Bryn Mawr Student- Classes at Swarthmore/UPenn?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Bryn Mawr College
1

<p>Hi I was wondering for Bryn Mawr students how many classes do you take at these two schools? I’ve heard many people say that at UPenn you’ll normally only take a weekly seminar due to the distance, and as for Swarthmore I haven’t really heard anything. I wanted to know how much the distance of these two schools interfere with making them part of your schedule. And how hard would it be to sign up for classes there? Is there a limited number of classes you can take there, or only certain classes that are available to you? </p>

<p>Thank you so much!</p>

2

<p>There is a limit to how many classes you can take, not because Bryn Mawr gives an obvious number, but because they count as off-campus credits. This past semester, I took two courses at Penn and two at Swarthmore and applied for study abroad. Nobody at Bryn Mawr informed me they would yank my study abroad application because I took so many courses off-campus this semester. In the preceding semester, I had taken a course at Penn, giving me five credits of off-campus time total–more than what the average student gets in a semester abroad.
Penn is a real ***** to sign up for because you have to prove that their courses are like nothing else in the Tri-Co. Swarthmore’s actually pretty easy. You go over there, get signatures, and turn in the sheets to Swarthmore’s registrar first. That’s the key–don’t go to BMC first because they want everybody to stay on their campus. If you go to Swarthmore’s registrar, you can back Bryn Mawr into a corner to get your way. By saying ‘no’ after the fact, Bryn Mawr would get themselves into a ton of trouble.
Distance only interferes as much as you want it to. Plan carefully, however, because the commute is exhausting.</p>

3

<p>Oh ok thank you, that’s good to know, though I never imagined Bryn Mawr would be so strict of taking classes in the other three schools. And how are you liking your BMC experience? I was thinking of majoring either in lit or creative writing, have you done anything similar? do you like the community and the school overall?</p>

4

<p>Oh don’t even bother with the creative writing department. If you do, you’ll end up sick, distressed, with really low grades, and a miserable experience. I bothered with them for two years because I wanted to be a creative writing major when I first came. The department head goes out of his way to make it impossible because he believes that college students “don’t have enough life experience” to study writing. Department standards state that a student must maintain a 3.7+ in Tri-Co creative writing classes, create an independent major plan, and get it approved by the department to be a creative writing major. If you do not do any of those things, you’re not allowed to major. Between Bryn Mawr’s practice of grade deflation and their anti-creative writing major attitude, it’s next to impossible to do. Penn courses do not count towards this GPA, otherwise I would have been approved to do the major. A lot of people will say we have a good department, but it really depends on what fits your needs. My disagreement with the department on life experience and treatment of creative writing as an art, rather than academia, constantly puts me at odds with them.
If you’re going to do literature, be prepared for one of two things: 1. A very close-reading, strict analytic interpretation, gen/sex based department at Bryn Mawr or 2. A flexible, theory-intensive, era/nation based department at Haverford. I chose the latter of the two because the former turned out to be a terrible fit for me. Haverford has the option of an earned creative writing concentration before the end of junior year. Should the concentration be earned, senior year is spent writing a thesis that consists of two parts: 1. an original piece and 2. criticism of your piece through theories and previous written works. I opted to take the risk with the concentration because Haverford’s department was a better fit for me. In Bryn Mawr classes, I found the undermining of religion in multiple texts offensive and was often limited in the topics I could use for papers. Haverford professors, thus far, have given me a greater range for paper ideas and have never undermined any religion in class.
Whether or not Bryn Mawr will be a good experience for you depends on who you are and how you fit in with the rest of the community. Since I am a religious, artistic, flamboyant heterosexual female with a disability/illness that Bryn Mawr does not understand, I have not had a good experience here. My friends, artwork, music, writing, and sports have been keeping me sane. Transferring turned out to be too much of a pain, so I opted to major at Haverford instead. Haverford is a good alternative if you find you do not fit in at Bryn Mawr. Though we have a lot of the same departments, the nature of each school is so different. If you’re not happy at one, you can find solace in the other.</p>

