as the winter of your first year. New England felt like a change for her from the mid-atlantic, but nearly as much as CA obviously would. Hard to make a bad choice here. I'd focus on fit, and not splitting hairs about which school is "better."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was down to these two schools and chose Williams as a chemistry major. She's loving it. Great faculty and research opportunities as early as the winter of your first year. New England felt like a change for her from the mid-atlantic, but nearly as much as CA obviously would. Hard to make a bad choice here. I'd focus on fit, and not splitting hairs about which school is "better."

This is good advice.

My DD was interested in both schools. DD really liked both campus and locations for different reasons. DD ultimately chose Pomona because of the location and 5C Consortium, but I'm sure she would have had a fantastic experience at Williams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Williams 42% submitted SAT, 18% ACT
Pomona 29% submitted SAT, 15% ACT

admitted and matriculating students from last cycle

that’s Uuuge!

It’s closer for this year post AA decision

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Williams 42% submitted SAT, 18% ACT
Pomona 29% submitted SAT, 15% ACT

admitted and matriculating students from last cycle

that’s Uuuge!

Pomona is 36% submitted SAT, 14% ACT; meanwhile
Williams is 35% submitted SAT, 17% ACT. Not that serious of a difference.

https://tableau.campus.pomona.edu/views/CDS2024-25/A_GeneralInformation?%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y
https://www.williams.edu/institutional-research/files/2025/06/CDS_2024_2025_Williams_V5.pdf