I hear constant gripes about Pomona. There are complaints about food, the social scene, racial cliques, snobbery; the list goes on for miles. I transferred here this year from UC Not Pomona and spent the first few weeks in a state of euphoria about this school. Recently, however, I have begun to notice qualities about UCNP that I prefer to Pomona. Initially, I refused to recognize the flaws I observed. After all, what would that mean about my decision to transfer?

At some point I realized that the issue had to be addressed, if only in my own head. The method: keeping score. My elaborate system for scorekeeping is to attribute point values to certain aspects of Pomona and UCNP. (Originally I assigned negative point values to particularly detestable areas, but subtraction is just too much for my simple mind). So far, the points break down as follows:

On the issue of clean air: UCNP gets 200 points. Pomona gets zero. On the issue of trash cans and recycle bins in convenient places throughout campus, UCNP is awarded 2 points, Pomona zero. The beach is a huge advantage of UCNP, giving it 100 points, Pomona, once again, earns zero. The gym at UCNP is the largest gym on the west coast, with state-of-the-art equipment, earning UCNP 50 points, Pomona gets 2 points for having the largest gym on the 5C campus. In the category of cool-looking libraries - UCNP’s exquisite Geisel Library (which was used as the alien mothership in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes) gets 20 points, Pomona gets 5 points for Honnold and the cute window bridge. To recap, thus far, UCNP has 372 points; Pomona has 7 points. Wrong decision?

Wait! I seem to have overlooked a few areas that could raise Pomona’s score. It’s not too late for a comeback.

In the area of awesome people proportional to people the planet could happily do without, Pomona 1,000,UCNP 50.

In the category of having fewer people who are bitter about not getting into UCLA, Pomona 800, UCNP 1.

In the category of class size and being taught by a professor instead of a TA: Pomona 500, UCNP zero.

In the category of establishing a sense of community, Pomona 500, UCNP zero. In the area of administrative support staff (i.e. Registrar’s Office and Financial Aid Office) being pleasant and helpful, Pomona 600, UCNP zero.

On the scoring of class quality in general (keeping in mind that I am a Politics major and have stayed far away from math and science), Pomona 2,000, UCNP 10. In the area of sponsor groups, Pomona 600, UCNP zero.

In the category of feeling like you are not wasting your time and money attending college, Pomona 1,000, UCNP 5; Pomona is great about financial aid, and even at full cost is worth paying twice as much to be challenged and engaged.

In the area of being conducive to getting involved in campus life: Pomona 1,000, UCNP 10.

In the area of guaranteed housing (even considering the trailer park), and the benefits of not being kicked off campus after the first or second year (only one-third of UCNP’s sophomores were allowed to live on-campus), Pomona 2,000, UCNP zero. In the ultra-subjective category of "It-just-feels-fantastic-to-be-here", Pomona 5,000, UCNP 6.

The final score: Pomona 15,007, UCNP 454.

UCNP is not a bad place, but it could never compare to Pomona. If one must go to school in So Cal - my sure-to-upset-a-number-of-people critique of So Cal will appear in the future - Pomona is the best place to be. In fact, I’d argue that Pomona can compete with any school out there. People often criticize institutions they care about more harshly, and people should always look for ways to improve these institutions. But when you find yourself or someone else ranting about Pomona’s flaws, try also to ponder the alternatives to being fortunate enough to be here.