Do not send your child to Pomona if they are interested in a CS degree. The major is not guaranteed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Pomona isn't in Silicon Valley....

Can you get a bus to Pomona?

? is this a joke? Have you looked at the map of CA? Do you even know where SV is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Update: The college is in collapse. Recent filings found the president now makes $1.1 million per year, which is twice the rate of peer institutions. The CS department only has 8 faculty after 2 years of searching, Students are transferring out to legitamate liberal arts colleges and universities! Stay clear if you want 0 headaches.

So dramatic. Who cares if the president makes good money? The school has a 3 billion endowment.
How many students are transferring? Why can't they take up applied math majors and just study CS on the side?

dp.. CS majors want to major in CS, not applied math with CS on the side.

I'm sure they do, but if 80 of your peers are seeking to and the class size is 400...it's not unreasonable for the college to tell you no. Most CS majors study cs to get a job and the stuff you learn in a theoretical computer science curriculum is useless for that anyway.

Right, which is why OP is saying t hat if you are interested in a CS degree don't go to Pomona.

BTW, a friend of mine went there eons ago, but they were prelaw.

I think the issue is that the CS major is a lottery. If it was a direct admit program, and they limited it, that's one thing (which many colleges do), but to make it a lottery when you are paying $80K+ seems like a waste of money if you are interested in CS. Just apply to a neighboring college for CS direct admit .

[Anonymous]

Pomona allowed the District attorney to file charges against the 19 students who stormed the president’s office. It’s looking like the college is in a lot of trouble if the college is prosecuting its students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pomona allowed the District attorney to file charges against the 19 students who stormed the president’s office. It’s looking like the college is in a lot of trouble if the college is prosecuting its students.

That's your view. Mine is good. Why should they be allowed to disrupt every other kid's education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is for Pomona College (LAC), not Cal Poly Pomona.

The department has a crisis right now with only 6 faculty members for 85 declared majors amongst the junior class (out of 414 total students). In the past, everyone who showed a commitment to signing up (called a PERM) for the first two required courses early on was guaranteed to be allowed to major. Now they're saying that this is not enough; there may simply not be enough room to get in, despite semesters of proactive interest. This is the notice they've circulated.

====
"For years we have been trying to “organically” limit computer science majors by limiting the number of seats for potential majors in our intro class (CS51). It’s not working; we currently have 85 declared computer science majors in the junior class (not including a handful of transfer students). This is not tenable for any department at Pomona, let alone a department of our size (currently 6 tenure-track faculty who are teaching and a 7th joining in January).

We are changing how we handle enrollment in CS51 and will also be explicitly limiting the number of students that can major in CS via CS54 enrollment. This will likely impact many students, particularly current sophomores and incoming first-year students, so I wanted to share a message broadly. I’ve tried to highlight the process and changes below, but the biggest implication is that there will be students (likely quite a few) that want to major in CS that cannot.

To major in CS, students need to take CS54 by the end of their sophomore year (though ideally earlier). We will be limiting the number of majors in two ways:

* CS51 will have a fixed number of seats for each class year that students can enroll in during pre-enrollment. Students that do not get in will need to try again the next semester. We will no longer be prioritizing students that PERMed previous semesters. If a student does not take CS51 by the fall of their sophomore year, they will not be able to major in CS. Note that students cannot take an intro to CS class at another institution (e.g., over the summer or at one of the other 5Cs).

* CS54 (the second course in our intro sequence) will be PERM-only and will have a fixed number of seats each semester available for first and second year students. If there are more students that meet the prerequisites that want to take CS54 than the number of seats available, we will randomly fill the seats. Students that are not selected will not be able to take CS54 (either that semester or in the future) and will not be able to major or minor in CS**.** Students that are selected will be able to continue into CS62 and declare the major or continue to take upper division classes without declaring (e.g., for the minor).

We strongly believe that computer science and computational thinking are an important part of a liberal arts education and hope to find ways for all students to find some exposure. CS51 will continue to have seats reserved for all years and we hope that any student that wants to take at least one CS class will be able to while at Pomona. Also, as part of this process we are trying to better support the minor. If students enroll in CS54, we will continue to allow them to take additional CS classes regardless of whether or not they declare the major.

