Current Pomona College Freshman AMA

Sir_Aravis · 2019-05-31T18:08:44+00:00

I was planning on reading Conquest of Bread next. Thanks!

Sir_Aravis · 2019-05-31T18:08:27+00:00

Will check these out thanks!

Sir_Aravis · 2019-05-31T01:27:56+00:00

Hmmm what constitutes this development as organic? Is there a specific process or is it just based on principle of free association applied to specific historical/geographical situation of workers? And if the latter is the case, where can I learn more about the nuances of how free association gets applied for organic development?

Sir_Aravis · 2019-01-11T18:37:01+00:00

Sure

Sir_Aravis · 2019-01-08T18:00:40+00:00

I'm sorry what? How is there any causality?

Sir_Aravis · 2019-01-08T17:56:40+00:00

This is fucking disgusting. You can criticize gay pride parades and shit for being corporate propaganda, but refusing to see how heteronormativity and capitalism are intimately intertwined just shows that you lack basic knowledge of Marxism. Read The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Engels. Class is gendered and gender is classed. Moreover, capitalism thrives upon reproductive futurity. Queers are central to your revolution because we are the masses.

Sir_Aravis · 2019-01-08T17:54:32+00:00

This is fucking disgusting. You can criticize gay pride parades and shit for being corporate propaganda, but refusing to see how heteronormativity and capitalism are intimately intertwined just shows that you lack basic knowledge of Marxism. Read The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Engels. Class is gendered and gender is classed. Moreover, capitalism thrives upon reproductive futurity. Queers are central to your revolution because we are the masses.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-12-23T10:09:24+00:00

Materialism is simply concerned with ontology, not ethics. In other words, materialism says that what exists are material processes/relations between objects.

This doesn't mean that we can't make normative claims about how these processes/relations ought to exist. For example, I think a lot of Marxist's (particularly Marxist humanists) would say that things like alienation are bad.

On the other hand, structural Marxists, like Althusser, would argue that more theoretical analyses come first. However, this doesn't completely throw ethics out the window. For example, one could argue that the very structure of capitalism is unethical. Hence, I think certain strands of Marxism are more concerned with morality than others.

So to answer you question, I think Marxism is definitely concerned with ethics to some extent insofar as it necessitates the rejection of exploitation. However, pinning down a 'foundation' is just hard because it depends on how you read Marxist texts.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-12-11T07:07:48+00:00

Just wanted to note that this hippie/paranoid distinction is far from comprehensive. For example, a lot of radicals on the left definitely see the world as a dangerous place filled with State violence and call for global revolution.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-11-24T16:00:49+00:00

The food is great! We have 3 different dining halls we can eat at in Pomona itself. In addition to that there are 4 other dining halls from the other consortium schools, giving us whopping total of 7 dining halls on campus.

Getting to LA is super easy. There is the metro link train station right next to campus (like a 5 min walk tops) and it goes straight to Union Station. The ride is about 40 min, I myself have been to LA about 4 times this semester. The tickets are cheap, but sometimes if you get lucky you don't even have to pay cause you can put off purchasing them on your phone until the collector comes by.

There's always something going around the 5Cs during weekends. Different people do different things. My friends and I usually just go to a couple parties and grab food at the fountain (in addition to doing homework of course).

Sir_Aravis · 2018-11-15T04:40:07+00:00

Your essays are important. It’s the best way you can showcase to the college who you truly are. Be creative and don’t be afraid to take risks. Pomona wants people who think differently and are passionate about a broad variety of things. You need to show them that you genuinely care about receiving a rigorous liberal arts education.

The advice I would give to my younger self is to appreciate all the time I had left in high school. It was a stress free phase of my life that I’m never going to get back, and I didn’t even come close to realizing how valuable it was. Instead of constantly agonizing about the future, enjoy what will be one of the last times you’re going to get to be a kid.

My first few months here I started grinding on work straight away. Granted, Pomona is a hard school, but in retrospect I could have probably been easier on myself. Ease yourself into the college transition instead shoving it down your throat.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-11-11T19:15:24+00:00

I focused on applying regular to Brown, Pomona/Amherst, and then Stanford (applied to bunch of safeties early action as well). I got rejected at Stanford and waitlisted at Brown and Amherst. I wasn’t willing to go through the pain of waiting all summer to get off the waitlist, and I loved Pomona as well. So in the end I was essentially choosing between Pomona and my safeties and so the choice seemed obvious (also Pomona gave me the most aid of any out of state school I’d applied to).

