Pomona College | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Francesca

Class: Senior
Major: Other
Gender: F

High School: Clackamas High School
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

The best things about Pomona are the small class sizes that center around discussion - and the weather, which hovers around sixty to seventy even in December. If I were to change anything, I would first increase the number of students of color and first-generation college students on campus, then move campus closer to Los Angeles or at least out of the rich, white retirement community of Claremont. When I tell people I go to Pomona, they generally don't recognize my small liberal arts college and ask me instead why I chose to attend the local community college. On campus I usually spend most of my time in the computer lab; as a senior with a thesis, most of my socializing is done in study parties. The administration here runs wonderfully smoothly; I've only once in my four years had a problem, but it was quickly resolved. There haven't been any very large controversies on campus, but there have been a string of incidents with racial or homophobic epithets or swastikas being drawn on doors around the college throughout the semester.

Academic Life

The class size at Pomona is one of the biggest reasons I chose Pomona. All my professors know my name, since their largest classes, other than introductory chemistry classes, have maybe thirty students. Most of my friends and I seem to study all the time, but maybe it only seems that way because we also have work-study jobs and are involved in social justice groups on-campus, which eats up all our free time. Most students aren't competitive. My major is Asian American Studies, which is really unique for such a small college to have, since most major universities are only JUST getting their first one or two Asian American Studies courses. It's really impressive that for a consortium of colleges of maybe 4,000 students, we actually every semester have a rotating variety of about 15 Asian American Studies courses. Unfortunately, the education at Pomona, it being a liberal arts college, is geared more toward learning for learning's sake; many of my friends and I as seniors are now lamenting that liberal arts won't get us a job.

Student Body

Pomona is a good place to start learning about your racial, sexual, socioeconomic identity; these communities are pretty tight. However, at a certain point, the apathy prevalent over most of the campus will start to wear you down. Of course, it's a majority-white school, and the admission rates for Asian Americans has been falling steadily over the past few years. There are also a lot of students here whose families can afford to pay the entire $45,000 tuition every year, so expect a lot of students who travel for fun without wincing or without considering that other students might not have the same privileges. There are some white kids who are cool and hang out with and work with the people of color in the social justice groups, but the average white/rich kid doesn't seem to want to go out of his/her way to make new friends or challenge his/her own privilege. So as a very politicized student, unless you get into the small political community here, you'll feel out of place. As a poor student, you may feel out of place. Most students wear what you might find at Abercrombie & Fitch or American Eagle and Rainbow-brand flipflops. Most Pomona students are from California, but there are a lot of students also from the Pacific Northwest.