When giving tours, I often receive questions asking about Pomona’s “specialty.” I feel a little campy as I clumsily explain how we have no real specialty, that we offer strong programs “across-the-board” (a seemingly go-to phrase), and that we’re like a patchwork of independently well-maintained majors. This is especially weird since Pomona lies directly south of a batch of colleges who pride themselves in specializing in very specific areas. Perhaps I so awkwardly slink around this concern because it sounds too sunny and idealistic, and I project the tourers’ silent grumbles about their dishonest guide who can’t just fess up about our weaker programs. Last year, I felt so self-conscious as I explained this that I backward-tripped over a garbage can (although, to be fair, this wasn’t the first instance of trash can stumbling…).
That said, Pomona students really do have diverse interests: about 1/3 of our students major in math and the sciences, about 1/3 in the social sciences, and the final third in the humanities. This weekend, I studied outside with two of my sponsees (Tina Solvik ’15 and Joanmarie Del Veccio ’15) and we perfectly completed this trifecta, as Tina is a Chemistry major, JM is a Public Policy Analysis—Anthropology major, and I’m a Philosophy major. Basking in the sun and focusing on subjects throughout the academic spectrum may sound a little too perfect, but this time, I come armed with proof:
