As a low-income student, Linda faced setbacks in the college admissions process while still managing a full time job and 10+ extracurriculars and got into one of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges: Pomona College.
Transcription
Kamila
Hey, college kids, welcome back to my podcast, who cares about college? In today’s interview? Interview, I’ll be interviewing Linda. So could you please introduce yourself? Hi, everyone.
Linda
My name is Linda, I, you share pronouns and I’m from Seattle, Washington. I’m currently a first year at Pomona College intending to major in politics.
Kamila
So we’ll get to college. And House is a little bit different for you a little bit later, but let’s go to high school. So what were your expectations in terms of higher education? Were you striving for higher education in prestigious colleges? Or were you more on the side of like, I’m not really looking for selectivity in the college or prestige.
Linda
Yeah, so I’m a first generation low income student. So that means I’m the first in my family to go to college. And I had a lot of financial barriers that made the college process and just understanding what made me competitive applicants super inaccessible for me. So luckily, I was able to access a lot of awesome programs, such as the Upward Bound TRIO program to help me understand how I should prepare myself for college. But I was never thinking about going to a school like Pomona, I was thinking of trying to get to a four year university period. And it wasn’t until I got into a program, my junior year called Quest bridge that really broaden my horizons and made me understand Oh, shoot, like, I’m totally like, qualified to apply to these top 20 institutions. And that’s when I started to look at schools that were highly selective.
Kamila
So with, like, first generation, low income, a lot of college apps is just having resources and having knowledge about the process. And for first generation low income. You don’t have those resources, you don’t have like anybody to guide you. Whereas, like, in private schools, or elite public schools, they have the people tell them, you know, freshman year do this sophomore year that. So coming into high school, did you have anybody to like tell you, like, this is what you need. If you want to get into college, this is what you should start on if you want to have an impressive application.
Linda
Yeah, I totally agree with everything you just said. Luckily, for me, I was able to access various resources because even though I went to a public high school, I was able to be enrolled in like a Advanced Placement Program in middle school. So that really like opened the door for me to be able to look at more resources once I entered high school. So like I said, Before, I was able to access the college preparation program. And I got into that as early as the summer before freshman year. So that program was to help me get into a four year college, but it wasn’t exactly dedicated to helping me get into a selective top 20 school like Pomona. So I guess in short, like I’m one of the lucky ones that I had that network, but for a lot of my peers, especially those I grew up around, they did not have the same access to those programs. And that definitely impacted like where they’re going to school now.
Kamila
Yeah, we can you tell us about this program that you I guess got accepted into before freshman year? Because you said you did questbridge Junior year, but what was that program before freshman year?
Linda
Yeah, so that program is called Upward Bound. There’s different chapters throughout the United States, I believe. And that basically is like a federally funded or either federally or locally funded program through the government. And just basically provides low income students with counselors. And throughout the course of the program, I was able to like go on various college tours even to California, and totally paid for. And they also provided like tutoring services and like guidance with filling out things like the FAFSA and accessing like fee waivers for the AC T and sh t. Basically, it was a great resource for me to know like what I needed to apply for college, like what I guess requirements they wanted, like standardized tests and teacher recommendations. And they were just really like, a lot of students who’ve had parents to go to college before their parents were the ones to walk them through the process. But for me, my parents didn’t go to college. So it was that program. That was the support for me in my applications.
Kamila
And that’s interesting. How did you find out about that program? Was it something your school offered?
Linda
Yeah, so my mom was the one who found out about it because it targets first generation low income students. So she heard about it and enrolled me. But also they have a great network like they’re able to reach a lot of students in my school. So for those who didn’t have their parents to guide them into the program, like minded, they like they did a lot of awesome outreach to to recruit students
Kamila
and coming into high school did you have were you a top basically I guess, because a top student is straight A student who always would, you know, took the most rigorous courses always achieved like basically A’s in high school.
Linda
Yeah, so although I did get pretty good grades, a lot of People in my cohort at Pomona were top of their class valedictorian, I was in the 25 percentile of my class. And, you know, that’s still really good. But I wasn’t like, ranked number one, like a lot of my peers in my classes at Pomona. So I just want to say that even though Pomona may look very competitive, very competitive, but all of the numbers may be really intimidating online, Pomona really prides itself in holistic applications, or holistic reviews of their applications. So it’s not, you can’t get into Pomona just on the basis of a perfect score, or a perfect EA, it’s really based on what story you’re able to tell us yourself and whether you’re very passionate about different things.
Kamila
And in terms of we’ll go through like GPA sa t, AC T, and APS, honors IBS, before we go on to other stuff like extracurricular. So GPA, what was your unweighted and weighted GPA at the end of high school? And can you give us a scale? Because every school does it differently?
Linda
Yeah, so my school is on the 4.0 scale, we did not do weighted GPA. So my unweighted GPA was a 3.8 5.85.
Kamila
And how many, APS honors IB is whatever your school offered? How many did you take throughout high school?
Linda
Yeah, so I think that my school offered, I counted like it wasn’t high school, but I’m pretty sure they offer about 20 AP classes, and I took 11. So I did take a really rigorous course load in high school.
Kamila
And I have one question I’m curious about so you said your initial goal was not to get into a prestigious university are like really private. And these elite private prestigious universities don’t like except AP credits, IB credits, whatever it is. So with taking a lot of classes, it looks good on college application. But did you ever have the intention of taking credits and transferring them over to the university or college you attended? Were you hoping to get some college credit for those?
Linda
Yeah, so when I was taking AP classes, I was doing it, like you said to look competitive on my transcript, it wasn’t for credits. I knew that was an option at some schools. But I didn’t know enough about colleges to know like, which classes were which AP classes they took for credit, and Pomona, they only take two. So it worked out for me in the long run. Because I didn’t take a lot of the tests, I just took the classes. And I was able to transfer like two of my highest scores to promote it, but they don’t make it any more than two.
Kamila
So it’s just like two standard classes that they accept. And that’s it.
Linda
Yeah. And at some institutions, they’ll use AP credit to get out of like an intro course or stuff. But at Pomona, we don’t have those type of prerequisites, we have area requirements where you have to take a class in a certain subject. So just because you have like an AP credit waiving a certain class doesn’t mean you won’t be taking a course in that subject, if that makes sense. So it’s not really like, like, give or take all like other schools where you can just wave like intro to Chem with an AP Chem score.
Kamila
Okay, okay, so let’s move on to sa t AC t. So which one did you take?
Linda
I took both. So I really struggled with the LSAT, all of my peers were taking one and it did not like I’m more like humanities and cloud was like a liberal arts college. So math is not my strong suit. And I like got the same score with every LSAT. I even took a class it did not help. But I ended up switching and taking the AC T once and I got a pretty good score. So that’s what I sent to my colleges. But the LSAT really kicked my butt for like sophomore and junior year I just could not get any better.
Kamila
And then AC t score. You said you took it one. So what did you get on that?
Linda
I got a 32 which is I think the lower range at Pomona I think homeowners 32 to 35 for average
Kamila
for your 32 on your first try.
Linda
Yeah, I was Yeah, I think the AC t just better like a better put my learning style and it had the science component. So I think that helped route up my average. I think that’s what happened.
Kamila
And I kind of went too fast here but what preparations did you do for LSAT prep and then eventually AC T prep did the program that you were that you were part of offer? Like any resources for that?
