Amherst or Pomona?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

Dp, but agree that people here tend to oversell the Claremont location. Inland Empire is much different from most people’s vision of Southern California living, not just among the wealthy.

In any case, we never seriously encouraged our own student’s interest as neither Claremont McKenna or Pomona has accepted anyone from our academically rigorous private with excellent college placement in recent Naviance history, but kids are definitely getting in to Amherst.

[Anonymous]

They should move Pomona to Palm Springs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

Dp, but agree that people here tend to oversell the Claremont location. Inland Empire is much different from most people’s vision of Southern California living, not just among the wealthy.

In any case, we never seriously encouraged our own student’s interest as neither Claremont McKenna or Pomona has accepted anyone from our academically rigorous private with excellent college placement in recent Naviance history, but kids are definitely getting in to Amherst.

I don't think people need to be broken of some misconception, most are fine with the town. The Claremont schools were well known from my Arizona HS way back when (probably too selective now). I don't think anyone was pretending it was the beach, the location was still a step up.

I also know two current students at the schools who seem happy with the location, one who did get into Pomona from a MD public. Agree that seems pretty rare, and harder than Amherst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both great schools in very different settings. I don’t think there is any real similarity on the “5 college consortium” front. That’s a very loose consortium in the case of Amherst. Pomona and the other four Claremont consortium colleges border each other and kids are always on the others’ campuses for parties, or on the way to town, or for classes. There is a lot of cross-enrollment.

It’s also extremely difficult to get into Pomona from around here as an unhooked student. Your odds of acceptance are much lower than the already low acceptance rate would suggest. At Amherst, a significant portion of the students are athletes. This is not true a Pomona, though Pomona-Pitzer has some excellent teams.

I don’t agree with this at all in terms of the 5-college consortium: there is a free bus system, UMass is on the other side of downtown Amherst (you can walk), and it is easy to get to Mount Holyoke and Smith. There are several 5 college majors and programs, and advanced Amherst students have the opportunity to even take graduate classes at UMass. Also think about the intellectual synergy created by 5 colleges all within 15 minutes of each other in terms of lectures, activities, movies — everything. We are talking, “which famous person can I see speak at which college this week.” I cannot speak to Pomona, but that consortium does not have nearly the same critical mass of students.

Amherst has a ton of athletes (35-40%) and a big athlete divide (problems with them living together exclusively etc.) It is also very big on recruiting URMs. Since athletes are disproportionately white, it creates a very polarized dynamic. (Amherst got rid of legacy, but athletic recruiting favors whites way more than legacy, both in terms of sheer numbers and the magnitude of the admissions boost, so there is just a tad of hypocrisy there.).

From an admissions standpoint, Amherst is probably a tougher admit for white, non-athlete applicants than is Pomona, for the reasons stated…

I suspect you have not been to Claremont. There is no comparison. The 5Cs are really on one campus. Crossing from Scripps to CMC to Pomona is like moving from one quad at UMASS to another part of campus. They share a library, sports teams, dining hall access, a bookstore etc. The Amherst consortium may have value, but they are not the same (I went to school in Claremont and just toured UMASS with one of my kids).

+1

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”).

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.

Ok, thanks for the explanation — maybe it is unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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?

Anybody could fit in anywhere, at the individual level. But admission is very unlikely without that athletic hook: I really don’t think people appreciate how difficult it is for unhooked kids to get into these schools. Also surprised that nobody seems to have mentioned this nugget from Selingo’s book: Amherst has more varsity athletes than they do at the entire University of Alabama — yes, that top football school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

As my post said, we live on the east coast now (I just grew up in LA). So, no, he isn't looking for something new. And I was using Santa Monica as a point of comparison not because it's an "it" part of LA, but to talk about the climate. The weather on the west side of LA--Santa Monica, Westwood (UCLA), etc. -- is basically beautiful all year. But the inland empire does not have "perfect weather"; it's VERY hot at certain times of the year and the air quality is poor. I think the Pomona schools are lovely and would be fully supportive if my kid was interested. But it's not an LA school, nor is it a suburb of LA (LA doesn't really have "suburbs" the way other cities do). It's the inland empire -- about an hour from LA with no traffic so, in reality, much further. I mean, would you say Athens, GA is a "suburb" of Atlanta?

[Anonymous]

I recently visited Amherst and loved it. Also like the consortium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's interesting because it has consistently ranked top 5 in most LAC rankings and currently is #3 on usn, right below Amherst.

