Pomona vs. USC Trustee— thoughts?

SDMomof3
Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:01:13 +0000

More anecdotal evidence: My S turned down Penn and Dartmouth (and USC with a substantial scholarship) for Pomona, so it does happen. For our family, the extra money for Pomona was absolutely worth it, but every family situation is different. My son wanted a smaller college experience, and had zero interest in a big rah rah sports environment. He’s gotten to know professors (his department chair happened to see us wandering around during family weekend, and made a point to come over and introduce himself and tell us how great he thought our son, a freshman, was). Research opportunities are definitely available even for freshman – our S will be staying in Claremont over the summer working with another professor. He’s also working outside of class on an independent project with 3 other students.

I am sure you would also have an amazing experience at USC. We have a friend whose son is there and he loves it. $12,000 a year is a lot of money, particularly if it means going into debt. You and your family need to decide whether that is a deal-breaker or not.