<p>The thread title pretty much explains it. This is going to be an incredibly tough decision, and I need all the help I can get. I hope it's not excessive or obnoxious that I've posted this thread in all three forums; I'm interested in getting some balanced or at least equally biased input from various sources. Some useful information:</p>
<p>Prospective majors: Mathematics and Physics (but uncertain...also interested in Music, Philosophy, Art History, and Swat's Interpretation Theory minor)</p>
<p>I'm from a small college town (town's putting it strongly...village?) in upstate New York, so I know how miserable such an atmosphere can be. I was initially looking almost exclusively at urban universities [I EDed at Columbia (deferred --> rejected)], but Swarthmore's campus is beautiful and Philadelphia is, I hear, relatively accessible. I do love Chicago though, and the West Coast. </p>
<p>As is probably apparent from my college list finalists, I expect to work hard in college. If anyone has some unique insight into these colleges' social and academic atmospheres, especially compared to one another, I'd really appreciate your advice. </p>
<p>I'm sure there's some info that might be useful that I've neglected to include...just ask. Thanks for your advice.</p>
<p>Those are three schools where the intellectual vibe is pretty similar, and they are all high quality, so you really can’t go wrong much. I don’t think it’s any secret that the opportunities and resources in math and physics at Chicago are several orders of magnitude beyond what Swat or Pomona can offer, but there’s no question that you can start at either of those places and wind up as a first-rate mathematician or physicist. Swat even has an accredited engineering program if you want engineering in an elite LAC environment.</p>
<p>Chicago as a major research university has more of everything, including graduate students and large classes (but not many of them). Swat and Pomona both solve that problem to some extent by being part of a consortium. It works much better at Pomona, where you can walk to the other colleges and they share a main library. But at Swarthmore you can take classes at Penn, too. It’s not totally convenient, but it’s doable – and that could be really important in math and physics, where you could get tired of the Swat faculty by the time you are a senior. Swarthmore’s honors program, by the way, which involves a real thesis defense and a committee including outside scholars, is the most impressive such program I know about.</p>
<p>It’s really easy to get into Philadelphia from Swarthmore, by the way – half the adult residents of the town do it every morning. It’s a 30-minute train ride from a station that is essentially on campus. The trains run at least once an hour, but cut off around midnight. Cabs are expensive, but doable if shared. The college also has a big zipcar program. And there’s a pretty big mall you can walk to from campus, less than a mile away.</p>
<p>Personally, I would pick Chicago in a heartbeat, but reasonable people could differ on this. In terms of quality of academic experience and of your fellow students, they are all so close that it’s completely legit to make your decision based on stuff like suburbs vs. city, LAC intimacy vs. research university energy, California vs. Midwest vs. East Coast, how much you like walking in Swarthmore’s gorge . . . .</p>
<p>I was making a similar decision last year (Chicago v. Swat), and I ended up picking Chicago over Swat after visiting both. I would say the main reasons were the Core, the fact that it’s a medium-sized college, and the city, because for me the vibes at the two schools were fairly similar and the academics were also somewhat similar (although I felt as though there was more interdisciplinary research at Chicago - but I could be totally wrong about this). I really like the philosophy behind the Core, especially coming out of an IB program, and I wanted a little bit of that kind of structure in college. I originally thought I would prefer a smaller school, but after visiting both, I realized that Chicago was not actually as huge as I thought it would be and I seemed to like that size better. As for the city, from some of the students I talked to at Swat, it’s easy to get to Philly, but many students don’t take the initiative and are stuck in a campus bubble. I really wanted to use opportunities available in a big city. Granted, in Hyde Park you have to take initiative too, but here I got the vibe that more students just did that (And I started getting involved off-campus like my 3rd week here). In the end, it might have just come down to the fact that my gut told me “Chicago”, but don’t ever fear that you’ve picked wrong. There are plenty of people on the Swarthmore board who chose between the two and are perfectly happy with their pick as well. Hope this helped; good luck!</p>
<p>That’s funny. I made the exact same decision in November when applying. I almost went with Swarthmore ED, but decided I wasn’t sure enough of where I wanted to go to do that. What made me decide to go to Chicago over Swat: I felt like Swarthmore was just a little bit too small, not necessarily in size, but by its isolation, as well. The town of Swarthmore and the surrounding area is just somewhat lacking. I wanted a bit more structure in my education and Chicago’s Core was just that. Though I looked at Swat’s Honors Program and really felt like I would fit in well, I chose Chicago in the end. This is a win-win decision and plenty of people are jealous of the position you’re in.</p>
<p>This post may not be too helpful, but i’ll still talk.
In a way, i’ve been in your exact position (i’m a 15’er) but in my case, life made the decision for me. At first, I thought Swat was it for me, and I would fit in there perfectly etc, I used to imagine myself there all the time. I applied there ED, and EA’d Chicago (because it was so similar). Got rejected ED, got in EA. Now, I wondered whether to apply to Pomona or not - I always wanted to go to an LAC. However, after talking to people I realized that Chicago was like an LAC in its own ways, and a big college/university had its advantages. Plus, Chicago was great for my potential majors (Phy, Econ), and I had family in Chicago. Long story short, I ended up applying to Pomona but withdrew my application and accepted Chicago. </p>
<p>Like antidote said, you’re in an amazing win-win position. If you can, visit the three/go to the admitted students days. (that is/was/wouldnt be an option from me, as i’m international)</p>
<p>great answers, thanks!! i do plan on attending ride the tide at swarthmore and the pomona accepted students day. i also hope to go to something at uchicago, but i won’t be able to make either of the admitted students overnights, basically because i’m a triplet–you can imagine what my family’s april schedule looks like. i’ve also already visited uchicago, which is not the case for swat or pomona. again, thank you all, your input is very helpful.</p>