<p>Are the dorm rooms suites that are shared by a few people with one bathroom? or are the dorm rooms all separate and have communal bathrooms?</p>
<p>There’s some of both. It just depends on where you end up.</p>
<p>There are really only a few dorms that have suites like that. Most dorms have communal bathrooms - all on-campus dorms for freshmen have communal bathrooms, at least. The off-campus dorm where freshmen can be placed does have private bathrooms, usually shared between two doubles for the freshman rooms. :]</p>
<p>Here are the floorplans for each dorm:</p>
<p>[Swarthmore</a> College :: Housing :: Dorm Profiles](<a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/x9777.xml]Swarthmore”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/x9777.xml)</p>
<p>Freshmen can be assigned to:</p>
<p>Parrish
Wharton
Hallowell
Dana
Willetts
Mertz
David Kemp
Alice Paul
Mary Lyon</p>
<p>In almost all cases, the rooms are on one hall with a women’s bathroom and a men’s bathroom. </p>
<p>One exception is Mary Lyon which has a private bath shared between two doubles. The first floor of David Kemp and the basement of Willets have gender-neutral bathrooms. One wing of Parrish is all male. The other wing of Parrish and one floor of Dana is all female.</p>
<p>Do all the dorms have little kitchen areas where kids could heat up a snack?</p>
<p>Yes, though some are better equipped than others.</p>
<p>In my dorm there’s a kitchen area in each floor with a microwave, stove, and sink. We also have a communal refrigerator. I don’t know what it’s like in the other dorms; probably similar.</p>
<p>Thanks, dchow! My son’s going next year. Any tips for him?</p>
<p>Sure; what tips does he want? Like, tips on living in dorms?</p>
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<p>I believe my daughter’s tip would probably be to use the pass/fail first semester to break any unhealthy over-attachment to getting all As that you may have brought from high-school. The “is this going to be covered on the test?” mentality. Take courses you enjoy, make a diligent effort to do the work, and everything will take care of itself.</p>
<p>My tip would be that Swarthmore has an incredible array of student-centric support mechanisms – from faculty office hours, to the row of deans, to peer study skills seminars, to peer writing associates and study groups, to the health and counseling services, to just regular old seniors on the hall freshman year. USE THEM! All that stuff is what makes Swarthmore Swarthmore. There are Honors grads who get every paper WA’d before final revisions for four years because it’s a smart thing to do and because they can learn so much bouncing ideas off other students.</p>
<p>My advice for living in the dorms is to take advantage of the hall life in whatever way you can. 
Chances are, you’ll find someone/some people and an atmosphere that you enjoy spending time in. I’m really close with the freshmen on my hall and on a few other floors in Mertz, and we spend most of our time hanging out in our “Nook,” for example! That would be my main advice for dorms. (Oh, and keep your food in a sealed container!)</p>