Anonymous
03/07/2026 14:02
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I liked Williams and Pomona best of the 4. Would have been thrilled with either.
Amherst and Swat didn't speak to me.
It's a vibe thing, I think. So your asking about vibes
Amherst was just so flat, boring, and ugly. I have no idea why you’d choose to go there.
Flat?
Characteristically. I'm well aware of the hill abundance across campus. I just found there was nothing particularly interesting that would draw someone to Amherst. It's mundane.
Just my opinion, but it sounds like you've never even visited, more an axe to grind
I'm not sure I care about your opinion, at all. You're welcome to bring your perspective, internet person, but you are no more authoritative than me. I don't like Amherst. You don't like me. The Earth is still rotating, nutating, and even precessing. I didn't enjoy the multiple times I visited Amherst college.
Anonymous
03/07/2026 13:58
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I liked Williams and Pomona best of the 4. Would have been thrilled with either.
Amherst and Swat didn't speak to me.
It's a vibe thing, I think. So your asking about vibes
Amherst was just so flat, boring, and ugly. I have no idea why you’d choose to go there.
Flat?
Characteristically. I'm well aware of the hill abundance across campus. I just found there was nothing particularly interesting that would draw someone to Amherst. It's mundane.
Just my opinion, but it sounds like you've never even visited, more an axe to grind
Anonymous
03/07/2026 13:57
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I liked Williams and Pomona best of the 4. Would have been thrilled with either.
Amherst and Swat didn't speak to me.
It's a vibe thing, I think. So your asking about vibes
Amherst was just so flat, boring, and ugly. I have no idea why you’d choose to go there.
Flat?
Characteristically. I'm well aware of the hill abundance across campus. I just found there was nothing particularly interesting that would draw someone to Amherst. It's mundane.
Anonymous
03/07/2026 13:37
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I liked Williams and Pomona best of the 4. Would have been thrilled with either.
Amherst and Swat didn't speak to me.
It's a vibe thing, I think. So your asking about vibes
Amherst was just so flat, boring, and ugly. I have no idea why you’d choose to go there.
Flat?
Anonymous
03/07/2026 13:36
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:I liked Williams and Pomona best of the 4. Would have been thrilled with either.
Amherst and Swat didn't speak to me.
It's a vibe thing, I think. So your asking about vibes
Amherst was just so flat, boring, and ugly. I have no idea why you’d choose to go there.
Anonymous
03/07/2026 06:42
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
For math look at Pomona and Williams.
Anonymous
03/07/2026 06:39
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My son expected to love Williams. But the crowd at Bowdoin was so much more engaging and they all seemed to be enjoying life there. The difference was a very pleasant surprise. He will apply ED in September.
Our take on Williams was that they not only took the work seriously (a good thing), they took themselves rather seriously as well (less so).
Make sure he is careful about confirming the fit of his prospective academic program prior to applying ED. At Bowdoin bearings last spring we were surprised to find some academic departments lacking (math in particular - they didn’t even have a table at the academic fair). If you check out the school paper, a lot of funds are being diverted to finance and CS majors and away from other programs.
Well, my child and I spent 15 min talking with math faculty (at their table) at the academic fair during “Bearings” last spring.
The offerings are lacking compared to peers and outcomes seem mediocre. Not many awards coming from the math department and faculty aren’t very decorated. Seems more of an environmental science or government school.
Anonymous
03/07/2026 06:35
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My son expected to love Williams. But the crowd at Bowdoin was so much more engaging and they all seemed to be enjoying life there. The difference was a very pleasant surprise. He will apply ED in September.
Our take on Williams was that they not only took the work seriously (a good thing), they took themselves rather seriously as well (less so).
Make sure he is careful about confirming the fit of his prospective academic program prior to applying ED. At Bowdoin bearings last spring we were surprised to find some academic departments lacking (math in particular - they didn’t even have a table at the academic fair). If you check out the school paper, a lot of funds are being diverted to finance and CS majors and away from other programs.
Well, my child and I spent 15 min talking with math faculty (at their table) at the academic fair during “Bearings” last spring.
Anonymous
03/07/2026 03:50
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
They’re all very similar. I found the biggest difference is Williams students were a lot more likely to mention ranking as a factor, but no one seemed miserable.
Anonymous
03/06/2026 16:02
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:In terms of academic emphasis, Pomona is much heavier STEM than both Williams and Amherst. Its best departments are Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, and Neuroscience. Of the computing research association outstanding undergraduate research award, Pomona was the only liberal arts college represented for the 8 scholars chosen. There’s currently a math professor who is the next President of the Mathematical Association of America. This is not to say Williams or Amherst aren’t also exemplary at stem (they are!) but at Pomona, you’re gonna see a lot more Alice Schafer Prize scholars walking around (there’s been 3 in the past 5 years) compared to Beinecke Scholars.
for 95% of kids, the pure math play is not the trajectory they envision for themselves. williams is if you want to move to NY and work in finance/consulting. Pomona if you want to do the same on the West Coast.