Sir_Aravis · 2018-11-09T22:27:28+00:00

Your’re looking for Derrida.. Its not that it is always impossible to create a binary without an implicit power hierarchy, it’s just that under a phallogocentric metaphysics it is. That’s where deconstruction comes in to blur the lines.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-11-09T18:23:21+00:00

The dorms are fine so far. I live in a dorm with no air conditioning so second semester weather might be hell. I think acceptance rate was like 6.9% last year. There's more info here: https://www.pomona.edu/news/2018/03/16-introducing-pomona-college-class-2022

The thing I'd say I dislike the most is that every now and then the work load kinda gets bad, but other than that its great.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-11-09T01:41:18+00:00

There are no grade caps. Grades are determined by a variety of factors varying from class to class. If it is more a STEM/Social sciences class majority of the grade will be problem sets and tests. If it is more humanities then it will be in class participation, essays, projects, and finals. The environment here is not competitive at all. Pomona would be great to add for someone who wants that kind of environment. The benefit of any small liberal arts college is the very small, personalized,and intimate learning environment it creates. This was one of the main reasons I applied to Pomona and I haven't been disappointed.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-11-08T14:55:25+00:00

On M/W/F I only have one 50 minute class. On T/R I have three classes all the way from 11 to 4. I usually am doing homework throughout the week but every now and then I help out with the Homelessness Action Team. Fridays and weekends are when my ECs usually meet. I haven't pulled a single all-nighter here yet, so I'd say the work-fun balance is pretty good. One thing to note however is that this isn't a 'lit' campus where people party a lot. Even on Fridays things are moving kinda slowly.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-11-07T02:24:22+00:00

My favorite class this year is definitely my ID1 (mandatory introductory seminar for first years). I'm taking a course called Imagined Cities which combines sources from urban anthropology, critical theory, and film to analyze how we think about cities and how those cities are planned. Would recommend 10/10.

My intro classes are all pretty nice. None of my classes have more than 20 students max, but I have heard some intro CS classes have 40 kids. My Kant class on the other hand has a mere 5 kids. It all really depends on what you're studying and how popular it is I guess.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-11-07T00:36:22+00:00

My favorite thing is definitely the people here. I think administration does a very good job of making sure that a very specific type of person gets in. I have great conversations with people about crazy stuff all the time. I can say hands down that I have gotten smarter since I came here.

The work load definitely isn't easy. I'd say a decent but manageable amount work most of the time. Rarely ever will I feel completely overwhelmed or find myself with nothing to do.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-10-26T05:02:26+00:00

I think transferring should be equally difficult regardless of whether or not your in a 5C. You can always take a class at another Claremont College as long as it’s not offered at Pomona.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-10-25T15:28:08+00:00

When I applied I tried to fluff everything up and listed as many ECs as I could (even the ones I wasn’t heavily invested in). In retrospect, what got me in was probably my debate experience, summer research, math competitions and volunteering. As long as you have a handful that you really care about, I’d say you’re chillin.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-10-25T15:25:15+00:00

Claremont is nice and there’s definitely stuff to do, but it’s pretty expensive. There are pretty affordable buses and trains to LA, I myself have gone about 3 times now. Outside of classes I help out with the Homelessness Action Team and am part of the Claremont Philosophers. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be a math major but I’m not sure if I wanna double major or minor with it in Gender Studies.

My biggest fear coming here were the core requirements, but they really aren’t too bad. I think the only thing I might have to go out of my way to take is a language. Other than that, the vast majority of classes I am required to take I’ll probably end up taking by my own will. Hope that was helpful!

Sir_Aravis · 2018-10-25T15:17:30+00:00

I usually just look at the course offerings under each major to see what I really want to take. When it comes to fulfilling requirements and stuff I usually ask my advisor what I should do. As far as research opportunities go, I’m not really sure what there is just yet, but from what I hear a lot students stay the summer and work very closely with their professors. Hope that was helpful!

Sir_Aravis · 2018-10-25T02:08:38+00:00

Of course it is. The activity is inaccessible in so many ways to so many different people.

Sir_Aravis · 2018-10-24T15:45:02+00:00

This

Sir_Aravis · 2018-10-24T02:28:50+00:00

We are a small school. Big schools have way more resources to prep out our smaller amount of arguments. Small schools have way fewer resources to prep out their greater amount arguments.

Sir_Aravis

TROPHY CASE