Unpacking the Princess Packs

Oluyemisi in Teacup ride
By Oluyemisi Bolonduro ‘23 My freshman year of high school, there were a few upperclassmen that had themed backpacks. A few had turtle shells; the rest had princess backpacks. I thought it was a fun idea and resolved to do the same by my senior year. The Princess Pack: 1st Edition was the backpack I used my senior year of high school. It had Mulan, Jasmine, Belle, Ariel, ...
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Application Do’s and Don’t’s From the Experts

image of college application with coffee cup
This is a special group post, with Oluyemisi Bolonduro, '23 Bryce Kelly '23, Chris Meng '23, Nelia Perry '24, and Sonam Rikha '24 conversing about their college application processes, in hopes you can benefit from their wisdom (and their mistakes). Bryce: What’s the strangest piece of advice you got when you were going through the college application process? Sonam: Be f...
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Application Advice

palm trees
By Oluyemisi Bolonduro ‘23 The other day I had a chat with a prospective student about Pomona. They leaned forward, lowered their voice, and said, "you need a 1500 SAT to get into Pomona, right?" To which I responded, "no… absolutely not." Then, I proceeded to tell them the application advice for Pomona (and college in general) that I'm about to tell you. Disclaimer: I'm not...
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Online School: A Small College Just Got That Much More Important

Professor Dan O'Leary
By Nelia Perry ‘24 There have been a lot of posts already about online school but bear with me as I add one more to the list. I’m sure those of you reading this are already interested in attending a small school–you are at least contemplating it. So, let me tell you why attending a small college just got that much more important. Let’s get straight to the point: meeting p...
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Why I Defied, Rather Than Deferred

Nelia and her sister with donuts
By Nelia Perry ‘24 I was excited to start college before even entering high school. I went on my first college visit when I was in seventh grade—okay, it was technically for my older brother, but bear with me. Watching my two older siblings go through the visiting and touring, essay writing, applying, deciding and eventually leaving phases of the journey to college I eage...
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From 2,800 to 10

Posse Chicago 2020 cohort
By Sonam Rikha ‘24 When I was first asked by my program manager if I wanted to be nominated for Posse, a full-tuition leadership scholarship, I hesitated to answer. The Posse application process consists of three interviews, which includes group and individual interviews, where Posse staff and partner college administrators ultimately select a diverse group of 10 students fo...
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Picking Pomona

Friends lying on grass drinking from plastic cup
By Oluyemisi Bolonduro '23 The following post includes four core reasons why I picked Pomona. After writing my last blog, Pomona, Progress, and the Pandemic, you may be wondering, "why this specific topic after you just expressed your hate for Pomona??" Well, if you read the post then you know I don't hate a lot of things, Pomona included! Though I will admit, this post is a...
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Early Decision, the Best Decision I’ve Ever Made

Deanna standing in front of Bridges Auditorium
By Deanna Han '23 October 30th, 2018  I took a deep breath and submitted my application. There was nothing else I could do; all that was left was the wait. With one click of a button, I had sealed my future — but I didn’t know that then. In 45 days, my whole world would  change. December 14th, 2018  I rub the sleep out of my eyes and yawn. My heart starts pounding a...
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Leaving the South

Darien with book in library
By Darien Corrales '22 Beyond being accepted at Pomona, getting the chance to visit campus remains one of my most personal and cherished experiences. I applied to Pomona through QuestBridge, a program for high-achieving, low-income students to apply to colleges where their full financial need will be met. As part of the QuestBridge application, I had to rank schools from a l...
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Decoding the Claremont Consortium

Pomona College gates
By Chloe Mandel ’23 When I first began researching the Claremont Colleges, the word “consortium” didn’t really register. I spent way too much time stalking Niche.com’s description of each individual college (while keeping an eye out for one of the most important factors in my college search process, the letter grade used to denote the quality of every school’s food) without ...
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