Pomona: The Big Picture
Alright, I'll level with you. This place is crazy nice. The academics are almost always great and professors are only here if they have an interest in your personal success. Nearly everyone is very good at what they do and work hard to become better (and definitely not at your expense). The administration is overly-protective, but well-run. Dorm-life is the de facto experience. The dorms are crazy nice - I'm writing this now in a large single with a fireplace. Oh yeah, the school has a 1.6 billion dollar endowment. *the what?* Yeah, it's huge, they're footing nearly the entire bill for my poor-ass to go here. The town is full of rich white people who would rather never see you ever. Consequently, Claremont is a horrible college town. There are a few bright-spots in town, but I'm not sure that they do well anyways. People stick to the colleges pretty tightly. There lies the biggest problem. We get no experience being independent in the free world. The dining halls feed us well, but we don't learn how to explore, pay rent, or feed ourselves. Ideally, you would take Pomona and place it in the middle of a city. However, it's just not possible. You'll never have such a personal experience in a different setting.
Pomona Academic Life
You get to know all the professors in your major. Class size depends on the major, but by upper levels, you'll probably have less than 10 per. Currently I have classes with 3, 8, and 8 students (+ independent study one on one). Physics has a reputation of professors that are too awkward. True, but it's getting better. We just hired two young guys who are great. People will love to talk to you about what you do, and people do interesting things.
Let me put this a different way. My close work with professors have gotten me two summer jobs at Caltech and most recently at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institute of Washington. I have mixed feelings about such meritocracy. Welcome to the academic world.
Unlike Harvey Mudd, Pomona kids take more classes for general interest or will double-major in strange ways. Most people have broad perspectives.
Pomona's Student Body
Pomona strikes a pretty good balance with interesting, (fairly) diverse students without so much of the crazy. People are idealist to the point that they'll respect moral obligation and considers non-profits, but also pragmatic enough to interview for industry as well. We're pampered and often I feel this place could use a little anarchy. Also, you'll often hear of the insane things the administration will do to be politically correct. Nevertheless, between the 5 colleges, you'll find the people you're looking for.
Students are from everywhere. Sophomore year I roomed with a Bulgarian who went on the equivalent of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (translation: Who Wants to be Rich?, top prize $20,000). He's one of the only people to get to the last question, but lost on it. Most people there know of him. He's a goddamn Bulgarian celebrity!
Pomona Student Activities + Social Life
You'll hear a lot of people talk about sponsor groups. This is basically the hall that you live on during Freshman year. Many become very good friends with their sponsor group and continue that for the next three years. This has it's consequences. It's more difficult to branch out earlier on; this place is cliquey. Also, these things breed incest, which can become tricky. Then again, you will know people well that would wouldn't know otherwise.
Everyone is, of course, terribly friendly. Doors are open, chit chat is welcome. I personally have never locked my door. I find that I have at most, two nights a week where I can go out. Some have more. There are a lot of school-sponsored things. In fact, I believe that the school provides beer five nights a week if you know where to look for it. Nice! We have two excellent events during the year: Harwood Halloween and Smiley 80's. The first is a subterranean parking garage Halloween party and the latter is self-explanatory with a pretty rockin' 80s cover band. Oh, and there's a weekly thing called Table Manners that's pretty wicked. The school tries to wow people with things like ski/beach day and death by chocolate, but they're not as sweet as they sound.
