<p>My son wants to attend an academically challenging school with a strong Division III soccer program. Does anyone have information about the Swarthmore Men's Soccer team which is nationally-ranked? How well do athletes and non-athletes mix?</p>
<p>pmyen:</p>
<p>Of course, athletic teams form a social network at any college. However, from all evidence I have seen, Swarthmore's athletic teams are highly integrated into the overall campus culture. In fact, it's one of the defining characteristics of the school's athletic programs: Swattie first, athlete second. There are no "jock" dorms...it's pretty much impossible for any group to "take over" a dorm at Swarthmore due to the housing system...at most, groups of students might be able to congregate on a hall, but still interspersed with other students.</p>
<p>The two teams that are the most stereotypically "jock culture" are men's lacrosse and men's baseball. These two teams make up the majority of the membership in the two fraternities. However, even this is a mixed bag. As a freshman, my daughter lived on a hall with a group of senior lacrosse players and found them to be excellent academic mentors, etc. There are very few students at Swarthmore who fit the pure jock or pure frat boy mold. You just don't read any references to jock versus non-jock divisions in the student body.</p>
<p>Men's soccer team members are prohibited by the coach's rules from joining one of the frats. Like many Swarthmore students (jock or otherwise), some of the soccer players hang out at the non-residential frat lodges. Some don't.</p>
<p>Perhaps the best indicator is the number of Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll players. By conference rules, this award goes to sophmore, junior, and senior athletes with a 3.4 or higher GPA -- which is not a low bar at Swarthmore. In fact, it would be pretty much impossible to maintain a 3.4 GPA at Swarthmore without working dilligently, participating in class, etc (or being utterly brilliant). There just aren't many "gut" courses.</p>
<p>Of the nineteen eligible players on the men's soccer team last fall, seven were on the conference Academic Honor Roll, including one Engineering major and one Honors Econ major (both very demanding academically). There were also seven in the fall of 2005. And nine in the fall of 2004. Those percentages probably mirror very closely the overall percentages of Swatties with 3.4 or higher GPAs.</p>
<p>I'm a current student at Swarthmore, and I have to disagree somewhat with interesteddad. While I do agree that, overall, there isn't much of a jock culture at Swarthmore, there is still an "athletic presence". I would have to say that the most stereotypically jock-y team at Swat is definitely men's soccer. In addition, I can think of at least one men's soccer player that is an official member of a frat...If he is "breaking" the coach's rules, I don't know. The athletes at Swarthmore stick together somewhat, but there is also a lot intermingling.</p>
<p>I wonder if we are using "jocky" in a different sense? As one of Swarthmore's strongest teams, I imagine that men's soccer must be one of the most seriously athletic of the teams in terms of training, etc.</p>
<p>However, in many years, I don't recall ever seeing the name of a soccer player involved in any drinking incidents in the Phoenix, etc. -- frat fights, arrests, etc. I was using "jocky" more in the sense of the quintessentially jock/frat scene.</p>