I agree, but more Pomona students going off to software and data science gigs than finance if they’re getting a math degree. Nearly 50% of the school is in natural science majors. The most common majors are Computer Science, Economics, and Mathematics. There’s not the same rush for traditional finance.
yeah, for LACS with no business degree: math and Econ is what you major in for finance and/or consulting.
If you’re on the east coast. It pays more to do the same things for tech firms on the west coast.
Anonymous
03/06/2026 10:09
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:In terms of academic emphasis, Pomona is much heavier STEM than both Williams and Amherst. Its best departments are Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, and Neuroscience. Of the computing research association outstanding undergraduate research award, Pomona was the only liberal arts college represented for the 8 scholars chosen. There’s currently a math professor who is the next President of the Mathematical Association of America. This is not to say Williams or Amherst aren’t also exemplary at stem (they are!) but at Pomona, you’re gonna see a lot more Alice Schafer Prize scholars walking around (there’s been 3 in the past 5 years) compared to Beinecke Scholars.
for 95% of kids, the pure math play is not the trajectory they envision for themselves. williams is if you want to move to NY and work in finance/consulting. Pomona if you want to do the same on the West Coast.
I agree, but more Pomona students going off to software and data science gigs than finance if they’re getting a math degree. Nearly 50% of the school is in natural science majors. The most common majors are Computer Science, Economics, and Mathematics. There’s not the same rush for traditional finance.
yeah, for LACS with no business degree: math and Econ is what you major in for finance and/or consulting.
Anonymous
03/06/2026 07:32
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My son expected to love Williams. But the crowd at Bowdoin was so much more engaging and they all seemed to be enjoying life there. The difference was a very pleasant surprise. He will apply ED in September.
Our take on Williams was that they not only took the work seriously (a good thing), they took themselves rather seriously as well (less so).
Make sure he is careful about confirming the fit of his prospective academic program prior to applying ED. At Bowdoin bearings last spring we were surprised to find some academic departments lacking (math in particular - they didn’t even have a table at the academic fair). If you check out the school paper, a lot of funds are being diverted to finance and CS majors and away from other programs.
There is no Finance major at Bowdoin, or at most LACs
Anonymous
03/05/2026 15:03
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My son expected to love Williams. But the crowd at Bowdoin was so much more engaging and they all seemed to be enjoying life there. The difference was a very pleasant surprise. He will apply ED in September.
Our take on Williams was that they not only took the work seriously (a good thing), they took themselves rather seriously as well (less so).
Make sure he is careful about confirming the fit of his prospective academic program prior to applying ED. At Bowdoin bearings last spring we were surprised to find some academic departments lacking (math in particular - they didn’t even have a table at the academic fair). If you check out the school paper, a lot of funds are being diverted to finance and CS majors and away from other programs.
I'm not a mathematician, so perhaps there is some glaring hole in the offerings, but the math department at Bowdoin looks pretty robust to me. The lack of a table, while a shame, could reflect that the faculty were busy teaching classes, meeting with students, etc.
https://www.bowdoin.edu/math/courses/index.html
From the listing, it seems the department really fails to provide pure math coursework. Wouldn’t recommend for a student who wants to go into graduate applied fields, especially statistics or cryptography, or especially a student who may have interest in pure math. These are great offerings to get someone a baby data analyst gig and not much else.
Anonymous
03/05/2026 14:55
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:In terms of academic emphasis, Pomona is much heavier STEM than both Williams and Amherst. Its best departments are Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, and Neuroscience. Of the computing research association outstanding undergraduate research award, Pomona was the only liberal arts college represented for the 8 scholars chosen. There’s currently a math professor who is the next President of the Mathematical Association of America. This is not to say Williams or Amherst aren’t also exemplary at stem (they are!) but at Pomona, you’re gonna see a lot more Alice Schafer Prize scholars walking around (there’s been 3 in the past 5 years) compared to Beinecke Scholars.
for 95% of kids, the pure math play is not the trajectory they envision for themselves. williams is if you want to move to NY and work in finance/consulting. Pomona if you want to do the same on the West Coast.
I agree, but more Pomona students going off to software and data science gigs than finance if they’re getting a math degree. Nearly 50% of the school is in natural science majors. The most common majors are Computer Science, Economics, and Mathematics. There’s not the same rush for traditional finance.
Anonymous
03/05/2026 14:49
Subject: Williams, Amherst, Pomona: how are the different or the same in terms of rigor, styles of student who excel/best fit...
Anonymous wrote:In terms of academic emphasis, Pomona is much heavier STEM than both Williams and Amherst. Its best departments are Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, and Neuroscience. Of the computing research association outstanding undergraduate research award, Pomona was the only liberal arts college represented for the 8 scholars chosen. There’s currently a math professor who is the next President of the Mathematical Association of America. This is not to say Williams or Amherst aren’t also exemplary at stem (they are!) but at Pomona, you’re gonna see a lot more Alice Schafer Prize scholars walking around (there’s been 3 in the past 5 years) compared to Beinecke Scholars.
for 95% of kids, the pure math play is not the trajectory they envision for themselves. williams is if you want to move to NY and work in finance/consulting. Pomona if you want to do the same on the West Coast.