Pomona College — Local services in Claremont

Pomona has a strong claim to offering the best undergraduate liberal arts education of any college or university in the world. Practically no other institution can offer its students as many resources (thanks largely to the 7C consortium, its massive endowment, and its excellent location) while still maintaining the level of individual attention and sense of community characteristic of small colleges. The campus culture is exceptionally supportive, collaborative, inclusive, open, and in general healthy compared to other elite schools with which I am familiar. That's not even to mention the great food, dorms, campus, weather, and other quality of life factors. Of course, like every other college, it isn't perfect and will be a better fit for some than others, but in a general sense, the educational experience it offers is, to the best of my knowledge, essentially unparalleled. I wouldn't want to be...

Pomona has a GORGEOUS campus, with that: "self-contained small college town suburban campus" feeling within the larger urban area of Los Angeles.I have family in Pasadena and Brentwood, so if I had gone to Pomona even being from back east I would have had plenty of local relatives to take me in.

Back when I applied to Pomona, (in 1992) it didn't have the national ranking or "Little Ivy" prestige that it does now (at the time I was in college that rank belonged to Amherst), but, it was still a difficult college to get into (even back then), so I only got wait listed.

Pomona was literally the ONLY college I applied to in the LA area as an undergrad (I did apply to both UCLA & USC later on for grad school however) although I also applied to UC Berkeley & Reed College as an undergrad, so those were my other west coast...

Top tier educational opportunities, especially in life sciences, economics, languages, and the liberal arts disciplines. Unrivaled camaraderie among students, unbeatable social scene on campus between the 5 colleges, and year-round summer with ample opportunities to study beside the pool catching some rays. Strong alumni network, most notably in medicine, clean energy, literature, political activism, and financial industries. No wonder so many say it's like if the ivies went to Disneyland. With such small classes and strong professor-student bonds, it was easy to develop strong relationships with world-renowned professors who were happy to write personable and convincing letters of recommendation, so critical to graduate education, medicine, law, and fellowship pursuits...