<p>This past Saturday we visited UPenn in the morning, and then drove out to look at Swarthmore in the afternoon. Unfortunately, info sessions and tours are not offered on the weekend, so we walked around the campus by ourselves with a map I had downloaded from the school's website. Although the campus was gorgeous, the "tone" seemed to be very quiet and reserved -- so much so that my son remarked that it felt like a very rich rehab center. Can any current or former student comment on the social aspects at Swarthmore. Did we just visit at a bad time? Or is the school always so quiet and staid.</p>
<p>Swat doesn’t have summer classes. The students who are there for the summer are working during the week, and they’re either living in rentals (mostly in profs’ houses) or in the off-campus dorm, Mary Lyon, so they’re not hanging out on campus on Saturday afternoons. </p>
<p>If your son is otherwise interested, give it another try in the fall. I’m an alum and parent of a rising senior and a first-year-to-be. None of the former or current students I know would call it “staid,” but you’ll get a much more accurate picture when students are back on campus.</p>
<p>Graduation was more than a month ago, and there won’t be classes until the beginning of September. You visited at a very bad time for seeing students. When classes are in session, it certainly does not feel like a rehab center.</p>
<p>As others have said, it was probably extremely quiet when you went, because there was pretty much nobody on campus. Even with students on campus, it’s usually quiet and serene, which I like. Students are generally pretty spread out on campus. Sometimes it’s noisy, like when it’s a really nice day and people are outside, playing frisbee or whatever. There are definitely times when I walk around campus and I say to myself, “Gee, it is quiet!” Sometimes I wonder if the whole campus is just empty. Then you walk into the library or to a soccer game and that’s where people are. Generally you’ll see people on campus in McCabe, Cornell, in their dorm rooms, in the science center lounge, at some talk, or in Parrish, but since there are only about 1500 people spread across a large campus, it’s never really loud, unless you’re in a group of generally loud people or at a party or in a large group setting, like a Parlor Party. And there are some students who are on study abroad. I really like the quiet, serene atmosphere. It’s relaxing, but you know that there are people around doing their own thing.</p>
<p>My daughter tells me that Pub Nite can be loud when everyone is standing on chairs singing Madonna’s Like a Virgin.</p>
<p>Part of the problem with campus visits is that they can just as easily mislead as illuminate, especially if you visit when school isn’t in session. </p>
<p>That said, when my son and I visited Swarthmore (and Haverford) a few years ago, during a time when school was in session, the campus did seem to have a very subdued – almost hushed – quality to it. And as we walked around, we sometimes found ourselves wondering where everyone was, as they certainly weren’t outside (except for the occasional student, or two, here and there).</p>
<p>But like so many things, atmosphere tends to be very much in the eye of the beholder. (What’s attractively “serene” to one person can feel like a “rehab center” to another.) As others have said, if your son has any real interest, he really ought to return for another visit when school is in session.</p>
<p>I think that even when people visit during the year, if it’s not a nice day or if it’s during a 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock tour (when nearly everyone is in class - during the 12 o’clock people get to see students in Sharples), people end up thinking that campus is really empty, when it seems to make a whole lot of sense that people won’t be hanging outside when it’s raining/cold, and that because we’re a small campus, most people are in class during the same few set times. After 4 on nice days, campus usually looks quite a bit busier, but generally, no one visits then. </p>
<p>As everyone else has said, come back during the schoolyear - if he really wants to get a feel for the school, he should do an overnight. :]</p>
<p>Although it’s often easiest for families to visit campuses in the summer, as everyone else is saying, that is a really, really bad time to visit a liberal arts college because so few students are there. My daughter found two things crucial to visits that helped her make a decision about college: the student tour guide and the class visit. At each school, for better or worse, the student tour guide is your window into campus life and academic culture. My daughter sat in on one or two classes at each school she visited. She was able to see the engagement of students in learning and sample the quality of teaching. On both counts, Swarthmore showed itself to be the strongest fit for her of all the colleges we visited. We didn’t find the overnight in the dorm helpful for making a college decision, but some students find that helpful too.</p>
<p>I think you just dated your daughter, we’ve moved on to Closing Time these days.</p>
<p>Merriam Webster definition of staid:
“marked by settled sedateness and often prim self-restraint” </p>
<p>We first visited Swarthmore when my d was junior in hs (Spring of 2007). The school was in session and she did the usual things, tour, class visit, etc. It was the last school we visited before flying home. The campus was gorgeous exploding with blooming trees. It was quiet and my daughter described it as “pastoral.” She expressed concern that the students seemed “subdued.” </p>
<p>Having spent most of my working years in academia, I wanted to make sure that she gave Swarthmore a “fair” opportunity. I knew that it would be a great fit for her and that she would have access to a superb academic experience. However, ultimately the decision had to be hers. She returned to campus twice during her senior year and did two overnight stays. Each time she returned enthused about the academic environment and exchanges with the faculty. Each time she said that the students were very nice and each time she expressed concern with whether the kids ever had fun. </p>
<p>Fast forward to decision time. She had applied regular decision everywhere and fortunately was faced with some very tough decisions to make by May 1. </p>
<p>A month before the regular acceptance letters went out, Swarthmore sent her an early acceptance letter, letting her know that the school really wanted her. This made her feel great but she still harbored concerns about whether the students would be silly enough. I ventured to this site and had private exchanges with two parents who reassured me that there was plenty of silliness and fun at Swarthmore, right along with the academic rigor. I shared the information with her and with trepidation she decided ultimately on Swarthmore. We reassured her that if she did not like it there, she could always transfer.</p>
<p>Some time in the middle of the Fall semester of her freshman year, I was surprised to receive an e-mail from her. She was thanking me for “pushing” her towards Swarthmore. She was happy there, had made great friends and was having a wonderful time with plenty of opportunities for silliness. I should add that academically she is doing wonderfully and working hard, but she still makes time to be involved in those things that are important to her.</p>
