At Pomona, only intro science classes are anywhere near large. I'm not a science student, so my largest class this past year was probably 25 people, and it felt huge. Even in that class, my prof knew everyone's name and whether or not we participated very often. One thing to keep in mind is that even if you think you know what you're majoring in, don't forget to branch out and take classes that sound just plain interesting. That's actually how I found out what I want to major in; conversely, one of my friends only did required classes and has now decided to completely switch her major, meaning her past classes that were tedious and stressful were not very relevant. Don't get stuck in a major! Yes, you have to pick by the end of sophomore year, but even after that a lot of people switch.
A lot of people get to know their professors and even eat meals with them, just chatting or asking for advice. Profs are always eager to talk about anything, and most email all the time (if all you have is a simple h/w question).
By far, the most interesting class I've taken was called Race, Gender, and Science Fiction. Basically, we read a lot of awesome books that are LESS than 50 years old, watched movies, wrote a lot of essays, and discussed some common themes in sci-fi. Who knew you could take a literature class about sci-fi?
Pomona students are obviously competitive or they wouldn't have the academic background that got them admitted in the first place; however, it's more competitiveness with themselves than with others. It's very hard for us smart kids to handle anything less than an A, so we work our butts off to get them here. We're also all for helping each other achieve the same. Of course, there are those who study all the time and those who never study. And yes, it pays off to study.
Being a liberal arts school, Pomona obviously values learning for its own sake more than direct career education, but certainly if you're pre-med, Pomona helps you get to med school. The requirements can be annoying, because there are five areas of study in which you have to take at least one class each, in addition to a foreign language requirement. Not being a science person, I'm hard-pressed to find a science class I actually want to take, but the whole idea is to spread out and explore. Maybe I'll find I really like astronomy. As far as languages go, we have quite a variety, from Spanish and French to Chinese and Japanese, and high school background in another language makes that requirement pretty easy.