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[quote=Anonymous]Since some dingdong bumped this thread, I'll offer an answer as a Pomona parent.

First off, "special" is a loaded term and there's no consensus on what it means, especially on a board as contentious as this one. But l'll interpret it to mean "qualities that set it apart from most of its peers--i.e., other elite LACs."

Second, all LACs have certain special qualities. Williams has tutorials, winter term, and USNWR pedigree. Amherst has an open curriculum and amazing preprofessional placement. Swarthmore has its honors program, proximity to Philly, and a reputation as an academic bootcamp. Bowdoin offers a rigorous education while still being friendly and offering great food and dorms. To be fair though, beyond geography, such schools are much more similar than different in terms of endowment, resources, opportunities, admissions, etc.

As for Pomona, here is what sets it apart from most of elite LACs:

(1) The 5C Consortium: Pomona itself has about 1,750 students but exists in an extremely interactive consortium of about 6,000 undergrads. Cross-registration is easy and the 5Cs share a lot of social events and clubs. For a student who likes the liberal arts model but is worried that that LACs may seem suffocatingly too small, Pomona offers a good compromise, arguably offering the benefits of both a small LAC and a mid-sized university.

(2) Location: Pomona is one of the few LACs on the West Coast and offers weekend access to a major city. It also offers weekend proximity to world-class outdoorsy stuff from the beach to Joshua Tree to the Eastern Sierra. Plus, while the Inland Empire isn't great, Claremont Village itself offers much more than most LAC college towns.

(3) Laidback nature: Pomona has a reputation for being rigorous and intellectual but still more culturally laidback than Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore. Pomona students aren't competing in misery olympics or comparing achievements and seem to have an active social life beyond the library. To be fair though, I think Bowdoin has a similar reputation. Also, I present this as a reputational anecdote among the WASP schools, not a fact.

(4) Within the 5Cs? The other 5C colleges offer most of the qualities above, so what makes Pomona different from Mudd, CMC, Scripps, and Pitzer? All four of those schools are great and offer something unique within the 5Cs. A student might pick Pomona over those schools because they want a traditional, coed liberal arts education, whereas Mudd, CMC, and Pitzer are somewhat more focused/specialized and Scripps is all women. Pomona also offers the most liberal financial aid and its campus along with Scripps's are arguably the nicest. [/quote]

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