Transfer: Brown vs. Pomona

el_guincho
Fri, 16 May 2008 17:44:46 +0000

I’ve searched the forums and this exact topic has come up about 5 times. So it may feel like overkill, but I think I need some specific advice.

I’m torn between transferring to Brown or Pomona. I’m currently a student at American University. My reasons for transferring are:

The school just wasn’t very intellectual. I thought I would appreciate how liberal the school was, but it just seemed sort of fake—that whole activism as a brand sort of thing. There seemed to be very little critical thought of the sort I was interested in

I want to study philosophy. The philosophy department is fairly small and it’s treated almost exclusively as a second major, and it’s usually a second major for fairly practical minded students, i.e. poli sci, or international studies and I found that the classroom discussion wasn’t very focused. If anyone is deeply familiar with the philosophy departments, my interests are mostly in continental philosophy—Existentialism, German Idealism, Psychoanalysis, Post-structuralism, Deconstructionism. If you could discuss the department’s focus one way or another, that would really help. Thanks!

I want to study computer science. The department basically doesn’t exist. Nothing else really to say.

Having decided that, here’s where I am:

I have a lot of different interests and talents.

I’m a (kitchen-sink) musician, though I have little formal training, I’ve taught myself to play about 7 or 8 instruments well.

I’m a web developer/designer. I’ve been doing this since fifth grade and have built up quite a knowledgebase: PHP, Ruby on Rails, CSS, XHTML, etc. I also really enjoy graphic design. I can probably identify any typeface you throw at me.

I go from interest to interest often

These things lead me to lean towards Brown right now. The open curriculum seems to encourage this sort of taking-random-classes-for-interest mentality, though it’s not like Pomona’s gen-ed requirements are tough at all. I would imagine I’ve met all of them, save maybe one or two courses.

I like the prospect of taking graphic design and user interface classes at RISD, any comparison from Pomona?

I live in Pennsylvania and attending Brown would be more convenient.

My only hesitations are from:

I absolutely hate the cold/snow. What could be more appealing than the California sun.

I think I may be overestimating the intellectualism of Brown. Pomona seems to be a little more genuine. Can someone weigh in on this?

I’ve heard great things about dorm life, food, etc. at Pomona.

General concerns

Am I right to assume that Computer Science and Philosophy will be about the same at either school?

The city is really important to me. I really enjoy independent music, and being in DC afforded me the opportunity to see around 15-20 concerts a semester. What’s travel like to Boston from Brown or LA from Pomona? Is there transportation that runs through the night?

I want to be able to take music classes and lessons. At American, I had a music minor because it was required to be able to enroll in lessons and the requirements weren’t that hard (about 6 or 7 classes). Is this possible while double majoring in Computer Science and Philosophy? And if not, will I at least have access to take lessons?

I don’t want to feel like I’m not giving Pomona a fair chance. And I can’t help but feel like I’m giving Brown a little too much credit. I don’t want this to come down to choosing Brown for name recognition or prestige. I think that’s where my doubt comes from.

Thanks in advance for your input!