<p>This summer she has been away from home at an internship where there are students from other very reputable schools. After spending time with them, she told me about a week ago how grateful she is to be at Swarthmore surrounded with students who are not only smart, but genuine. </p>
<p>I realize that I have posted a very lenghty comment, but I wanted to share that the calmness of the campus while classes are in session should not be confused with “prim self-restraint” as defined in the quotation I posted above. Students at Swarthmore have plenty of opportunities to engage in fun that is neither prim, nor self-restrained (which is not usually shared with visiting prospects) as crunk-fest will attest.</p>
<p>Is Swarthmore for everyone? Absolutely not, but for those students who fit well within the ethical and social responsibility so imbued in Swarthmore’s ethos, it is a wonderful place where they can grow into becoming socially responsible, thinking young adults, while still managing to have have fun.</p>
<p>Great post, Dramatica! My D and I had the same concern as your D after visiting in the spring. Yet everything tells us it’s a great college, and probably a good fit overall. What made you so certain that Swat would be a good fit for your D?</p>
<p>I just want to comment a bit on dramatica’s post. I think that, for me, Swarthmore is a very good place to go to college. There are plenty of people who are interested in ethical and social responsibility, enjoy learning, and do well in their studies who would hate to go to Swarthmore. It’s really important to visit and do an overnight stay before you decide to come here. Fortunately, we have the admitted students weekend.</p>
<p>Fauxnom,</p>
<p>I was a higher ed administrator at large university for over 20 years until the grass looked so much greener in the classroom with summers off, that I made a switch over 5 years ago. In both roles I have had an opportunity to get to know other institutions and colleagues. I did not think that Swarthmore would be the only good fit, but I knew that it would be one of the best. </p>
<p>You asked what made me so certain and I need to explain that although I had a gut feeling that once there she would be happy, there was always a fear in the back of mind that I could be wrong. My gut feeling, that she would fit in, was based on my knowledge of the institution as a professional. My fear was based on my parental doubts that I could be wrong and that her apprehension could be correct. </p>
<p>Faculty and administrators who are treated well by their employer tend to be happier in the classroom. Students who are treated with respect tend to be happier at their school. I knew that both of these elements were present at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>My d is very smart and inquisitive. She is also very sensitive and caring. She is outgoing, but she marches to her own beat and is an independent thinker. She is also a very talented actor, dancer and writer who attended magnet arts schools from middle school through high school and summer intensive programs. A BFA program would have been too restrictive for her intellectual curiosity but both my husband and I felt strongly that she would thrive at a small liberal arts college, provided that she could continue to have an outlet for her creative endeavors. As a result, since I was in the “academic trade,” but not in the theater arena, despite by moniker in this forum, I made it my business to research non BFA programs at liberal arts schools. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Swarthmore had an excellent theater program. </p>
<p>Although I had been intimately familiar with the over all quality of a Swarthmore education and the reputation of some of its programs, I had no familiarity with the theater department. After “researching” the curriculum, faculty background, resources allocated by the college and calling upon colleagues in the theater arena, Swarthmore became a “must” visit during junior year and “over-night” stay during her senior year. Ultimately, during Ride the Tide, a very frank conversation with the Chair of the Theater Department, who most generously took the time to sit down with her and go over her available choices and pros and cons of the other schools and programs, it became clear to her that the level of faculty interest and concern for students was a very important factor in any choice. I should add that during prior visits, this professor had remained accessible and willing to answer her questions. His kindness and candor won her over. By decision time, I was feeling more reassured about my gut instincts, and continued to reassure my D that she could always transfer to another school if she was ultimately unhappy with her choice.</p>
<p>The whole reason for attending a liberal arts school is to be able to broaden perspectives and interests. Some schools are better than others at letting students do their “own thing.” Like many of the kids at Swarthmore, she is interested in a variety of subjects, but since Swarthmore is the type of school that is willing to let students meld their interests into special majors and spends its resources on students more willingly than other institutions, I knew that it would be a great fit for her. </p>
<p>My D will be a Sophomore in the Fall. The kindness and interest demonstrated by the Chair of the theater department was echoed by other professors in other departments where she took classes. I have no doubt that ultimately she will make a living in theater either writing or performing, but I really do not know whether she will ultimately “major” in theater at Swarthmore, or not. However, whether she majors in it or not, it will not matter because she will always have access to the opportunities offered by the department. She has so many ideas and things that she wants to explores that I am grateful that she was fortunate enough to attend a school where she does not have to fit into a mold and she can be free to be herself.</p>
<p>I will also share that just as I knew that Swarthmore would be a great fit, I also knew that she would be miserable at a school where football, fraternities and sororities control the social scene. I hope this has answered your question and helped you zero in on some of your own feelings.</p>
<p>Very helpful; thanks! I also work in higher ed but on the opposite side of the country, so I’m always happy to get inside info.</p>
<p>bm 10 char</p>
<p>this is a serious question?</p>
<p>“[…] is the school always so quiet and staid.”</p>
<p>though that ended with a period i’m assuming it’s a question. no, it’s only quiet and staid during the summer when no one’s there. when students are there it’s not quiet, because there are students there.</p>
<p>Also, “staid” implies a sort of straight-laced primness, which doesn’t even come close to describing the vibe at Swat.</p>
<p>Staid? Ahahaha. Come visit around the time of Crunkfest. You’ll wish for some more staidness…<em>eye bleach</em>.</p>