Gap Year

Reflections On My Pandemic Gap Year

Posted on by Emma Grace Howlett
Emma Grace with a large piinting showing blue roots of tree
By Emma Grace Howlett ‘25 I had long looked forward to my high school graduation year, 2020, as a year of opportunity and excitement, not anticipating that many of my plans would have to be rewritten. Just as I never imagined I would live through a pandemic, I never envisioned myself taking a gap year - yet that is exactly what I did. Instead of attending Pomona College v...
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How to Start a Club (It’s Really As Easy As the Tour Guides Make It Sound)

Posted on by Danny DeBare
club meeting
By Danny DeBare ‘22 When touring Pomona as a prospective student, I distinctly remember the part about clubs. From “250 clubs to join throughout the 5Cs”, to “half a million dollars the Pomona student body doles out,” clubs ground many students’ experience at Pomona. And truly, if you want to create a new experience or bring together a group of students for the first time, f...
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The Beautiful Flexibility of a Small(ish) School

Posted on by Chris Meng
Chris Meng with his admit letter
By Chris Meng ‘23 Pomona College has all the amazing perks of a small school without sacrificing the overwhelming variety of resources of a bigger college. If it weren’t for the flexibility and spirit of exploration built into the values of Pomona, I wouldn’t be here today as a first-year student. Let me tell you about my winding path to Pomona. To begin, I wasn’t accepte...
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Shattering My Routine Through a Gap Year

Posted on by Danny DeBare
with friends in Ecuador
By Danny DeBare ‘22 It feels weird and, to be perfectly honest, sort of pretentious. When introducing myself on campus, I constantly find myself adding “But I took a gap year!” to almost every conversation. I am a first year. But, at the same time, I’m not; I lived in Ecuador for seven months before landing at Pomona, stretching my comfort zone in a year outside the traditio...
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