Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted upthread but you should visit Pomona. It's easy to idealize southern Cal and there are lots of pluses to Pomona but Claremont is not a beauty spot.

DC was a recruited athlete at both Mudd and Pomona. We wanted to like the area because both schools are excellent, and we visited twice. Both times, we felt stressed by the heat and the traffic (OMG, the traffic!!!) and found the place a concrete jungle. We didn't like the bright, hard light and the stark drabness (to be fair, we visited in the middle of a major drought). We couldn't get away fast enough. However, my and my DC's experience is just one perspective. Some people love the climate and terrain and would find everything we hated to be a huge draw. You and your DC really need to visit and decide for yourselves. We didn't look at Williams.

Claremont and Concrete jungle don't align. You should also remember from the perspective of your child who is walking and taking public transit farthest to the local target for goods. Most of Claremont is idealized suburbia with a massive tree canopy.

Why do the Pomona folks always do this? PP made clear it was her perspective, which doesn’t need to be identical to yours.

Just like you responded to me, I can respond to someone else. I can also share my perspective! We are on an online, anonymous forum.

Share your perspective whether suggesting someone else’s is wrong, it is possible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted upthread but you should visit Pomona. It's easy to idealize southern Cal and there are lots of pluses to Pomona but Claremont is not a beauty spot.

DC was a recruited athlete at both Mudd and Pomona. We wanted to like the area because both schools are excellent, and we visited twice. Both times, we felt stressed by the heat and the traffic (OMG, the traffic!!!) and found the place a concrete jungle. We didn't like the bright, hard light and the stark drabness (to be fair, we visited in the middle of a major drought). We couldn't get away fast enough. However, my and my DC's experience is just one perspective. Some people love the climate and terrain and would find everything we hated to be a huge draw. You and your DC really need to visit and decide for yourselves. We didn't look at Williams.

Claremont and Concrete jungle don't align. You should also remember from the perspective of your child who is walking and taking public transit farthest to the local target for goods. Most of Claremont is idealized suburbia with a massive tree canopy.

Why do the Pomona folks always do this? PP made clear it was her perspective, which doesn’t need to be identical to yours.

Just like you responded to me, I can respond to someone else. I can also share my perspective! We are on an online, anonymous forum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted upthread but you should visit Pomona. It's easy to idealize southern Cal and there are lots of pluses to Pomona but Claremont is not a beauty spot.

DC was a recruited athlete at both Mudd and Pomona. We wanted to like the area because both schools are excellent, and we visited twice. Both times, we felt stressed by the heat and the traffic (OMG, the traffic!!!) and found the place a concrete jungle. We didn't like the bright, hard light and the stark drabness (to be fair, we visited in the middle of a major drought). We couldn't get away fast enough. However, my and my DC's experience is just one perspective. Some people love the climate and terrain and would find everything we hated to be a huge draw. You and your DC really need to visit and decide for yourselves. We didn't look at Williams.

Claremont and Concrete jungle don't align. You should also remember from the perspective of your child who is walking and taking public transit farthest to the local target for goods. Most of Claremont is idealized suburbia with a massive tree canopy.

Why do the Pomona folks always do this? PP made clear it was her perspective, which doesn’t need to be identical to yours.

If he loves hiking, get him to Claremont ASAP. Hiking opportunities near LA are just better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted upthread but you should visit Pomona. It's easy to idealize southern Cal and there are lots of pluses to Pomona but Claremont is not a beauty spot.

DC was a recruited athlete at both Mudd and Pomona. We wanted to like the area because both schools are excellent, and we visited twice. Both times, we felt stressed by the heat and the traffic (OMG, the traffic!!!) and found the place a concrete jungle. We didn't like the bright, hard light and the stark drabness (to be fair, we visited in the middle of a major drought). We couldn't get away fast enough. However, my and my DC's experience is just one perspective. Some people love the climate and terrain and would find everything we hated to be a huge draw. You and your DC really need to visit and decide for yourselves. We didn't look at Williams.

Claremont and Concrete jungle don't align. You should also remember from the perspective of your child who is walking and taking public transit farthest to the local target for goods. Most of Claremont is idealized suburbia with a massive tree canopy.

Anonymous wrote:I posted upthread but you should visit Pomona. It's easy to idealize southern Cal and there are lots of pluses to Pomona but Claremont is not a beauty spot.

DC was a recruited athlete at both Mudd and Pomona. We wanted to like the area because both schools are excellent, and we visited twice. Both times, we felt stressed by the heat and the traffic (OMG, the traffic!!!) and found the place a concrete jungle. We didn't like the bright, hard light and the stark drabness (to be fair, we visited in the middle of a major drought). We couldn't get away fast enough. However, my and my DC's experience is just one perspective. Some people love the climate and terrain and would find everything we hated to be a huge draw. You and your DC really need to visit and decide for yourselves. We didn't look at Williams.

Anonymous wrote:DC is down to these two options.
Prospective Math major, loves hiking and exploring places. Dc really wants an environment where there’s a good math community and opportunities (read: interesting math specialties or courses or research opportunities). DC loves small school environment and smaller classes. He loved the tutorial system/WEPO when he toured Williams but found the students kind of cold. We’ve yet to visit Pomona, but he really likes what he’s seen so far.

Anyone with experience with both and how you’d go about choosing?