5

<p>While I’m sorry to hear of NovelNova2010’s struggles, to put things into perspective, I would remind readers that this is only one experience. I’ve known many students with minors and concentrations in Creative Writing that have nothing but positive things to say about the program, especially the department head. Even for students that choose to not pursue Creative Writing, the program brings a stellar group of authors to campus every year (more on that here: [Bryn</a> Mawr College | Creative Writing Program Reading Series | Arts](<a href=“http://www.brynmawr.edu/arts/cwprs.html]Bryn”>http://www.brynmawr.edu/arts/cwprs.html)). Our English department is one of our most popular and definitely one of our strongest. If you’re interested in literature, I would definitely poke around on the department website and sit in on a class if you can make it to campus!</p>

<p>I honestly cannot think of any peer of mine that hasn’t taken a class within the Quaker Consortium. Penn is a great option if you want to pursue classes that aren’t offered within the tri-co. For example, I’ve had friends take classes on comedy, advanced film production, and city planning. They also have a Creative Writing program that you can pair up with. Penn takes a little more paperwork, but that’s never stood in the way of students pursuing courses there…and many do! Swarthmore and Haverford are all in the same registration system at Bryn Mawr so it’s pretty straightforward. I think the real beauty of Bryn Mawr lies in the ability to allow students to mix-and-match and pursue courses that are unique to the student’s interests. Every Bryn Mawr experience is different, and that’s a good thing! I’ve been able to carve out a path that is totally my own and take advantage of whatever I’ve desired…from having a professor ask me to be featured with her in the New York Times to taking graduate level courses as an undergrad!</p>

6

<p>I took a total of 9 classes at Penn. Commuting to Penn was actually easier than commuting to Swarthmore because there was a train into the city every 20 minutes while the Swarthmore van only ran once every 80-90 minutes. That really messed up scheduling when the van schedule didn’t align with the beginning and end times of my preferred Swat class. I understand that the Swat van schedule has changed since I graduated and it might be a bit more convenient now.</p>

<p>Back to Penn. One semester I took a Tuesday+Thursday morning class at Bryn Mawr and an afternoon class at Penn. That worked out fine but the back-and-forth commuting was a bit tiring. In following semesters, I arranged my schedule so that I could spend 2 full days at Penn and the remaining 3 days at Bryn Mawr and Haverford. That took the time pressure out of commuting (since I didn’t have to catch a particular train right after class anymore), and allowed me to go to office hours and TA sessions, collaborate with Penn students on homework assignments, and even attend a few public talks at Penn.</p>

<p>If you do opt to commute to Penn, I would highly recommend that you give yourself enough time to take full advantage of the academic life there!</p>

7

<p>Oh that’s great to hear!
And you said that you would spend two days in Penn, but did you go back to sleep in Bryn Mawr or does the school (Penn) provide you with a place to stay?
Also, did you find it hard at all to sign up for classes at UPenn? </p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

8

<p>And does taking courses at penn really make you ineligible for study abroad? I hadn’t heard that, but it seems an advisor could have warned the above student ahead of time.</p>

9

<p>There isn’t a housing arrangement between Bryn Mawr and Penn-- but because Philadelphia is only 20 minutes from campus, it’s an easy train back. Plus, Bryn Mawr reimburses travel expenses. Personally I have many close friends that live in Philadelphia and/or go to Penn so if I wanted to stay in the city overnight I could, but that of course varies from student to student. I also know some students, that choose to live off campus in Philadelphia and commute from there-- although it is VERY rare since our dorms and community are so highly valued! </p>

<p>The Dean’s Office has further information about course registration/course limits through Penn here: [Bryn</a> Mawr Deans](<a href=“http://www.brynmawr.edu/deans/four_year_pic/reg_other_institutions.shtml]Bryn”>http://www.brynmawr.edu/deans/four_year_pic/reg_other_institutions.shtml)</p>

10

<p>

That’s a bit misleading. While the train ride is 20 minutes, you’ll also spend 15-20 minutes walking from Penn to the train station, and another 5-10 minutes to get from the train station in Bryn Mawr back to campus (unless your destination is the admissions office, in which case you could make it in 3 minutes). Overall the commute is closer to 50 minutes.</p>