As you advise students who are potential CS majors, my two main pieces of advice would be:

* They should try and take CS51 as soon as they can (but be prepared to have to try to get in multiple semesters).

* Have a backup major in case they are not able to major in CS.

We are extremely sad to have to turn away students from CS and we don’t do this lightly or without extensive discussion."

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that Pomona students can take classes at any of the other Claremont colleges (Scripps, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Claremont McKenna). At least, I think this is true for Pomona. My friend's son at Harvey Mudd struggled to get certain classes at Mudd because they filled up with Scripps students. So ... perhaps Pomona students could take their computer science classes at one of the other Claremont schools, just as you can take classes (including majors) at any of the Quaker consortium schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is for Pomona College (LAC), not Cal Poly Pomona.

The department has a crisis right now with only 6 faculty members for 85 declared majors amongst the junior class (out of 414 total students). In the past, everyone who showed a commitment to signing up (called a PERM) for the first two required courses early on was guaranteed to be allowed to major. Now they're saying that this is not enough; there may simply not be enough room to get in, despite semesters of proactive interest. This is the notice they've circulated.

====
"For years we have been trying to “organically” limit computer science majors by limiting the number of seats for potential majors in our intro class (CS51). It’s not working; we currently have 85 declared computer science majors in the junior class (not including a handful of transfer students). This is not tenable for any department at Pomona, let alone a department of our size (currently 6 tenure-track faculty who are teaching and a 7th joining in January).

We are changing how we handle enrollment in CS51 and will also be explicitly limiting the number of students that can major in CS via CS54 enrollment. This will likely impact many students, particularly current sophomores and incoming first-year students, so I wanted to share a message broadly. I’ve tried to highlight the process and changes below, but the biggest implication is that there will be students (likely quite a few) that want to major in CS that cannot.

To major in CS, students need to take CS54 by the end of their sophomore year (though ideally earlier). We will be limiting the number of majors in two ways:

* CS51 will have a fixed number of seats for each class year that students can enroll in during pre-enrollment. Students that do not get in will need to try again the next semester. We will no longer be prioritizing students that PERMed previous semesters. If a student does not take CS51 by the fall of their sophomore year, they will not be able to major in CS. Note that students cannot take an intro to CS class at another institution (e.g., over the summer or at one of the other 5Cs).

* CS54 (the second course in our intro sequence) will be PERM-only and will have a fixed number of seats each semester available for first and second year students. If there are more students that meet the prerequisites that want to take CS54 than the number of seats available, we will randomly fill the seats. Students that are not selected will not be able to take CS54 (either that semester or in the future) and will not be able to major or minor in CS**.** Students that are selected will be able to continue into CS62 and declare the major or continue to take upper division classes without declaring (e.g., for the minor).

We strongly believe that computer science and computational thinking are an important part of a liberal arts education and hope to find ways for all students to find some exposure. CS51 will continue to have seats reserved for all years and we hope that any student that wants to take at least one CS class will be able to while at Pomona. Also, as part of this process we are trying to better support the minor. If students enroll in CS54, we will continue to allow them to take additional CS classes regardless of whether or not they declare the major.

As you advise students who are potential CS majors, my two main pieces of advice would be:

* They should try and take CS51 as soon as they can (but be prepared to have to try to get in multiple semesters).

* Have a backup major in case they are not able to major in CS.

We are extremely sad to have to turn away students from CS and we don’t do this lightly or without extensive discussion."

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that Pomona students can take classes at any of the other Claremont colleges (Scripps, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Claremont McKenna). At least, I think this is true for Pomona. My friend's son at Harvey Mudd struggled to get certain classes at Mudd because they filled up with Scripps students. So ... perhaps Pomona students could take their computer science classes at one of the other Claremont schools, just as you can take classes (including majors) at any of the Quaker consortium schools.

You need CS54 to major in CS. They bar you from taking it if you don't get picked in their lottery. They also reserve seats in upper level classes for kids who have take CS54

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is for Pomona College (LAC), not Cal Poly Pomona.

The department has a crisis right now with only 6 faculty members for 85 declared majors amongst the junior class (out of 414 total students). In the past, everyone who showed a commitment to signing up (called a PERM) for the first two required courses early on was guaranteed to be allowed to major. Now they're saying that this is not enough; there may simply not be enough room to get in, despite semesters of proactive interest. This is the notice they've circulated.

====
"For years we have been trying to “organically” limit computer science majors by limiting the number of seats for potential majors in our intro class (CS51). It’s not working; we currently have 85 declared computer science majors in the junior class (not including a handful of transfer students). This is not tenable for any department at Pomona, let alone a department of our size (currently 6 tenure-track faculty who are teaching and a 7th joining in January).

We are changing how we handle enrollment in CS51 and will also be explicitly limiting the number of students that can major in CS via CS54 enrollment. This will likely impact many students, particularly current sophomores and incoming first-year students, so I wanted to share a message broadly. I’ve tried to highlight the process and changes below, but the biggest implication is that there will be students (likely quite a few) that want to major in CS that cannot.

To major in CS, students need to take CS54 by the end of their sophomore year (though ideally earlier). We will be limiting the number of majors in two ways:

* CS51 will have a fixed number of seats for each class year that students can enroll in during pre-enrollment. Students that do not get in will need to try again the next semester. We will no longer be prioritizing students that PERMed previous semesters. If a student does not take CS51 by the fall of their sophomore year, they will not be able to major in CS. Note that students cannot take an intro to CS class at another institution (e.g., over the summer or at one of the other 5Cs).

* CS54 (the second course in our intro sequence) will be PERM-only and will have a fixed number of seats each semester available for first and second year students. If there are more students that meet the prerequisites that want to take CS54 than the number of seats available, we will randomly fill the seats. Students that are not selected will not be able to take CS54 (either that semester or in the future) and will not be able to major or minor in CS**.** Students that are selected will be able to continue into CS62 and declare the major or continue to take upper division classes without declaring (e.g., for the minor).

We strongly believe that computer science and computational thinking are an important part of a liberal arts education and hope to find ways for all students to find some exposure. CS51 will continue to have seats reserved for all years and we hope that any student that wants to take at least one CS class will be able to while at Pomona. Also, as part of this process we are trying to better support the minor. If students enroll in CS54, we will continue to allow them to take additional CS classes regardless of whether or not they declare the major.

As you advise students who are potential CS majors, my two main pieces of advice would be:

* They should try and take CS51 as soon as they can (but be prepared to have to try to get in multiple semesters).

* Have a backup major in case they are not able to major in CS.

We are extremely sad to have to turn away students from CS and we don’t do this lightly or without extensive discussion."

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that Pomona students can take classes at any of the other Claremont colleges (Scripps, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Claremont McKenna). At least, I think this is true for Pomona. My friend's son at Harvey Mudd struggled to get certain classes at Mudd because they filled up with Scripps students. So ... perhaps Pomona students could take their computer science classes at one of the other Claremont schools, just as you can take classes (including majors) at any of the Quaker consortium schools.

It’s like you didn’t read the thread before commenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is for Pomona College (LAC), not Cal Poly Pomona.

The department has a crisis right now with only 6 faculty members for 85 declared majors amongst the junior class (out of 414 total students). In the past, everyone who showed a commitment to signing up (called a PERM) for the first two required courses early on was guaranteed to be allowed to major. Now they're saying that this is not enough; there may simply not be enough room to get in, despite semesters of proactive interest. This is the notice they've circulated.

====
"For years we have been trying to “organically” limit computer science majors by limiting the number of seats for potential majors in our intro class (CS51). It’s not working; we currently have 85 declared computer science majors in the junior class (not including a handful of transfer students). This is not tenable for any department at Pomona, let alone a department of our size (currently 6 tenure-track faculty who are teaching and a 7th joining in January).

We are changing how we handle enrollment in CS51 and will also be explicitly limiting the number of students that can major in CS via CS54 enrollment. This will likely impact many students, particularly current sophomores and incoming first-year students, so I wanted to share a message broadly. I’ve tried to highlight the process and changes below, but the biggest implication is that there will be students (likely quite a few) that want to major in CS that cannot.