Linda
Yeah, they did. So they definitely offered like, like classes over break. So like over spring break. I took like a class I think my sophomore year, and they gave me a free prep book. So I took all the tests in that book for the LSAT. And then I took a class my junior year, basically just going over the problems and taking a lot of practice tests. They didn’t really help at all like it was really just my learning style. It wasn’t me but for a while I was really convinced like ugh, like, I’m like not smart enough to do this like you getting the same score after all this practice is really frustrating. But then with the AC T, I took one practice test because I wanted to see like how it would do I got a 32 on my first try. So I was like nice. I studied a lot. I got another book and there’s there’s free sh t and AC T practice on Khan Academy. AC T might be on a different platform. I can’t remember but there’s free tests out there. That’s what I did. And then I ended up getting the same score I got on my practice test on the real one. So I’m not sure if my brother helped it all because it didn’t get any better. But I think I was just lucky that I was able to do well on the test.
Kamila
I mean, that’s great. And before we jump into extracurriculars, actual application and stuff, you did say the program, you were part of flew you out to some colleges gave you the opportunity to do that. So when did you start flying out to colleges and, you know, touring them and starting to create your college list?
Linda
Yeah, so um, the program I mentioned earlier, they took me on a lot of various like college tours, like in my state, I’m from Washington. So I saw a bunch of state schools. But I started thinking about not going school in state, when they took me to Northern California, we toured schools like Stanford and Berkeley. I can’t afford UC tuition. But it was cool to like, look around and see my options and see that I could like, go to a school out of state. And then by the time senior year rolled around, I was able to apply to opportunities called Flying programs. And that was when I was able to look at schools that actually like I could afford that will be able to give me a good financial aid package. So I toured like five schools through flying programs. And flying programs are basically overnight diversity programs where they, I guess, like sponsor, first generation, low income students and students of color to go see their campus and see if they’d be a good fit for their school
Kamila
and was, was Pomona one of those colleges.
Linda
I got rejected from Pomona program. So I didn’t get to go to Pomona but a bunch of my peers went to the Pomona diversity program, and they loved it.
Kamila
So they rejected you and you still applied?
Linda
Yeah, well, the flying program isn’t like, it doesn’t determine whether you get into the school, it like is just an indicator of whether you’d be a good fit for the school. So even though I got rejected from promoted flying program, it didn’t stop me from applying to the school because I was like, okay, like, they didn’t like me to have to fly me up for free. But hopefully they’ll like me enough to go to their school. And they did. So it all worked out.
Kamila
That’s great. And I want to get to your college list. And you know how you officially picked a little later, but let’s go to extracurriculars. So take me through the extracurriculars you did in high school, you when did you start them? What were they? And then for college app purposes, what position did you hold in them?
Linda
Yeah, so I did do a lot of extracurriculars. Like throughout high school, so many that I couldn’t fit them on, like the 10 options on the common app. So the beginning of freshman year, I started working with like various like social justice organizations in my area. So I gained leadership roles like in those various programs. And then at school, I was a part of a lot of different clubs. I’m sure like, it’s been so long, but I guess like a school I was my senior year, I was president of like deca, which is like the business organization, and National Honor Society and Vietnamese Student Association. I was also captain of the gymnastics team, and I was on student government. And then, outside of school, I did a bunch I continued my work with like various organizations. And I also started working for my city government. So I served on like the Mayor’s Youth Council. So yeah, I did have like a big variety of extracurriculars that show so I’m majoring in politics. So the fact that working in my city government, as 16 showed that I was pretty competitive and really passionate about politics. So I think that definitely drove my application. But there’s also students here who like didn’t do much in high school, like school was like their number one priority. So just because I did a bunch of things in high school doesn’t mean that everyone at Pomona did too. Well, just like experience.
Kamila
Okay, so I want to get into a little bit of a deeper dive into your extracurriculars like each one. So you did say you’re part of the youth council for your mayor in your city. So can you tell me? Or how did you find out about like being on the youth council for your mayor in your city? Like, how did you come upon that? And then what did you do in that position?
Linda
Yeah, so um, one door leads to another one of the programs I worked with the beginning of high school, they told me that there was this opportunity with the mayor that would really fit my interests. So I applied, and without that previous organization that I was a part of, I never would have heard about the opportunity. So it’s really like wild to think about how like past connections lead up to like future opportunities. But yeah, that’s how I heard about the opportunity. And what we did, we basically served as like a mini youth City Council where we would like advise on various policies affecting youth and like, talk to various employees within like the city like government. And I used that connection to further work into the Department of Early Education and Learning in the city of Seattle, where I was able to like sit on a panel to dictate what community based organizations or schools should receive a certain, like certain funding from a certain levy tax. But basically, the opportunity itself was just to be connected to city legislature and connect you to the city legislature.
Kamila
Okay, so let’s go back to the Oregon isolation that led you to city council. So can you tell us about the organizations that you were in? And how long like when did you start being part of some of those organizations outside of school?
Linda
Yeah, so colleges definitely emphasize or not emphasize, but they really value what a student has been in a certain organization or extracurricular for a long period of time. So the organization that led me to the Mayor’s Youth Council as a social justice nonprofit that I’ve been a part of, since my freshman year, they basically like served low income students of color and took them on like snowboarding trips and outdoor adventures, like camping or surfing, and also paired their programming with social justice workshops, like understanding systemic racism, and poverty, etc, etc. So that was one of the organizations I was a part of in high school. I also did some work with another local program that basically is an immersion trip to Guatemala. So they paired social justice with like the, the global aspect. So that’s another thing that I did. And I also worked with an outdoor organization where it was student led, and we basically led a bunch of like camping outdoor trips for students, and it was primarily students at my high school, but it was technically unaffiliated with my high school. So three very different things I did. But those all definitely strengthened my application. They were all things that I spent over two years in each program. So that really shows like my dedication, I guess, in
Kamila
in those programs. Were you did you like climb yourself up to a leadership position or secretary treasurer? Whatever positions there are? Did you climb yourself up? Or were you just a member in those organizations?
Linda
Yeah, so for the Guatemala organization, I was not part of leadership, I just did the immersion trip and then left with the program. But with the other two with the outdoor organization, I was on the executive board, or the executive committee. And with the snowboarding, social justice program that showed me to the Mayor’s Youth Council, there was, once you graduate, your first year of the program, you can apply to be a pure leader, which basically they run the programming and they organize the workshops, and they act as like a mentor for other students. So that’s what I did. Yeah. So with the with the two out of the three programs, I did pursue leadership roles, but then for the Guatemala one, I just went on the trip and then left.
Kamila
And then for city council, you were on like a panel. So it was you and other youth leaders. And you guys would like talk about issues with the mayor and his like legislation team.
Linda
Yeah, so we unfortunately did not get a visit from the mayor she like, appointed us, but she didn’t really contact us. We were really only talking to like her employees and other employees in the different branches of the city government.
Kamila
I mean, that sounds incredible. How okay, you this is a lot outside of school, and then you did a bunch of stuff inside of school. Yeah. First I want to ask when you, you and you were you said is correct. Like, as I’ve been interviewing people I’ve come to like realization colleges put emphasis on dedication, passion, like how long you did your extracurricular for. So did you just happen to do your extracurriculars for a long time? Or Did somebody like a mentor? Or somebody in that program? You were part of tell you about this, like colleges like to see this, this and this?
Linda
Yeah, so I stayed with my extracurriculars, because I was passionate about them. And I found community in them. I think a lot of students who like think about college too early and like focus on trying to check off boxes on their application really lose like the human like connections in those extracurriculars, which like will show when you write about them in your application. So yeah, no, I didn’t, I didn’t stay with those organizations, because colleges would like that I stayed because I was passionate about them. And they showed they led me to like what I wanted to do later in life, which is to pursue politics.
