When you think of “small liberal arts college,” you might have the stereotypical image of a New England campus in your head: Gothic buildings, fall foliage, that first snow. Pomona College blows the lid off of all that. It’s a top-notch liberal arts college in Southern California where, while taking a break from studying for finals, instead of shivering in a cumbersome puffer jacket as the sun sets at 3PM, students can take a refreshing dip in the on-campus outdoor pool and say hi to some of the little lizards who share the grounds with students and faculty. 

Pomona College, like its East Coast analogs, is extremely selective. You’re probably wondering if your kid has a shot at being part of the roughly 7% of applicants who make it in. You’ve come to the right place, dear reader. We at Ivy Coach are the college admissions experts, and we’re going to help you answer that question from every possible angle. 

About Pomona College

Pomona is located in Claremont, California, and is part of the Seven College Consortium.  The 7 Cs consist of five undergraduate schools (Pitzer College, Pomona College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Scripps College) and two graduate schools (Claremont Graduate University and the Keck Graduate Institute). The seven different schools share an adjoining campus layout. Students at Pomona get to cross-register with all these other schools, which means they can take a world-class engineering course at Harvey Mudd or learn a bit about feminist theory at the all-women’s Scripps. 

What’s nice about this deal is that, while students at Pomona have access to a wide range of courses that rival a large university’s catalog, they still get to enjoy the perks of a small liberal arts college. There are only about 1,700 undergrads at Pomona, and campus pride abounds among the California-Spanish influenced buildings. The Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College is one of the best college art museums in the U.S., and the decadent Bridges Hall of Music hosts over 45 concerts a year (that’s almost one a week!) encompassing classical, jazz, folk, Western, and non-Western music. And if your kid is more about the outdoors, Pomona has its own organic farm and sits directly below the San Gabriel Mountains. 

It’s no wonder, then, that so many high school students have their hopes set on Pomona College. But how do Pomona admissions officers separate the wheat from the chaff? Without further ado, let’s dive in. 

Pomona College Admissions Requirements

Hopefully, it won’t come as a surprise to you when we say that there’s no formula for getting into Pomona (or to any college, for that matter). Even though GPA, test scores, and extracurricular achievements are chief among the factors Pomona admissions officers consider, they evaluate each student in his or her own specific context. Still, let’s look at these three chief factors more closely to glean a picture of what unites admits to Pomona.

What Kind of GPA Is Necessary To Get Into Pomona College?

At Ivy Coach, we’ll always say the higher the better for any numerical statistics in the admissions process, but unfortunately, Pomona does not publish the GPA ranges of their enrolled students. The next best thing we can do is check out the percent breakdown of enrolled students who were in the top percent of their graduating class. We also want to note that not every student who enrolled submitted their class rank; in fact, these numbers only represent 29.4% of the Class of 2028 (the most recently available data we have). However, we make do with what we have: 

Score Range	Percentage of Pomona College Class of 2028 (All Enrolled Students)
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class	90.3%
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class	99.2%
Percent in top half of high school graduating class	100.0%
Percent in bottom half of high school graduating class	0.0%
Percent in bottom quarter of high school graduating class	0.0%

Based on the class rank of enrolled students who reported that stat, we will note that a whopping 100% of enrolled students were at the very least in the top half of their graduating classes. With that in mind, we would certainly recommend also being in at least the top 50% of your graduating class if you’re planning on sending an application to Pomona. 

What Kind of SAT or ACT Scores Are Needed To Get Into Pomona? 

The average SAT score for the Pomona Class of 2028 was 1530, and the average ACT score was 34. Though Pomona is test-optional, 60% of applicants that year submitted test scores. Pomona doesn’t release the percentage of admitted applicants who submitted test scores, but we’d wager that it was much higher than 60%. Why? Because not submitting test scores can only ever hurt an applicant’s chances, even to supposedly test-optional schools. 

What Classes Do Students Need to Take to Get Into Pomona College?

Pomona does not explicitly state any minimum high school course preparation for applicants. However, we at Ivy Coach know that colleges want to see students excelling in each core subject (English, history, math, science, and foreign language) all four years of high school. Additionally, they expect students to take advantage of any AP or other advanced courses on offer to them. 

What Kinds of Extracurriculars Does Pomona College Like To See?

Imagine you’ve been gifted a private plane. Now, beyond all the excitement of that, you have to hire a pilot to fly the darn thing. While you’re looking for pilots in your area, you’re presented with two options. Pilot Dan has flown every single type of plane, but he’s flown each one only one time. Pilot Stan hasn’t flown as many types of planes as Dan, but he’s flown the type of plane you’ve been gifted every single day for the past 20 years. Are you picking Dan or Stan? 

We’re going to assume you want to land safely at your destination and picked Pilot Stan. Pomona College is presented with Pilot Dan applicants (so-called “well-rounded” students) and Pilot Stan applicants (students who have areas of expertise and excellence). They always pick the Stans. Why? Because they want students who come onto campus certain which resources they’re going to take advantage of. These students graduate as the kind of adults who are going to boost Pomona’s reputation on the world stage. 

Pomona College Application Requirements

Pomona College accepts the Common App and Coalition App. They ask for one letter of recommendation from a counselor and two from teachers. They ask for two different supplemental essays, and give options for which prompts to respond to. 

Who Should Students Ask For Letters of Recommendation For Pomona College? 

Pomona applicants should ask two junior year teachers in core subjects with whom they’ve had a good relationship and in whose classes they excelled. In addition, at least one of the recommender’s subject areas should fold in neatly with the rest of the student’s application: if an applicant wants to be Pomona’s next great anthropologist, they should probably ask their history and social studies teachers. 

Does Pomona College Require an Interview? 

You can cross this off your list: they don’t even offer one. 

What Are Pomona College’s Application Deadlines? 

Early Decision I applications to Pomona are due November 15th. Regular Decision and Early Decision II applications are due January 15th.  

How Ivy Coach Helps Students Get Into Pomona College

If you’re interested in discerning if your child has a shot of getting into Pomona College, we recommend setting up Ivy Coach’s Strategy Session. Not only will you find out if your child has a chance of getting into Pomona College, but you’ll receive a game plan of how your child can optimize their admission to the best school possible.