Kiplinger's Personal Finance's Best Values in Private Colleges (2009)

"Pomona not only places first among liberal-arts colleges for its selectivity, it also comes in with a near-perfect 99% for freshman retention. Blessed with a sun-drenched campus scented by eucalyptus, studded with palm trees and framed by the San Gabriel Mountains, Pomona gives freshman--and everyone else--good reason to stick around.... Pomona derives some of its distinctiveness from its role in the Claremont Colleges.... Students can take classes at all five colleges and use a combined library that houses two million volumes... The culture of sharing extends to Pomona's financial aid policy, which reaches out to students of all circumstances. Read the Kiplinger's Best Values in Colleges issue.

The Fiske Guide to Colleges

"Pomona College...is the undisputed star of the Claremont College Consortium and one of the top small liberal arts colleges anywhere. This small, elite institution is the best liberal arts college in the West." The Guide explains that "classes at Pomona are challenging" and "small...the average is 14 students--and the faculty makes a point of being accessible." The Guide also notes the wide variety of opportunities available for Pomona students: "Educational opportunities abound.... Students can spend a semester at Colby or Swarthmore, pursue a 3-2 engineering plan with the California Institute of Technology, or spend a semester in Washington, DC, working for a congressperson. Nearly one-half of the students take advantage of study abroad programs offered in 24 foreign countries, and many others participate in programs focusing on six cultures and languages at the Oldenborg Center." One student sums it all up: "Pomona offers a unique and desirable juxtaposition of rigorous academics and comfortable social atmosphere." Read the Fiske Guide to Colleges.

The Insider's Guide to the Colleges (The Yale Daily Press)

"Touted as one of the top liberal arts colleges on the West Coast, Pomona attracts highly motivated students...students find a welcoming community, top-notch academics, and the freedom and resources to pursue individual passions." "Our professors are one of the top reasons to go to Pomona...They will help you with whatever you need, have lunch with you, invite you to their houses, and even to go surfing with them." "'The best part of Pomona is the welcoming atmosphere that envelopes you the minute you step onto campus as a freshman." "This place is like Eden ... Not only is the campus beautiful, but the attitude of the students and faculty helps us make the best of the great education we get here."
 

Barron's Top 50

Other Useful Sites The College Board Online Education Conservancy Project on Student Debt

"Pomona College, a small liberal arts college in the finest tradition of many distinguished New England institutions, has one asset that its East Coast rivals lack. It is on the West Coast. Sun-filled skies all year and proximity to the Pacific Rim give Pomona students an educational atmosphere not found elsewhere." Barron's notes Pomona's philosophy of teaching students "not what to think, but how to think, preferably with independence and criticism." And "The size of Pomona implies limited. But on the contrary, it also means flexible. If it's not here, it can be developed with a little time and effort. Create your own major, design your own thesis, plan out a summer reading course with your professor. If it's not done on a formal level, it can be done informally." The section closes "The relative freedom allowed at the College, the abundance of educational and cultural opportunities, and the time, space, and setting given to students make the Pomona diploma a very valuable one."

The Princeton Review

In Princeton Review’s The Best 371 Colleges, 2010 edition, a survey of more than 122,000 students ranked Pomona College #1 for Best Classroom Experience, #5 for Great Financial Aid and #7 for School Runs Like Butter. Pomona was also ranked #14 for Dorms Like Palaces and #19 for Best Quality of Life. In Princeton Review’s Best Value College list, Pomona is ranked #9 among private colleges.

One student describes Pomona as “the best place on earth for a solid, well-rounded, and liberal-tilted education where students pitch each other into fountains on their birthdays.” While students are impressed with the “good faculty-to-student ratio,” “small class sizes,” and access to “a wealth of academic resources and extracurricular opportunities” as part of the Claremont University Consortium, Pomona students reserve their highest compliments for their professors who “are actually glad to be teaching, rather than merely putting up with the teaching so they can research.” “It is not uncommon to receive detailed comments on assignments and personal e-mails from professors.” One student unequivocally declares, “The professors are the soul of my academic experience." Read The Princeton Review.