Pomona Vibe

sdkb01
Wed, 11 Mar 2015 11:11:55 +0000

As a Pomona student, I’m kind of laughing at the comments in this thread (with the exception of EndOfTheWorld’s), since they sound like people who haven’t actually been here much/at all just repeating stereotypes they’ve heard that don’t have much basis in reality.

I had the same question as jelly765 while I was considering Pomona, since I couldn’t figure out its stereotype as easily as I could places like Swarthmore (nerdy) or Wesleyan (activist). In retrospect, the reason for this is that the line they feed you on tours at every college you visit about there being no such thing as a typical student because of diversity is actually pretty true at Pomona.

I join EndOfTheWorld in strongly disagreeing with the impression that Pomona lacks diversity, and I think most people who go here would feel similarly. Racially, the sponsor group system encourages friendships across racial boundaries, and socioeconomically, Pomona’s endowment (and the genrerous financial aid policies it allows) allow Pomona to have more class diversity than any of the other 5C’s.

The other element of the vibe here that I’d highlight is that we maintain a pretty healthy environment. We’re much more collaborative than competitive (definitely not like U Chicago or MIT), have support services when needed (but that aren’t forced on us when not needed), and typically maintain a good balance between academics and non-academics. That’s not to say that there aren’t any mental health issues on campus, but I’d say that people here tend to be pretty happy overall when compared with some other schools.

Regarding nerdiness in particular, I participated in a nerd camp (Johns Hopkins CTY) for three summers, and I was definitely looking for something similar. Pomona has it’s own brand of nerdiness (consider our obsession with the number 47, for instance), but it’ll differ from person to person (again, diversity). I know some people who are nerdy in a very traditional sense (42, xkcd, Doctor Who, etc.) whereas others who aren’t so much.

Overall, whatever your preferred vibe is (unless it’s socially conservative, the one big gap in our pursuit of diversity), you’ll probably find people here who share it. I hope that helps!