<p>What DONT you like about Swarthmore?</p>
<p>Haha, this is kind of hard, but I have a few things.</p>
<p>-The food is pretty bad. Not TERRIBLE, like make-you-vomit bad, but it's not amazing. And Sharples is the only dining hall, so it's sort of that or nothing, unless you go to Paces. Plus, when I was there it was REALLY hot out and Sharples isn't air-conditioned. But I dunno, some people really like the food. One of my friends loves it in a freakish sort of way. You could be weird like him...</p>
<p>-Not all of the dorms are air-conditioned. I was there when it was in the 90-somethings in the beginning of October. Absurdly hot.</p>
<p>-I acknowledge the fact that it's very difficult and a ton of people are overworked... I like work but I'm afraid I'll get in and then not be able to do it all. I guess that could be considered a negative...?</p>
<p>-A couple people said it was kind of clique-y... I didn't see a lot of evidence to support that, but someone said it... I don't know. I'd think that most colleges would have that to an extent.</p>
<p>Sharples now has air-conditioning. The college had it put in this past October - so from now on, no more hot Sharples. :] The food, I agree, isn't fantastic, but it isn't bad...it's more that it's repetitive than that the quality isn't good (and yes, Essie Mae's or the coffee bars are the only alternatives to Sharples). I'm one of the freakish people who don't hate Sharples, though. Most dorms aren't air-conditioned, that's true - but it's only a few weeks out of the year when that's really necessary.</p>
<p>Living here, the only cons I have are the meal plan they automatically put freshmen on and the fact that some freshmen have to live in ML, the off-campus dorm (not me though, I'm in Wharton, yay). On the whole though, there aren't too many things to complain about. :]</p>
<p>Haha, I almost listed ML as a con. ML is ridiculous. (Mary Lyon is like a fifteen minute walk from the center of campus, for anyone that doesn't know about it...).</p>
<p>Yay! Air conditioning! That is so lovely.</p>
<p>I guess I just remember the heat because that was my only real complaint. It was just so weird because October is supposed to be nice and chilly and it was 90 degrees or something.</p>
<p>This October was crazy...we got weird weather this year, haha. Sorry you had to deal with that on a visit - if you stop by now you'll get plenty of cold air!</p>
<p>ML is sort of a con for me, but if you try hard enough, you can avoid living there. It has delicious breakfasts, though, so I don't want it to go away entirely. Mmm, chocolate chip banana pancakes... :]</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I guess some people would consider PA weather as a con... It's not as sunny as CA or anything like that, but it's not as freezing as the New England states. I'm a Pennsylvanian so it doesn't really bother me- Lancaster is currently being blessed with some beautiful little flurries which hopefully might evolve into real snow and cause a delay...</p>
<p>If I get accepted I'll come to you for advice about how to avoid living there... I heard a lot of the people that listed fantasy or sci-fi on their personality survey thingie ended up in ML.</p>
<p>Haha, yeah, there's a box for liking sci-fi that you can check off on the housing survey...to avoid ML, you should probably avoid that one. Otherwise, you're more than welcome to come for advice about that if you get in. :D</p>
<p>We got snow tonight! Just some little flurries, but it was still exciting, since it wasn't even that cold. Yayy. Bad weather is easy to ignore here, since the campus always looks gorgeous.</p>
<p>I was just there last night and it was chillyyyyyy it even started hailing and i taught my host how to defrost the car before driving away because shes from Cali and hasn't learned how hehe =] i had a lovely time and swat is the ****tt =]</p>
<p>It's been snowing on campus for the past few hours...most snow we've gotten this early in the year for quite some time. It looks...so beautiful. Gah. Yay, snowball fight study breaks!</p>
<p>I was just about to mention that too! It's so beautiful and fluffy. I'm in Lancaster and it's still falling here- maybe we'll get some decent accumulation.</p>
<p>No pros allowed! Please! There are already too many...</p>
<p>Haha, well... Maybe some people hate snow?</p>
<p>I'll pretend for their sake.</p>
<p>Bah snow! It'll get all dirty and slushy! Bah snowball fights!</p>
<p>...I gave it a shot.</p>
<p>To make this post worthwhile, I'll post one negative aspect(one that doesn't really affect my decisions, but could with someone else's).</p>
<p>NO ONE knows anything about Swarthmore. I'm not sure about employers, but the people around here don't even know it and I live an hour away.</p>
<p>Brillar, that is actually a really good point. Most people on the street will not know Swarthmore and its reputation, so if you're looking for the wow factor in everyday conversation, Swat might not be right for you. Of course, I could argue how it's actually useful to be able to fly under the radar sometimes, but that would be a pro, so I'll stop here.</p>
<p>But then the fact that nobody does know about it means that the student population weeds out a huge Yale/Harvard contingent...</p>
<p>AH. NO. I'M PRO-ING.</p>
<p>Snow can't be anything but a pro from my perspective...here in LA everyone's lamenting our second day of rain all year.</p>
<p>I can think of a few cons as someone who's been here a few years...</p>
