Rough day in sports for Team NUM. D30’s middle school lacrosse team (she is the goalie) had their perfect season ended in the last game of the season, largely thanks to their star midfielder getting a buckle fracture playing soccer at recess (a very middle school thing to say). And then S24’s spring team, which moved up to the top division this year after winning their division last year, got smacked around in the second round of the playoffs by the clear #1 in the division and legit state championship contender. They are like 5.5 times our size in terms of student population, and it sure showed with the depth they could roll out.
But life lessons, right? And hopefully they are all recovered by the time we are hosting their end of year parties in a few weeks.
I think there is going to be a TON of movement as FAFSAS are finally processed and aid packages are announced. I know at the school where DS is headed, there have a been a lot of kids unenrolling once they got their financial aid packages b/c they did not get the $ they were expecting. It really sucks for those kids and this while FAFSA debacle really messed things up for so many people.
Lived in both and would pick LA without hesitation for the weather and beach access. I believe there is mass transit that will get you to LA from Pomona. Swarthmore to Penn seems unrealistic for a class, it would be too time consuming but Bryn Mawr/Haverford would be reasonable.
Kid went to senior sunset yesterday evening with friends and classmates. Exchanged graduation gifts with a friend, who gave her this cute little wind up music box that plays the Star Wars theme song (we are big Star Wars people in our family). It was very thoughtful.
D26 is officially jealous of D24 now because one of the Jan Term course options for next January is a class that’s all about Marvel comics, movies, and TV shows. Like pretty much D26’s dream college class. Jan Term also has an option to take a class called the Art of Drag, which includes some field trips to see a few drag shows in Dallas. I not so secretly hope that D24 signs up for that class. Although the smarter career related choice would be to do the JanTerm class about genetic research, where you get to present your work at the college’s spring research symposium.
I think this warrants fleshing out. The train from Pomona to LA goes to Union Station and takes nearly an hour. The station isn’t really in an area of LA I’d go to hang out. So regardless I’m then having to get elsewhere.
For beach access, the tram or bus from Union Station to e.g. Santa Monica which is basically due west, are both over an hour (I think the tram is like 75 minutes). So with connections, wait times, etc. your journey from Pomona to the beach is pushing 2.5 hours each way, maybe longer.
I agree with your take about the weather and in that regard it’s not even close!
But I think for anyone not familiar with the specific geography, transit options, and realities on the ground, these are details I’d want to understand.
We live in the LA area and very much appreciate the beautiful beaches, great weather, endless entertainment. But I agree it is very challenging to navigate without a car. And it is more spread out than people imagine.
Our youngest is in school in Philly. While he misses the beach at times, he loves it there. There is so much more for a young person on a student budget to do there. Efficient transportation, great inexpensive dining out, low cost or free admission to concerts, museums, clubs…
LA is a great place if you have money and a car. But I always recommend people think twice about access to experiences here if they do not.
D24 is now leaning Pomona and has until the end of the day to decide. She spoke with a professor and has a Zoom with a student today.
My impression is that Pomona students really do use LA as a resource (for fun, field trips, internships, etc.) and visit it frequently. But it’s not as easy as getting to Philly from Swat. I spent four years in Westwood and understand LA’s car-centric culture. The funny thing is that I have never had any desire to live permanently in Los Angeles, but it was a pretty fun place to spend four years in college. And, as outdoorsy folk, Claremont’s proximity to Joshua Tree and Tahquitz for climbing and the San Gabriel Mountains and Eastern Sierra (the latter being my happy place) for skiing/backpacking/climbing is great for weekend adventures. I think I went to the beach twice in four years, but it’s there too.
On the waitlist issue, as I mused above somewhere, it’s a weird situation. D24 spent so much time trying to wean down her choices in April and then struggled to decide between her final few colleges until a last-minute decision. I told her to make a decision and not look back, she she did. And then ten days later she got the Pomona waitlist offer and four days to decide, which was actually three days because she was at a track meet (which last forever) didn’t see the email until the next day. So, she basically has had half of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and today to decide, while also studying for and taking her AP Calc and AP Physics C exams. To use a double negative, a waitlist offer is not not a good thing. But it is complicated.
Pomona has a niche campus food rating of A, while Swarthmore has a C+, if food is a priority for your kiddo. From our college touring experiences there really was a huge difference between A food and C food.
Don’t you just wonder who is grading the party scene? C+ according to who? The kids? The parents? Someone’s C+ might actually be an A… Not that I got to see ANY wonderful LACs this go-round with my S24 twins who wanted the opposite of that.
