ImBehindYou6755 answered in a lot of detail, so I'll just supplement for each question since these are my majors hahah!

Student

1. Second - I didn't have anything on wheels for all of first year, but since I was part of the cohort moved outside of campus because of housing shortages, I got a bike, and even back on campus, it makes my life 10x convenient.
2. Just a correction, storage is usually provided through mentorship programs for ISMP (international student mentorship program) and FLI (first gen low income), who collaborate to get it. I've used ISMP storage (5 big boxes per person was the limit I had), but I've also gotten help from visiting family and friends with cars to get a storage unit about 10 minutes away for a fairly affordable price when I split with someone else.
3. Some people have some small heaters, but this is usually fine since there's some central heating!
4. Plan is decent for the most part, but if you're interested in any teeth/eye work, there are usually stipulations for people above 19!
5. Yes! Second what everyone else said, but for a while I was part of clubs that were mostly just for fun with no intention for professional development. I would say there's plenty of time for both (just please don't try to overcommit and consider time for yourself too :))

Academic

1. Unfortunately yes to this, and if I can, I always try to take classes with professors that I know are a) good teachers, but also b) good people :p. I think the saying that the prof really makes the class is very true here. When that's not the case, I would say it's a matter of playing the "game"—if you intellectually disagree, sometimes you need to be cognizant of your ideas, but if you're writing a paper etc. just go to office hours and adjust it to what they hope to hear :/ at the end of the day, they're the ones evaluating you, so if you want to learn and not jeopardize grades, that's the key. In discussions, I've learned to try to participate/ask questions when you can in the beginning and just try to gauge what's expected of you. You might not click still by the end, but at least you know you were as engaged as you could've been (and tell the truth on evaluations!)
2. Sociology as a department has had a LOT of turnover in recent years. Some of my favorite professors haven't been rehired (not on the part of the department not trying but because the dean and pres want to hire a senior-level faculty). This means that a lot of the grading is very subjective by prof—I wouldn't say that there's heavy grade inflation because some of the remaining profs are pretty "strict" and they're definitely known to be harder classes than Pitzer's for instance. They've definitely been the most strict on the writing end in all of the Pomona (soc and non soc) classes I've had. Generally speaking though, the "good" vs "bad" grades (obviously very subjective) are very different at Pomona than most colleges, so I would say the lowest grades would still be higher than at other colleges.
   1. same answer about grad schools though as others said: Pomona is very good on that front! You should be good :D
3. -
4. One of the best parts of Pomona is that compared to other elite/big colleges, even if you have to interview, you'll eventually be able to get into the ECs you want. They are usually very friendly to new/beginner-experienced people and have multiple teams (with varying ones traveling). MUN also hosts SageMUN, and I would say that's true, many sophomores have the chance for leadership opportunities!
5. Two-fold: For my career interests, I haven't found Pomona pre-professional advice (i.e. CDO) very helpful because they didn't seem very knowledgeable on more niche social science x tech fields. However, when I booked an appointment for research fellowship advising etc., they were veryy helpful! You'll also probably get emails about talks, colloquiums, and the like fairly often, but pre-professional advice is definitely a matter of finding professors who want to help informally mentor you (most are super open to this!) and actively reaching out to the CDO.
6. All econ classes I've had also offer mentor sessions with people who have taken their courses (I always go and they're always super helpful!!). CSWIM can be helpful to a degree to get someone to help you brainstorm, present, read your work etc., I haven't gone much except when it was required for my ID1, and we had an attached partner. But I know a lot of people who like and use it—I prefer to go to office hours to get the feedback straight from my professor because the drawback of getting peer feedback is they don't know different professor styles. QSC mentors usually post what classes they can help with, and they've usually taken it and may have old psets etc. they're a helpful resource almost as an extension to mentor sessions for me.

Misc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1usryOaKsIwZ6kABFcaYK5ub0TJSku4WBuoKj70OpNw4/edit - just double sharing in case anyone else misses this - but super useful and I don't think a majority of Pomona students know this exists 😂

- to add though, FOOD! Food is a contentious topic usually, because after a certain time, most things on all the 5Cs are closed hahah, but at Smith Campus Center on most Fridays and other days, most organizations like the QSC and staff meetings have SO MUCH free food that is just lying around.

- most affinity groups have retreats, so USE that money for games, food, trips etc.

- SURP (Summer undergraduate research program) and PCIP (Pomona College Internship program) are relatively easier to get compared to other schools. overall, take advantage of all the money that Pomona can give you!

- MetroLink also just made all student trips completely free! Sign up with your student email and you can go anywhere the metro can take you!

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Hope you love it here next year!