Anonymous wrote:To those ill-informed saying Pomona is more selective. Check out the SAT test scores:

Hopkins enrolled: 1460 - 1580 (URM Diversity: 6% Black, 14% Latino)
ACT: 33-35

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/johns-hopkins-university

Pomona: 1330 - 1510 (URM Diversity: 9% Black, 16% Latino)
ACT: 30 - 34

Pomona acceptance rate is 8% versus JHU at 11% . Pomona is also gaming the hell out of the system with Early Decision I and II to get whatever leftovers they can.

I'm a former Hopkins grad who has lived in Socal (Orange County). Would not recommend Pomona at all. If you're interested in grad school, don't sell yourself short - especially in STEM. You will not as respected in engineering coming out of Pomona versus a top tier engineering school like Hopkins - period. Humanities is a different matter.

No way are those numbers accurate. Pomona's own data (https://www.pomona.edu/sites/default/files/cds-2017-2018.pdf) says 1370-1530, which is almost the same as Stanford (1390-1540- https://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/pdf/stanford_cds_2017.pdf). JHU is definitely exaggerating their numbers or reporting admitted student numbers when they're supposed to report enrolled data, or they're taking anyone one and everyone with high testing to game rankings like Vanderbilt. Pomona is also far more socioeconomically diverse than JHU, with a higher chunk of first gen/low income students than them, hence lower testing. Unhooked applicant? You can bet that you need a 1500+ to get in, not a 1370, and that Pomona is more holistic about whom it takes.

JHU has an ED process too. They fill some 42-45% of their class with them, while Pomona fills around 50% through both. Hardly any different. If anything, Pomona needs ED more as a total percent of the pool given their small size and need to fill athletic teams. Separating out regular decision yields only, Pomona is at 37% while JHU is at 30%.

Sorry to break it to you, but yes Pomona is more competitive. Accepting anyone with high testing on a whim doesn't make you more selective, or do you want to say JHU is more selective than Stanford also?

To those ill-informed saying Pomona is more selective. Check out the SAT test scores:

Hopkins enrolled: 1460 - 1580 (URM Diversity: 6% Black, 14% Latino)
ACT: 33-35

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/johns-hopkins-university

Pomona: 1330 - 1510 (URM Diversity: 9% Black, 16% Latino)
ACT: 30 - 34

Pomona acceptance rate is 8% versus JHU at 11% . Pomona is also gaming the hell out of the system with Early Decision I and II to get whatever leftovers they can.

I'm a former Hopkins grad who has lived in Socal (Orange County). Would not recommend Pomona at all. If you're interested in grad school, don't sell yourself short - especially in STEM. You will not as respected in engineering coming out of Pomona versus a top tier engineering school like Hopkins - period. Humanities is a different matter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins campus is in a bad area in Baltimore. Their graduate programs are much stronger than undergraduate.

Pomona's name sake city next door is the murder, rape capital of the state of CA. This translates to campus crime. Pomona's been in the news for its rape culture.

This argument is getting tiresome. If you actually knew the Claremont Colleges, you would know they aren’t in Pomona.

Claremont and Pomona do not cross paths. The Claremont Colleges are in a very safe area.

Google the rape culture, including suppression and retaliation, at Pomona. Nuff said.

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins campus is in a bad area in Baltimore. Their graduate programs are much stronger than undergraduate.

Main campus isn’t in a bad area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I went to Hopkins, albeit as an engineering major. I graduated 20 years ago.

My experience was yes, there were lots of focused kids, who would lock themselves away in the library and labs and basically isolate themselves from the world. But there are lots of other kids there who want to get involved and engage in activities. The offerings have gotten much better since I've left - more facilities, more resources, etc.

As an undergrad, I had lots of opportunities for grad work. I could take grad-level classes, and I did research. I had access to professors, and found the good ones really supported the undergrads.

Around here, there is definitely more name recognition of Hopkins than Pomona. That said, I imagine it's the reverse on the west coast.

No, I'm So Cal born and raised, living in Los Angeles, and of course I know about Johns Hopkins. But I just had to look up to figure out if OP was talking about Pomona College or CSU Pomona...and wasn't sure if they were the same entity. So I know that makes me out to be clueless, and my kids are not old enough for me to be delving into colleges yet, but still.

