Pomona College

Academics

Probably the most significant thing that separates Pomona from some of the other schools in this book is the size of the college. With only 1,500 students total, Pomona is a small college. At Pomona, the average class size is fourteen students and there is one faculty member for every eight students. Even introductory science classes, which are “large” by Pomona standards, break out into small lab sections. The classroom dynamic can vary quite a bit, depending on the professor and the students in a given class, but the vast majority of classes place a premium on student participation. If you learn best by being involved in the process, you want to be at a school like Pomona.

One slogan that speaks to the Pomona College education is ‘size matters!’ In my second semester at Pomona I took an English class with twelve students and a computer science class with five people. Beware, though: with only four other people in the class, there is no ‘back of the classroom’ to hide in!” What it really takes to be successful at Pomona is the willingness to take advantage of the relationships and opportunities that the college offers. Walking into a professor’s office to discuss a paper assignment can be the beginning of a relationship that leads to a summer research opportunity, and it is the student who is willing to take advantage who takes the most out of Pomona. You see, there aren’t any graduate students at Pomona, which means two things: One, every single class at Pomona is taught by a professor, not a grad student; two, Pomona undergrads end up working as research assistants for their professors, which becomes a huge advantage when they apply to graduate school. In fact, Pomona further encourages student research by funding summer research performed by students and Pomona professors. Students spend their summers at Pomona doing everything from synthesizing experimental pharmaceuticals to translating Frenchwomen’s Civil War diaries.

One of the things that I didn’t appreciate about Pomona until I got there was the influence that small, discussion-oriented classes had on my education. When I compared notes with friends at other prestigious schools, I found out that they expected to spend their first year or two in lecture halls where professors spoke through a microphone to a crowd of note-takers. To most university students, a discussion session means a break-out session led by a graduate student. At Pomona, academic dialogue is the norm. My college education took place around a small table with faculty and students who were interested in hearing my voice, and it made all the difference.

For a school that prides itself on its small size, Pomona offers its students a surprisingly wide array of academic options. The college boasts forty-five academic majors in the natural sciences, huamanities, social sciences, and arts. Of course, Pomona students can also design their own major with the help of an advisor and the approval of the college, which has led to the creation of such innovative programs as Peace Studies and Social Justice through dance. Even the “standard” majors at Pomona benefit from the college’s broad strength. Majors such as cognitive science, environmental analysis, and politics, philosophy, and economics take advantage of Pomona’s versatility and ask students to think beyond the conventional boundaries of academic disciplines.

The academic breadth available to Pomona students is increased by Pomona’s membership in the Claremont University Consortium. This partnership of five colleges and two graduate schools opens up the possibilities to Pomona students. Students at Pomona register for classes at the same time as students across the consortium and have access to most of the classes being offered at all seven schools. Students use cross-registration in a variety of ways, from looking for a specialized computer science class at Harvey Mudd to shopping for a statistics class at Pitzer that doesn’t meet as early as its Pomona counterpart. Pomona students can take up to half of their classes off Pomona’s campus, though the average student takes only a few beyond Pomona’s gates.

Given the broad strength of Pomona’s programs and the diverse interests of the student body, it shouldn’t be surprising that Pomona’s most popular major changes virtually every year. Pomona students tend to move around as well: it takes only a one-page form to change a major, so the average Sagehen changes major 2.5 times! When they enter Pomona, first-year students are paired with an academic advisor based on his or her academic interests as well as personality. While many students go on to change their major and their advisor several times (it’s the same one-page form to do both), the relationship between student and advisor is usually a special one. It is not at all unusual to see academic advising taking place over a milkshake at the Coop Fountain, where faculty are given coupons to take students out to eat.

After dropping into my psychology professor’s office hours a few times, I found myself with an offer to join her research lab as a second-semester freshman. The ability to get involved with research as an undergrad is one of the best parts of being at a school with no graduate students.

General Education

Pomona recently revised its general education requirements with the goals of providing the most possible openness to its students while maintaining the breadth of a liberal arts education. As a result, Pomona enforces a Breadth of Study requirement for its graduates.

