This is one opinion. Many people love the four season weather and outdoor recreation in Maine. And many love Bates.
@mrbdk what does your student want? That is what matters. Both are excellent colleges.
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Congrats to your son on two awesome options! Was he admitted to both of the waitlist and committed to somewhere else first? If so, which school? That might help us help you!
My D24 is attending Bates in the fall. She was particularly struck by the collaborative nature of the students and that was very appealing to her - it felt less competitive to her than other LACs. She also loved the strong sense of community at Bates! Finally, she loves Maine, the weather, skiing options, and the excellent bagels.
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Yes, while I don’t think Pomona has a reputation for being particularly cutthroat, Bates does have a reputation for being particularly collaborative and mutually-supportive.
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Pomona College is a wonderful school in many respects.
OP: I encourage you to read The Fiske Guide To Colleges entries on Pomona College and on Bates College if you have not yet done so.
Not recently. Williams has owned that spot for a while.
(not important…)
OP, both of these are top-quality colleges. As others have mentioned, climate and location are two big differences between them. Having visited Bates and liking it, I’d be leaning that way given the time crunch… unless you can visit Pomona/Claremont.
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He is committed to Bates, he got in regular decision there. Pomona just let him in off the waitlist this week. It was tempting, but he really liked Bates when he visited, and I think he’s pretty certain to go there.
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The NESCAC mafia has struck again and has added another soldier to the army.
The 5Cs are a great choice, and Pomona the crown jewel of the group, but I can see someone wanting to be in Maine for a 4-year experience. Of course that is a subjective and personal choice, and choosing Maine isn’t quite as “out there” as maybe the average person might make it out to be when when generalizing (or, more often, fantasizing) about what “So Cal” means.
There’s Manhattan Beach So Cal and there’s Claremont So Cal. I know few people who don’t see the appeal of the former, and more who don’t see the appeal of the latter. Though not technically part of California’s Inland Empire, some would say you’re getting there when you get to Claremont and it has a bit of that vibe. I wouldn’t say I hate it, but it’s far from my first choice of places to be.
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One of your earlier reponses allayed a couple of my “concerns” (actually much too harsh a word) about Bates. When I left SoCal for my first stint at another Maine college, what got to me wasn’t the cold as much as it was the decrease in daylight hours and sunshine, but being from the PNW, he should be fine with that. I’m also glad that he liked Lewiston. Some students (particularly from more affluent areas) are a little taken aback by it, at least at first, but 1) it looks a ton better than when I first saw it 30ish years ago, 2) I suspect that being in a diverse community encourages and provides opportunities for more community engagement, and 3) I’ve been told that between it and Auburn, there are more than 100 restaurants with a wide variety of cuisines! While I was in Claremont a few times this past year (including last week), the last time I was at Bates was pre-pandemic (although I’ll be back in the area in a couple of weeks). My incredibly over-simplified/generized observation is that Bates tends to be more homogenized on campus, with the community being more diverse while the 5Cs are extermely diverse on campus, but the immediate surrounding community is homogenized (although it gets a lot more diverse a little further away). My theory is that lends itself to Pomona students being more activist regarding international/diversity issues, while Bates students are engaged with things a little closer to home (although one of Maine’s two congressional reps lives near campus). For instance, I was told that Bates students basically held one march through town regarding Gaza, while Pomona (and other 5C students) were in the national headlines for their activities a lot the past few months - and while only a relatively small number of students were directly involved, it sparked a lot of conversations in and out of the classroom. As much as I have really grown to admire Pomona, Bates is probably the safest choice at this point, since it seems to check all of your son’s boxes - and even if you did get a chance to visit, aside from the tour guides, most of what you’d see at Pomona right now is a very large film crew that has taken over the middle of campus for the next couple of weeks! Again, congrats to him for getting the chance to choose!
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My youngest is a politics major at Pomona - rising sophomore. I honestly cannot say enough about how amazing it has been. I do not know Bates, so cannot compare.
If yours would like to connect with mine to ask questions, send me a pm
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Residents of Claremont appear likely to claim a distinct identity, however:
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I’d just like to say thank you to everyone who took the time to respond here. It has been very helpful, and you have all been most kind.
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