If you can get into either of these schools, you're golden. The experience at both would be outstanding and, for academics, more similar than different, so I would focus on the differences, primarily regarding location and weather. You'll get exceptional academics, a bright and curious human body, and incredible facilities and opportunities at either one, so look at the differences in lifestyle. Do you like changing seasons, fall colors, and cold? Or dry heat, outdoor swimming, and beaches within a 1.5-hour drive? Do you want a quiet rural or a busy suburban environment? Do you want a small campus with 2,200 students or to be part of the ~8,000 students at the seven Claremont Colleges? Do you like oaks and maples or palm trees and scraggly pines? Would you be bothered by the isolation of living in a small town or by the SoCal traffic?

Williams and Pomona are arguably the two best LACs in the nation, and you can't go wrong with either, so I would focus on the things that differentiate the two.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pomona
ED Acceptance rate: 12.5%
RD Acceptance rate: 5.8%

Williams
ED Acceptance rate: 27.0%
RD Acceptance rate: 8.5%

From the 2023-2024 Common Data Set

Never did I think I'd see an LAC with a 5% acceptance rate. What a whacky time for admissions. There really needs to be a constraint for the common app.

Now take away the Questbridge and 40% freshmen athletes at Williams, who get in n a 1:1 ratio, and you’ll understand that some of these schools are more — not less —- selective that many ivies.

Isn't Questbridge a really small percent (like 9-12 students) of the students at Liberal Arts Colleges?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pomona
ED Acceptance rate: 12.5%
RD Acceptance rate: 5.8%

Williams
ED Acceptance rate: 27.0%
RD Acceptance rate: 8.5%

From the 2023-2024 Common Data Set

Never did I think I'd see an LAC with a 5% acceptance rate. What a whacky time for admissions. There really needs to be a constraint for the common app.

Now take away the Questbridge and 40% freshmen athletes at Williams, who get in n a 1:1 ratio, and you’ll understand that some of these schools are more — not less —- selective that many ivies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the student is not a college athlete, then Pomona is the easy answer.

Op here. DC is not a student athlete. Is the divide at Williams that serious?

Williams has 35% athletes. Pomona has 31% — more than people think (and more than I thought before I looked it up). https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/search

Williams’ entry system is good about mixing athletes and non-athletes in early friend groups. Still a divide, but not as much as, say, Amherst.

Anyhow, as a SLAC, Williams cannot be beaten for math (and job networks therefrom); it would be a mistake going to Pomona.

The colleges has more students than the website says. According to the college, it's closer to 20%:https://www.pomona.edu/about/fact-sheet

This is government data. I would trust that over Pomona marketing.

The incentive to lie and get in trouble for it is...? They also factually do have more students than that government site, which is behind on the times.

I wonder if the 30% number also includes Pitzer students, since Pomona and Pitzer share athletic teams (i.e., the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens). I thought that Pomona's varsity athlete percentage was closer to 20-25%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the student is not a college athlete, then Pomona is the easy answer.

Op here. DC is not a student athlete. Is the divide at Williams that serious?

Williams has 35% athletes. Pomona has 31% — more than people think (and more than I thought before I looked it up). https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/search

Williams’ entry system is good about mixing athletes and non-athletes in early friend groups. Still a divide, but not as much as, say, Amherst.

Anyhow, as a SLAC, Williams cannot be beaten for math (and job networks therefrom); it would be a mistake going to Pomona.

The colleges has more students than the website says. According to the college, it's closer to 20%:https://www.pomona.edu/about/fact-sheet

This is government data. I would trust that over Pomona marketing.

The incentive to lie and get in trouble for it is...? They also factually do have more students than that government site, which is behind on the times.

If you really care, go to their CDS. Probably some of their “club” sports are really varsity sports. But as a rule, go to primary sources; this will improve your life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the student is not a college athlete, then Pomona is the easy answer.

Op here. DC is not a student athlete. Is the divide at Williams that serious?

Williams has 35% athletes. Pomona has 31% — more than people think (and more than I thought before I looked it up). https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/search

Williams’ entry system is good about mixing athletes and non-athletes in early friend groups. Still a divide, but not as much as, say, Amherst.

Anyhow, as a SLAC, Williams cannot be beaten for math (and job networks therefrom); it would be a mistake going to Pomona.

The colleges has more students than the website says. According to the college, it's closer to 20%:https://www.pomona.edu/about/fact-sheet

This is government data. I would trust that over Pomona marketing.

The incentive to lie and get in trouble for it is...? They also factually do have more students than that government site, which is behind on the times.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the student is not a college athlete, then Pomona is the easy answer.

Op here. DC is not a student athlete. Is the divide at Williams that serious?

Williams has 35% athletes. Pomona has 31% — more than people think (and more than I thought before I looked it up). https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/search

Williams’ entry system is good about mixing athletes and non-athletes in early friend groups. Still a divide, but not as much as, say, Amherst.

Anyhow, as a SLAC, Williams cannot be beaten for math (and job networks therefrom); it would be a mistake going to Pomona.

The colleges has more students than the website says. According to the college, it's closer to 20%:https://www.pomona.edu/about/fact-sheet

This is government data. I would trust that over Pomona marketing.

Anonymous wrote:Pomona
ED Acceptance rate: 12.5%
RD Acceptance rate: 5.8%

Williams
ED Acceptance rate: 27.0%
RD Acceptance rate: 8.5%

From the 2023-2024 Common Data Set

Never did I think I'd see an LAC with a 5% acceptance rate. What a whacky time for admissions. There really needs to be a constraint for the common app.

Anonymous wrote:The chance of admission at any of these three schools, including Amherst. is so remote as to make this whole thread ridiculous. Unless op’s child is an athlete with a promise of coach support, admission odds are likely better at Williams and Amherst than Pomona if student lives in the DMV.

OP's child is for sure an athlete. All factors considered, Pomona is looking like their option, while Williams is fine if they're looking for athletic cliques.