<p>According to the interview I read with James Bock, it is technically a mandate that the Admissions Office give a preference to Quakers -- probably a codicile in an old endowment gift. As a practical matter, the Admissions Office ignores it.</p>
<p>Having said that, if you are a practicing Quaker, you probably have something that might work as a hook in your Why Swat essay. There are strong Quaker elements in many aspects of Swarthmore, including the informal concensus governing structure.</p>
<p>The Hicksite / Orthodox split between Haverford and Swarthmore is ancient history. Both are firmly in the FGC / unprogrammed Friends meeting universe, rather than the FUM / programmed meeting universe. Earlham is in an area of the country where programmed meetings are more numerous, but we've had folks from my old (unprogrammed North Pacific Yearly Meeting) monthly meeting go to Earlham and like it quite a lot.</p>
<p>My understanding is that a Quaker background or membership in a monthly meeting may well be a plus for admission to Haverford, Earlham and Guilford, but has essentially no impact on admissions at Swarthmore, although I imagine it could be a "tip" factor in rare cases. As interesteddad writes, it could well be the basis of a good "Why Swarthmore" essay.</p>
<p>The admissions office has a list of things that give preference. There are ~ten items on the list—Athletics is at/near the top, legacy is in the bottom half, and Quakerism is (if I'm remembering correctly) the last one down.</p>
<p>Forget the "Quaker" thing. The school uses it as a subtle marketing device. The school's principal objectives are to (a) make it as elite, prestigious, and selective as possible and (b) increase the size of its whopping endowment. Neither goal is particularly "Quaker" in nature. (Just imagine what George Fox would think of today's Swarthmore; he'd probably view it as a High Church Episcopalian culture.) Plenty of alums and parents of current students will no doubt reply with all kinds of rants about Swarthmore having societal "values," but this is no different from any other liberal arts college.</p>