I'm going back to read this thread to learn why some PPs on here favor Pomona. I'm not slagging on it; just feel like I'm in an alternate universe to have zero info about this school (except I know about that WSJ article; not good press that's for sure)

Pomona actually has the smallest in-state percent of any California college or university- only 24%. And it's a tiny, tiny school- some high schools are bigger. You probably have not and will not encounter someone who attended Pomona in your high school or probably in your lifetime. Good school, but there are reasons as to why it's so unheard of

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins campus is in a bad area in Baltimore. Their graduate programs are much stronger than undergraduate.

Pomona's name sake city next door is the murder, rape capital of the state of CA. This translates to campus crime. Pomona's been in the news for its rape culture.

This argument is getting tiresome. If you actually knew the Claremont Colleges, you would know they aren’t in Pomona.

Claremont and Pomona do not cross paths. The Claremont Colleges are in a very safe area.

I don’t know who would want to voluntarily spend four years in Baltimore, which would be too kind to dumps to call a dump. To be sure, there’s nothing cool about Claremont. It’s a nice, slowwwww, somewhat stuffy piece of New England plopped into a weird part of LA County. So hard pass on both schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I went to Hopkins, albeit as an engineering major. I graduated 20 years ago.

My experience was yes, there were lots of focused kids, who would lock themselves away in the library and labs and basically isolate themselves from the world. But there are lots of other kids there who want to get involved and engage in activities. The offerings have gotten much better since I've left - more facilities, more resources, etc.

As an undergrad, I had lots of opportunities for grad work. I could take grad-level classes, and I did research. I had access to professors, and found the good ones really supported the undergrads.

Around here, there is definitely more name recognition of Hopkins than Pomona. That said, I imagine it's the reverse on the west coast.

No, I'm So Cal born and raised, living in Los Angeles, and of course I know about Johns Hopkins. But I just had to look up to figure out if OP was talking about Pomona College or CSU Pomona...and wasn't sure if they were the same entity. So I know that makes me out to be clueless, and my kids are not old enough for me to be delving into colleges yet, but still.

I'm going back to read this thread to learn why some PPs on here favor Pomona. I'm not slagging on it; just feel like I'm in an alternate universe to have zero info about this school (except I know about that WSJ article; not good press that's for sure)

m

You do sound stupid, yes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins campus is in a bad area in Baltimore. Their graduate programs are much stronger than undergraduate.

Pomona's name sake city next door is the murder, rape capital of the state of CA. This translates to campus crime. Pomona's been in the news for its rape culture.

This argument is getting tiresome. If you actually knew the Claremont Colleges, you would know they aren’t in Pomona.

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins campus is in a bad area in Baltimore. Their graduate programs are much stronger than undergraduate.

Pomona's name sake city next door is the murder, rape capital of the state of CA. This translates to campus crime. Pomona's been in the news for its rape culture.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I went to Hopkins, albeit as an engineering major. I graduated 20 years ago.

My experience was yes, there were lots of focused kids, who would lock themselves away in the library and labs and basically isolate themselves from the world. But there are lots of other kids there who want to get involved and engage in activities. The offerings have gotten much better since I've left - more facilities, more resources, etc.

As an undergrad, I had lots of opportunities for grad work. I could take grad-level classes, and I did research. I had access to professors, and found the good ones really supported the undergrads.

Around here, there is definitely more name recognition of Hopkins than Pomona. That said, I imagine it's the reverse on the west coast.

No, I'm So Cal born and raised, living in Los Angeles, and of course I know about Johns Hopkins. But I just had to look up to figure out if OP was talking about Pomona College or CSU Pomona...and wasn't sure if they were the same entity. So I know that makes me out to be clueless, and my kids are not old enough for me to be delving into colleges yet, but still.

I'm going back to read this thread to learn why some PPs on here favor Pomona. I'm not slagging on it; just feel like I'm in an alternate universe to have zero info about this school (except I know about that WSJ article; not good press that's for sure)

It's Cal Poly Pomona, FYI

Hopkins campus is in a bad area in Baltimore. Their graduate programs are much stronger than undergraduate.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I went to Hopkins, albeit as an engineering major. I graduated 20 years ago.

