I did it. I got into the single Ivy to which I applied and very dramatically burned the admissions letter while sobbing in my room (I was sixteen, what can I say?). My parents had flat out refused to help pay for college because they thought higher education was a waste of money and a place where people went to become brainwashed "yuppies." I went to the school that offered me a full ride, which was a liberal arts college, and not a very prestigious one.

Anonymous wrote:This thread is a help to me as a parent of a high schooler. (Well, except for the PPs who seem so invested in insisting that the girl must be lying about her acceptances--sour grapes, maybe?) We've always told our DD that when the time comes for college, she needs to choose the place that has the academic programs she needs and wants, and not to worry about "name brands" just for the sake of the name. Hearing the great things on here about LACs like Pomona just reinforces that.

And I have worked in HR and can say that employers will not be asking this girl during job interviews, "Why did you turn down Stanford? What was wrong with Yale?" because that will not be on her resume or job applications. No one will know or care what she turned down when she was 18 years old, but they'll care how she used the time she did have at her college of choice.

yes, maybe... or maybe you don't know what college admission process is like.

This thread is a help to me as a parent of a high schooler. (Well, except for the PPs who seem so invested in insisting that the girl must be lying about her acceptances--sour grapes, maybe?) We've always told our DD that when the time comes for college, she needs to choose the place that has the academic programs she needs and wants, and not to worry about "name brands" just for the sake of the name. Hearing the great things on here about LACs like Pomona just reinforces that.

And I have worked in HR and can say that employers will not be asking this girl during job interviews, "Why did you turn down Stanford? What was wrong with Yale?" because that will not be on her resume or job applications. No one will know or care what she turned down when she was 18 years old, but they'll care how she used the time she did have at her college of choice.

Anonymous wrote:Recently, I talked to a coworker whose daughter is attending Pomona College in California this fall after turning down offers at Yale, Stanford, and Brown. Apparently this isn't uncommon, and there are a number of students picking top LACs over Ivies/comparable universities every year. I didn't want to badger further about why she had done that, so I'm interested from those with similar experiences- why would someone turn down a prestigious university over a liberal arts college?

I don't know much about Pomona, and my little research indicates that it is a reputable school, but it only has 1600 students and an admissions rate double that of Stanford.

I'd seriously question accuracy of this statement. It's like hitting jackpot three straight times. Almost impossible even for high flying kids. Was the child URM?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a small school is really important to some people. It was to me and to my husband.

Whoops, hit submit too soon. It also could be that she received aid at Pomona and wasn't offered it at the better schools.

Pomona is a top LAC and most likely does not give merit aid. My guess is the student and parents opted for a small school.

If it's a better fit, may do better there than at Ivy = better chance for Ivy grad school. Big picture.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dumb choice to choose Pomona over Stanford. Name recognition of the two is no comparison. Stanford is known all over the world. Pomona is not even that well known outside of CA. The elites and intellectuals know it but not the average person on the street.

Trying to impress the average person on the street seems like an exercise in tragedy.

+1. Different strokes for different folks.

Anonymous wrote:Dumb choice to choose Pomona over Stanford. Name recognition of the two is no comparison. Stanford is known all over the world. Pomona is not even that well known outside of CA. The elites and intellectuals know it but not the average person on the street.

Trying to impress the average person on the street seems like an exercise in tragedy.

Dumb choice to choose Pomona over Stanford. Name recognition of the two is no comparison. Stanford is known all over the world. Pomona is not even that well known outside of CA. The elites and intellectuals know it but not the average person on the street.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your research skills are lacking. Pomona, year in year out, is a top ranked liberal arts college. It has a small but beautiful campus and a sterling reputation. Having said that, one should never turn down Stanford. Why would anyone do that?

Hatred of UMC suburbia and/or the cult of entrepreneurship?

Pomona is a "nicer" school. Stanford has lots of assholes and libertarian heartless types

This is one of the most bizarre threads I've read - who doesn't know how amazing Pomona is? As a NESCAC grad who studied abroad and met many Pomona kids I wish I had known about it before I applied to all New England (also great) schools. My DD didn't want to go all the way to CA but did apply only to SLACs, even if her stats would have allowed her to get into Ivys and other top universities. Different strokes.

But seriously, why can't people believe she chose Pomona? I would!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your research skills are lacking. Pomona, year in year out, is a top ranked liberal arts college. It has a small but beautiful campus and a sterling reputation. Having said that, one should never turn down Stanford. Why would anyone do that?

Ha! If you ask my DH ( who went to Berkeley) he would say no one should go to Stanford! It is the one school he doesn't want our kids to go to. Luckily I don't think this is going to be a problem and no he hasn't told them this to their face!

