I can't imagine the life I would have now or the person I would be had I not gone to Pomona College. I think it's quite possible that the decision to go to Pomona was one of the best decisions of my life.
So. I love this school. With all my heart. This school, my time there, is forever ingrained into the fabric of my being.
What's to love? Aite, here we goes:
+ First things first. The food's pretty awesome. There's 2 dining halls on Pomona's campus, in addition to all the other dining halls at the 4 other colleges that are within walking distance, which you're also free to swipe into and use. That's a lot of food, and it's good food too. Not to mention, 5 nights a week, one of the Pomona dining halls, Frary, opens at night for "Snack," which is really just social time and another excuse to procrastinate with your friends.
+ The academics. To tell you the truth, I don't remember many of the things that I actually learned (oops! my bad!), but I do remember feeling like my brain was growing and realizing that, damn, this is what it feels like to really THINK.
+ The resources. Astounding. You can form any club or group you want and get the funding to put on events or to do what you want. At a small school, this is all possible.
+ For me, two particular students groups/resource center did for me something incredible: they politicized me, challenged me to learn and to reorganize how I understood social justice, taught me how to be a critical thinker in every way, and gave me friends who to this day continue to challenge and inspire me to try to be an activist. I discovered these groups by accident, but once I realized how good it was for me, I threw myself into it. You can always find your niche if you look for it, and you'll really get as much out of it as you put in. So put in a lot of yourself.
+ The people. Damn. I could write several novels about the people at the school, but I won't go into too much detail here. But to put it simply: Take some of the smartest, quirkiest, most interesting young people in the country; put them all in a little resort of a college in the middle of the desert; give them everything that a school can possibly give so that the students can just focus on their own lives; and let's see what you get. The bottom line is: EVERYTHING is provided for you (the meals, the housing, etc.), which allows you all the free time in the world to throw yourself into exactly what you want to do, and to explore what you want to explore. That, in my opinion, was the school's greatest gift. When you have the luxury to not worry about the many little things that people have to worry about in life (food, bills, rent, housekeeping, etc.), you have the freedom to love and grow, and to be entirely selfless and giving of yourself. And when you're so giving of yourself and you open yourself that fully to other people, that favor is generally returned in the same beautiful way. That, I think, is why so many of the students there loved the school. It was about the people. And what we gained from each other.
That's why I loved it there.
There's a million other things that I could tell you, but you can read about that in all the silly brochures. Close relationships with professors (that's true); the school runs like butter (yup, it's pretty efficient, and it's quite possible to become friends with administration; in fact, I still joke around and make fun of one of the deans whenever I see him); pretty campus (check!), great financial aid (no more loans now because all loans are now grants = SWEET!),and the myriad other things that they highlight in those catalogs. You can just read up on that yourself.
So maybe this review might seem a little cheesy or touchy-feely, but I'm telling it like it is. I'm not saying that Pomona's the school for everyone, and there are definitely people who aren't happy there, but if it feels like the right fit for you after a visit or overnight stay, by all means, work your little ass off to get in (it's pretty hard to get in nowadays), and maybe, hopefully, it'll give you the same kind of experience it gave me.
Right now, I feel very much distanced from the culture there, and I am glad I've moved on, but I appreciate what this place did for me and what I contributed to and benefited from it.
Yes. It's not cheesy if it's true. And it was all true for me. read more