Liberal Arts Colleges Chances.

citrusbelt
Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:46:42 +0000

Your scores are not bad at all. I didn’t mean to insinuate that. They are well above the normal persons. Pomona does look at the entire person, but they are not immune to test scores. You are in their range, just at the low end. It doesn’t mean you won’t have plenty of company with your scores there. If there are 100 people, then 25 of them will be right there with you. Coming from a tiny, rural community you probably have not had the opportunities that someone has had who goes to some urban prep school. That will be taken into account. Your grades are terrific and should mitigate the test scores. They want to make sure someone doesn’t come in and sink because everyone around them is so far ahead. I don’t think that would be the case with you at all. Your record shows you are more then capable.

I said it would be a reach (and because of the volumes of applicants there-everyone is a reach as far as I’m concerned), but you are right that Pomona looks at the whole person more then many schools do. I know they like happy, social people, for example, as much as they like a brainiac. You are the social chair of some committee, right? They are trying to build a rounded class from all around the country and I believe that you do have a shot there beCAUSE of the rest of your application, but it will still be a reach.

Now, do what my D is doing and try to forget about all of it. The only thing you could do is email a professor and ask a question you are wondering about in a department you are interested in. Show interest a little if you can since I don’t think you have visited Pomona, have you?