<p>I heard that at Swarthmore students from every course live in same hall. Is that right? I thought every college did not allow studnets from classes of different years live together.
Furthemore, is it a misconception that swarthmore courseload is much more difficult than that in other colleges?</p>
<p>Most dorms at Swarthmore have residents from all years, from first year students to seniors. In particular, there are no “all first year” dorms. I don’t know what every other college’s policy is, but this can’t be completely unique to Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Students typically take 4 courses per semester for a total of 32 over their 8 semesters. I think this is the usual course load at other semester-based colleges. The academic intensity of these courses is high, however. Students and faculty have high expectations for the amount of work done in each course. </p>
<p>It is hard to get an empirical comparison of the difficulty of Swarthmore courses compared to other colleges. My daughter took courses at Haverford and at Penn while at Swarthmore and found them somewhat less challenging than she though an equivalent course at Swarthmore would be. Visiting professors are sometimes felt to be teaching at too slow a pace when they teach a class at Swarthmore. So there is some reason to believe that a typical Swarthmore course is more challenging than an equivalent course at other colleges.</p>
<p>dadx3, I thought the fact that freshmen can live with older students was an advantage for swarthmore. I mean I know many people who wanted to use this point in their why essays. Courseload, I actually don’t know, just read it on forum.</p>
<p>OP, I would think no all-freshmen dorms being an advantage or disadvantage is subjective. If it seems to you like it’s an advantage that Swarthmore has over other schools you’ve visited, (and that excites you) then sure, why not talk about it in the “Why” essay? My point is: I think you need to see it as either an advantage or disadvantage based on what YOU want in your college experience.</p>
<p>Also, I think you may be confusing “courseload” for “workload.”</p>
<p>If I have not visited to any other colleges? :)</p>