<p>

I always came back to Bryn Mawr at night. Sometimes right after class, sometimes after a colloquium at 5pm, sometimes after TA sessions at 9pm, sometimes at midnight when I wanted to work with classmates at Penn, and once or twice I stayed in the city until 4am to finish up a project. Some people make a big fuss about safety at night but I have always felt safe. The area around Penn is very well lit and well-patrolled. You can even ask for a uniformed officer to escort you back to the train station if you don’t feel comfortable walking alone. </p>

<p>

The first time is a bit annoying, but afterwards it’s not too difficult. Here’s what happens when you sign up for your first Penn class:</p>

<ol>
<li>You fill out a form with the classes you want to take and give it to your Dean.</li>
<li>Your Dean approves your course choices.</li>
<li>You take the form to Bryn Mawr’s registrar, who faxes it to Penn.</li>
<li>Penn can respond in three different ways:
4a. “You are now enrolled in the class.”
4b. “Your class is closed for registration.” If you want to try a different class, you’d have to start over at step 1.
4c. “This class requires a permit to register. Please contact the academic department directly to obtain the permit and get back to us when you have it.” (This happens for classes that the department wants to restrict general enrollment to. For example, some sections of calculus might be reserved for engineers and other students might only be granted a permit under special circumstances.) </li>
<li>You set up a user name for Penn’s internal academic systems. (e.g. to access course materials that the instructor posts online and to log into public computers on campus)</li>
<li>You go to Penn to get your student ID. You’ll need it to enter the libraries and you might need it to get into the building that your class is in.</li>
</ol>

<p>Later classes are a bit easier to sign up for because you can use your Penn username to access Penn’s internal registration system. There you can see which classes are open for enrollment, so you won’t have to deal with the “your class is closed, please try again” scenarios. (You can’t sign up for classes online though. You’ll still have to go through Bryn Mawr’s registrar.)</p>

<p>And maybe most importantly: submit your Penn registration forms early. Penn’s registrar processes Bryn Mawr’s registration forms only twice per semester: right after pre-registration (which happens in the previous semester) and after the first week of classes. If you miss the pre-registration processing, you won’t know for sure if you are enrolled until the second week of classes.</p>

<p>

I highly highly doubt that, for several reasons. First, I have several friends who took Penn classes and also studied abroad. Second, Penn classes taken through the consortium during the academic year count as credits earned in residence. It says so explicitly in the [College</a> Catalog](<a href=“http://www.brynmawr.edu/catalog/2011-12/program/requirements/residency.html]College”>http://www.brynmawr.edu/catalog/2011-12/program/requirements/residency.html). However, it is true that Swat and Penn classes don’t automatically count towards academic requirements (e.g. major requirements or distribution requirements). You’ll have to go through another process to get them approved, and I could easily see a study-abroad application getting denied if it appears that a student has fallen behind on requirements (when in reality they just haven’t gotten their off-campus classes approved as satisfying requirements yet).</p>

11

<p>I would not say that’s true. I was denied study abroad because I took courses at Penn and Swarthmore in the same semester, giving me a year of 5 off-campus classes in one sitting. Initially, I was told I would still be considered a part of Bryn Mawr because of my participation on a sports team, but that was not enough to have me counted as a full scale BMC student. Watch your courseload. They will find a way to screw you over, if possible.</p>

12

<p>I am sorry that Bryn Mawr gave you such a hard time! It’s even more frustrating because nowhere in the study abroad policies does it say that taking classes through the Quaker Consortium will affect study abroad eligibility. The policies only mention various residency requirements, where Quaker Consortium classes are not problematic because they are considered “in residence.” </p>

<p>Just out of curiosity, do you know who exactly made the decision to deny your study abroad application? Did you make any efforts to appeal that decision?</p>

<p>I am asking because I had a <em>lot</em> of issues with two different deans who were working at Bryn Mawr in their first year and didn’t really know what they were doing. They denied several requests that should have been approved, and each time I had to ask one of the senior deans to intervene on my behalf. I am just wondering if you might have been a victim of inexperience too.</p>