To major in CS, students need to take CS54 by the end of their sophomore year (though ideally earlier). We will be limiting the number of majors in two ways:

* CS51 will have a fixed number of seats for each class year that students can enroll in during pre-enrollment. Students that do not get in will need to try again the next semester. We will no longer be prioritizing students that PERMed previous semesters. If a student does not take CS51 by the fall of their sophomore year, they will not be able to major in CS. Note that students cannot take an intro to CS class at another institution (e.g., over the summer or at one of the other 5Cs).

* CS54 (the second course in our intro sequence) will be PERM-only and will have a fixed number of seats each semester available for first and second year students. If there are more students that meet the prerequisites that want to take CS54 than the number of seats available, we will randomly fill the seats. Students that are not selected will not be able to take CS54 (either that semester or in the future) and will not be able to major or minor in CS**.** Students that are selected will be able to continue into CS62 and declare the major or continue to take upper division classes without declaring (e.g., for the minor).

We strongly believe that computer science and computational thinking are an important part of a liberal arts education and hope to find ways for all students to find some exposure. CS51 will continue to have seats reserved for all years and we hope that any student that wants to take at least one CS class will be able to while at Pomona. Also, as part of this process we are trying to better support the minor. If students enroll in CS54, we will continue to allow them to take additional CS classes regardless of whether or not they declare the major.

As you advise students who are potential CS majors, my two main pieces of advice would be:

* They should try and take CS51 as soon as they can (but be prepared to have to try to get in multiple semesters).

* Have a backup major in case they are not able to major in CS.

We are extremely sad to have to turn away students from CS and we don’t do this lightly or without extensive discussion."

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that Pomona students can take classes at any of the other Claremont colleges (Scripps, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Claremont McKenna). At least, I think this is true for Pomona. My friend's son at Harvey Mudd struggled to get certain classes at Mudd because they filled up with Scripps students. So ... perhaps Pomona students could take their computer science classes at one of the other Claremont schools, just as you can take classes (including majors) at any of the Quaker consortium schools.

You need CS54 to major in CS. They bar you from taking it if you don't get picked in their lottery. They also reserve seats in upper level classes for kids who have take CS54

You can backdoor it by getting into Harvey Mudd's sequence (CSCI 5/60/70), but it is very very difficult to get accepted to, because you're competing with HMC students (Who have reserved seats), CMC students (Whose school paid for them to get preference above others, and Scripps/Pitzer students trying to major. It's definitely possible but you need a very flexible schedule where you are willing to get into the 1 spot available for whatever CS class comes up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is for Pomona College (LAC), not Cal Poly Pomona.

The department has a crisis right now with only 6 faculty members for 85 declared majors amongst the junior class (out of 414 total students). In the past, everyone who showed a commitment to signing up (called a PERM) for the first two required courses early on was guaranteed to be allowed to major. Now they're saying that this is not enough; there may simply not be enough room to get in, despite semesters of proactive interest. This is the notice they've circulated.

====
"For years we have been trying to “organically” limit computer science majors by limiting the number of seats for potential majors in our intro class (CS51). It’s not working; we currently have 85 declared computer science majors in the junior class (not including a handful of transfer students). This is not tenable for any department at Pomona, let alone a department of our size (currently 6 tenure-track faculty who are teaching and a 7th joining in January).

We are changing how we handle enrollment in CS51 and will also be explicitly limiting the number of students that can major in CS via CS54 enrollment. This will likely impact many students, particularly current sophomores and incoming first-year students, so I wanted to share a message broadly. I’ve tried to highlight the process and changes below, but the biggest implication is that there will be students (likely quite a few) that want to major in CS that cannot.

To major in CS, students need to take CS54 by the end of their sophomore year (though ideally earlier). We will be limiting the number of majors in two ways:

* CS51 will have a fixed number of seats for each class year that students can enroll in during pre-enrollment. Students that do not get in will need to try again the next semester. We will no longer be prioritizing students that PERMed previous semesters. If a student does not take CS51 by the fall of their sophomore year, they will not be able to major in CS. Note that students cannot take an intro to CS class at another institution (e.g., over the summer or at one of the other 5Cs).

