Pomona College Top Questions

I am involved in Sigma Tau fraternity. I think that it is a great group of guys and we try to throw parties and charity events where everyone can participate. It would be great if the school allowed us to throw larger parties or have our own social room to host events. I think fraternities can help the social life on campus and be a great resource. Dating on the 5 C's is tough. I don't like to hook up with people but for the most part our campuses are not about dating. Athletic events aren't big except for games against CMS. They are fun and I think it is enough. I would love to have more fans but I really value that our athletes are students first. I take pride in the fact that unlike other top schools we do not lower our standards for most athletes.

The campus is very safe, open and lenient about parties for the most part. It's obviously not a huge party school, but people know how to have a good time. There are countless things to do in the surrounding areas, beaches, skiing, LA etc.

The women's lacrosse team is going through a transition period. Two years ago the team was club, with no recruiting power and a less hard-core attitude. Since becoming a varsity program we have the challenge of playing some really good teams, while staffing a roster made up of students who came to school to do other things besides lacrosse. As we get more recruiting classes, the level of play should rise to be more and more competitive with East Coast lacrosse - we know it'll happen because right now CMS's program is only a few years older than ours (the other 3 colleges have a separate set of varsity teams) and can compete with any East Coast team out there. However, teams at Pomona face the constant problem of finding recruits who can get in, since admissions is pretty strict about who it lets in.

Whenever we play CMS there is always a crowd- in most sports especially mens basketball and football. The sports teams try to support each other as much as possible and socialize after the games. There is no dating here in the traditional sense. People are either 'married', as my friends and I like to call it or they are just 'hooking up'. It kind of sucks unless you some how find a way to date someone from the other colleges and even then it's hard not to fall into the married category. In the end if you have a good group of friends around you, your love life doesn't seem as depressing if you aren't in either category from above. Finding a good group of friends is not too difficult at Pomona. There are so many chances to make friends that you end up knowing most of your grade and being close to a lot of them if you try hard enough. I am on the lacrosse team and I would not trade it for the world. It has given me a family here on campus and lifetime friends.

I'm involved with the Varsity softball team which is very competitive in itself, but in general sports are pretty much ignored by much of the student body. Lots of guest speakers come to Pomona--Bono was recently here and Bill Clinton came to speak a few years ago to name two. Dating often occurs when people start consistently hooking up drunk and it seems like people are either in long term relationships or single. Many of my closet friends are in my sponsor group, a group of 10-20 people who live together with two sophomore sponsors which is a group Pomona has for freshman to help them adjust to college. On people's birthdays they get thrown in a fountain. Also the school pays for Death by Chocolate every winter in December, which is where students are given an absurd amount of free chocolate. People can party or not party as much as they want to. There's something going on almost every night and there are also substance free events thrown by That Saturday Group weekly.

as a two sport athlete, i spend a lot of time with my teams and with other athletes. most of my friends also play sports, and many of my best friends are on my sports teams. this is partially because sports take up so much time, and partially because we share similar experiences. i've loved playing D3 sports here because while it may take up a lot of time and definitely demands sacrifices, i've had the opportunity to be part of extremely close teams. we all share a passion and a goal. sports have been a great break from my academic life here. sports also limits the "partying" we can do, so i've had plenty of experience staying in on weekend nights, which is no big deal. plenty of people here don't drink at least one night a weekend, and there are organizations that have non-drinking events on saturday nights including movies, baking, etc... there are also a lot of big theme parties hosted by the 5 colleges combined that have djs and drinks provided.

The most popular groups on campus are sports teams and musical groups. There isn't really a dating scene...people either hook up randomly or are in a relationship. There really isn't any in between. And it can be very frustrating being single here. I met my closest friends on my lacrosse team and on my freshman year hall. How often people party varies a lot. I would say some do it never, some do it up to 5 times a week. Frats and sororities don't exist. Last weekend I went to Dallas to play two Lacrosse games. On Saturday night, there are a bunch of events put on by the sub-free group "That Saturday Group." These include things like karoke or cookie baking, etc. Off campus, I go camping, go to the beach, go to dinner, go to the movies, go shopping.

There's a lot of participation in athletics here but sports games don't seem to central to social life. Football and men's basketball games get really crowded but most of the other sports don't draw too many spectators. One of the groups I'm involved with (Student Athlete Advisory Committee) is actually trying organize ways to get more focus on sports and more involvement from students. There are only a few Greek organizations. The most popular is a frat that is made up of mostly football players and other athletes. The On-the-Loose club is also pretty popular. They go on a variety of outdoor trips (camping, surfing, hiking, climbing etc). I like the snowboarding trips. You can pretty much find people partying every night. The school has an alcohol fund that provides kegs for registered parties. Aside from random parties and get togethers, there's a regular party almost every night of the week. I think Sunday and Monday nights are the only nights without organized parties. My favorite week night party is "Pub" which is held by the frat I mentioned earlier every Wednesday. I usually go to parties on the weekends which are pretty tied to alcohol. I've heard complaints from people who don't drink that the party culture at Pomona is too alcohol centered. I know they organize some substance free parties. I don't really agree with their ideas. On nights I don't drink, I still go to parties and have fun. I guess they feel uncomfortable being around it, but distancing themselves doesn't solve anything. And it's very unrealistic because in the real world, you can't shelter yourself from things like this. You can't ask for sub-free housing or sub-free parties after you graduate. There's a lot to do off campus but I think people stay on campus most of the time because the alcohol is free, you don't have to go far or worry about getting DD's. In the immediate area, there's few bars and concert venues, and a lot of great dining places. And of course the clubs in LA aren't very far.

Everyone finds their own little group. For some, this is a sports team or a frat. For others, this can be a club or academic organization. The best thing about Pomona is the student body is so diverse, there are likely many students with interests common to your own.

I'm a part of the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company, or the CCBDC. Its a 5C organization, and a fun, great way to meet other people. Dorm doors are always open. My friends are constantly popping in and saying hi, people are very friendly. People say that at Pomona there are only two kinds of dating: either you;re practically married, or you're hooking up randomly. I fall in to the former category, and I love it. It was easy to meet someone I instantly connected with and wanted to spend my time around. My boyfriend lives just upstairs! If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I'm probably studying. Parties are pretty frequent, usually one a weekend. Often they are school-sponsored, but that doesn't make them any less cool. We have really great theme parties, like "Smiley 80's," a huge, all-campus, 80's themed party that draws tons of people each year. Fraternities and sororities mean nothing on this campus. I think we have one or two "fororities," but they are pretty much just party-making bodies.