<p>Would a Haverford student's transfer chances to Swarthmore be higher than than that of other comparable colleges virtue of Haverford's association with Swarthmore?</p>
<p>As a high school senior who will be attending Haverford next year, may I ask what you dislike about Haverford to think about transferring? Sorry to hijack your thread! :)</p>
<p>Oh, it was just something i was curious about. I never said I disliked Haverford.</p>
<p>anyone? ->10 char<-</p>
<p>I have no particular knowledge, but I would think the transfer chances would be lower because Haverford is so similar to Swarthmore. Since Haverford students can already take classes at Swarthmore, what would be the reason for transfering? You like the food in Sharples better? You like Swarthmore dorms better? You like the R3 line better than the R5? None of those sound like a compelling reason to leave Haverford and transfer to Swarthmore.</p>
<p>It's a good question. I don't have idea:</p>
<p>On the plus side, you would (or could) have knowledge of Swarthmore that would allow you to prepare a compelling argument for wanting to transfer. Specific academic opportunities. Professors you've studied with. Student groups. I would think it's going to have include something that is a strength at Swarthmore and not offered or weak at Haverford.</p>
<p>On the downside, I can imagine and unspoken agreement to not poach each others' students, simply because the people at Swarthmore know their collegues at Haverford. I have no idea.</p>
<p>Frankly, the raw numbers of transfers is so small, that I don't know how any observer could even identify trends or tendencies.</p>
<p>If I were even contemplating a transfer, I would put together my best, most specific explanation of why (to be prepared for the inevitable question) and then hop on the van and go meet with Jim Bock or the head of transfer admissions at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>don't know what your chances would be, but good call.</p>
<p>The fall 2008 transfer group included one student from Haverford and one from Bryn Mawr. Although I am not certain of their particular reasons for transfer, I'm sure they had great ones. Just because they're LAC's in close proximity to one another does not mean they're equivalent. The campus cultures are VERY different, and some majors are only offered at one of the three schools. Sure, you can take advantage of tri-co courses at any of the schools, but truth be told, the shuttle schedule is terrible and discourages MANY people from taking courses at other schools. For example, I wanted to take a course at Bryn Mawr last semester, but would have to spend no less than six hours there three days out of the week due to the timing of the schedule. That seems really unreasonable, and it was only for one course.
Say you wanted to be a Linguistics major. Swat's the only school in the tri-co that offers that. Do you really want to take 8 courses at Swarthmore if your home school is half an hour away, disregarding wait time for each shuttle? What if you think our honors program is sexy? What if you just love our campus groups? Our (leat's face it, it's true) much more challenging courses? Our arboretum? I mean, Haverford and Bryn Mawr are fine schools, but there are plenty of reasons to transfer from them, and if you can articulate those reasons and your GPA has been solid, then Swarthmore won't think twice about considering you for transfer admittance.</p>
<p>The important thing to remember is that you need to have a ** really** good reason for wanting to transfer to Swat. There are many students applying for transfer who can't already take classes here, so the reason you provide on your application must be compelling.</p>
<p>I know someone who transferred here from Bryn Mawr so it's possible. I think you'd need a very compelling reason, though.</p>