Just hoping that they don't want to go there ( and it is slim that they would get in anyway)

Go Stanford; beat Cal! (Proud Stanford alum here )

Seriously, as a native Californian, I know lots of Pomona alums, including a close friend from high school who went to Pomona over Stanford. Why? Because people aren't all the same and don't all want the same thing. Pomona's a terrific school and you can get an excellent education there -- different from, but every bit as strong as Stanford. And, BTW, in my class at Harvard Law School there were lots of students who had graduated from SLACs. They were as well-prepared as those of us who had gone to larger, better-known schools. As for the higher acceptance rate at top SLACs compared to comparable "Ivy peers schools," I agree with the college prof who posted earlier that it probably reflects self-selection on the part of applicants.

Every future interviewer will rightfully question a kid's decision making skills, candlepower, and competitiveness for turning down Stanford (or Yale).

1) No future interviewer would even know what other options a high schooler had when choosing his/her eventual college
2) An employer at a company known for its smart employees will completely understand the decision to choose a SLAC over a university
3) You obviously are not in a position where you are regularly interviewing students from elite colleges for employment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your research skills are lacking. Pomona, year in year out, is a top ranked liberal arts college. It has a small but beautiful campus and a sterling reputation. Having said that, one should never turn down Stanford. Why would anyone do that?

Ha! If you ask my DH ( who went to Berkeley) he would say no one should go to Stanford! It is the one school he doesn't want our kids to go to. Luckily I don't think this is going to be a problem and no he hasn't told them this to their face!

Just hoping that they don't want to go there ( and it is slim that they would get in anyway)

Go Stanford; beat Cal! (Proud Stanford alum here )

Seriously, as a native Californian, I know lots of Pomona alums, including a close friend from high school who went to Pomona over Stanford. Why? Because people aren't all the same and don't all want the same thing. Pomona's a terrific school and you can get an excellent education there -- different from, but every bit as strong as Stanford. And, BTW, in my class at Harvard Law School there were lots of students who had graduated from SLACs. They were as well-prepared as those of us who had gone to larger, better-known schools. As for the higher acceptance rate at top SLACs compared to comparable "Ivy peers schools," I agree with the college prof who posted earlier that it probably reflects self-selection on the part of applicants.

Every future interviewer will rightfully question a kid's decision making skills, candlepower, and competitiveness for turning down Stanford (or Yale).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Recently, I talked to a coworker whose daughter is attending Pomona College in California this fall after turning down offers at Yale, Stanford, and Brown. Apparently this isn't uncommon, and there are a number of students picking top LACs over Ivies/comparable universities every year. I didn't want to badger further about why she had done that, so I'm interested from those with similar experiences- why would someone turn down a prestigious university over a liberal arts college?

I don't know much about Pomona, and my little research indicates that it is a reputable school, but it only has 1600 students and an admissions rate double that of Stanford.

Fake news. Nobody turns down Yale or Stanford. And few apply to both.

Not sure about not applying to both, but my troll sense was tingling.

The demographics for the elites actually skew heavily towards regional and international. Duke is heavy mid-Atlantic and east coast, Stanford cleans up from Washington to southern California, and so forth. This is a Beltway forum, the Beltway daughter targets (at least) two completely different California colleges...the most elite prestige schools...bothers with Brown, for some reason...gets into Yale AND Stanford...and chooses SLAC. Literally a 0% chance this is true. There aren't more than a handful of kids each year that get into both Yale and Stanford.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your research skills are lacking. Pomona, year in year out, is a top ranked liberal arts college. It has a small but beautiful campus and a sterling reputation. Having said that, one should never turn down Stanford. Why would anyone do that?

Ha! If you ask my DH ( who went to Berkeley) he would say no one should go to Stanford! It is the one school he doesn't want our kids to go to. Luckily I don't think this is going to be a problem and no he hasn't told them this to their face!

Just hoping that they don't want to go there ( and it is slim that they would get in anyway)

Go Stanford; beat Cal! (Proud Stanford alum here )

Seriously, as a native Californian, I know lots of Pomona alums, including a close friend from high school who went to Pomona over Stanford. Why? Because people aren't all the same and don't all want the same thing. Pomona's a terrific school and you can get an excellent education there -- different from, but every bit as strong as Stanford. And, BTW, in my class at Harvard Law School there were lots of students who had graduated from SLACs. They were as well-prepared as those of us who had gone to larger, better-known schools. As for the higher acceptance rate at top SLACs compared to comparable "Ivy peers schools," I agree with the college prof who posted earlier that it probably reflects self-selection on the part of applicants.

Anonymous wrote:As a college professor at a large research university, I would definitely encourage my children to apply to and attend LACs over large universities for undergraduate (college) education. Assuming that your child will go onto graduate school, your child's likelihood of obtaining a graduate degree are higher for LAC graduates than graduates of larger universities.

Pomona is one of the very best colleges in the country (I would put it up there with Swarthmore, Amherst, and Williams), and it likely does not offer any kind of merit aid.

The higher percentage of accepted students at Pomona compared to Stanford is due to the fact that a lot of kids apply to Stanford (or Harvard or Yale), but the kids who apply to top LACs tend to be a pretty self-selecting group.

This. And thanks for the insight.