<p>I’m a longtime reader, first time poster with a big problem. I’m amazed at how evenly torn between these two amazing schools I am. Pomona has been my dream school since seventh grade, but after visiting Dartmouth this summer I was just blown away with the beauty of the campus and the warm greetings of the students and faculty. I created a pro and con list for both schools, warning its long, and I’d appreciate some other opinions, and possibly a correction of one my views if you deem them to be wrong. I live in Eugene, Oregon by the way.
First Dartmouth College: Pro/Con List
Pros
Many options for outdoor recreation, i.e. swinging off of the rope swing and plunging into the river, snowboarding and skiing, mountain biking and hiking the nearby mountains, camping, canoeing, etc.
Incredibly strong sense of camaraderie
Abundance of on campus activities and the vast majority of the student body is present on campus at any time
Excellent employment options in finance and consulting, has perhaps the finest alumni network of all of the Ivies
Low cost of living
Effective administration
Wonderful housing
Great on-campus dining
Unique and effective academic calendar, the D-Plan
Close and friendly professors who care that you learn, for the most part
Beautiful scenery
NAME BRAND COLLEGE WITH BIG, IVY LEAGUE PRESTIGE!!!
Cons
Lack of a structured core curriculum similar to Columbia’s
Lack of public transportation
Boring isolation
No other college students or students of relative age within a 2 hour radius, thus the dating scene and pool of friends is probably going to be exclusively Dartmouth students, for better or, probably, for worse
Very fierce winter temperatures, heavy snowfall, and dark winter days
Lack of social alternatives to the Greek scene
I may get very bored without any other alternatives
The D-Plan will get intense, more so than the average college academic experience
Very far from home</p>
<p>Next, Pomona College: Pro/Con List
Pro
The weather, enough said
Gorgeous campus, very lush with beautiful eclectic architecture
Small LAC interactive education and nurturing environment with the resources of a major research university, thanks to the Claremont Consortium
Access to other college students, UCLA, USC, Occidental, etc.
Access to SOUTHERN California beaches
Plentiful option for the outdoorsy, albeit not as many options as Dartmouth offers, such as skiing and snowboarding in the San Gabriel Mountain in the winter, surfing year-round, hiking the many trails, camping, etc.
Access to LA, which is a little over 30 minutes away, and at least some civilization in the form of the depressing suburb of Claremont
Close enough to home while being far away enough from home
Proximity to Las Vegas
Cons
Cost of living in LA
Severe lack of prestige, or at the very least name recognition
Admittedly less options than other larger colleges, like Dartmouth
Weaker sense of camaraderie than Dartmouth
Lacking scenery
Smog, which reflects poor air quality, and mediocre scenery
Los Angeles style traffic
Lacks the D-Plan
Lack of strong social scene, i.e. weak Greek scene and fairly far from other social options in Pasadena and West LA
<p>I’ve never thought the lack of a core curriculum “like Columbia’s” was ever a bad thing. In fact, the distributive requirements are set up in the most beneficial way possible. If you have no idea what you want to do, your distribs will make you take courses in majors that you would never have dreamed of liking. On the flip side, if you decided you wanted to triple major from freshman year with a set goal, your distributives will generally not get in the way. That’s my impression.</p>
<p>What kind of public transportation are you looking at? We do have Advance Transit, which is free and runs places.</p>
<p>Also, I’m sure there is plenty to do other than fratting, because needless to say, there are a great deal of nondrinkers here.</p>
<p>In most cases whenever I refer to public transportation I mean transportation throughout the city. In Dartmouth’s case I mean transportation from Hanover to any city, be it Burlington, Boston, Albany, New York, anything and I didn’t see any rail lines but there probably are buses.</p>
<p>Actually vermont transit runs several times a day to boston- south station and logan airport.</p>
<p>there is a greyhound bus that runs daily to NYC.</p>
<p>You can catch the amtrak in white river junction (about a 5 minute ride away if you want to take the train to NYC or boston)</p>
<p>During thanksgiving the SA runs a low cost bus service from Hanover to NYC.</p>
<p>Probably the largest contigency of dartmouth students in each class are from NY, with the bulk of them coming from NYC. Followed by students from Ca, Ma, Tx.</p>
<p>If the cold is not your thing, you can set up your D-plan where you are off working or taking classes some where sunny during the winter sophomore and junior year.</p>
<p>One of the students told me something about the exchange program you referenced sybbie. He said that it would be possible to study for up to three quarters at a different college. What are some colleges that you could study at? Would Stanford or UCLA be an option? Are you restricted to only colleges with quarter calendars? Again is Stanford an option? And would it be possible to craft your D-Plan so that you could avoid studying during the winter for your Sophomore, Junior and Senior years?</p>
<p>Since there is a residency requirement you must be “on” (in Hanover) freshman and senior year and sophomore summer.</p>
<p>My D has a friend who is a '9 who took internships in NYC last winter, spring and summer. He was just on during the fall of 2007, and has returned for senior year.</p>
<p>My son goes to Dartmouth and thinks it’s awesome. My niece-in-law went to Pomona and absolutely loved it.</p>
<p>One consideration: When you’re done with college, do you want to be in the East or the West? If you want to be West, Pomona might be better – more name recognition there. And, of course, the exact opposite for the East and Dartmouth.</p>