The College Search: Sage(hen) Advice from Bryce

two students working together at a table, one seated, one standing
This is the third in a six-part series of advice for high-school-aged students about the college search process (and the only one to rhyme–Advice/Bryce). Enjoy! By Bryce Kelly ’23 For students just beginning to think about the college process, I have some tips to share. As long as you are doing something, you aren’t doing anything wrong. It could be joining a club, playi...
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How To Make Friends At Pomona

Bryce running with his classmates through the gates, beginning of his first year
Bryce Kelly ‘23 This is decision season! People from all over the world are making the final choice to come to Pomona. After so much confusion and anxiety, congratulations on completing a chapter of your life and beginning a new one. Since you no longer have to worry about which college you’ll get into/attend, your brain might find something else to feel dread about in its p...
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A Few Recipes to Try (Now That You’re Living Away from Home)

hand holding plate of garlic shrimp on zucchini
By Bryce Kelly ‘23 Portland, Seattle, Claremont, Santa Fe, San Diego, and Tucson. Those are just a few places where many of the people I know are spending the semester. Not because they live there, no, rather the opposite. “Classes are online, so we might as well take them wherever we want” has become a philosophy popular amongst 5C students. But with neither dining hall sta...
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I’m a Tom Boy

Bryce holding a bunch of college brochures
By Bryce Kelly ‘23 My mother kept staring at me, trying to judge my feelings. We were driving away from an admitted student’s day at a university I’ll call Hardstone College, and I was refusing to share even an ounce of emotion about it. Not because I had none, but because I knew that if I showed eagerness or disapproval, so would my parents, which would only loop back to me...
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The Search Goes On: Finding Internships in the Era of COVID

illustration of student considering different post-college options
By Bryce Kelly ‘23 Illustrations by Teodelina Martelli ’23 While on the road to Montana, I learned that my summer 2020 internship would be “modified.” My would-be boss at a local tech company called while I was in the middle of the woods, where the speed limit was more of a suggestion, driving to a place that probably had more elk than people. It was a spontaneous fath...
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Reflections on a Virtual Semester

illustraton of person walking, looking for WiFi signal
By Bryce Kelly ‘23 Illustrations by Teodelina Martelli '23 As the semester draws to a close, and the upcoming months-long vacation ominously approaches, I have decided to reflect on my life as a Virtual Student Remote schooling is new for nearly all of us, and it is at this moment in time that course evaluations and surveys are being sent out to determine What It’s Like T...
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Nonstop

drawing of student at desk surrounded by stacks of papers
Bryce Kelly ‘23 “How far are you into your semester?” My aunt is halfway through her margarita. I’m having dinner with her and my uncle at a Mexican restaurant, the only meal I’ve had outside my rented home in a month. I take a sip of my water so I can have time to think. “Week ten, I think. I just finished my midterms.” “Midterms! Wow! How is that going online?” ...
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Just Another Tuesday

illustration of a pig in gladiator helmet
By Bryce Kelly ‘23 Illustrations by Teodelina Martelli '23 My housemate just knocked on my door, walked into my room, proceeded to rant about the meaning of life for five minutes, walked back into the hall, and closed the door behind him. This is the fourth day in a row he’s done something like that. Yesterday the talk was about the ego and the id. The day before that, ps...
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“The New Normal”: Model UN in the Era of COVID

Members of MUN on steps of Carnegie Hall
By Bryce Kelly ‘23 I was elected Secretary General of Pomona College Model United Nations three weeks before all students had to evacuate campus. COVID-19 was something we’d only heard about in news stories and memes, but now we were going home, spreading out all across the country, with no clue as to when we’d return. As time went on, and it became more and more clear ju...
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