FWIW since rankings are overrated, Pomona is a great school but has been ranked outside the top 5 by US News 9 times since 2000, including 7th 4 times, and 2 times since 2017. Amherst has been 1-2, usually 2nd, every year since 2000. More relevant though is the location and where alumni are. Pomona just doesn't have as many alumni out here. People "who know" know Pomona well but you don't name drop it in quite the same way out East.

You never know about admission to any of these schools. I know someone well who was rejected by Pomona and ended up at Stanford. You control what you can and hope for a little luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently visited Amherst and loved it. Also like the consortium.

Visited these schools and other LACs and Swarthmore, Pomona, Amherst, and Smith stood out campus wise. Pomona has a great campus and the weather is a plus. The only negative about Amherst was that it felt a little remote (though not like Williams). I liked the town Smith was in, Northampton, more than Amherst the town but you could easily get there from Amherst College. Both would be great choices.

[Anonymous]

Claremont has a charming village atmosphere that’s kind of different from dystopian LA. Plus, there’s nearby mountains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should move Pomona to Palm Springs

No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amherst has seasons.

So does Claremont.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

Dp, but agree that people here tend to oversell the Claremont location. Inland Empire is much different from most people’s vision of Southern California living, not just among the wealthy.

In any case, we never seriously encouraged our own student’s interest as neither Claremont McKenna or Pomona has accepted anyone from our academically rigorous private with excellent college placement in recent Naviance history, but kids are definitely getting in to Amherst.

Yes, it’s not close to a beach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

As my post said, we live on the east coast now (I just grew up in LA). So, no, he isn't looking for something new. And I was using Santa Monica as a point of comparison not because it's an "it" part of LA, but to talk about the climate. The weather on the west side of LA--Santa Monica, Westwood (UCLA), etc. -- is basically beautiful all year. But the inland empire does not have "perfect weather"; it's VERY hot at certain times of the year and the air quality is poor. I think the Pomona schools are lovely and would be fully supportive if my kid was interested. But it's not an LA school, nor is it a suburb of LA (LA doesn't really have "suburbs" the way other cities do). It's the inland empire -- about an hour from LA with no traffic so, in reality, much further. I mean, would you say Athens, GA is a "suburb" of Atlanta?

1) You are replying to someone who also grew up in LA
2) I don't understand why you (and others) feel the need to educate others about Claremont or why you assume the draw to Claremont has anything to do with LA or being on the coast. (And I'm sorry - but Claremont absolutely IS part of Greater LA metro area.) Don't you think that students that are seriously considering this school will visit and see for themselves? Even if they are coming from far away and visit a variety of California schools, applicants will decide for themselves what they like about each school. Nobody visiting schools is going to mistake the differences between Claremont and Westwood. Nor will they mistake differences between a Pepperdine or UCSB to a Pomona or Pitzer.

I just find it odd that there are always so many people who want to weigh in on Pomona's location.

I also spent time living in Massachusetts and personally, I wouldn't ever want to live somewhere as remote as Amherst and with the length of winter compared to the length of school year (the BEST weather is when you are NOT in school). But I don't spend an ounce of energy weighing in on that when people post about schools in the northeast. Because they will find out for themselves and make choices based on their preferences. I don't need to impose mine on something so personal and something people will find out about before attending a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

As my post said, we live on the east coast now (I just grew up in LA). So, no, he isn't looking for something new. And I was using Santa Monica as a point of comparison not because it's an "it" part of LA, but to talk about the climate. The weather on the west side of LA--Santa Monica, Westwood (UCLA), etc. -- is basically beautiful all year. But the inland empire does not have "perfect weather"; it's VERY hot at certain times of the year and the air quality is poor. I think the Pomona schools are lovely and would be fully supportive if my kid was interested. But it's not an LA school, nor is it a suburb of LA (LA doesn't really have "suburbs" the way other cities do). It's the inland empire -- about an hour from LA with no traffic so, in reality, much further. I mean, would you say Athens, GA is a "suburb" of Atlanta?

Claremont is 35 miles from downtown LA and is considered part of greater LA economically and geographically

Athens is over 70 miles from Atlanta is is not considered part of greater Atlanta on either dimension.

Again - I don't see anyone here "educating" people who want to ask about UGA and how it is not part of Atlanta or how rural it is compared to Atlanta etc.

It's an odd obsession that some LA people have about Claremont and all kinds of weird assumptions on why a student would go there. When we went on tours, we knew people who went to a slew of schools in greater LA. I remember one who loved USC and couldn't fathom the Claremont schools, while another felt the exact opposite. Then there is the USC - UCLA divide....and the lovers of Pepperdine vs UCSB. California is just part of the equation and there are kids who genuinely love each of these schools and some who strongly prefer by location too. Again - such a very strange obsession.