I applied to swarthmore but after reading more stuff online, I’m not sure if its for me anymore. Many students have said they don’t like it and that the workload is unimaginable however some books I read say that the high workload is because of all the stuff students put on themselves from clubs and other EC’s? Can any current students comment if this is true?
I’ve never attended Swarthmore, but FWIW I’ve heard three people’s impressions, none of whom know each other. Sadly none were in the “I loved it!” mode. But they all had respect for the school.
The first is someone who calls it “Sweatmore” and had deep respect for the school. The second is a woman who attended and found herself in the weeds on Day 1 premed because the chem prof said: You all should have covered XYZ in high school. We will start on Chapter 3." She regretted heavily how behind this put her. Even so, her daughter was looking to attend Swat. The third is someone who graduated from Swat, went on to an Ivy law school, and has been an alumni interviewer for Swat.
This person confided to me of having at first been delighted to be at Swat. This person said that it was great to be among “smart” people having come from a high school that lauded the football team more than the intellectuals, and there were very few intellectuals. However over time this disappeared because the students seemed competitive with each other and found status in their relative smartness. This person also said that although Swat was part of the Tri-col consortium with Haverford and Bryn Mawr, because Swat’s campus was set in a more rural area (albeit on a train line into Philly) the setting felt much more isolated than the other two colleges, which were on older and more developed train lines, with more developed town centers. This person said that it was always a struggle whether to tell the prospective students being interviewed how much this person disliked attending Swat.
However, clearly many people love Swat. It’s a sought-after school. It depends on you and what you are looking for in a community. It seems that if you thrive on competitive, very smart and extremely clever intellectual communities, in a gorgeous setting, then maybe this is the right school for you.
^are you referencing people many years out of Swat, as it sounds? If so, I think any impressions should be taken with a huge grain of salt.
I’m an alum, so will not bore you with my own impressions of 30 years ago, but my son is currently attending. He’s not crazy with work, despite a double Engineering/CS major. He does in fact love it. He has friends, he sleeps, and he has very solid grades.
Excellent point about the age of the people who commented to me on Swarthmore. Things may have changed over the years.
I have two sons affiliated with Swat. One graduated in 2016, and one is a sophomore. The 2016 graduate was an English special major, had lots of time to devote to extracurricular activities, graduated with above 3.9 GPA and is attending a great funded graduate program. The sophomore is Chemistry major, has time to participate in clubs and has great grades. Both love it and have no regrets. According to them, students are not competitive with each other at all, rather they put pressure on themselves to succeed, like probably students at most other elite colleges.
My kid loves it. SWAT challenges him but he gets good grades. Visited buddies at other Philly schools and learned that SWAT has adequate social life.
I don’t think current students are tuned into CC.
I graduated recently so maybe I can provide an answer (and I made an account just for this question!).
I think the sheer amount of reading, writing, and thoughtfulness required for assignments was a large change for me coming from high school. The workload does occasionally get overwhelming, but it depends largely on the classes you’re taking that semester. For example, you wouldn’t want to take more than two classes with labs or multiple classes where you know you’ll be doing a lot of reading and writing. Oftentimes the most work intensive classes are seminars, which meet once a week and can be double credit (essentially taking the place of two classes). There’s also very little competition. People study and work together and grades are never discussed. Sometimes the workload does get incredibly stressful but professors are generally accommodating and there’s a great support network of friends going through the same intense learning experience!
Swat has a lot of clubs, mostly because it’s fairly simple to start your own club and get funded. How much time you decide to spend is entirely up to you. There’s very little pressure at Swat to approach your college experience one specific way (aside from the liberal leanings). Most people will engage in extracurriculars only because they want to. There are a ton of resources and support.
I hope the reputation doesn’t dissuade you from taking a closer look at the school. I loved my time there and would do it all over again if I could. Feel free to ask me any questions.
TL;DR Workload is intense but students are passionate about what they’re studying and what they do outside of class.