My experience was yes, there were lots of focused kids, who would lock themselves away in the library and labs and basically isolate themselves from the world. But there are lots of other kids there who want to get involved and engage in activities. The offerings have gotten much better since I've left - more facilities, more resources, etc.

As an undergrad, I had lots of opportunities for grad work. I could take grad-level classes, and I did research. I had access to professors, and found the good ones really supported the undergrads.

Around here, there is definitely more name recognition of Hopkins than Pomona. That said, I imagine it's the reverse on the west coast.

No, I'm So Cal born and raised, living in Los Angeles, and of course I know about Johns Hopkins. But I just had to look up to figure out if OP was talking about Pomona College or CSU Pomona...and wasn't sure if they were the same entity. So I know that makes me out to be clueless, and my kids are not old enough for me to be delving into colleges yet, but still.

I'm going back to read this thread to learn why some PPs on here favor Pomona. I'm not slagging on it; just feel like I'm in an alternate universe to have zero info about this school (except I know about that WSJ article; not good press that's for sure)

Also, for a specific insight, this was a story posted detailing a first gen/low income student and CS major's experience through Pomona: https://www.pomona.edu/news/2018/03/22-chinasa-okolo-%E2%80%9918-coding-more-inclusive-computer-science It seems like she was able to do substantive research on campus leading to the REUs at University of Georgia, Columbia, and Carnegie Mellon. In general, it's encouraged for students to seek out off-campus research experiences to build their network and relationships with other institutions. If there's a specific project not available at Pomona but perhaps present at JHU or some other school, there might be REUs or research funding from Pomona available to pursue that for the summer!

This student is deciding between Princeton and Cornell for CS grad, both of which are rated as T10 programs. I found her LinkedIn and it seems she'll be interning at Microsoft at Cambridge before starting grad school and she got a NSF grant as well! If students like that can come out of Pomona, I'd assume your child can similarly thrive in their own way!

http://www.studentsreview.com/CA/PMC_c.html
http://www.studentsreview.com/MD/JHU_c.html

Scores out of 10 (Pomona vs Johns Hopkins):

Education Quality- 8.8 vs 8.4
Individual Value- 9.1 vs 6.6
Collaboration- 8.9 vs 6.6
Innovation- 8.4 vs 7.6
Useful Schoolwork- 8.7 vs 7.8
Friendliness- 9.2 vs 7.4
Faculty Accessibility- 9.3 vs 7.3
Social Life- 7.5 vs 6.0
Scholastic Success- 8.9 vs 7.7
Extracurricular Activities- 8.0 vs 7.0
University Resources- 8.5 vs 7.3
Campus Safety- 8.7 vs 7.0
89% would return vs. 65% would return

Niche Average Survey Rating-

Pomona- 4.2/5, 93% say professors put a lot of effort into teaching, 95% highly rate the residential community
Johns Hopkins- 3.6/5, 63% say professors put a lot of effort into teaching, 62% highly rate the residential community

Unigo Average Survey Rating-

Pomona- 4.3/5
Johns Hopkins- 3.6/5

I know these student survey websites have to be taken with a grain of salt on the whole, but it is telling when Pomona is consistently rated as a better experience than Johns Hopkins. A lot of people here don't know what the LAC model is like- they assume that because they haven't heard of it, it must immediately be inferior. Not only are the students at Pomona getting access to better teaching and resources directed towards them, they're happier as well- a lot happier.

This was the ranking of schools which produce the highest percent of STEM graduates: https://www.swarthmore.edu/institutional-research/doctorates-awarded Pomona ranks 12th, Johns Hopkins 31st. I bring this up because I think people would immediately think of JHU as the better school for an undergrad science education given its reputation and research activity, but it turns out that Pomona does an excellent job. I think you'd be surprised to know that the percent of STEM students is higher at Pomona than most of the Ivies- that school attracts smart minds within the field.

There are reasons for preferring JHU, but I'd go to Pomona all the way, work hard to aim for a top 5 graduate program like MIT or Stanford, and enjoy both the LAC experience and an accomplished academic experience