Pomona College

Welcome

Letter from the Pomona Quest Liaison

Hi there, and welcome to the Pomona College Quest Scholars Network! I am honored, along with the other Quest Scholars of Pomona, that you have stopped by and visited our page.

Pomona enjoys a rich history with QuestBridge and houses one of the most active Quest Scholars Network chapters in the nation, with nearly 10% of the class in the program. This statistical impressiveness is minute when noted alongside the incredible, friendly, well-rounded, dedicated, brilliant, and distinctive personalities that come to make up our chapter. You’ll become a part of not just a group but also a community that will grow with you, and a family that will make sure that you never fall behind. You will become best friends with a group of Quest Scholars that came from similar backgrounds characterized by hardship, yet are among the most active members of Pomona’s community in many unique ways. You will not only be acquainted with them, but you will be inspired and motivated by their multitude of accomplishments. I say these things not from expectations but from personal experience. When I talk to my classmates, I catch glimpses of their complex yet insightful personalities and always walk out learning something new. When I arrived on campus, the amount of personal care I got by the chapter inspired me to take on the beautiful legacy that previous Quest Scholars had molded and ensure it saw a bright promise for past, current, and future Scholars alike. I accepted the position of Liaison as both a receiver of a wonderful opportunity and a spreader of it to ensure that the voices and stories of the talented, deserving, daring Quest community would be heard and told, both in Pomona and outside of it.

Discovering Pomona was a journey that I feel blessed to have embarked upon. I had planned on ranking schools for QuestBridge that in hindsight would not have been the best fit for me. Pomona was not a school I was going to consider. On one eventful Thursday, I was at my counselor’s office giving her my recommendation letter details. As I was about to leave, I realized an admission officer was in the opposite room. Pomona College. “Hmm," I thought, "isn’t that one of the QuestBridge schools?” The meeting became a spark. An initiative. A lasting impression, as you would get upon meeting any of the wonderful people from Pomona.

As I flipped through the colorful pages of The Pomona Viewbook at hours my mother would not have approved of, I realized I was falling in love. The world class academics, incredible resources, small classes, accessible professors, nurturing community, laid-back and collaborative student body, well-developed consortium schools, diversity, happening location, beautiful weather, massive endowment, excellent financial aid, astounding reputation, up-to-date facilities, breathtaking campus, intimate housing, balanced social life, and quirky traditions…I could find not a single significant flaw with the school. More importantly, it was my best fit school. Pomona offered me rigorous yet fulfilling courses, but it also promised me that I would be taken care of and guided in such a drastic transition, with its caring professors, administration, and students. Coming from a family with no one graduating from college, I knew I needed the environment Pomona had. I listened to my heart and ranked Pomona first over seemingly more prestigious options, knowing full well that I would gain the best memories and experiences from a school that I would love. In the sheer fate characteristic of life, I was matched on December 1st. Everything afterwards, from not just meeting the others who were accepted but bonding as if we were long lost best friends to seeing the school culminate into something far beyond my already high expectations in reality…it was magical. A confirmation that I did not take a risk, but a decision that I would never regret.

As your Quest Liaison, I am committed to making your transition and experience everything I have described it to be and more. The opportunity and potential that both Pomona and our QSN chapter encompass give me the determination and hope to ensure a successful year. Contact me if you have any questions or comments, and from all of us, welcome to the family!

Your fellow Quest Friend,
Muhammad Jalal, Pomona '16