Pomona vs. Ivy/Stanford

drying
Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:33:57 +0000

Hello. I have a bit of a dilemna (albeit, a good one).

I’ve been admitted into Pomona, Stanford, Harvard, and a number of other colleges.

Whenever I tell anyone where I got in, they tell me “Good luck at Harvard”. I go to one of those prep schools where pedigree is, well, just about everything. Sometimes they say, “But I guess if you really like the weather in California, you can go to Stanford.” They assume I’m joking when I mention Pomona. Then they say that either A) I don’t deserve my acceptance to Harvard/Stanford or B) That they think it’s a good idea to take it easy for college.

Before I got this universal reaction, I thought I my list was: Pomona, Stanford, Harvard, in that order.

However, I can’t help but wonder what I might be missing that everyone else seems to see.

This leads me to my question(s):

What are graduate school admissions like from Harvard/Stanford v. Pomona?

Are the academics truly better at Harvard/Stanford? (I was under the impression that there was too much of a focus on graduates…)

And, really, I suppose, why is everyone so thoroughly set on it as oppossed to Pomona?

I used to think I know where I wanted to go to school, but there hasn’t been a single person who’s supported my choice. I guess what I really want to know is if this is just the blue-blooded East Coast boarding school crowd, and not the general consensus.

Basically, I guess, I’d like to know if this reaction is just because of where I go to school, or if there’s actually any basis for it? I really, really hope it isn’t. I know I should do what I think is best, but that’s awfully hard to do when absolutely no one seems to support it…