Hello there.
I am an upcoming senior and I am trying to decide where I wish to apply for my Early Decision. I am considering both Swarthmore and Amherst because I think I want a liberal arts education and I like the idea of taking classes at their consortiums. What I was wondering is if someone could compare these colleges for me since I’m kind of stuck.
For me specifically, I want to pursue a kind of ethics/political science or law kind of degree. I want to see if I can understand points of view and ideology and use it in law practice or politics. I want to go to a college that can kind of help broaden these points of views. I am not sure if I wish to enter law and politics, but I wish to have an ethics/philosophy kind of background so I can help as many people as I can, no matter which profession I use.
Personally, there are a couple of other reasons I am a bit stuck. For Amherst, it is a great location with an open curriculum, but I am not an overly athletic/drinker. In addition, I don’t like the idea of being farther from a city location, like NYC or Boston. On the other hand, I don’t like the idea of excessive work that blocks out the college experience for Swarthmore. I go to a school where grades are everything, and while I enjoy competition and working hard, I feel like my high school basically hurts kids who don’t receive high marks. I do want to take extremely challenging classes and work hard for them, but at the same time I do want to have a college experience that allows me to make friends and enjoy it. Could someone possibly give me some advice?
Have you looked at any other liberal arts colleges like Pomona, Claremont McKenna etc.? It doesn’t seem like you don’t like either one very much.
The notion that you cannot have a good college experience at Swarthmore because of the workload is a stereotype. Grades AREN’T everything at Swarthmore. In fact, the college encourages collaborative thinking and risky exploration by making the first semester pass-fail. That the college doesn’t award everyone an A for competent work isn’t a bad thing; in fact, it makes you push yourself a lot more and make you more fulfilled. Just know that every good college is going to be hard, even the beautifully relaxed Pomona. In any case, Amherst and Swarthmore have quite different environments, so I’d recommend that you visit them both first.
Lots of assumptions and stereotyping. How many classes realistically will you take at the consortium schools. Of what value is it?
If ethics are that important, apply to Catholic school where virtually every course and core curriculum is based on ethical decision making. If you have the chops for Swarthmore and Amherst, you should for Notre Dame, BC and Holy Cross.
Well for me, it’s more like I’m basing my assumptions off the students who went from my school and gave me feedback. Maybe that’s how they saw the college life. Also, I absolutely love Pomona and the Claremont colleges. It’s just that I think it might be a bit harder for my family due to travel costs since I’m in the Northeast. I’m more considering the Northeastern colleges because I don’t want them to continuously pay for me to go back and forth.
Can you visit these schools? Do the official tour/session but if you know kids there, maybe also spend a night with one of them?
If you visit Swat, you can also see nearby Haverford which might appeal to you. If you see Amherst (and are female), you can also see Smith and Mt H (and Bryn Mawr by Swat for that matter).
Travel costs are a drop in the bucket compared to tuition and living expenses - and if you look at LACs in the midwest where the cost of living is lower, you will probably find no cost difference at all. In fact, some excellent midwestern LACs offer merit aid, which isn’t available at the top eastern LACs or Pomona. Take a look at Carlton (no merit), Grinnell and Oberlin (merit at both). And if you are interested in politics/public policy, Grinnell has a Grinnell-in-DC program that could be of interest and a tie with London School of Economics if you wanted to study economics (important for a career in politics or law) abroad for a year. In short, widen your geographic search and you might find a lot of interesting options.
^ Denison, College of Wooster, both in Ohio…both give significant merit, both great schools.