Thanks to the last three posters/posts for the excellent analysis. Some of the best I have ever seen on this board.

According to the Pomona and Davidson CDS:

For enrolled students, Davidson students scored a middle 50% range of 1320-1470 on the SAT. 72% of those with a class rank were in the top 10%. Overall, 18% were admitted.

Pomona students scored a middle 50% of 1410-1530. 93% were ranked in the top 10%. Overall, 7.4% were admitted.

There is a big gap in the caliber of student who goes to these schools. Something worth thinking about. Davidson has bright students, but you really need something special on top of high academic performance to get into Pomona. It's basically like a mini Ivy.

Davidson is a fine school, but not at all difficult for any high stats kids from our area to get into. Pomona is all but impossible. I can’t imagine why anyone would pass up the opportunity to go to a fabulous school in the Claremont consortium for Davidson for reasons other than price or proximity. The Parchment comparison is likely due to geographic self selection. Otherwise, I’d expect it to be 80/20 Pomona (assuming there are a significant number of people who apply to both).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you choose Pomona or Davidson? On those school comparison sites majority chose Davidson 60 percent. Add to that some merit from Davidson and from DC area.

All costs equal? Pomona is a no brainer. The schools are not in the same league and Pomona consistently ranks much higher in most rankings (which analyze outcomes, resources, student strength, etc). Not to mention the other Claremont Colleges, being in the LA area...it's a much richer environment.

With merit aid? Depends on how much and what your child wants to study/do. If your child is interested in the humanities & social sciences, I'd say Davidson. All the top SLACs are fairly comparable with regard to those disciplines. If your child is interested in STEM (excluding biology- at which Davidson is good), Pomona is a much stronger STEM school. Does your child want to work in the East Coast or West Coast? Both LACs skew regionally with regards to alumni network. That said, it'll be easier for a Pomona grad to get recruited for east coast jobs than a Davidson grad to be recruited for West Coast jobs/

East Coast, Poli Sci/International Affairs, likely Law School. Target would obviously be a top 14...

Tough.

The thing is, Davidson has a great political science department, but there is no international affairs major unlike Pomona (which has one of the strongest ones among LACs).

Both schools have graduates at top law schools, but the difference is that Pomona has generous grading while Davidson is grade deflated. It's reasonably possible to get a 3.8+ at Pomona- good enough for the T14 Law schools- but much harder at Davidson. GPA is extremely important so it's worth thinking about.

I know Davidson generally gives decent merit aid but to only ~10% of incoming first years. Over the 4 years on average Davidson merit aid candidates would save 80K over full-pay Pomona (which has no merit aid). That's a pretty big difference and could be put into law school. That your child got it probably means they could do very well in Davidson also. I'd pick Davidson in this case considering everything.

One thing I didn't mention is that these schools attract very different student bodies. It's hard to imagine a Pomona student being happy at Davidson and vice versa. Fit should be weighted in this decision as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you choose Pomona or Davidson? On those school comparison sites majority chose Davidson 60 percent. Add to that some merit from Davidson and from DC area.

All costs equal? Pomona is a no brainer. The schools are not in the same league and Pomona consistently ranks much higher in most rankings (which analyze outcomes, resources, student strength, etc). Not to mention the other Claremont Colleges, being in the LA area...it's a much richer environment.

With merit aid? Depends on how much and what your child wants to study/do. If your child is interested in the humanities & social sciences, I'd say Davidson. All the top SLACs are fairly comparable with regard to those disciplines. If your child is interested in STEM (excluding biology- at which Davidson is good), Pomona is a much stronger STEM school. Does your child want to work in the East Coast or West Coast? Both LACs skew regionally with regards to alumni network. That said, it'll be easier for a Pomona grad to get recruited for east coast jobs than a Davidson grad to be recruited for West Coast jobs/

East Coast, Poli Sci/International Affairs, likely Law School. Target would obviously be a top 14...

