<p>I have a friend who is at Swat now, and am currently considering applying. There is some talk about grade deflation (yes, the t-shirts, among other things) on campus, and I was wondering how that affects students when they try to get into grad schools. I've heard in the past that grad schools make exceptions for Swat because they know how it is, but I heard recently from my friend that a prof told her this is absolutely not true. I'm not so concerned about the grades I get in Swat as long as I come out knowing something, but I don't want to suffer later on because of them.</p>
<p>There has been grade inflation at Swarthmore since the 1970s, but perhaps not as much as some other schools. Graduate schools rely more on grades and less on personal contacts/recommendations of professors than they used to. But I think this varies by field. My impression is that medical schools in particular look at grades closely. But Swarthmore has a very high placement rate at medical schools.</p>
<p>My advice is, if you know what area you would think of going to graduate school, to contact the department at Swarthmore and ask them about their placements in graduate schools. How many go, and what grad schools they get in to. I suspect you will find that graduates from Swarthmore go to very good graduate schools.</p>
<p>Hey... the median GPA at swat is around 3.3, which is approximately the same as williams and amherst (although lower than harvard and stanford). Graduate schools know, and are very impressed by swarthmore, which is why swarthmore sends more students per capita to grad school than almost any other school. You get the best of both worlds - in reality there isn't grade inflation, but schools think there is, so are impressed by grades that are good, but not great. love, an alum</p>