<p>Of the people I know, I'm pretty sure all of them are clinically depressed, and it may or may not be a direct result of being here. The workload is heavy, the pressure to "make something of your life" and "better the world" intense, and the 1400 student campus often claustrophobic. </p>
<p>...that said, there's a real pro: free Psych Services, drugs included! You'll learn to appreciate it once you come here. Unless, of course, all the therapy slots are taken for the rest of the semester, as became the case two weeks ago.</p>
<p>Love!</p>
<p>^Does anyone else think that this isn't for real?</p>
<p>The Swatties I know are very happy people and it just seemed like making one post with all the stereotypical cons of Swarthmore seems a little suspicious.</p>
<p>I guess it's a good thing that I'm obsessed with being overworked, haha!</p>
<p>I have to LOL at the "Does anyone else think that this isn't for real?" comment... I love the idea that there's some giant conspiracy theory of competing admissions boards trolling minor posts JUST so they can get you into Harvard/Yale/Princeton. It's kind-of cute.</p>
<p>I have to say amen, Swarthygirl. An honest expression of opinion regarding the problems of the institution is a vital piece of information that I wish I had been able to consider when I came to Swat.</p>
<p>I can second the Psych Services comment from a friend of mine who got turned away a week ago during an emotional crisis for those same reasons. Oops!</p>
<p>Also, have some more cons:
- The "Oh Jesus, Nobody Knows About Me!" thing CAN be serious if you aren't financially privileged enough to find yourself blessed with independent wealth or useful connections into fields in which you wish to be employed. I had heard and thought this was exaggerated, but it wasn't. If you come, you're going to need to find ways independent of the college as an academic institution to boost your credentials and prove that you're a worthwhile person to anyone who doesn't know what the school is or what it is like. This can be difficult, too, if you don't have connections. Take advantage of any rare opportunity of there being a Swat alum in an application board. They may have gone through the same thing. The only realm where I think that this con doesn't consistently apply is in going to grad. school, which is probably a small reason why we pump out so many PhDs and Masters.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>It's really annoying that the school doesn't provide any credit at all for internships (or, rather, hasn't in any cases I've ever heard of), and doesn't like to support internships that aren't outside a few categories (social justice, government, hard science, academia).</p></li>
<li><p>Uneven services (highs AND lows-- not going to claim there aren't any pros) for a school that has one of the highest per capita endowments and highest raw endowments in the NATION. </p></li>
<li><p>Small number of professors in an absolute sense leads to issues when you want to either (a) take a class you find yourself interested in that the school doesn't even begin to broach (but isn't exceptionally obscure) without using up your usually very minimal amounts of time to go to Bi-Co or UPenn (which are Pros in an absolute sense) or (b) take a class with a professor who is known to teach in a way that you are receptive to. (B) can be especially frustrating when you run into a stereotypical "horror of tenure" who is nonetheless teaching a major requirement or class that you perceive as being integral to your academic interests.</p></li>
<li><p>Science classes with (3-6+) hour lab periods are worth the same amount of credit as any other class that isn't a language course or an honors seminar. I still don't understand the reasoning behind this, and I've never received a real answer from the administration.</p></li>
<li><p>Intensity leads to guilt whenever you do something that isn't work-related. As soon as you get a bad/mediocre grade, you beat yourself over those two hours you decided to go see a play when, really, you could've been writing that term paper for thirty two hours instead of thirty.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Not saying in any way, shape, or form that there there aren't any "Pros" (there are enough threads for those), but to be afraid of ANYTHING even hinting at negativity is untenable.</p>
<p>I made the comment because I think it's a little odd that someone would join, make ONE post which exaggerates one of the negative aspects of Swarthmore. I would have looked at it seriously if it came from someone who has been posting reguarly since they were accepted to Swarthmore.</p>
<p>It just seemed Swarthygirl's post was a bit over-the-top, not EVERYONE at Swarthmore is clinically depressed.</p>
<p>And, nope, I don't think that Yale is creating accounts in hope that I'll go there- It's just that I have to consider that a student that doesn't even GO to Swarthmore wrote it. Because of the lack of other posts, I can't really verify the source.</p>
<p>Anywho, I noticed the negative aspects you mentioned before I applied ED- some worry me a little. Don't worry, I know not everything is going to be gumdrops and lollipops. It's good that those are listed there, I just was a little surprised at the tone...</p>
<p>It seems to really just depend on who you talk to...most freshmen (myself included) are still idealistic and not jaded about being at Swat for four years yet...lots of seniors are ready to get out, on the other hand.</p>