Pomona College is a small liberal arts school located in Claremont, California. It’s a part of the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of schools that all share resources (and a campus!), made up of Pomona (duh), Claremont McKenna, Scripps, Pitzer, and Harvey Mudd. Each school has their own vibe and focus, but Pomona definitely has a broader liberal arts focus.
Pomona is one of the hardest schools to get into, with a 7% first-year acceptance rate. This rings true for their transfer rates too, with a 7.1% acceptance rate for transfers last cycle. To put it more plainly, 474 students applied, and 34 were admitted. That’s not a lot of spots for potential transfers, which means you need to prepare a really strong application, and that starts as soon as you start college. We’re going to dive into what you need to transfer to Pomona:
Pomona’s Requirements
Here are Pomona’s eligibility requirements:
“We admit transfer students as sophomores or juniors, and transfer students must spend at least four full-time semesters at Pomona to receive a B.A. degree. Applicants who will have completed at least one year's full-time college work by the time they expect to enroll at Pomona must apply as a transfer applicant. Students who have completed college coursework as part of an early college program, or who have completed less than one year of college, should apply as first-year applicants. We do not accept applications from students who have already received a bachelor's degree.”
One year is pretty standard, and they don’t accept dual-enrollment or one-semester students, which is also pretty standard.
Here are their other requirements:
Transfer Common App
Essays (more on that later)
Two faculty recommendations (can be professor or TA)
School/College report
Midterm report
Official Transcripts (college + high school)
Optional requirements:
Test scores (their middle-50 data is 1480-1540 and 33-35, so keep that in mind)
Virtual interview (rare for transfers! Take advantage of this – deadline to request an interview is early February)
More on their requirements and process for transfer applicants here.
Pick the Right Classes
Pomona is, at their core, a classic liberal arts school. The whole reason the Claremont Colleges came to be was to create the New England Liberal Arts School Feel Thing in California, so they’re pretty dedicated to the whole shebang. Pomona wants to stress that they don’t have pre-recs for transfers, but they do offer some advice:
“However, we do have recommendations. Given that transfer students enter Pomona as sophomores or juniors, they have less time on campus to complete all of their general education requirements and major(s)/minor requirements. We therefore recommend, when possible, that applicants focus on completing courses that will fulfill our general education requirements before applying so that they may focus more on courses in their major(s) while at Pomona.”
This is a little different from what we normally suggest – you’ll want to take a majority of classes that fit into their gen-eds, but they allow a variety of topics in their 6 areas (more on those in the section “Recommended Preparation for Transfer” here). You do want to take classes that fit into your major, but Pomona also wants you to save most of those for Pomona. Our advice: take a major class each semester, and make sure it’s focused on what you’re actually interested in. If you’re into Modern American History, a class on the French Revolution doesn’t make a lot of sense
Get Really Good Grades
Pomona is hard to get into school for anyone, with acceptance rates rivaling the Ivies. That means you need excellent grades. Like, what better way to prove you’re good at college than by being good at college.
To get good grades, access every resource at your disposal. Office hours (which comes in handy come rec letter request time), writing center, tutoring, etc. Also, don’t take classes you already know you’re bad at. If you almost failed Physics in high school, opt for Biology. There’s no reason to take classes that will actively hurt your grades and probably your psyche.
Develop Your Niche
Since Pomona really wants you to take gen-eds, just taking a history class or two isn’t gonna cut it. You need to dive into what your current school offers, including (but not limited to):
Research with a professor
Joining (or starting) clubs
Writing for an on-campus publication
Getting an internship
By plugging into your school’s community, you can build your resume and have the added benefit of creating your own little safety net in case you don’t get into Pomona.
Write Good Essays
Pomona has a lot of essays, sorry!! Let’s start with the Pomona-specific ones:
Tell us what you love about the academic interest(s) you selected and how Pomona's liberal arts environment would enhance your exploration of these subjects. (400 words or fewer)
Please choose one of the following three prompts to respond to with an essay of no more than 150 words.
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.
What item are you excited to bring with you to college?
Describe a time when you felt empowered or on top of the world.
Please choose one of the following three prompts to respond to with an essay of no more than 250 words.
In the past few years, is there something you have changed your mind about? Why?
Reflecting on a community that you are part of, what values or perspectives from that community would you bring to Pomona?
What strength or quality do you have that most people might not see or recognize?
Good(ish) news, these are the same questions Pomona asks first-year students. We have a detailed guide on how to answer all of these here.
They also want you to write the Common App essay like you did for first-year admission.
As a mission-driven institution, we value and celebrate the synergy created by our differences and similarities. We welcome you to write about distinctive aspects of your background, identity, or personal interests that you would bring to Pomona, and how you plan to engage in our community. (1,500 character limit, about 250 words)
Okay, side note, we hate that the transfer Common App uses characters and not word count. It is sooooo annoying. Honestly, once we finish writing this, we’re emailing Common App. It’s so dumb.
Moving on: this is a community essay. Pomona is a funky, social-justice-minded school, so your essay should be a) a creatively written story and b) a story that shows you’ll mesh well with their culture. If you’re dying to write about how you organized a March for Life protest at your school, Pomona is not gonna be your spot. Remember, you’ll want to tie it back to an activity or group at Pomona. This is a prompt they also added in response to the Supreme Court decision on Affirmative Action for all applicants last cycle, and we wrote about how to write it here. If you’re straight, cis, and able-bodied, don’t write about that.
The next essay has an interesting prelude:
“Using AI language models like ChatGPT to generate essays or personal statements for college applications is considered unethical and violates our expectations of academic integrity. It is important for applicants to submit original work that authentically reflects their thoughts, experiences, and abilities.”
No ChatGPT for y’all! Not that you should be using it anyway!
Find out more about our core values. Please choose from the following prompts and answer below (Limit to 4,000 characters (about 650 words):
Reflecting on your involvement throughout school or within the community, how have you engaged with one of Pomona’s core values?
Describe what you are looking for from your college experience and why Pomona would be a good fit for you.
*shakes fist* Character counts
Moving on. If this were us, we would probably choose #2 or if we chose number #1, we’d focus on the core value of “Interdisciplinary Learning.” This is because your first essay question should touch on aspects of community (weaved in with identity), so your second question should focus on what matters when it comes to college: the college of it all.
Essentially, it’s a why essay. These are also prompts they ask first-year students, which we have a detailed guide for.
We hope these tips help you a) prepare to transfer and b) make that transfer application happen. Good luck with your Pomona application and make sure to keep your grades up, get plugged into your community, and dive into your passions.
If you need help with your transfer applications, reach out to us today.