Kamila
And did you know from a young age, you wanted to be in politics, like is that how you was able you centered your application around?
Linda
So I did center my application around politics, but I did not know I wanted to go into politics until I started working for the city. So since I come from, like an immigrant background, my parents really wanted me to be a doctor. So I spent like, half of high school like going to like Doctor camp and like thinking I was going to be pre med even though I was bad at science. We just figured it would work out. Yeah, I’m really glad that I’ve like moved past that stage in life. But yeah, no, I did not think politics was a viable option for me, especially because it doesn’t guarantee money. But if you go to like, medical school, it’s kind of a no, you’re going to be a doctor and make money. So yeah, no, I didn’t know that I was going to go into politics. But once I did, that is what my application was centered around.
Kamila
I completely understand doctor, lawyer engineers, your options right there. Look pressure. Okay, so extracurriculars we’ve cut we’ve kind of done a wrap up of your extracurriculars outside of school, and then Oh, actually, one thing one, so a lot of kids don’t realize they can branch out of high school. It’s number one, they don’t even know where to look. So what advice would you give First students who want to look beyond high school because you know that you look at the list of clubs your school offers, and you don’t like much of them and you’re thinking, What can I do outside of high school? So what advice would you give for students like that? Where to look, you know how to find your passion?
Linda
Yeah, that’s an awesome question, I would say think about like, so volunteering is also a huge aspect of college application. So think about like, what you’re passionate about, like who you want to help impact in your community. Like, for example, if you want to help like your low income working class members of your community, you can look at where to volunteer for soup kitchens, or food banks, etc, etc. Those are pretty generic volunteer opportunities. But once you get involved with one thing, one door leads to another and you’ll find other opportunities and other leadership positions. So I would just say start with what you know, you like it could be like with animals, too, you want to volunteer at your like, local veterinarian clinic, just start small, and then you’ll find more opportunities later on once you begin to work in a single sector.
Kamila
Okay, so let’s move on to extracurriculars inside of school. You listed president of a bunch of things. Let’s start I think it was Decker right you so you were president of DECA tell me when did you join the Club? And what was your responsibility? And then how did you eventually climb yourself up to President?
Linda
Yeah, so I took marketing my sophomore year of high school. And my teacher told me about DECA. And I decided, oh, that sounds really cool. So DECA at my school was different than other schools, we didn’t go to competitions or anything. So we basically were focusing on promoting financial literacy within our school and like sharing the material in the classes to students who like couldn’t take the class because they didn’t have enough. Like, they’re scheduled or too full, or they couldn’t spare the credits or things like that. So I really, like enjoyed the work because as a low income student, I knew how inaccessible financial literacy is. So basically, like the other organization outside of school, I was really passionate about the extracurricular. And by the time that like the years went on, I, like ran for various positions, and people saw how passionate and motivated I was in the club. So that just helped me get elected and move up. So like, sophomore year, I think I became secretary and then junior year, Vice President, senior year President.
Kamila
And actually, you brought up a point I want to quickly discuss so you said you were fortunate to have programs and mentors to help you through the college application process. But you said many of your peers didn’t have those programs, and you saw how it affected their chances. Can you talk about that? How you know where they are right now with college university, and compared to where you are? Because you had access to those mentors, those programs?
Linda
Right? Yeah. So. So fortunately, for a lot of my peers, like, even though they didn’t have the certain program that I was in, they still were able to go to college be the first in their family to go to college, regardless of whether it was a four year institution or a two year institution. So we all made it, luckily, and we’re all pursuing higher education. But noticing the disparities between like the peers in my AP classes, and the peers that I like that were my neighbors, I noticed that like a lot, the majority of the peers who were taking AP classes, and they had a lot of extracurriculars like had the time the luxury and like the I guess they were able to take on that workload. versus me I had to take on the workload plus work a full time job. And then for a lot of my low income peers, like that’s not feasible to work a job and take five AP classes on top of extracurriculars. So I guess I would say like, I think that shows how like the peers that were around me that took the same class as me, we were able to go to like, top 20 schools versus like my peers who didn’t take those classes didn’t have those extracurriculars. Like they go to community colleges or in state schools, which is perfectly fine. Those are amazing institutions. And they literally beat the odds, because they’re the first in their family to go to college, and they had so limited access to resources. But I think that shows how, like more elite schools are unattainable for those students, because they have so much more to worry about. I hope that answered your question.
Kamila
I mean, that was that was perfect. And you said you had a full time job during high school?
Linda
Yeah. So I worked at a restaurant for junior and senior year. Yeah.
Kamila
Okay. We’ll definitely get to that too. Because we will definitely get to that. But let’s finish up with school. So deca, you did say you climbed yourself up to President, what other clubs are you president of? Yeah, so the two
Linda
other clubs I was president, I was National Honor Society and Vietnamese Student Association. And for those who are in National Honor Society, they know that at least from my school, it wasn’t super high commitment. We basically did a couple of service events every month. And it was like a super big club. So it wasn’t very like community based or anything but that that was like pretty feasible to gain a leadership role in because a lot of people were doing it to look good on their college applications. They didn’t actually care about service events we were doing so I kind of just stepped up and decided I want to take initiative myself and and or the club in in taking a leadership position.
Kamila
Okay. And for the Vietnamese Student Association, how did you did you find that club? Or was it already existing in your school?
Linda
Yeah, it was luckily already existing at my school, but it was pretty, like low membership and like, wasn’t super active. So I saw another opportunity for me to take initiative and try to I guess, like revitalize the club by being like, President, and being able to dictate what events we’re going to run and how to fundraise, etc.
Kamila
So you did have you had quite a few leadership positions, and as well, it’s a lot. So let’s move on to one more thing. I consider jobs extracurriculars. I mean, I had a job before COVID. And I definitely considered extracurricular it is time commitment. So can you tell me about your job as a junior senior? So you just say you work in a restaurant? Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Linda
Yeah, so I worked a bunch of like small jobs. Like before I turned 16. Like I did tutoring. And I did like various, like summer programs that gave me stipends. But I turned 16, I was like, I need to start looking for a job. And it was super hard. I like didn’t have a lot of time. And it wasn’t until one of my friends a National Honor Society. She was like, hey, look, I’m I’m graduating, so I need someone to replace me at my restaurant job. You see, Linda, great fit, like, do you want to work there? I was like, yes, I’ve been looking for a job for ages. So that’s how I got hired, I basically was a hostess. So I just like greeted guests, and I would see them. And working in restaurants. Definitely really humbling, because people are really mean to service workers. But um, and also, it was really hard to balance with like sports, because in school because I would just go to school and then like, run to my job literally right after and then go home and like repeat. So it was definitely really strenuous. But it was like something that I had to do was like a low income student to support my family.
Linda
You did sports as well.
Linda
Yeah, I would do like morning practice, and then school and then work. It was a lot.
Kamila
Oh, my Oh my god. So can you walk us through like a typical day in high school for you? What did that look like me? You just I know, sports are like season by season, but it’s still a job. When you got to junior senior, you had all these like organizations and clubs. You had sports and you had a job. So can you take us through a typical day?
