International Students

Do You Love the Beach Like I Do?

Posted on June 21, 2022 by Bilal Adamjee

Bilal and 2 friends at the beach with Santa Monica Pier in background

By Bilal Adamjee ‘24 I love the beach. When people ask me, ‘What brought you to Pomona College?’ the beach always comes up. The beach does remind me of home – that, and the warm weather and palm trees. It was honestly a big factor in deciding where I wanted to study when I first started my college applications in high school. I was born and raised in Kenya, where I’ve spe...

How To Ask for Help When You’re Drowning in a Scary College Class

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Seohyeon Lee

illustration of ghost-like figure with question marks and anxiety around it

By Seohyeon Lee ‘25 I was clueless about everything when I started my first year at Pomona. As an international student from South Korea, I didn’t know what to expect from going to college in the United States. I was happy to get into a good liberal arts college, but I was terrified that I would face a steep learning curve with very little preparation. Looking back, I did...

Why a Liberal Arts Education Is Like a Thali

Posted on January 6, 2022 by Vidusshi Hingad

By Vidusshi Hingad '25 A liberal arts education is like a thali. I promise you this analogy makes sense—just stick with me! Just like the thali is a large plate in which a plethora of dishes are served, a liberal arts education is like tasting different flavors of areas of knowledge which eventually develop your taste buds to their maximum potential. [At Pomona] you are requ...

Mentorship at Pomona

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Nelia Perry

By Nelia Perry '24 Transitioning to college, navigating college, and transitioning out of college can be stressful, overwhelming, and confusing to manage. But you do not have to face these stages alone at Pomona! Whenever people talk about layers, they use an onion as a metaphor, so I guess I will do the same here: Pomona mentorship is like an onion; it has many layers. Thes...

At Home

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 I walked as fast as my legs could carry me, stopping intermittently to look at my watch. I was running late; the event was scheduled to begin in less than 10 minutes, but I had still not made any progress in locating exactly where it was supposed to take place. I became apprehensive and had a burst of adrenaline. Sweat formed on my brow, and my palms ...

Taking Philosophy to the Public

Posted on November 2, 2020October 29, 2020 by Kevin Hua

By Kevin Hua ‘23 About two years ago I first encountered philosophy in an untraditional fashion over the Internet–it all began when a schoolmate of mine urged me to check out “a cool online philosophy course on death.” My high school in China did not have philosophy in its curriculum, but among the general public and high school students, the subject was considered lofty ...

My Roommate and I: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Posted on October 26, 2020October 23, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 On paper, my roommate and I couldn’t be more different. He was raised in Connecticut, went to high school in Maine, and, like the quintessential American child, grew up watching superhero TV series like “Ben 10.” I, on the other hand, grew up in Sepaase, a small town in Ghana, a country in West Africa, going to farm. In simple words, we grew up worlds ...

Everything Oldenborg

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Chris Meng

By Chris Meng '23 The Oldenborg Center for Modern Languages and International Relations is a handful to say, so most students just refer to it as Oldenborg or Oldie for short. Built in 1966, Oldenborg is incredibly unique to Pomona, especially because we are a small college, as it is one of the only buildings that combines an international student center and language center ...

Using Machine Learning in Patient Diagnoses

Posted on September 21, 2020September 21, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 When I was six years old, I remember walking with my father to the doctor’s office, which was in a clinic two towns from where we lived. When we reached the Afari clinic, the only nurse on duty recorded my vital symptoms, including my temperature, pulse, and blood pressure, and told us to wait for our turn. I was the 30th person in line to meet the...

My Father’s Dreams

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah '23 When I read my admission letter to Pomona, the first person I thought of was my father. Born a few years before Ghana gained independence, he grew up in a society where education was seen as a tool for alienating children from their traditional values. His father refused to send him to school, but his mother enrolled him at a local school. His father a...