Do quirky/artsy/musical/theatrical students go to Pomona? Most Pomona grads I've met have been smart and nice but not as edgy as Swarthmore, Vassar, Wesleyan, Carleton, Macalaster or Grinnell grads. Amherst and Williams seem to produce more of a mix than Pomona but, admittedly, I haven't met many Pomona grads.

Anonymous wrote:Would you choose Pomona or Davidson? On those school comparison sites majority chose Davidson 60 percent. Add to that some merit from Davidson and from DC area.

All costs equal? Pomona is a no brainer. The schools are not in the same league and Pomona consistently ranks much higher in most rankings (which analyze outcomes, resources, student strength, etc). Not to mention the other Claremont Colleges, being in the LA area...it's a much richer environment.

With merit aid? Depends on how much and what your child wants to study/do. If your child is interested in the humanities & social sciences, I'd say Davidson. All the top SLACs are fairly comparable with regard to those disciplines. If your child is interested in STEM (excluding biology- at which Davidson is good), Pomona is a much stronger STEM school. Does your child want to work in the East Coast or West Coast? Both LACs skew regionally with regards to alumni network. That said, it'll be easier for a Pomona grad to get recruited for east coast jobs than a Davidson grad to be recruited for West Coast jobs/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most flat, one-dimensional thinker I ever had work for me went to Pomona-- a fact she most proudly made sure was well-known. She is white and came from a wealthy family that was from an otherwise rural part of Oregon, which is the only way I could figure she got into Pomona. Yes, it's one anecdote, but it made me think that there must be some strange dynamics between the truly intelligent capable students with strong educational backgrounds, combined with the "top of the class" kids like this one) who come from under performing schools.

You got that from one person? From you I’m getting that you’re not a clear thinker. Where did you go so I can draw a sweeping conclusion about your school?

Vanderbilt

Guess we can all agree Vandy sucks now.

If there is a SLAC worth going to, its Pomona and the other Claremont Colleges.
I believe students can take courses across colleges, you don't have a situation with other SLACS where they might be strong in humanities and provide a lot of humanities courses but very weak in STEM/social sciences with very few courses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most flat, one-dimensional thinker I ever had work for me went to Pomona-- a fact she most proudly made sure was well-known. She is white and came from a wealthy family that was from an otherwise rural part of Oregon, which is the only way I could figure she got into Pomona. Yes, it's one anecdote, but it made me think that there must be some strange dynamics between the truly intelligent capable students with strong educational backgrounds, combined with the "top of the class" kids like this one) who come from under performing schools.

You got that from one person? From you I’m getting that you’re not a clear thinker. Where did you go so I can draw a sweeping conclusion about your school?

Vanderbilt

Anonymous wrote:The most flat, one-dimensional thinker I ever had work for me went to Pomona-- a fact she most proudly made sure was well-known. She is white and came from a wealthy family that was from an otherwise rural part of Oregon, which is the only way I could figure she got into Pomona. Yes, it's one anecdote, but it made me think that there must be some strange dynamics between the truly intelligent capable students with strong educational backgrounds, combined with the "top of the class" kids like this one) who come from under performing schools.

You got that from one person? From you I’m getting that you’re not a clear thinker. Where did you go so I can draw a sweeping conclusion about your school?

Anonymous wrote:Would you choose Pomona or Davidson? On those school comparison sites majority chose Davidson 60 percent. Add to that some merit from Davidson and from DC area.

Pomona, by a mile. Better school, better location, much bigger endowment.

The most flat, one-dimensional thinker I ever had work for me went to Pomona-- a fact she most proudly made sure was well-known. She is white and came from a wealthy family that was from an otherwise rural part of Oregon, which is the only way I could figure she got into Pomona. Yes, it's one anecdote, but it made me think that there must be some strange dynamics between the truly intelligent capable students with strong educational backgrounds, combined with the "top of the class" kids like this one) who come from under performing schools.

Would you choose Pomona or Davidson? On those school comparison sites majority chose Davidson 60 percent. Add to that some merit from Davidson and from DC area.

We are going to give it a go. Pomona seems to be strong in a particular major that my child is interested in.