Pomona College is a small, highly selective liberal arts college nestled in Claremont, California. Pomona is the founding member of the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five undergrad colleges (Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, Scripps, and Harvey Mudd) that share resources, cross-registration, and community. It’s a true, super interdisciplinary, liberal arts college, and it’s definitely going to appeal to students who love learning for learning’s sake.
With an overall admit rate hovering around 7%, Pomona is incredibly competitive. The combined ED acceptance rate is around 13% – not a huge jump in your odds, but that little boost can seriously help. Pomona, like most selective colleges, cares a lot about their yield rate, or the number of students who enroll if accepted. This is where ED and ED2 come in handy. Though it doesn’t guarantee your admission, applying ED2 shows them you’re serious.
Why You Should Apply ED2
The idea of locking into another binding decision might feel risky, especially if you’re coming off a deferral or still holding out hope for a Regular Decision admit somewhere else. That hesitation is completely understandable. But if we’re just looking at it from purely a strategy perspective, not applying ED2 could put you at a disadvantage.
Colleges pay close attention to their enrollment numbers. When you apply through Early Decision (whether round one or round two), you’re telling the school: “You’re my first choice.” Pomona takes that signal seriously. They want students who want them, too!
If your current list leans too heavily toward long-shot schools and you’re looking for a tactical move with real impact, Pomona ED2 might be a smart move, depending on your academic profile. Now, let’s get into how to write the Pomona supplements to set you up for success.
If you’re dealing with a deferral or rejection from your Early Decision school, we can help. Whether you need a deferral letter, a college list for Regular Decision, polishing your Common App essay, an Early Decision 2 application, or even a complete rehaul for this next round, we have you covered. Reach out to us ASAP. Everything will be okay.
The Supplement
Pomona has two questions: one short academic one, and one longer essay with three options.
What draws you to the subject(s) you selected as potential major(s)? If Undecided, share more about one of your academic passions or interests. (150 words or fewer)
First things first – you are not undecided.
Sure, you might still be figuring out the exact direction you want to go in academically, but for the sake of this application (and all of your applications), you’ve got to present a clear and confident case for a path you’re excited about. Also, picking a major here doesn’t lock you in forever. No one’s going to chase you down sophomore year and yell “YOU SAID YOU WOULD MAJOR IN BIO, WHY ARE YOU NOW STUDYING CHEMISTRY?!?!” at you across the quad. What matters now is that you choose an area of interest that aligns with your current passions and experiences, and then make a compelling argument for why it fits.
Start by zooming in on a specific moment — a time when this subject sparked your curiosity or made you want to learn more. Think of it as your origin story, but you need to keep this brief. With only 150 words, you need to get right to the point. From there, shift to talking about why Pomona is the place to pursue this interest. We recommend mentioning at least one class, a professor, and one other extracurricular academic opportunity that feels like a perfect match. Show them you’ve done your research and that your enthusiasm is tied directly to what they can offer you.
Pomona is home to a diverse community of faculty, staff and students who, through close ties and collaboration, enable each other to identify and explore their greatest passions. Considering this, respond to one of the following in up to 250 words.
Option 1: Reflecting on a community that you are a part of, what values or perspectives from that community would you bring to Pomona?
This is a good one if you’ve consistently invested time in a meaningful group or activity outside of the classroom. That might mean your cultural or religious community, a long-standing volunteer group, or a hobby you share with others. You can also think creatively when it comes to what “community” actually is – it doesn’t need to be some formal group or club, it can be something more nebulous like your family, your neighbors, the people on your commute, etc.
Whatever direction you go, it’s crucial that the focus be on shared experience – this shouldn’t be about something you do entirely alone. The bulk of your response should center around connection. Start us off by taking us into the moment, whether that’s a shared tradition, a late-night shift with coworkers, a weekly meetup at the local skatepark, or the pre-game ritual with your debate team. From there, zoom out: where is this happening, who’s involved, and what does this community mean to you?
Then, you want to reflect on how this experience has helped shape who you are. What have you learned from being part of something bigger than yourself, and what values or perspectives has it given you that show up in other parts of your life.
Finally, bring it back to Pomona. Be clear about how this community experience will influence how you’ll show up in college – in the residence halls, classrooms, clubs, or co-ops. It should also make sense with what you’ve already spent time doing; don’t name-drop specific clubs or organizations if they don’t match with what you’re writing about or what you’ve done in high school.
Option 2: Describe an experience you had outside the classroom that changed the way you think or how you engage with your peers. What was that experience and what did you learn from it?
This question works well for just about everyone, because we all do something beyond the classroom. That “something” might still be connected to your academic interests, and that’s okay, but we encourage you to find something a little deeper if possible. However, what matters most is that you choose an experience where teamwork and collaboration played a central role. This isn’t the place to spotlight a solo pursuit or individual win.
You should be answering this in story form. Show us what happened, who was involved, and how it unfolded. The lessons you took away should come through naturally in the telling – there’s no need to spell everything out, let the subtext work. Paint the picture, then let the reader connect the dots.
Keep your summary conclusion short and thoughtful. A nice trick is to circle back to the original moment or image from your opening, reinforcing the theme you’ve been building, instead of just saying “I learned XYZ.”
Option 3: Choose any person or group of people in your life and share how they would describe you.
This is not our top pick among Pomona’s supplement options. In fact, we really think you should write Option 1 or 2. But if you’re just totally dead set on Option 3, you’ll need to get creative with it.
Rather than tackling this prompt with a standard essay format, consider experimenting with structure. Could it read like a letter to your future self? A mock interview? A documentary voiceover? Breaking form can help soften the prompt’s slightly awkward setup. Do your best to avoid anything that comes across as too self-congratulatory. That’s not ideal when admissions officers are trying to get a sense of your character. You want to sound thoughtful, not boastful.
Submit and Wait
Pomona’s ED2 deadline is January 8th, and you should hear back by . Try and submit your application ahead of that deadline, because we’ve seen tech problems freeze people out before.
Trust the hard work you’ve put into your application and try not to stress too much, and definitely don’t send them lots of updates or addenda to your application. You’ve got this!
Deferred or rejected and need help with an ED2 app? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us ASAP.