My S turned down Stanford and Columbia for Pomona. He was wait-listed or rejected at the other Ivy's he applied to (Brown, Yale, Princeton).

At first it really aggravated us when he was telling us he was preferring Pomona, because Stanford especially is a much more prestigious and well-resourced school. But upon visiting and researching Pomona we were very surprised.

On paper, it matches any of the Ivies. The only Ivies with a higher endowment per student are HYP. The admitted student SAT/ACT is comparable to Penn/Dartmouth. It has a 9.1% acceptance rate, lower than many of the Ivies and in the top ten of all comparable colleges for selectivity. My son pulled up some statistics, and there was one in which Pomona ranked 8th for students winning competitive fellowships and 13th for acceptance to top graduate programs of all universities. It isn't a comparison between the perceived differences of a small LAC and a university, but a tippy top LAC that draws a student body just as strong as many of the Ivies and whose grads do quite well.

For my son, it was important to have a thriving, diverse intellectual community with a nurturing and supportive dynamic, and Pomona is as good as it gets. We could tell immediately upon visiting Pomona that they take immeasurable care of their students- and everyone, from faculty to the administration to the staff to other students, puts a determined effort to create a friendly atmosphere. This did not feel as noticeable at the Ivy's. We met many parents whose children were also deciding between Ivies and top universities, and many of them said their children were also leaning towards Pomona, so that was reassuring. Another comment came from a professor we met at Pomona who had taught at Stanford and Princeton, who said he'd absolutely encourage his child to go to Pomona if they were making the same decision.

According to my S, who got to interact with the students more, Stanford felt as if it had an overwhelming tech presence, and it felt difficult to connect students interested in the humanities/social sciences and STEM fields. Columbia felt similar to Pomona in intellectual climate, but the students felt much more haughty, aloof, and gloomy. At the end of the day, he was deciding between Pomona and Stanford, and as a CS major, Stanford seemed like a no-brainer. But upon doing research of CS majors jobs' prospects, he learned that the average starting salary was comparable for them at both Pomona and Stanford, and Pomona also sent students to the best tech companies. But he was intellectually interested in more than just CS, and felt the Pomona CS students were more well-rounded, and the student body less divided.

He just returned from his first semester and said he has no regrets at all- and as a parent, what could be more reassuring? We don't bring his acceptances up because it always strikes controversy (turning down the Big S seems to be unheard of), and it's not something my S particularly cares about or defines himself with.

Anonymous wrote:+1 for smaller schools. Our DD won't even look at schools with >3000 students. Doesn't like the tailgate culture of big Div I sports palaces and is much more comfortable in a class of 15-20 taught by a professor than a lecture hall of over 200 or a class taught by a TA she can't understand.

I see. Smaller schools are great for the xenophobic MAGA, I guess?

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?

Take. Your. Meds.

And WTF is "UMC suburbia" btw?

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).

I've interviewed law students. I had no idea which schools they turned down. And, even if I did know, I wouldn't care. Just not relevant.