<p>I applied ED2 to Swarthmore, I was absolutely obsessed with it... but reading a lot of the posts here has been so discouraging. I am a workaholic of sorts and I thought that Swat would be a place where people had a lot of work, but where they really enjoy what they're doing and aren't complaning 24/7 about how little time they have to do anything else. It sounds like students are always bogged down in work, rarely go out to Philly, are really unhappy there, filling up Psych Services constantly, etc... And then the name recognition thing is something I honestly hadn't thought of, but I was planning to go to grad school anyway...</p>
<p>Am I the only ED2 (or RD, for that matter) person who has been worried by this forum? I just don't want to end up bound to a school that turns out to be not at all the place I thought I had fallen in love with...</p>
<p>Some of the people you'll find on CC are people who, because they are so unhappy, will purposely go on sites like this to discourage applicants, for whatever reason. Swat does have its downsides, I'm not about to hide that, but they certainly are not enough to force anyone into that kind of mindset. Often people have these reactions from non-Swat-related things: like coming into Swarthmore unprepared for the workload (which is rare, I think), being unfamiliar with Philly and therefore not wanting to visit, being away from home, being used to a competitive atmosphere, etc, whatever.</p>
<p>The Swatties you talk to are going to be a tiny sample of actual students - some, like me, are ridiculously happy, visit Philly almost every weekend, and love their work, and some will be like you described. No student has the same Swarthmore experience, so don't take what you read here to necessarily be representative of campus. Swarthmore is what you make of it - I make it the best for me, and you (if you get in) can certainly make it the best for you.</p>
<p>The suggestion above is a good one - stop reading if it makes you uncomfortable. I took lots of breaks from some of the pessimism here as an ED1 applicant last year!</p>
<p>I, personally, am pretty happy with Swat in general. Your sample on this board is going to be pretty skewed, because it tends to be unhappy students who post in places like this more than content students. </p>
<p>As for workload, everyone has to find their own balance and figure out what works for them. But from my experiences so far, and those of people I know, the majority of people manage to balance work and fun without too much trouble.</p>
<p>I will be the first to admit that I go on CC when I'm depressed/****ed off/moody/hopeless/bored,etc. Swarthmore is great for some, not for others. I was one of those "others." I haven't been on the boards for a while, but when I was here a couple years ago, I thought the students on the boards were too happy and excited about Swat. I thought I was injecting some truth. So looks like the group has changed, apparently? Don't be discouraged.
Remember that absolutely NOTHING can force you to feel a certain way.
I've changed my environment enough to know that its not Swat or California or whatever that makes me feel a certain way. Its me. And unfortunately, I always have to deal with me.</p>