<p>Someone told me that students at Pomona have to write a lot, regadless of the major (say Econ or Physics). Can someone confirm or deny this?</p>
<p>I think the curriculum at most liberal arts colleges is very reading and writing intensive as a general rule of thumb, and probably even more so at an elite school like Pomona. I’m not a student there or anything (yet, though hopefully I will be 
) but I’d imagine that you’d probably have to write quite a bit.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman- writing is not his strongest area and he prefers less writing to more- Anyway this has not been a problem for him. I think he would say that there is not too much writing ( although the perfect amount of writing for him would be none and it is way more than that!)</p>
<p>I go to Pomona and would rather shovel animal dung all day with a pitchfork than write an essay (and I’ve actually done that on several occasions, though not in exchange for not doing an essay), so I may be the perfect person to answer this question! What you’re about to read in this post is an attitude that is completely atypical of Pomona students, who went to a liberal arts school for a reason. </p>
<p>If you take the writing-minimal curriculum at Pomona, this is what you’ll do:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>There’s a writing seminar class during your first semester called ID1. There are twenty to thirty of these classes on different subjects, and you give them a list of your top choices. The most-discussed class in my year was probably “Fantasy Literature Takes on the Church”, which used the Chronicles of Narnia and His Dark Materials series as the primary texts. Most people got one of their top few choices, so you’ll very likely be writing on a subject you’re interested in. Mine required five papers of about five pages each, and seemed pretty average. Word is that they’re changing this program around for future classes. So worst case, you might have a year of this sort of thing. I actually had a great time in ID1. It’s nice to be in a small class about an obscure subject with a brilliant professor as soon as you enroll in college.</p></li>
<li><p>To fulfill your breadth of studies requirements, you must take at least one class in each of these areas (and ID1 doesn’t count): [Breadth</a> of Study Requirements - Pomona College](<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/administration/registrar/degree-requirements/general-education-requirements/breadth-of-study.aspx]Breadth”>http://www.pomona.edu/administration/registrar/degree-requirements/general-education-requirements/breadth-of-study.aspx)
Area 2 might look bad, but you can definitely get out writing if you want (read: intro Macro with Chincarini). Area 3 is a different matter. You WILL write papers. Just ask around, by the time you’re a junior you’ll have your pick of the least writing-intensive class in your favorite subject on the list. Formal Logic from philosophy doesn’t count - they’re onto our tricks.</p></li>
<li><p>Even for the most technical classes, you’ll end up writing reports and so fourth. As you get into upper division courses, better and longer reports will be expected. I typed 20 pages and wrote 50-100 pages of prose in problem sets in a math course. Honestly, you need to be able to do stuff this like as a high-level professional in the sciences, unless you want to be a lab tech or something. This might not feel like “writing” to you, though.</p></li>
<li><p>And of course, the thesis! All majors require some sort of senior exercise, and this usually includes a thesis. Actually, econ doesn’t require one, but so many people are randomly picking up econ as a result that they might change this. Physics, math, CS, bio, chem all require one.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>tl;dr: two classes that consist entirely of writing, random writing assignments in other classes, and probably a thesis.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, lockn. Very informative post.</p>