Pomona College, located in Claremont, California, is a small, prestigious liberal arts college known for having one of the lowest acceptance rates among liberal arts schools, at 7%. Pomona is a part of the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of liberal arts schools that share a singular campus, and they’re joined by Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Pitzer. They’re also one of the wealthiest schools in the US, with a $2.7 BILLION (with a B) endowment. That’s enough for $1.5 million per student. As with many other schools, they’re continuing to be test-optional for 2024, although they haven’t said whether or not they’ll continue after that.
Pomona has three essay prompts, an academic one, a short-response, and a “long-response” (which is only 250 words). In the past few years, they’ve shifted from quirkier prompts (some may remember our disdain for the “favorite way to eat a potato” question of years past) to a few more straightforward ones, which we appreciate. We can only assume a Pomona admissions counselor has read our blog and thinks we are smart, so thank you. Let’s break down the prompts:
Prompt 1:
Academic Interest: What do you love about the subject(s) you selected as potential major(s)? If undecided, share more about one of your academic passions. (150 words)
As always, we recommend choosing a potential major. You can always change it when you get there, but they want to see passion here. We tell our students to pick a niche within their field of choice, so instead of just “biology” it’s “ecology.” Beyond that, it’s specifically how ecology plays into urban planning and maintaining ecological diversity in urban settings. This is sort of like a why essay, but not all the way. We’d recommend starting with your origin story, or why you’re studying what you want to study. What’s the inception point?
From there, find an upper-level class and a professor at Pomona that fit in with the niche you’ve said you want to explore, and talk about how much you love the topic and how that class and professor will give you the tools you need to dive deeper into the subject matter.
Prompt 2:
Short-Response Essay: choose to respond to one of the following three prompts in 150 words or less:
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.
This is very similar to a UVA question that we have mixed feelings about. “Quirk” might throw some of you off, and for fair reason. If something doesn’t immediately come to mind, this probably isn’t the prompt for you. A quirky family tradition might include the fact that you have a big family, so instead of celebrating all the holidays together, you made up your own to celebrate everything once a year. Maybe you have a weird routine or your friend group has a weekly ritual. Whatever it is, we want you to write about it in a story format. And also, if you choose this one and go the community/family route, we’d advise against answering the other community prompt in the longer-response section.
What item are you excited to bring with you to college?
This one is fun, but don’t overthink it. What you choose can be something super deep, maybe some kind of gift or trinket from a friend or family member. We do not think it would be prudent to choose “laptop” or “headphones,” here, fyi. Chances are, if it’s something you’re excited about, there’s probably a story behind it. Hint, hint. Write a story! Tell us how you got the thing, or where you found it. Maybe it’s a photo or piece of art. They want to know *why* you’re excited.
Describe a time when you felt empowered or on top of the world?
We don’t really want to see a ‘scoring the winning goal at the big game’ story here. A smaller story about a tiny win or small, significant moment will be more impactful than listing out some grand achievement. Remember that a lot of your big wins can already be covered in your activities or honors sections, and we want to use our space wisely. No need to repeat what they already know. For bonus points, you could tie it back to something related to your academic niche.
Prompt 3:
Longer-Response Essay: choose to respond to one of the following three prompts in 250 words or less:
In the past few years, is there something you have changed your mind about? Why?
We’ve all learned new information that led us to a new conclusion, and Pomona wants to know what that experience was for you. We caution you to be careful with this essay and be mindful of the social justice culture at Pomona. It may not reflect well on you if you write an essay that essentially says you used to be racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. We know you may have changed, but it may be best to stay away from giant swings of opinions or any super hot topic issues like abortion or gun control. If this is your chosen prompt, we think you should sit with it and really think about changes in perspective you’ve had. Maybe it was a small misconception you had that was corrected or a book you read that gave you a new worldview. Once you have your changed mind idea ready, tell the story of how that came about.
Reflecting on a community that you are part of, what values or perspectives from that community would you bring to Pomona?
A classic community essay. Tbh, this is the one we would choose, not only because it’s easy to approach, but because so many schools ask some version of this question. That means it’s a highly replicable topic and will save you a lot of time and energy on your other apps. When you think about community, don’t feel restrained to physical spaces or formal organizations. Community can be family, friends, neighbors, your discord server, etc. What’s important here is a story that tells them about your role in your community and what values ae important to you as a group. If you were to write about a religious tradition in your family that centers on expressing gratitude or service to others, tell us that story and include how you might bring those values with you Pomona.
What strength or quality do you have that most people might not see or recognize?
Ngl, this essay gives us the vibe of when the nerd girl takes off her glasses in a movie, and suddenly everyone thinks she is beautiful. This is *also* very similar to a UNC short answer question. Pomona is taking nods from southern public schools, interesting! This question can be hard to answer because a lot of students skip over the ‘most’ part of the prompt. Some people can see the strengths! Even Alfred knows Bruce Wayne is Batman! No man is an island!
Maybe you’re shy but you can take charge in a crisis. Or you’re a class clown who is a deeply empathetic peer counselor after-hours. We think the best way to go about this essay is by highlighting your ‘contractions,’ so to speak. Your public-facing persona is likely not who you are 100% of the time, so feel free to talk on those differences. Remember, STORY! We know we sound like a broken record, but it’s truly the best and more interesting way to answer these questions.
Pomona is a hard school to get into, so make sure to edit, re-read, re-edit, edit again, check for grammar, have a friend or family member read it, edit thrice more, and triple-check before you submit.
Need help with your Pomona app? Reach out to us today.