Hello ,
I think you will come from East then Bowdoin is a great option. Pomona is lottery in California. Since East has so many lac but California has only top 3s (pomona, claremont mckenna, Harvey Mudd) in claremont.
Bowdoin isn’t familiar to us, California actually.
I think claremont is distinctive, has 5 schools consortium. Very unique.
I disagree with the lottery ticket analysis.
OP: You will be more comfortable at Bowdoin College, but you are likely to grow in more ways at Pomona College since you will be leaving your comfort zone.
P.S. For others facing this decision in the future ( also great info. for OP regardless of which school was selected):
The decision date has passed. OP, please let us know your decision.
Two fantastic options so it just comes down to personal preference.
A few thoughts:
Bowdoin’s acceptance rate this year is <7%. I haven’t seen Pomona’s this year but last year’s was comparable to that and this year is likely within a % or so, so they are for all pratical purposes comparable for selectivity. Similarly reputation-wise as well. More on the West Coast have heard of Pomona and more on the East Coast have heard of Bowdoin.
I would not trade a school you visited and loved for one comparable in most regards that you haven’t visited, particularly over any perceived trivial differences in reputation. You should hop on a plane and immediately visit Pomona if you are seriously considering a switch.
Pomona will feel very, very different than any other LAC you may have visited. More like a mid-sized university, since it’s one continuous campus for 5 colleges. And it’s in a dessert-adjacent community versus Maine. And don’t think of it as part of greater LA either – just far enough away, particularly with traffic that usually is awful, that you will rarely see LA. Both are great – just totally different.
You mentioned not being a go-getter. A couple of anecdotes about Bowdoin – could be true at Pomona, I don’t know. My son’s faculty advisor during first appointment of freshman year noticed he had done some crew for performing arts in HS and proactively set him up with a campus “job” where he continued to do behind the scenes on their productions but got paid a decent wage to do it. Pretty steady work – whenever they weren’t in production they would give them other jobs to do. This is stuff he volunteered to do free in HS and he didn’t even have to apply. Did it all four years and even got an award for it senior year. And to be clear, he was not eligible for work steady – they make no distinction for students on aid for jobs there. And in Spring of Sophomore year not one but two separate faculty members proactively offered him paid summer research and housing. Again, he didn’t have to apply or even inquire – they came to him. I had another kid in a top LAC as well and nothing remotely like this happened there. She did get paid research but had to do the work to get it.
I believe the OP had to decide by the 14th.
U are a Bowdoin’s fan.
I’m a fan of both actually. I just have more direct experience with Bowdoin. But I have been to Pomona (and its sister colleges) a couple times, and grew up closer to them. I think they are both excellent and as with their larger university counterparts its silly to believe one is intrinsically better than the other when their stats are nearly the same.
All of the tippy-top LACs with their massive endowments offer an amazing experience. Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, etc.
And there is no one size fits all on the particulars that makes them different. Some will prefer and benefit from the larger shared campus/sister schools. Some will prefer the small LAC-vibe of a solo campus. (Or you can split the difference at Swarthmore and get the benefits of “near by” sister colleges at Haverford and BM.) Some will like the New England charm and seasons. Others will prefer to weather and dessert setting. Etc. Applicants just need to know themselves enough to decide which is better for them among these secondary criteria since academically and reputationally they are a wash.
I really liked the village in Pomona as well. Though as a long time LA native, I didn’t love the surrounding area as much as the village.
My daughter is a junior at Claremont McKenna, and my son will attend Pomona this fall.
We don’t know much about Bowdoin College because we live in California and are not fans of out-of-state colleges, even Ivy League schools.
I first heard about Pomona College in 1996. Many people praised Pomona College when I immigrated to America, so I couldn’t forget it. My daughter and her friends at Claremont McKenna are really proud of themselves. So I understand that they are good schools. Honestly, we are not interested in the East. We love California weather and locations, so I suggested that they come to California.
In fact, East coast weather is really bad but not worst. Also many people fall in love with Claremont town vibe with abundant trees , and sentimental mood.
Why is this relevant to the OP? Your weather preferences etc shouldn’t matter one iota to them.
No, i didn’t tell this to op. I replied above statements. OP decided already. Cannot tell ? Then sorry.
weather and location are really important when deciding on a college.
In the future, maybe focus on the OP instead of sidebar conversations
True. But discussing is rather pointless after the decision has been made.
The only acceptable next post in this thread should be from the OP informing us of their decision followed by congratulatory posts. To that end, I’ve set the thread to auto close next week.
Hi, I really appreciate the help everyone’s given, I’ve thought about all comments here more than you know. I chose Pomona, for two reasons mainly- the 5 C’s to prevent that smallness feeling and a great major with PPE, as well as on a much lesser note the weather haha. My dad grew up in SoCal and assured me the travel wasn’t a problem for him to be back in SoCal.
I chose Pomona, sorry for such a long delay in response. A very helpful resource were two brothers that were family friends—one at Pomona and one at Bowdoin, both playing football.
The bowdoin brother liked bowdoin and was very happy (he admitted it felt a bit small and he was sometimes bored) but you could tell that the Pomona brother had that ‘glint’ in his eye when it came time to talk about his college, his love for the place was just so obviously deep. I realized I want to go to a place where I can feel that type of love for my school.
Obviously these brothers have different experiences than I will but it was enough to tip the scale that tiny bit.
ALSO I went to a very preppy high school, and my mom pointed out to me that Bowdoin almost felt like “St. (Highschoolname): the sequel”. Pomona is so different from anything I’ve experienced thus far, I hope I’ll grow as a person because of it.
Congrats and best of luck!! Thanks for letting us know. 
I think that I know which school.
Congratulations ! Nice/mature final thought.
Two amazing schools, but it sounds like you made a great decision based on what was most important to you. As an aside, a fellow well-traveled prof returned from a conference at Pomona a few years ago and told me something like, “Wow, that was about as close to being what I always imagined a perfect college would be like.” Well, I’m pretty sure that it ain’t perfect, but it sounds like you’re the type of person who can make it a pretty special experience.
Sounds like a thoughtful decision and fantastic outcome. All best wishes.
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.