Pomona College
Pomona College is a private liberal-arts college in Claremont, California, and the founding member of the Claremont Colleges consortium, combining the intimacy of a roughly 1,620-student campus with the academic resources of a much larger university. Admission is among the most selective in the country: Pomona admitted about 7.1% of more than 12,400 applicants for its most recent class, and enrolled first-years posted middle-50% SAT scores of 1490–1550 and 32–34 on the ACT. The social sciences are the most-conferred field, and a 7-to-1 student-faculty ratio keeps classes small. Pomona is test-optional and meets 100% of demonstrated financial need, with no loans in its aid packages.
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Pomona admissions statistics
Acceptance rate
Total applicants, admitted students, and enrolled students for the most recent admission cycle.
Early decision
Pomona offers binding Early Decision. Applying early can meaningfully change your odds — but ED commits you to enroll if admitted.
Admit rate by application plan
% admitted~2.2× higher admit rate applying early.
Standardized tests
Pomona is currently test-optional — you may apply without submitting scores.
SAT Accepted?
ACT Accepted?
Test Optional?
SAT Scores
ACT Scores
Pomona supplemental essays — 2026-2027 cycle
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)
Reflecting on a community that you are a part of, what values or perspectives from that community would you bring to Pomona?
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?
Choose any person or group of people in your life and share how they would describe you.
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Admissions factors
How Pomona weighs each part of your application.
Rigor of High School Record
Academic GPA
Standardized Test Scores
Application Essay
Recommendations
Extracurricular Activities
Character / Personal Qualities
Talent / Ability
First Generation
Level of Applicant's Interest
Class Rank
Volunteer Work
Work Experience
Geographical Residence
State Residency
Alumni Relation
Racial / Ethnic Status
Religious Affiliation
Cost of attendance
Estimated full-time annual cost from Pomona's Common Data Set.
Private universities charge the same tuition regardless of state residency.
Financial aid
Need-based aid statistics for full-time first-year students.
Frequently asked questions about Pomona admissions
Yes — Pomona is among the most selective colleges in the country, admitting about 7.1% of applicants in the most recent cycle. That is roughly 890 offers out of more than 12,400 applications, with about 421 students ultimately enrolling. Strong grades and scores are expected but not sufficient; Pomona weighs eight factors — including rigor of course load, GPA, class rank, recommendations, the essay, extracurriculars, talent, and character — as very important.
Pomona offers binding Early Decision I and II, and the early round is admitted at a noticeably higher rate than the overall pool. In the most recent cycle, the ED rounds drew 1,656 applications and produced 227 admits — roughly a 14% admit rate, compared with about 7.1% overall. ED is binding, so apply early only if Pomona is clearly your first choice.
Pomona does not publish an average admitted GPA, and its most recent Common Data Set no longer reports a class-rank distribution. Even so, admitted students sit at the very top of their high school cohort. There is no hard cutoff, but academic GPA, class rank, and the rigor of your course load are all weighed as very important factors, so a demanding schedule matters as much as the numbers themselves.
Yes, Pomona is test-optional, so you can apply without submitting SAT or ACT scores. Among enrolled students who did submit, the middle 50% scored 1490–1550 on the SAT and 32–34 on the ACT. Test scores are only 'considered' in the review rather than very important, so applying without them does not put you at a disadvantage.
Tuition and required fees are about $72,080 per year, with the total cost of attendance higher once on-campus housing and food (about $23,590) and transportation and personal expenses are added. Pomona meets 100% of demonstrated financial need and packages aid without loans. About 55% of first-years receive need-based grant or scholarship aid, with an average aid package near $71,955.
The social sciences are the single most popular area at about 21% of bachelor's degrees, followed by computer and information sciences (14%) and the biological sciences (12%). Mathematics and statistics (7%) and the physical sciences (7%) round out the most-conferred fields, reflecting Pomona's growing strength in computing alongside its long-standing depth in the sciences and social sciences.
Pomona is intentionally small: about 1,617 undergraduates with a 7-to-1 student-faculty ratio, which keeps classes small and discussion-based. As the founding member of the Claremont Colleges consortium, it pairs that intimate scale with the course and resource access of a much larger university. Nearly all students live on campus, and the first-year retention rate is about 95%, with a 6-year graduation rate near 92%.
Popular majors
Bachelor's degrees awarded in the past year by academic major.
Student-faculty ratio
The number of students for every one faculty member, indicating the average level of access students have to instructional staff.
Campus life
On-campus housing and Greek life participation rates.
Enrollment by gender
Student diversity
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduate students.
Source: Pomona College Common Data Set 2025-2026. Figures transcribed 2026-06-26. Esslo aggregates publicly reported data and is not affiliated with Pomona. Banner photo by Adam Jones, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Cite this page as: Esslo College Explorer, “Pomona College admissions statistics, transcribed from the 2025-2026 Common Data Set,” https://www.esslo.org/colleges/pomona (retrieved 2026-06-26).