Linda
Yeah, so I wouldn’t have morning practice. And so my work schedule was nice, because I worked like every other day. So Monday, I would wake up, go to morning, practice school, work, and then go home, then on Tuesday, I get a break. So I go to school, I don’t have morning practice. And then I don’t have work so I can go to practice after school. So um, gymnastics was nice, because it had the option to go to morning practice or after school practice. Because my high school didn’t have like, a gym. So we had to go to the nearest high school to practice at their gym. So there’s a lot of different options. So it really worked with my schedule. So it wasn’t every day that I was like, I’m going to practice free will and then work. It was like every other day, and then I worked weekends too. So it was definitely like a hustle. But I was able to like get some reading time between and I did a lot of my homework at school.
Kamila
Oh my gosh, that sounds, the balancing the workload, it’s amazing that you could do that. So any other extracurriculars we should talk about.
Linda
Um, I guess the two that I haven’t explained thoroughly where it was my role in the gymnastics team in student government. So being a captain is pretty self explanatory. Like, I basically like lead fundraising events. And I was like the height person for the team. And since there weren’t very many likes, juniors or seniors, so like, my seniority helped me get elected as captain. And then with student government, I did Student Government, my senior year only because I wanted to take more initiative in my school. I didn’t really have the time before senior year. And student governments also pretty self explanatory planning events, fundraising, student representatives, etc, etc. So they’re pretty generic, like extracurriculars that a lot of students at Pomona do. They were captain of their sports team, and they weren’t part of student government.
Kamila
And let’s go to questbridge, which you said you did. And you began your junior year. So, again, how did you find about find out about questbridge? And can you tell us a little bit about the program because I have interviewed a couple people from questbridge. And they’ve told me a little bit about it, but can you still give us like a little run through of how you found out about it, how it helped you in the college process?
Linda
Yeah, so questbridge My friend connected me to it, and I still feel bad to this day, because I ended up getting in she didn’t, and she was the one who literally told me about it. But um, yeah, so I had no idea what questbridge was. I just figured like, oh, this sounds cool mentorship, college X opportunities. I literally did the application like the night before. And like I remember I was just like, for the essay, I know how to write an essay about like me So I just like was ranting until like I ran out of words, then stopped mid sentence just submitted it because I was like tight on time, I have no idea how I got in with that essay. Oh my god. But um, yeah, so that’s how I found out about it. And questbridge is essentially there’s two programs, the college prep Scholars Program for juniors and there’s the National College match finalist program, which is we’ll talk about that later. But the junior year program like they basically provided you a mentor who was a year older than you who had already gone through the college process to help you guide you like what you should be doing, etc, etc, how you should be preparing. And it also unlocked like a huge network of other like first generation low income students who like knew the same struggles as me. And they were doing the same struggle like, like going to practice school work, like they were literally the same as me. And they just like helped connect me to scholarships, or like, free test prep sites, like even homework help. So I think the the big part that I got from Quest bridge was like the amount of resources, both from the mentors and the other people in my in my cohort.
Kamila
And I have a question about quest bridge there. I know there is an application and I know, it’s like appealing to colleges, which we’ll get to later. But I’ve heard it’s appealing to colleges. How competitive is quest bridge? Like, do you know the acceptance rate for people who apply to get into juniors program?
Linda
Hmm, I don’t really have it in straight off the top of my head, I should have a statistic online somewhere, but I know it is really competitive. And it’s interesting, because a lot of like, like quest, we’re just seeing, like the highest recruiter for first generation low income students to elite colleges with their college partners. But I have a ton of friends who got rejected from Quest bridge, and they go to like quest bridge schools now. So it’s not really like a good determining factor of like, high achieving first generation low income students, but it is like a really good resource.
Kamila
And what does the quest bridge application look like? Is it just like the common app where you fill out extracurriculars? Write an essay transcript.
Linda
Yeah, I can’t remember like the extracurricular part. But it was similar to the common app that you had like two teacher racks. And you had a huge essay and like smaller essay prompts. So yeah, I feel like there was a place to put my extracurriculars because every like application asked you that, but it’s been like three years, so I can’t really remember. But it’s pretty similar to a college application.
Kamila
So with quest bridge, do they ask you like, why we should accept you into our program?
Linda
I’m not necessarily they’re like really. So like a lot of colleges will have really interesting prompts, Pomona has really interesting prompts, like asking their favorite way to eat a potato. So questbridge asked me really random questions like, my favorite books, or something I really can’t remember. But the main essay that says like, the personal statement was like a personal statement. It wasn’t like trying to say this is all I did in high school, you should accept me it was like, What experience do you have? And how, why should questbridge Like, support you? But that wasn’t the question. I think that was the intention of providing us a space to write like a personal statement, but they didn’t like directly ask like, why you? Okay,
Kamila
and what advice would you give for people who are applying to quest bridge.
Linda
Um, like I said, before, quest bridge does not determine that you’re like a high achieving, like marginalized student like, even though quest Bridge is a great opportunity. Like, I, I don’t have a lot of advice on how to apply because the application is like, very similar to college. And like, there’s only so much you can do like, you really need to have a certain score, or like, huge like you if you’ve already mastered like how to tell like your own story through a college app essay, which, like, my junior year is really like unlikely. And I feel like you’re you’re set up for success with quest bridge, but it’s really like, I wouldn’t say it’s a lottery because all the students in concert I’ve met are so hard working and amazing. But like, I know, so many students who didn’t get into quest bridge and still go to amazing schools now. So I, my advice wouldn’t be about like how to apply. It’s just like, if you don’t get in, don’t be discouraged, because it doesn’t determine the outcome of your like, collegiate success at all.
Kamila
And with questbridge So actually, a couple interviews ago, I interviewed someone from Stanford, and she was also questbridge applicant. And she said that questbridge, much like the program that you were in before questbridge provided her opportunities to fly out to colleges and like tour different colleges. And as she said, she was also given a mentor that walked her through it. So what does quit? What did questbridge provide for you specifically?
Linda
Yeah, so I’m not sure so questbridge did have like two conferences at Pomona and at Vanderbilt, but like they I wasn’t like really understanding like how to access it for free. Because a lot of the people I know who went to this conferences, they paid for their own plane tickets or transportation. I know the like Oxbridge offered a few grants for those programs, but I didn’t how to find them. So maybe that’s what she was talking about the Stanford student. Yeah, I agree. So we had those opportunities. There were even like scholarship opportunities like someone won like a MacBook or something. And I like had no idea about it until like I heard that they won. And then the mentor Yeah, I mentioned that too. Yeah. So we got a mentor. But um, yeah, I can’t think of anything else that she missed. That was like the gist of the program, basically.
Kamila
And what does the mentor do? Like, if you have questions about the application? Do they do you just ask it to your mentor?
Linda
Yeah, so junior year, I didn’t utilize my mentor as much he would just like, we had a group chat with like his mentees and him and he, like, dropped like, Oh, here’s a free AC T PDF, like, Oh, here’s like this cool, like scholarship opportunity coming up. Oh, here’s this cool program, like he was more like, as a resource. And it wasn’t until we applied to colleges, where he really was like, super helpful. He edited all my essays. Like, I went to like this fly in particular, he goes to Harvard. So I went to apply and program in Boston, so I got to, like, meet him and he like gave me a tour of Harvard. I think it’s really just the connection part. And like having someone who went through the same process as you and understands how hard it is because they have the same background. I think that’s the main part of like, how the mentor so helpful, they weren’t super like, like one on one because at least for me, my mentor had other mentees he was helping, but he was definitely a really awesome resource.
Kamila
And let’s get to actual college application. Now. How did you decide your college list? You did? So you flew out to a few schools? What were you looking for in a college? What was like your your criteria? Did you want to be in a city in a suburbs rural or rural? Did you want amazing programs and politics are amazing programs in this? So what were you looking for in colleges?