* CS54 (the second course in our intro sequence) will be PERM-only and will have a fixed number of seats each semester available for first and second year students. If there are more students that meet the prerequisites that want to take CS54 than the number of seats available, we will randomly fill the seats. Students that are not selected will not be able to take CS54 (either that semester or in the future) and will not be able to major or minor in CS**.** Students that are selected will be able to continue into CS62 and declare the major or continue to take upper division classes without declaring (e.g., for the minor).

We strongly believe that computer science and computational thinking are an important part of a liberal arts education and hope to find ways for all students to find some exposure. CS51 will continue to have seats reserved for all years and we hope that any student that wants to take at least one CS class will be able to while at Pomona. Also, as part of this process we are trying to better support the minor. If students enroll in CS54, we will continue to allow them to take additional CS classes regardless of whether or not they declare the major.

As you advise students who are potential CS majors, my two main pieces of advice would be:

* They should try and take CS51 as soon as they can (but be prepared to have to try to get in multiple semesters).

* Have a backup major in case they are not able to major in CS.

We are extremely sad to have to turn away students from CS and we don’t do this lightly or without extensive discussion."

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that Pomona students can take classes at any of the other Claremont colleges (Scripps, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Claremont McKenna). At least, I think this is true for Pomona. My friend's son at Harvey Mudd struggled to get certain classes at Mudd because they filled up with Scripps students. So ... perhaps Pomona students could take their computer science classes at one of the other Claremont schools, just as you can take classes (including majors) at any of the Quaker consortium schools.

You need CS54 to major in CS. They bar you from taking it if you don't get picked in their lottery. They also reserve seats in upper level classes for kids who have take CS54

You can backdoor it by getting into Harvey Mudd's sequence (CSCI 5/60/70), but it is very very difficult to get accepted to, because you're competing with HMC students (Who have reserved seats), CMC students (Whose school paid for them to get preference above others, and Scripps/Pitzer students trying to major. It's definitely possible but you need a very flexible schedule where you are willing to get into the 1 spot available for whatever CS class comes up.

If you get the class at HMC, would they then open the reserved upper level classes for you, or would you have to keep on scrambling to get required classes? It seems miserable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is for Pomona College (LAC), not Cal Poly Pomona.

The department has a crisis right now with only 6 faculty members for 85 declared majors amongst the junior class (out of 414 total students). In the past, everyone who showed a commitment to signing up (called a PERM) for the first two required courses early on was guaranteed to be allowed to major. Now they're saying that this is not enough; there may simply not be enough room to get in, despite semesters of proactive interest. This is the notice they've circulated.

====
"For years we have been trying to “organically” limit computer science majors by limiting the number of seats for potential majors in our intro class (CS51). It’s not working; we currently have 85 declared computer science majors in the junior class (not including a handful of transfer students). This is not tenable for any department at Pomona, let alone a department of our size (currently 6 tenure-track faculty who are teaching and a 7th joining in January).

We are changing how we handle enrollment in CS51 and will also be explicitly limiting the number of students that can major in CS via CS54 enrollment. This will likely impact many students, particularly current sophomores and incoming first-year students, so I wanted to share a message broadly. I’ve tried to highlight the process and changes below, but the biggest implication is that there will be students (likely quite a few) that want to major in CS that cannot.

To major in CS, students need to take CS54 by the end of their sophomore year (though ideally earlier). We will be limiting the number of majors in two ways:

* CS51 will have a fixed number of seats for each class year that students can enroll in during pre-enrollment. Students that do not get in will need to try again the next semester. We will no longer be prioritizing students that PERMed previous semesters. If a student does not take CS51 by the fall of their sophomore year, they will not be able to major in CS. Note that students cannot take an intro to CS class at another institution (e.g., over the summer or at one of the other 5Cs).

* CS54 (the second course in our intro sequence) will be PERM-only and will have a fixed number of seats each semester available for first and second year students. If there are more students that meet the prerequisites that want to take CS54 than the number of seats available, we will randomly fill the seats. Students that are not selected will not be able to take CS54 (either that semester or in the future) and will not be able to major or minor in CS**.** Students that are selected will be able to continue into CS62 and declare the major or continue to take upper division classes without declaring (e.g., for the minor).

