It’s the Culture for Me

Spring POP students in shuttle van
By Sonam Rikha ’24 Ever since I was a little kid, I dreamed of going to Los Angeles and walking down Hollywood Boulevard. When, as a high school senior, I stepped out of the LAX airport, I was greeted by California palm trees and the L.A. heat. Even though Pomona is in Claremont, 35 miles from the glamorized city of Los Angeles, the laid back and sunny environment in Claremo...
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4+7 Things I Realized About Pomona as a Sophomore

image of psych class on zoom
By Chris Meng ’23 It’s hard to believe that I am starting my second semester of my sophomore year. At the end of May, I will be halfway done with college, and I will have somehow reached the age of 21. Over my nearly two-month winter break, I spent a lot of time with family and friends (mostly virtually), having conversations with them and myself that gave me a chance to ref...
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A Day in the Life of Zoom University: Freshman Edition

Sonam in Pomona sweatshirt
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...
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The Art of the Cold DM

Example of Cecil DM
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,...
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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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Emergency!! There Are Too Many Interesting Classes

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...
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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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Life as a Virtual Admissions Summer Fellow

screen grab of zoom with all fellows
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...
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