While at Pomona, students must take one course in the arts, one in the natural sciences, one in the social sciences, one in mathematics or formal reasoning, and one in history, culture, or ethics. Pomona’s academic departments are grouped into these five areas, and students can take any class within the area to satisfy their breadth requirement. For example, one could satisfy the science area requirement by taking “Biology, Gender, and Society,” “Topics in Neuroscience,” or “The Physics of Music.” Likewise, Pomona students can fulfill their math requirement with a course in calculus, statistics, or formal logic. There is no such thing as a GE course at Pomona, so students have a choice in every course that they take. The result of the broad-based general education system is a lot of freedom for Pomona students. Pomona requires thirty-two course credits for graduation, and thirty of those courses have to be taken at the Claremont Colleges. It is often possible for students to fulfill several general education units within their major, freeing up time to minor, double major, study abroad, or take classes for interest. Beyond five general education classes, Pomona students must show proficiency in a foreign language, which can be demonstrated by passing an upper-division course or with an AP, IB, or SAT exam score. Students must also take a semester of physical education, which can be fulfilled by taking anything from ballroom dance to Pilates to archery.

One of the best teachers I experienced at Pomona was Zayn Kassam. Zayn’s religious studies classes were exactly what I wanted from my education: her challenging discourses that regularly spilled out into lunch tables, or the discussion board on the class Web site. Of course, Zayn openly refused to lead class discussion, asking every student to take a turn moderating a class. Though she is a nationally awarded teacher, Zayn understands that her strength is not organizing others, but pushing the interpretations and biases that students bring into the discussion. Zayn became the most spirited participant in her own classes, making each person consider their role in the communal meaningmaking that we participated in.

The most unique, and well-loved, of Pomona’s academic requirements is the Critical Inquiry Seminar. During their first semester at Pomona, students must take one of thirty or so seminars offered exclusively to first-year students. The topics for Critical Inquiry Seminars are chosen by the professors who teach them. Often these professors will choose to teach something that they are passionate about, so topics for seminars include “Baseball in America,” “Music and the Order of the Universe,” “The Graphic Novel,” and “Light, Perception, and Art.” Though the topics can be lighthearted, first-year seminars are designed to be an introduction to academics at Pomona. Critical Inquiry seminars have low enrollments, usually fewer than fifteen students, and ask students to engage with each other in discussion.

Study Abroad

One of the particularly strong opportunities that Pomona offers its students is its study abroad program. Every year, about half of Pomona’s juniors spend a semester abroad in one of fifty programs in thirty-one countries. Pomona also allows students to petition to study in non-Pomona programs, opening the doors for Pomona students to go virtually anywhere on Earth. Pomona’s study abroad office keeps a library of books about the countries that it serves, as well as an extensive list of program reviews from past students that include course evaluations, budgets, and recommendations for travel.

During my junior year, I spent a semester at Cambridge University in England. The program was a great combination of an academic challenge, a cultural experience, and an opportunity to travel through Europe during the five-week intersession.

For students studying abroad, Pomona tries to make the program as simple and seamless as possible. There is no added cost for studying abroad: just pay Pomona tuition as usual and the study abroad office will take care of tuition, housing, and fees, and they will write you a check for your plane tickets. Unlike some other study abroad programs, Pomona also makes sure that your courses from study abroad translate into Pomona credits when you return.

For a number of students, the journey to studying abroad begins in Oldenborg. Oldenborg, or “the borg,” as it is more commonly known, is a combination of a dorm and an international studies hub. Oldenborg houses mostly sophomore students, who live in “halls” grouped by language. Russian hall, for instance, houses students interested in Russian language and culture. These students meet regularly for conversation classes with a foreign language resident who is a native speaker. The hall might also meet to watch a soap opera in Russian or to cook some perogies. Pomona offers language halls for Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and German, and there are two “theme halls” that students propose each year (past themes include “Middle Eastern Language and Culture” as well as “Dead Languages”).

Even for those who don’t want to spend a year living in the “borg,” Oldenborg offers an international relations speaker series, an international movie theater, summer travel grants, and a dining hall where the only language that is not allowed is English. And yes, “the borg” is said to be the inspiration for the twisting halls of the Borg Cube in Star Trek.