Swarthmore has a brand new dining facility that opened this past fall. So I wouldn’t use Niche. According to DS, who has had decent BS food for the past four years, Swarthmore’s new dining facility is quite good.
Now the party scene grade, adds up for sure. Swarthmore is like a little UofC.
Did they change the catering company in the process? If so, then that bodes well, but if not, it is just serving the same bad food in a prettier location.
CalPoly SLO just built a brand new beautiful dining hall. But when we ate there on our tour the food was so bad my D25 likely won’t even apply. (Niche gives CalPoly a C- for food and that tracks, though it makes me wonder what it takes to get a D)
I can’t answer that but when we ate there at the Admitted Student Day the food was pretty good. I’m very much a foodie, who cooks from scratch. Regardless, the Niche rating is out dated, and should be taken with a grain of salt, until it takes in consideration of the new facility, which is all I was noting.
Interesting year, with trips to both PNW and New England (twice, each). There were some very nice offers from nine schools - private and public - and two waitlistings that were not pursued. Among the acceptances were three highly selective LACs.
The year started out focused on small LACs, but only one was in the final four and I wasn’t aware that there was an application to the eventual choice until a few weeks after applying (my wife had suggested it).
But they are accepted into a program at a public U not offered in many places and accepted as an honors first year that makes for some fun seminars and study abroad opportunities. Plus that all combined to include the opportunity for a course that begins in late July, traveling with profs in the major for overseas field study until classes officially kick off in August.
Definitely not where I - or anyone - thought this would end when we started this. They are excited about it.
I have a C21 at Bryn Mawr and they’ve taken only a few classes at Haverford none at Swat and none at Penn. I think this is because their major and minor are houses at BMC and they like their campus better and that’s where their friends are. Swat is much farther from BMC campus especially on the blue bus that connects the campuses. You’d have to check the bus schedule and coordinate with the class schedule. There is not a direct train between swat and bmc/haverfird like there is between bmc/haverford and Penn (about 25 minutes plus walk time to and from the stations). Whereas in the 5Cs all you have to do is walk a few minutes from one school to the next for classes, food, library use, clubs, sports, etc. much more convenient.
You are correct that getting into Philly from swat is much easier than getting into LA from Pomona. I’m from LA and would never think of taking the train anywhere. That said lots of kids at the 5Cs have cars and there is a car share program as well. But the LA traffic is a bear.
I’d also add that the 5C community seemed to be much more close knit and cohesive than the Bi-co or tri-co. The 5cs are all on one big campus that’s easily walkable and interchangeable whereas swat, bmc, haverford and Penn are distinct and truly separate schools.
D24 rated Swat’s food as pretty good after Swatstruck. The new dining facility looks great. The advantage of Pomona is the quantity of dining options via the 5Cs.
I think Swat and Pomona are pretty similar in terms of culture. Both have an eclectic set of smart kids who study hard. Swatties can expand their social offerings by taking the occasional class at the Tri-Co or Penn. Pomona students (what’s their demonym?) have the 5Cs, which are more readily available.
I think Pomona gets a slight overall edge for D24 because of the intimacy of the 5C consortium and being closer to home. But I and D24 really like Swarthmore. It’s a great school with great kids, and I think its reputation for “intensity” is a little overblown. It’s easy to say yes to Pomona, but it’s also really hard to say no to Swat.
One more small data point: I think the town of Claremont has more to offer than “the Ville” at Swarthmore. IME, the immediate college town is often overlooked for the greater area offerings, even though college students spend more time in the former than the latter.
Is it just me, or does it seem like there is waaaay more waitlist activity this year? Usually, it’s a rarity at our school to get off any waitlist. This year, it seems like everyone has gotten off of one! Two of my daughter’s friends have gotten off THREE waitlists. The instagram account every day now has kids with a new school commitment listed! Cornell, Lehigh, Wake Forest, BU, Claremont, Barnard, Clemson…
Anyone else observe this or is our school an outlier?
Swap WUSTL for Pomona and Carleton for Swat, and that would perfectly fit where my S24 got at the end.
From the outside it is, of course, a great situation to be in, and my two cents is . . . it is fine to go with the easy decision! I mean it is Pomona, and people love Pomona! Swarthmore too, and other people choosing it this cycle will love it again. But you can only attend one (hopefully), and it sounds like this is getting to be pretty clear.
Jan Term also has an option to take a class called the Art of Drag, which includes some field trips to see a few drag shows in Dallas. I not so secretly hope that D24 signs up for that class. Although the smarter career related choice would be to do the JanTerm class about genetic research, where you get to present your work at the college’s spring research symposium.
Not that I got to see ANY wonderful LACs this go-round with my S24 twins who wanted the opposite of that.