Linda
Yeah, so even though questbridge taught me a lot about like, how to be a competitive college applicant, I had like no idea how to choose a college I didn’t know like that I would need a huge support network. I didn’t know they’re like the bigger small school. So that was definitely a huge struggle for me, and I would not recommend this, but I applied to 39 schools. Yeah, it was really bad, like questbridge makes the college application process a lot more feasible because they’ll like either waive or shorten like various essays or word counts. So for Pomona I did three essays and apparently I didn’t have to do that. So yeah. Um, so it definitely wasn’t as like, horrible as it sounds, but like, I really wasted a lot of time applying for schools that like I never would have been happy at. Like for example, I applied to all the Ivy’s and Harvard was my dream school looking back on it now that I go to a liberal arts college that has like a smaller than my high school people like actually know me and my professors like will actually remember me. Like, I can’t imagine being in an Ivy League because I feel like I would be like first of all, I really love kimonos tight knit environment. There are small Ivy League’s out there, but they’re like Dartmouth in the middle of nowhere. I need to be like Near East. So that’s like, I think an example of how like, I did not know what I needed a school. So I applied literally everywhere. But it worked out. Oh, yeah.
Kamila
It worked. It worked out. worked out very well for you. So okay, 39 schools. What was Pomona? Because I know for questbridge You have to just you know, give a list number one, number two, etc, etc. So where was Pomona on that list?
Linda
Yeah, so, okay. I knew photo was a super hard school to get into and I was not expecting to get in especially because I didn’t get into their flying program. So I did not have high hopes. I was just like, I love Pomona. Like if I get in, that’d be awesome. I’ll just apply real quick renews my essays, you know, like it’ll work out. Like I said, Before, I really wanted to go to an Ivy, I just like really wanted the prestige so bad, like the validation. And with Pomona, like, it’s, it’s funny, because I know, not a lot, but like, there are a lot of important people in my life who went to Pomona. And like I did an internship this winter and one of the staff went to Pomona and it’s like really small world because it was like a random like, US voter internship. So I was like, I’m really realizing how awesome the Pomona alumni network is. And like, how familiar I was with like, Pomona alumni, but I just did not know anything about it. So that’s why Like, it wasn’t super high on my list because I like didn’t know how awesome it was. And like I knew I wanted to go to school in California, especially southern California, but I just like did not do the critical thinking that that comes with like a dream school. Like I was just like, oh, I want to live in California. But somehow I want to go to Harvard. Like, I don’t know what was missing in my process. But yeah, that’s my phone. It wasn’t super high on my list. But I think that’s just because I was scared of rejection and didn’t want to like love it and then get rejected. But when I was when I got into Pomona and then I was waitlisted at Harvard, Harvard was my number one and Pomona was my number two. I already got in so like it was a pretty good number two. So that’s when Pomona became like on my radar when I was like oh I love Mona. I would not complain if I went here. I’ve a
Kamila
question. So I know with questbridge As I said like they make you order it number one number two, and they just send your application out that Way, and here decision back. So let’s say you got accepted into Pomona. Can you choose to like say, oh, I want my number three application, my number four, my number five to go out and then I’ll decide from the choices I have or do you have to go to the first school that accepts you?
Linda
Okay, that’s an amazing clarifying question, because I was not super explicit. So I, so the questbridge, like senior year program, they have a system called the match, which you’re talking about where you rank schools, but you can also apply regular decision non binding to questbridge schools. So I did do the match, I only ranked non binding schools. So in my case, if I got into one of the schools, I wouldn’t be forced to go there. But what you were saying about whether you could pick like a school you rank to lower you can’t do that, even if you are like not if you even if you do match to a non binding school, you can’t like no like that you got into a lower ranked school. They just don’t tell you they only tell you about if you got into your highest school. So I have a friend who matched to Bowdoin College. And then he like checked his Pomona portal he ranked Bowdoin and Pomona but ranked Pomona lower than Bowdoin, which is why he got matched to Bowdoin he like found like a like acceptance letter in his portal that he got into Pomona but he didn’t know until like he’s going to vote in because the match only tells you what school you get into that’s highest on your list. Yeah, so but for me, I applied regular decision, so it didn’t matter. And even if I’m, if I did match if they would have been non binding, so I could have gotten into one of the schools I ranked, and then still chose Pomona because I wasn’t bound to that school in the match.
Kamila
I see interesting there. So you got into Pomona. We didn’t even do your application. My God was before we even go into college. Okay, so what was your application about? So there’s a personal statement, which is the one I like to discuss. And the supplementals we can discuss later. So what did you write for your personal statement? That really well?
Linda
Yeah. So basically, I had practice writing the personal statement, because I did the quest, which application so I like knew how to tell my story. And I knew I wanted to highlight being low income. But part of my struggle with my essay was that it didn’t like have, I guess, like, it was trying to tell like a happy story. Like, oh, like the rose that grew out of the cement, like I wanted to show like, even though I struggle, this and this and this, I like succeeded here. And then I was getting frustrated, because I was like, that’s not truly my story. Like, I’m still living in poverty, like I haven’t overcome my struggle, my struggle is always going to be like a part of me. So with the common app, personal statement, I really, like a lot of people told me that you can’t like be too sad in your essay, if that makes sense. Like you don’t want to like, like make your story super disappointing, because they won’t appease colleges, yada yada yada. Like it was always about what the college wanted, not what I wanted. And like I literally had an identity crisis, because for like, part like, I started my application super early in August, my like November, December, the deadlines were coming up. And I was like, so unhappy with my statement, because I was trying to do that, like, write what I thought colleges wanted. So I was like, Hi, I’m poor, but like, I did all of this in high school. And now I want to be a politician and like, change the system that wronged me. And I was like, this is like, not me at all. So by the time I wrote my actual personal statement, I was like, I was writing about like, really like, descriptive detail. Like, first of all, I didn’t like grow up sleeping in a bed. So my whole essay was based around the fact that I didn’t have a bed and the bed symbolizes like success. And then the end of the essay was like, even like, I’m learning that the bed doesn’t have I don’t I don’t need a bed to be successful, yada, yada, yada. super corny, but colleges loved it. So it worked. But um, that was like very long winded, I guess, like the point of me saying all that was like, I was told not to be super voting. I mean, I was hoping to be vulnerable, but I wasn’t told to be like, my true vulnerable story. Like people were like, water it down. Like, don’t be too sad. But eventually, I listened to myself. And I was like, this is like, who I am. And like, this is what I want to write about, and what I want colleges to know about me that I did not have a bag growing up that like, I really hated where I lived, and like it was really really sucky. Like I did not have a great childhood. But it worked out in the end that I wrote all that and I this is not really to me, but like I know someone who had to write about like, being in the foster care system, and they were the person who told me that they weren’t supposed to write about the foster care system like in the really like sad, melancholy light that they used because like, colleges wouldn’t like it, but it was so sad. So that’s who that’s who I like tried to listen to the beginning, but I decided not Listen to them. And it worked out perfectly for you.
Kamila
And I mean, common up out of the way. Let’s go to supplementals, you said Pomona has some really interesting supplemental essays. Can you tell us about those?
