Pomona's liberal arts education equips students for action and intellectual engagement in a fast-changing world. Some students enter a field related to their major immediately, while others use their undergraduate education as a launch pad for professional or graduate school. Still others take time to explore their careers, live abroad via fellowship, research and teaching opportunities, work at a nonprofit, or gain further research experience at universities and companies across the nation.
There is no one path for a Pomona student in any major, but here is a sampling of some of the careers our alumni are engaged in, as well as specific companies that senior students self-reported they would be entering upon graduation.
Art History
Sample career paths for alumni: museum directors, curators and art conservators; professors; lawyers; physicians
Asian Studies
Sample career paths for alumni: international affairs, public policy, law, economics, journalism, the arts, scholarship
Environmental Analysis
Sample career paths for alumni: law, policy, medicine, the sciences, conservation, global climate change, urban planning, resource management, community action, environmental education, urban agriculture
French
Sample career paths for alumni: graduate and professional programs, including medical school, law school as well as Ph.D. programs in French at Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Duke, UCLA and Brown. Many go on to live and work in France and other French-speaking countries
History
Sample career paths for alumni: academia, journalism, public affairs, law, business and more
International Relations
Sample career paths for alumni: public service, non-governmental organizations, business, law and academia. Pomona is one of the top 50 colleges and universities in the country producing career diplomats.
Latin American Studies
Sample career paths for alumni: public policy, law, business, social work, education, international relations and advanced research in the social sciences and humanities.
Linguistics & Cognitive Science
Sample career paths for alumni: graduate programs in speech pathology and Ph.D. programs in linguistics, psychology, and cognitive science, the technology industry, fieldwork on lesser-known languages and revitalization projects on endangered languages around the world
Mathematics
Sample career paths for alumni: teaching and academia, research and graduate study in pure mathematics, applied mathematics in a number of fields and industries, data analysis, statistics
Middle Eastern Studies
Sample career paths for alumni:: international affairs, public policy, law, economics, journalism, scholarship, and the arts
Music
Sample career paths for alumni: graduate studies in music and related fields, professional performers, composers, scholars and teachers, medicine, law and business
Philosophy
Sample career paths for alumni: business, medicine, law, the arts and education. Philosophy majors do particularly well in standardized tests like the GMAT, LSAT and GRE.
Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Sample career paths for alumni: law, business, and public service
Physics & Astronomy
Sample career paths for alumni: research scientists, astronomers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, entrepreneurs, computer programmers and movie technicians
Politics
Sample career paths for alumni: organizational leadership, social change advocacy, electoral politics, policymaking, law, journalism, education, finance and medicine
Religious Studies
Sample career paths for alumni: graduate studies in religion, law, medicine and business; careers in management, journalism and the media, college administration, primary and secondary education, government and health and social services
Romance Languages & Literatures
Sample career paths for alumni: medicine, law, business, government, health care and education
Russian and Russian and Eastern European Studies
Sample career paths for alumni: academia, business, law, journalism, diplomacy and international development
Science, Technology and Society
Sample career paths for alumni: health sciences, law, education, science writing, public policy, environmental studies, medicine and law
Sociology
Sample career paths for alumni: education, law, social work and business
Spanish
Sample career paths for alumni: medicine, law, business, government, health care and education
Theatre
Sample career paths for alumni: actors, dancers, designers and technicians, producers, writers, dramaturgs, teachers and administrators