Pomona College
- Diversity

Very Accepting and Getting Diverse Over Time, but Still Needs Work

I'm a Questbridge Finalist which is aimed at low income students, and I've met Posse scholars which works the same way. I've never felt so accepted and loved. Pomona is ethnically very diverse with more than 45% students of color, and the students are all individual yet very talented. They make the campus what it is. The campus does seem to be pretty homogeneous politically and cliques just seem to happen, though they aren't walled to be broken. In recent years this has been disappearing so Pomona's getting better at it.

Diversity

30% of students are from CA, while 62% of students are from other states and 8% of students are international. We are split 50/50 men vs. women. Racially, we are an unfortunate 43% white, 13% Asian, 12% hispanic, 10% black, and <1% Native American (the rest of people annoyingly declined to state).

We have many mentor programs for "minorities," including AAMP (Asian American Mentor Program), one for Latin Americans, one for African American, ISMP (International Student Mentor Program), and QQAMP (Queer, Questioning, and Allied Mentor Program). However, I feel that these further create divides between students by categorizing them by ethnicity. I am white, but in high school the majority of people I knew and were friends with were Asian or foreign-born Eastern European. At Pomona, unfortunately, I have noticed that "minorities" tend to hang out only with members of the same ethnicity, which I feel is a result of the mentor programs. In addition to the mentor programs, we also have many student organizations for races, religions, and political leanings. Some examples include but are not limited to many locations of Bible Study, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Jewish Student Union (JSU), similar organization for Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Atheists, Pan-Afican Student Association (PASA), Black Student Union (BSU), Black and Christian, several Latin American organizations, Democrats of the Claremont Colleges (Our student population is mostly made up of Democrats), and Republicans of the Claremont Colleges.

I do not think anyone even notices people's economic background because of our wonderful financial aid program, but I have seen no discrimination on account of this.

Our campus is ranked thirteenth most LGBTQ-friendly in the nation, partially because of our awesome Queer Resource Center (QRC). We have many out LGBTQ students and faculty members and some transgenders, as well.

It Is What You Make It

It really depends on where you come from. My hometown is way more diverse than Pomona, but for many people it is the most diverse place they've ever seen. If you want a diverse group of friends it's not too difficult. There are plenty of student groups and cultural activities, so it's really what you make it.

In terms of socioeconomic diversity, it's mostly really rich people (some of whom will claim to be middle class), really poor people, and a few actual middle class.

Most people here aren't religious, I'd say, but there are services and ceremonies offered for every religion if desired.