Linda
Yeah. So oh my gosh, even though it wasn’t like it wasn’t required for me to write like, supplemental essays for Pomona because questbridge waive them. I still did. And I remember two of them was like, Oh, you’re having like, a late night conversation with someone at 1am? What are you talking about? And like, and I talked about it, the point was like to talk about something you’re really passionate about, but I talked about, like, addressing normalized racism. And then the second one was, like, tell us about like, a hidden talent you have. And I literally talked about, like doing the work at like some camp. So they’re super like unique essays, whereas a lot of the schools I applied to were like, how would you utilize browns, open curriculum, stuff like that? We want to have really unique essays that I think really helped my personality shine, like, show who I was beyond being a college applicant with various statistics.
Kamila
Okay, so I have one question with the 39 schools you apply to how many supplementals did you write?
Linda
Oh, gosh, I so Oh, my gosh, I put all my supplementals in a single Google document. So it was like, Okay, I don’t know how many pages but the only schools that had like a huge blonde, settle vitals was like Stanford and Columbia. But the rest of them only had like two or three questions. And a lot of them were like the same question. So what I did was, I would like choose three things that like I wanted to be a part of on college campuses. And then I like switched it out with each school, that is really, really bad, because you’re supposed to show that like, you really want to go to the school. And it’s unique. It’s not like other schools, you can’t just swap out various names of clubs and still have the same essay, like it’s supposed to be different every time. So that’s how I applied to 39 schools. That’s exactly why you shouldn’t do that. Because that makes your essays less personal. And like, it makes them more generic because you’re just swapping out words. And using the same outline when you’re not supposed to do that you’re supposed to, like unique every time. So that’s why was feasible because I really only wrote like 10 essays and then rewarded them for each school. But I would recommend applying to only like eight to 15 and then that way you can make all of your essays way more personal and unique for each school.
Kamila
Well, I mean, it worked out for you you got into Pomona How was your reaction when you got in?
Linda
Oh my god, cuz I was not expecting to get in. And like, by the end of like that week, I had gotten like so many waitlist and I was like, oh my god, like I honestly just rejected me like, I don’t want to waitlist for the phone. I got it. And I was like freaking out. I was trying to do like a college reaction video but like, I was so bad remembering record myself, so I didn’t record myself. But like, oh my gosh, I was like screaming and like, I like texted one of like my mentors who went there and like he called me and like we were screaming, it was so cute, like, because I wasn’t expecting it at all. And like, I didn’t even think about like cologne as an option for me. So it was like very emotional and like very rewarding. Like I felt like all my hard work paid off.
Kamila
So now this is the time where we go on to college experience which years is kind of messy, you know, messed up because it is freshman year but COVID so we can talk a little bit about Pomona and how it has been so far. So you got into Pomona you’re going to Pomona was it hard to leave behind you were in Washington ponemos in California, was it hard to leave behind your family or community?
Linda
Yeah, so I think you can relate as like a child of immigrants, but like, immigrant children aren’t supposed to leave. They’re supposed to like be the backbone of their family and like support their parents. So immigrant guilt, like leaving and going to college is definitely a huge reoccurring theme for like children of immigrants. So I felt super guilty, especially because I have a younger brother. So I was like, oh my god, I’m leaving my brother. It was really emotional. But I got a lot of advice from like Western people. And they were like, Girl you need to do you like California isn’t even that far. Like I’ve driven from Seattle to California, like two times now. It’s like a two day thing. But it’s like so feasible. Yeah, like, plus, if something did happen, where I have to go home Pomona would support me, they would like if I asked like them to give me money to fly home they would. Um, so like leaving was hard, but it wasn’t like a factor that made me think like, oh, I can’t go to Pomona it’s too far like I was willing to go to the East Coast across the country. So I definitely kept with the fact that I was leaving but yeah, leaving was really hard for sure.
Kamila
And let’s go into a little bit about Pomona as a college so tell me Pomona as a college, it’s a liberal arts you know, we all know that. But can you give us a little bit of like a do they call it? A just like an overview yeah like an overview of Pomona and tell us about Claremont. So that’s where Pomona is located. Tell us about Claremont itself, is it you know, city suburb rural? What does it offer and then Pomona College as well.
Linda
Okay, so I’m going to use the University of Southern California as like, I guess to help contrast Botha. So I knew I wanted to go to California. I knew I wanted to go to Southern California, I knew I wanted to go to a top school. So the two schools that I got into that fit that were the University of Southern California and Pomona. So they’re very, very different because USC is huge and it’s really adamant about sports and parties and social life and who want to have a social life in sports too. But definitely way less pipe. Okay, if so, like you said, Pomona liberal arts college it’s been Claremont road is very small. It’s about like 1500 to 1600 students. And USC is huge. So I was like, okay, like huge school with a huge social scene, or smaller worlds call it edge. I like I’m an extrovert. So I was like, oh, I want a big school. I don’t want to like know everybody on campus. But the thing about Pomona is that someone is a part of a consortium which is made out of Pomona, Scripps College, Pitzer College, Harvey Mudd College and currently kind of college, all super awesome top liberal arts schools like Pomona.
Kamila
What does that mean, though, when there was the word consortium,
Linda
the consortium is basically just like a group of colleges that you can take courses like as other schools without being at that school. So I know, Amherst College is a part of a consortium. I’m sure there’s other consortiums out there too. But I’m more it’s nice, because like the the different colleges in the consortium basically share the same campus. So like, for example, I can take classes at any of the other schools and like Veltman person, I could literally just walk across the campuses and go to that class. So Pomona seems really small, because like, itself, it has 1600 Students with the entire Consortium, which basically feels like a single campus because you can take classes at other schools, and like be a part of the other schools like social scenes and like clubs, like it’s like 8000 students and totals. Still pretty small, not as big as USC, but I was like, okay, like, that’s enough students. For me, I won’t know everyone on that 8000 student campus like, that’s fine. So small school, small school means more access to professors, like the biggest class I’ve been in was a clinic at Pitzer which was like 50 students, but they were three professors. And like we had like workshops so like you would talk to each professor in like a five to eight group cohort, so super small. And then for the rest of my classes at Pomona, like they the average class size is like eight students to one professor so it’s a super great opportunity to be like very connected to your professor and to your peers at USC I would be in a lecture hall with like 100 Students with Professor does not know my name and like those grade my tests keep moving. I did not want that I wanted like a professor to hold my hand is like give me like very face to face advice and like hit me up after I left their class you’re like how are you doing? Professors are promoted like to take them out to lunch and like, invite them over to their house like super super like tight knit and personal. So I knew I wanted that. I think those are the two things I want to highlight like the small class size and like the really tight knit community community because USC does not have that to the full extent that Pomona does even though I don’t go to USC so I’m sure there are like opportunities to get cultivated professors and like like I guess like find your place where like you have a community there. But at Pomona I found it super easy to do those things Pomona so small.
Kamila
And with Pomona itself so many colleges, let’s say you have like a university and within the university majors are grouped together into colleges like there is the college for engineering college for arts and sciences and such I think those are two very common ones in Pomona College, since the student body is super small. Do they still do that, like group you into different colleges?
Linda
No, they don’t, which is awesome. So at Pomona, you can’t even declare your major until your sophomore year. So for me, I’m like very sure I want to go into politics. However, I’m not allowed to declare until next year, which is awesome, because that gives me the opportunity to take random classes that I’ve never taken before. So I can explore my interests and be like, Oh, maybe I don’t want politics. Maybe I’ll like go into this different subject. So yeah, we don’t have like, restricted colleges for each subject. As liberal arts college, they want you to take different classes. So no matter how invested you are in a certain subject, they make it a requirement for you to take classes in different in different topics. So So yeah, that’s like one of the huge perks of Pomona and liberal arts colleges in general you have a lot more room to explore. So if you have like an identity crisis and want to change, you totally can
Kamila
and with this construction Is there like a limit to how many classes you can have? In the other liberal arts colleges? Do you need to have, I don’t know, 80% of your classes at least Dona Pomona and the other 20, you can do other like in the other four colleges. So how does it work out? Is there a limit?
