Pomona College is a tiny liberal arts college located in Claremont, California. Even though the school itself is small, it’s a part of the Claremont Colleges, which includes Scripps, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd, and Claremont McKenna. Each school has it’s own ~vibe~ and specialty, and students at Pomona often gravitate towards the social and natural sciences. It’s a top tier liberal arts school, consistently ranking in the top 5, churns out as many PhD candidates as the Ivy League, and has a three BILLION dollar endowment. With this comes a 6.6% acceptance rate, down almost 2% from last year.
Pomona has streamlined their supplement and got rid of some of the questions we hated, thank goodness. You’ll have to answer two questions – one with a 150 word count, and the other with a 250 word count. But thankfully, you get to pick! Let’s dive in:
Please choose one of the following three prompts to respond to with an essay of no more than 150 words.
1. At Pomona, we celebrate and identify with the number 47. Share with us one of your quirky personal, family or community traditions and why you hold on to it.
The quirk question has become more and more common in applications and we don’t know if we love it. This question does allow you to take it to family or community, but there’s also a community question in the second section, so don’t double dip. You need to think of something you or your family does that is truly unique. Like, when you tell other people about it they think it’s weird type unique. It is not quirky to have movie night, nor is it unique to go for long drives when you need to cool down. Maybe you have a weird pre-game superstition, or your friends have developed a six-minute long secret handshake that you have to do every time you see each other. Whatever it is, bring us into the scene with you and tell us how it feels.
2. What item are you excited to bring with you to college?
This can be a fun one! But steer clear of items that display wealth or privilege, or items that you would have to bring like pen and paper and a computer – instead go for items that have a story behind them. You can also use this question to showcase a hobby or interest that you have that you couldn’t put in any other part of your Common App. Do you love to paint? Did your sister give you the art supplies? Talk about it! Did your friends make you a really personalized, thoughtful gift that you want to keep forever? Tell the story of when you received it.
3. Describe a time when you felt empowered or on top of the world.
“Describe a time,” sure sounds like telling a story (are you sensing a theme here?), but you want to avoid repeating anything already on your Common App. They know about the awards you’ve won, so go smaller. Did you join choir thinking it would be a fun time with friends, only to learn it was a lot harder than you thought? But then after months of practice you finally nailed the notes and could read music? Did you successfully repaint your room? Help fix a car? Go out and get a job you were excited about? Pitch an idea that people liked? Think of smaller wins that made you feel awesome and tell a descriptive story that captures how you felt in the moment.
Please choose one of the following three prompts to respond to with an essay of no more than 250 words.*
1. In the past few years, is there something you have changed your mind about? Why?
More storytime! So our biggest advice here is to be careful what you choose. If you pick something relating to a hot-button issue (which we would suggest not doing, btw), be careful not to paint yourself as totally ignorant or even worse, bigoted, before you changed your mind. This should be something smaller that connects to you learning something from someone. Maybe you were against a bus line in your neighborhood but realized how much it could help your neighbors, or hated a book you read until you had a new experience that changed how you saw it.
2. Reflecting on a community that you are part of, what values or perspectives from that community would you bring to Pomona?
Classic community essay. We always say to use these essays to demonstrate your own values, and this essay asks it explicitly. Think of the communities you’re a part of (and think beyond physical communities. You don’t need to meet in a room every week to be a community) and times you’ve spent together. Think about what’s important to you in these groups, and think of a time that exemplifies this. Let’s say you’re an organized person and a friend asked you to help her clean her room, which you love doing because you love helping your friends. Or maybe you’re friends with the neighbor nextdoor that no one else seems to talk to, and you help them get their groceries and mow their lawn. Whatever you pick, tell a story about this moment and bring in a ton of detail.
3. What strength or quality do you have that most people might not see or recognize?
Love this one. A great question to showcase something you can’t quantify on your application. Are you resourceful? A great problem solver? Quick on your feet? Outgoing? Courageous? Tell us a story (there it is again!) that highlights this trait. If you’re super outgoing, maybe you signed up for a MeetUp event and didn’t know a single person, but left with 12 new friends. If you’re courageous, tell the story of the solo hike you went on. Resourceful problem solver? Tell us your problem and how you fixed it. This is also a great essay that you can punch up and really showcase your personality.
All in all, we love the changes Pomona made to their supplement this year. We think having these questions as options to choose from is a lot better than the dreaded potato question. These aren’t terribly long, and so it might be hard to pack a lot of detail into a short answer, but we believe in you!
If you need help with your Pomona supplements, we’ve got you covered. Reach out to us today.