A record-high 11,000+ students applied to Pomona’s class of 2025, a marked increase over the 10,388 who applied to the class of 2024 and 10,401 to the class of 2023.

The increased number of applications, and the admission of 772 students compared to 895 students the year before, made for a record low acceptance rate of ~6.5%. The acceptance rate was 8.6% the year before.

Why the lower number of admits? Chiefly because 83 students admitted to the class of 2024 deferred their enrollment to fall 2021, the most in Pomona’s history. Only 4 students from the class of 2025 deferred their enrollment.

Of the 855 newly admitted and deferred enrollment students, 453 enrolled, according to Allen.

As of fall 2021, the registrar’s office reports that the final size of the class of 2025 is 469, while the class of 2024 has 460 students and the class of 2023 455. All three classes currently have more students than any class has had in the last ten years.

The class of 2024 is one of Pomona’s most diverse, with 54.4% identifying as domestic students of color. The class of 2025 is slightly less so, with the same stat at 49%.

Race/ethnicityco2024co2025
Black/African American
10.8%🔻 7% (-35%)
Asian American
19.8%🔻 15.5% (-22%)
Latinx
16.5%🔼 17% (+3%)
Multiracial
7.3%🔼 10.5% (+44%)
International
10.5%🔼 15% (+43%)
White
30.6%🔼 32.5% (+6%)
Unknown
4.5%2.5%

Notably, only 13% of the class of 2025 are first-gen students, compared to 21.3% of the class of 2024.

This is in spite of programs like QuestBridge Match and the Posse Foundation running as normal, accounting for 17 and 18 students in the class of 2025, respectively.

Again, the record amount of students admitted to the class of 2024 who deferred their enrollment may be to blame. Not a single one of the 83 students who did so were first-generation students.

Allen also attributed the decrease in the number of FLI and other underrepresented students to the fact that the COVID pandemic forced the admissions team’s outreach initiatives to go virtual, preventing fly-in programs and in-person visits from running.