Linda
Yeah, so initially, I thought that you had to take at least three classes at Pomona. And then your fourth one could be at the other schools, you can do that every semester. But then another student was telling me that they they took like more than, than one class at a different school. So I’m not sure if that’s like a different case on their part. But at least to my understanding, you have to take at least three classes at Pomona to be like a full time student there. And then for your fourth class, or fifth, some people take like five or six classes, you’re supposed to take four, they take those other schools. So I’m pretty sure there is the limit, because that makes sense. And that’s what I’ve heard. But I’ve been hearing different things. It’s really hard to get information when I’m like online, but I think you have to take at least three classes that Pomona
Kamila
and then can you tell us about Claremont itself? Okay, I’m not familiar with I’m from the East Coast. I don’t know anything about the west coast. So can you tell us about Claremont? Is it? You know, big is it has just is it a city like setting? Is it a suburb? What is what does it look like? And what does it offer?
Linda
Yeah, I lived outside of Claremont last semester, and I’m still pretty close by like an hour away now. So I’ve been to Claremont and Claremont is super cute. It’s like, it’s like a, like a suburb. Yep, small suburb, there’s like, three residential, it’s gorgeous. And the main place that people go to is the village. Okay, my village. It’s like a bunch of various shops and places to eat. And it’s super cute. But for me, I grew up in Seattle, I’m a city kid, like criminals really cute, but like I don’t want to spend every weekend at the same village with the same stores I’ve already been to. So Claremont is like an hour ish drive from LA. So a lot of students can like take the train and like go to LA whenever they want. A lot of students make the joke that they go to like the end of Pomona they’re excited about going to LA every weekend and they dope because they’re so busy with school and stuff. But um, it’s there if you want and like a lot of students will go to like the beach. So even though Clermont like very small, very cute, like quaint, they’re still like access to like, LA, which is like giant and like the epitome of a city. So it’s like nice to have a balance between the two.
Kamila
Huh? Yeah, I mean, I get you. I don’t live in the city, but I like the city much more than the suburbs. You run out of things to do, you know, is the
Linda
same thing over and over.
Kamila
He gets the same restaurant, same activity. It gets so boring. So boring. Exactly. Okay, so do you want to do want to tell us a little bit about I know it’s really different for you, but you want to tell us a little bit about your experience coming into Pomona?
Linda
Yeah. So when I got into Pomona, like we were into quarantines, so, we were worried that we wouldn’t get on campus, but we were like, there’s no way we could like the Warburg gonna be on campus. Like how did that happen? That did. But um, Mona, I think since it’s so small, it has more breath to like, access its students even like during a remote like school environment. So like, I’ve been able to already be a part of so many different communities on campus, even though I’m not on campus. And like, everyone at the consortium is okay, not everyone always was a huge generalization. But the majority of the people I’ve met at the consortium are super outgoing, super excited, get to know one another. Like when I log into, like, all my schools, Pomona was the only one that was like setting up group chats, like because it’s so small. So the group chats only like 50 people versus like, like other schools, like if you only make a group chat for like, a certain amount of people because it’s so big. And then already people were like setting up zoom calls and stuff where we can meet each other. And it was like, not organized by the school, it was organized with the students, because the students wanted to get to know one another. And like, they took that initiative on their own. So when I committed it, it just like escalated where we were doing zoom calls, like every like weekend, and it was like a theme throughout the summer. So that’s not related to like the school because students are the ones who like took that initiative on their own, but like no part of the college experience your head, it’s still like the the culture is like that. So I bet like on campus, it’s even more outgoing, like even more like connected and like it was really awesome to see that everyone has a desire especially like when zoom fatigue is so real. But that really showed me how like the Pomona community was able to I guess is so corny but like reach past like physical and like be able to connect online and have it still be as genuine and like awesome as it would be in person.
Kamila
And so how did it go? Did were you able to like choose which classes you wanted to do. Pomona runs on a semester system, right? Hmm. Okay, so were you able to like choose which classes you wanted to do and then, you know, were you super excited for your first day of school? How did that go?
Linda
Yeah, so So, um, so basically Pomona they’ll have to, like open up your registration period in slots. So like some students will get like the first slot and they can like have first dibs on classes with classes fill up. And then some students get like the worst loss later in the, in the registration period. So a lot of the classes they already want are full. That happened to me my first semester, I Yeah, and I like did not understand like how to drop a class like I understand, like, what was going on. So I literally just like tried to find classes I was interested in and then just went into those. It worked out like, by like, all the classes was fine. But then second semester, I got a way better slot. So I was able to pick classes that actually correspond to my major, because like I wanted to take into the punks classes last semester, but they were all filled up by the time I was eligible to register. So in that sense, it’s like you can’t exactly like pick everything you want, because everyone has like, a different slot when they when they can register. And then upperclassmen have seniority. So they have first dibs on classes. But like, once you get higher in the food chain, like you’ll be have more say classes you want to take and such, especially when you major when you either
Kamila
I have seen the intensity of registering for classes, like I don’t know if this is everybody, but I remember I was watching this one YouTuber. And she goes to note University of Notre Dame. And what she would do, she would write down the code for each class. She wanted to take out what type? Yeah, and she was like typing and she timed it or something. And she registered for all her classes under a minute. Is it that intense? Like registering for classes, she like copy and pasted the code and just like quickly registered,
Linda
and yeah, I don’t. I feel like since Notre Dame is way bigger than Pomona, it’s less intense here. But um, and also I’m not sure if Notre Dame has like designated slots like it sounds like they just open and I think that’s what it may be so hectic. Oh my god. Yeah, we had that’s why we have designated slot. So like, sure I got a pretty crappy slot last semester. But then this semester, I got like, first dibs. So like switch it off. So students can like at least one semester in the year have like, like a, like the first chance to pick classes. So I definitely think it’s not as intense as that I haven’t heard of anyone having to like prepare beforehand. Like, I know, like students will like pick their classes before like pick like, which ones they might want to take. I didn’t do that which was on me first semester. But um, no, I don’t think it’s as intense as that.
Kamila
So let’s, I want to ask you one more question before we wrap up here. So who would you recommend Pomona? Oh, actually no. Before before even that. So one thing about this consortium thing you’re talking about? Are the canvases of course they’re going to be separate. Like you can’t really have overlapping canvases. But are they really right next to each other? Like, you know, Pomona is here. Harvey Mudd there Claremont McKenna is there is it just like, I don’t know, in like a circle or like a rectangle shape?
Linda
Yeah, it’s literally like a huge it’s like, just like a lopsided rectangle. But all the canvases are like literally like the same. So like, if you didn’t go to each like, like, for example, I got to walk through campus like or like, I think last month, and I like didn’t even recognize when I had crossed campuses because it’s literally the same campus, which is why like this, the different schools are so tight knit with one another because first of all, they’re like all small school. So you need to find new people. So you need to go to their schools, but also like, they’re literally right next to each other. And you literally like it’s so common, take classes at other schools or like also like Pomona and Pitzer or the same sports team, and then kind of McKenna Harvey Mudd and Scripps have the same sports team. So there’s just so much like, connectivity between school and so many different ways. So So yeah, it is super like tight knit and it is like the same exact campus
Kamila
and then is Pomona College known for any specific programs. Harvey Mudd, for example, is a school for engineering and STEM is Pomona College known for any specific program.