We strongly believe that computer science and computational thinking are an important part of a liberal arts education and hope to find ways for all students to find some exposure. CS51 will continue to have seats reserved for all years and we hope that any student that wants to take at least one CS class will be able to while at Pomona. Also, as part of this process we are trying to better support the minor. If students enroll in CS54, we will continue to allow them to take additional CS classes regardless of whether or not they declare the major.

As you advise students who are potential CS majors, my two main pieces of advice would be:

* They should try and take CS51 as soon as they can (but be prepared to have to try to get in multiple semesters).

* Have a backup major in case they are not able to major in CS.

We are extremely sad to have to turn away students from CS and we don’t do this lightly or without extensive discussion."

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that Pomona students can take classes at any of the other Claremont colleges (Scripps, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Claremont McKenna). At least, I think this is true for Pomona. My friend's son at Harvey Mudd struggled to get certain classes at Mudd because they filled up with Scripps students. So ... perhaps Pomona students could take their computer science classes at one of the other Claremont schools, just as you can take classes (including majors) at any of the Quaker consortium schools.

You need CS54 to major in CS. They bar you from taking it if you don't get picked in their lottery. They also reserve seats in upper level classes for kids who have take CS54

You can backdoor it by getting into Harvey Mudd's sequence (CSCI 5/60/70), but it is very very difficult to get accepted to, because you're competing with HMC students (Who have reserved seats), CMC students (Whose school paid for them to get preference above others, and Scripps/Pitzer students trying to major. It's definitely possible but you need a very flexible schedule where you are willing to get into the 1 spot available for whatever CS class comes up.

If you get the class at HMC, would they then open the reserved upper level classes for you, or would you have to keep on scrambling to get required classes? It seems miserable

Nope. I had a friend who just finished this process and every semester they answered their PERMs back explaining that getting into 5 doesn't mean they can get into 60 or 70. But once you're done with those intro classes, you can declare and join back at Pomona to get the other classes for the major. The CS situation in general is very stressful, so I opted out of it and take the computational-based statistics classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pomona allowed the District attorney to file charges against the 19 students who stormed the president’s office. It’s looking like the college is in a lot of trouble if the college is prosecuting its students.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's the Pomona troll. Shouldn't you be in therapy describing whatever Pomona did to you to cause such a bizarre pathology?

As for what you wrote. First, from a little googling, the event in question happened over three months ago and the charges were dropped. (Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/04/08/students-suspended-storming-pomona-presidents-office). I didn't see anything about charges being brought.

Second, the protesters weren't just Pomona students but were a mixture of students from the 5C colleges. Per the article above: "All charges were dropped a few hours later, but the Pomona students involved were suspended; the others, mostly from Scripps and Pitzer Colleges, were banned from the Pomona campus and would be subject to discipline on their own campuses. . . ."

Third, this issue far from unique to Pomona. The vast majority of colleges in America are facing the same issue of line-drawing between free speech and safety/property rights in light of the Israel/Palestine protests.

Now, back to your obsession with Pomona . . . . Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Update: The college is in collapse. Recent filings found the president now makes $1.1 million per year, which is twice the rate of peer institutions. The CS department only has 8 faculty after 2 years of searching, Students are transferring out to legitamate liberal arts colleges and universities! Stay clear if you want 0 headaches.

So dramatic. Who cares if the president makes good money? The school has a 3 billion endowment.
How many students are transferring? Why can't they take up applied math majors and just study CS on the side?

dp.. CS majors want to major in CS, not applied math with CS on the side.

I'm sure they do, but if 80 of your peers are seeking to and the class size is 400...it's not unreasonable for the college to tell you no. Most CS majors study cs to get a job and the stuff you learn in a theoretical computer science curriculum is useless for that anyway.

Right, which is why OP is saying t hat if you are interested in a CS degree don't go to Pomona.

BTW, a friend of mine went there eons ago, but they were prelaw.

I think the issue is that the CS major is a lottery. If it was a direct admit program, and they limited it, that's one thing (which many colleges do), but to make it a lottery when you are paying $80K+ seems like a waste of money if you are interested in CS. Just apply to a neighboring college for CS direct admit .

