pomona college

A Day in the Life of Zoom University: Freshman Edition

Posted on January 11, 2021 by Sonam Rikha

By Sonam Rikha ’24 When I received the email on a Friday in early March telling students that, after Monday, my school would be taking a temporary break due to concerns of COVID-19, I didn’t think much of it. On Monday, fellow students jokingly said, “See you next year!” I scoffed at the idea that this break would last longer than two weeks. Surely it wouldn't last for the r...

The Art of the Cold DM

Posted on December 28, 2020December 21, 2020 by Sonam Rikha

By Sonam Rikha ‘24 Having your first semester of college be online is no easy feat. Whether it’s juggling time zones, Zoom fatigue, or the slow loss of sanity from being at home, Zoom University is definitely not how I imagined my first semester of college. As a person who was heavily dependent on friends and fellow classmates to get through difficult classes in high school,...

Application Do’s and Don’t’s From the Experts

Posted on December 14, 2020December 14, 2020 by Nelia Perry

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...

Emergency!! There Are Too Many Interesting Classes

Posted on November 23, 2020November 19, 2020 by Chris Meng

student working on problems with paper and pencil

By Chris Meng ’23 Help! It’s a new semester, which also signals the climax of uncertainty around class schedules. You would think that schedules are mostly set by the time classes start. For some students, that is the case. Major and general education requirements often shape the direction of some students’ semesters. However, in general, Pomona students have an amazing amou...

Online School: A Small College Just Got That Much More Important

Posted on November 18, 2020November 17, 2020 by Nelia Perry

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...

Why I Defied, Rather Than Deferred

Posted on October 15, 2020October 23, 2020 by Nelia Perry

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...

From 2,800 to 10

Posted on September 28, 2020September 23, 2020 by Sonam Rikha

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...

Life as a Virtual Admissions Summer Fellow

Posted on September 15, 2020September 11, 2020 by Chris Meng

By Chris Meng ’23 Dear Christopher, It is with great pleasure that we invite you to join the Office of Admissions at Pomona College as a Virtual Summer Fellow. All the way back in May, I accepted an offer to work with admissions this summer. I feel incredibly fortunate that I was able to find a paid position that I was excited about pursuing. I literally didn’t know...

Favorite Foods: Claremont Village Edition

Posted on August 28, 2020 by Siena Swift

By Siena Swift ’22 When The Claremont Colleges announced in March that classes would be going online and I was packing up to move home, there were many things I was worried about. But one thing that didn’t cross my mind was how much I would miss eating food that I didn’t cook myself. In fact, I was excited to get to cook and bake again at home. But after three months of being ...

Picking Pomona

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Oluyemisi Bolonduro

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...