Linda
Um, I guess I would say like, like, like you said, with Harvey Mudd. Also, McKenna College is really well known for its like economics and government department. At least, like for me, I don’t think Pomona is super like accredited for a certain subject, because the point of Pomona is that you can explore so many different subjects, like people will like, like, um, like, they’ll be pre med, but they’ll major in like art history or something. And I always you can do that at any school, because medical schools don’t need you to major in something. But Pomona really stresses like, they want you to be like doing two disciplines at once or even more, because they want you to have that, like, very diverse perspective with different subjects applied, is interdisciplinary. So maybe poena has pretty well known for something I don’t really know. But like definitely not to the same degree as Harvey Mudd. Like you said, we’ll call McKenna with their government, you can win classes. I think all of our departments are very, very strong. And I’m not sure if there’s one we’re particularly well known for.
Kamila
And that’s a kind of good transition to our next topic. Who would you recommend Pomona College for like, what? For students What do you think are the requirements that meet like what requirements do Pomona College meet for student what kind of student would you recommend Pomona College for?
Linda
Right Okay, so I’ll start off with saying that a lot of people dismiss Pomona because it’s not super well known. A lot of people will tell them where I go the have no idea where it is or like some people even think Pomona is a community college. So there is a lack of name recognition that a lot of people including myself are very hesitant to. Like I said before, I was like very IV oriented so I was concerned that people would not know about Pomona or like or not people could obviously come on it’s not as well known because it’s small but like I was concerned with employers and people in academia not recognizing promoter that’s not the case at all Pomona is a super awesome school it’s like the top liberal arts school in the nation like everyone knows what it is in like the employer academia side of it exactly. Yeah, I don’t want to say like elitist but it is kind of elitist. Oh god, I like forgot, oh, the person that I would recommend. Okay. So a lot of students get into IVs like, I have a ton of friends who got into the IVs. But they were like, No, I don’t want to go to an Ivy League because I don’t want like I want to tighten environment like I want to be connected to a city. I want to be in SoCal. I just like kimono has resources that like brown Dartmouth, like Cornell can’t offer me. So I would recommend a student who is like, very driven, they don’t have to have like the highest LSAT score or the highest GPA, but they need to be very dedicated to a certain subject or, in this case, multiple subjects because Pomona really want their students to be to have multiple, I guess like passions and different things. Promoted students really like have to be curious about different subjects, they need to have that drive to want to learn more versus like some Harvard student who knows they want to go to econ so they can make it to Wall Street who doesn’t want that Pomona wants a student who wants to explore it and take advantage of the liberal arts curriculum and the consortium to be able to take classes at other schools. I would say that Pomona students are pretty similar in that they’re like all very like driven to not just the subject that they’re inclined towards, but driven to learn more, but it’s kind of what I was already saying. So I’m kind of repeating myself. But yeah, I would say like the liberal arts college like vibe is pretty similar at other top liberal arts colleges, especially because the east coast where you’re from liberal arts colleges like Amherst Swarthmore Bowdoin, like they have the same like tight knit, like classes and like environment as Pomona. But Pomona has a consortium that’s literally on the same campus. And it’s like Sunny, SoCal.
Linda
So I would say is very, very important.
Linda
It is dude,
Kamila
oh my gosh, one thing that East Coast can never give just a nice, nice weather.
Linda
I love the self awareness. So many people try to argue that the East Coast is better, but West Coast best coast. So hopefully that that was like very vague, because I want to highlight like colleges aren’t looking for a certain type of applicant, like the point of being holistic is that they’re wanting to build a student body that can support one another. So they want students who are very, very different. But I think that those common themes, students who are passionate about multiple things, and students who want to utilize the liberal arts curriculum, and they want a different environment than like an Ivy League environment, while there’s still some there’s still up to par with those students would fit in at Pomona.
Kamila
So Linda, we’re coming to an end here. And there’s one thing I do with everybody, which is advice. So two pieces of advice, one for high schoolers. This can be literally about anything, college app related, you know, specific to GPA, LSAT, or just general life advice for high schoolers. And then second for colleges. I know you haven’t been through that much of college and it’s very different for you. But with what you have experienced so far, what advice would you give for college students who are like you, maybe they’re freshmen, or they’re just coming in? So advice would you give and since you are first generation low income, maybe you can do something for the that group of students as well.
Linda
Yeah, okay. So for high schoolers, I would a lot of like students who are like class of 2021, who are getting like their college decisions. Now they’ve been coming to me saying like, Oh, I didn’t get into the school, yada, yada, I’m really stressed. And I want to emphasize that like, it all works out. Like I was very, very, very set on Harvard. And when I got waitlisted, I assumed that Oh, like it’ll work out like I didn’t get rejected, and then I got rejected later in the summer. And I was like, pretty devastated. Pomona is the best fit for me and I’m really happy that I did get rejected from Harvard because I feel like if I got in I would have chosen it and I would have been unhappy. So it will work out and even if you end up going to school that you’re not super that you don’t see yourself going to it doesn’t end up working for you. You can always transfer so college decisions are not fun. You can always like dictate your own future and your own path. Like no matter where the application process takes you, for college students, I would definitely like, I especially because like we’re remote, it’s really up to you to take initiative and find your community. At smaller schools, it’s easier to do that, because everyone is like reaching out to you and like ready to hold your hand and guide you through to go to a bigger institution, it’s way easier to get lost in the crowd. And it’s really intimidating to like go find your own resources, especially like, since the high school to college tradition is very new, and like super duper jarring for a lot of students. So I definitely want to emphasize to take your own initiative to find your community in order to make the most of your time at that institution and ensure that you’re supported. And you’re not alone. Because oh my gosh, college student mental health is such a problem. And if you like can’t find your network and your support system, like you will drown and then you will like struggle. So it’s really important to establish that first generation low income students, I just like send my full like support because it is so so hard, and like the system really is not cut out for us. And so many first generation low income students like have such a rough time at their schools, because like, everyone in their class literally is like filthy rich, and like, all their parents work on Wall Street. And like it’s such a jarring divide. But it’s important to like, overcome or overcome, because it’s like something we have to deal with throughout our entire lives. But it’s important to like, recognize that you’re not alone. And there are other first generation students who’ve done it before you and who are doing it alongside you. And no matter how hard it gets, you’re always gonna have like that affinity group to fall back on. And to, like the quest bridge network, the quest bridge network has supported me throughout like my first year over zoom, even though like my peers don’t go to the same institution as me, but like we are united by that, that same struggle and that same identity. So we’re always here to like, I guess support one another and uplift one another. And I guess validate that, that each of us are not alone in that struggle. Being a first generation low income student at a predominately white institution, or probably upper class institution. We’re all in the same boat. And I guess like that kind of helps us keep going to know that we’re not alone. I hope that makes
Kamila
sense. Me. Yeah, that makes total sense. Those great advice there. So thank you very much for coming. You’re in California, so have a good rest of your day.
Linda
You too. It’s so nice to meet you and let me know if you need anything else.
Kamila
Thank you. Thank you very much. Bye bye. That’s it for my episode with Lynda. I hope you enjoyed and I hope you subscribe. Also make sure to check out me on Instagram at underscore a college kid underscore my blog is gonna undergo a new name a couple of weeks and that new name is going to be college reality check comm so make sure to check out that site as well. But other than that, I hope to see you next week.