You should never attend a school that has any major as direct admit unless you are DA into that major. Why pay for an education that forces you to pick a major that wasn't your top choice?
That is something I will Never understand

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Update: The college is in collapse. Recent filings found the president now makes $1.1 million per year, which is twice the rate of peer institutions. The CS department only has 8 faculty after 2 years of searching, Students are transferring out to legitamate liberal arts colleges and universities! Stay clear if you want 0 headaches.

So dramatic. Who cares if the president makes good money? The school has a 3 billion endowment.
How many students are transferring? Why can't they take up applied math majors and just study CS on the side?

dp.. CS majors want to major in CS, not applied math with CS on the side.

I'm sure they do, but if 80 of your peers are seeking to and the class size is 400...it's not unreasonable for the college to tell you no. Most CS majors study cs to get a job and the stuff you learn in a theoretical computer science curriculum is useless for that anyway.

Right, which is why OP is saying t hat if you are interested in a CS degree don't go to Pomona.

BTW, a friend of mine went there eons ago, but they were prelaw.

I think the issue is that the CS major is a lottery. If it was a direct admit program, and they limited it, that's one thing (which many colleges do), but to make it a lottery when you are paying $80K+ seems like a waste of money if you are interested in CS. Just apply to a neighboring college for CS direct admit .

You should never attend a school that has any major as direct admit unless you are DA into that major. Why pay for an education that forces you to pick a major that wasn't your top choice?
That is something I will Never understand

Pomona doesn't admit majors and students don't declare until second year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pomona allowed the District attorney to file charges against the 19 students who stormed the president’s office. It’s looking like the college is in a lot of trouble if the college is prosecuting its students.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's the Pomona troll. Shouldn't you be in therapy describing whatever Pomona did to you to cause such a bizarre pathology?

As for what you wrote. First, from a little googling, the event in question happened over three months ago and the charges were dropped. (Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/04/08/students-suspended-storming-pomona-presidents-office). I didn't see anything about charges being brought.

Second, the protesters weren't just Pomona students but were a mixture of students from the 5C colleges. Per the article above: "All charges were dropped a few hours later, but the Pomona students involved were suspended; the others, mostly from Scripps and Pitzer Colleges, were banned from the Pomona campus and would be subject to discipline on their own campuses. . . ."

Third, this issue far from unique to Pomona. The vast majority of colleges in America are facing the same issue of line-drawing between free speech and safety/property rights in light of the Israel/Palestine protests.

Now, back to your obsession with Pomona . . . . Why?

https://www.instagram.com/pomonadivestapartheid/?hl=en

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are restrictions on majors in almost every field at almost every school. Love music but don't play an instrument or sing? Can't major in music performance in any competitive department. Want to major in bio but tanked your STEM courses freshman year? GPA won't be high enough to declare until you raise it. Undeclared rising junior who suddenly decided on French? Likely can't get proficiency fast enough to graduate on time. Want study business at school x but didn't make the bar for direct admit? Could be out of luck.

Where Pomona screwed up was in laying out a lottery system in writing for people to criticize. An objective application process would be preferable (and maybe they'll eventually go there), or even a direct admit process for freshmen.

Pomona is very admittedly "woke" and is attempting to level the playing field, since there is a significant fgli population at the school, who, on average, have less expansive CS resumes. Funny enough, one of the students they banned this semester was a fgli friend of DC, but they are moving on with a math major. There hasn't been a big shift, since they are still accepting a ton of students into the major and a CS major isn't the end-all, be-all. It's definitely a sad situation, but CS departments didn't exist for a long time, and students can find alternative ways of learning. Many have a passive interest at-best anyway.

Also, there are NOT restrictions on majors at many schools, beyond what one would expect.

For example: if you want to major in CS, you need to complete the first 2-3 courses with a C or C+ or better and complete calc 1 and discrete math.

That is very different than "we have 100 open spots for the 200 students that want to be CS majors. Those with the highest GPAs get to major in CS". Very very different. The first simply says, "you must take the basic entry level courses and pass. If you do, you get to major in it". The 2nd says, "you need a 3.9+ in your entry-level courses and a hail-mary/lottery ticket"