<p>Andi, thanks for asking. D had a wonderful time; I've been a little teary-eyed since we got back. (I offered to homeschool her for college and told her, as one of my selling points, that as she was the only admit to my college, if she accepted I'd have a 100% selectivity rate, which is higher even than Harvard's. But she said no.)</p>
<p>I was a little late for the parents' forum and took my seat just as Jim Bock was reeling off the list of the accomplishments of the admitted class. Just about the first thing I heard him list was something my daughter had done, and that was quite a thrill for me. (She was thrilled to hear the same thing when he enumerated that same list of accomplishments at the students' panel discussion.) Most of what everybody said at the parents' panel did reinforce the fact that my daughter had chosen her college well, so that did make me happy. </p>
<p>In general, they were interested in dispelling two overlapping myths--that the academics would be too rigorous for some of the kids, and that the need to study would be so paramount that the students would do nothing BUT study. In answer to the first, Dean Bock said, "Our only mistakes are the students we do not admit, not the ones we do." In answer to the second, some current students listed their many activities. (They did all admit, however, that few kids got 8 hours of sleep each night.) But they also made it clear that the love of learning was pervasive through the school, citing the example of one teacher even getting together with a handful of kids each week in the summer to talk about what they had been reading. "Learning across differences" is the phrase someone used that sticks in my mind, emphasizing the education, the diversity, and the community.</p>
<p>D's report of her two-day visit was glowing. She wasn't going to be able to make the Classics open-house, and was impressed that when she passed the office of the Head of the Classics department, and saw that the door was open, she went in and explained the situation and asked if the Professor would be able to speak to her right then. They had a wonderful talk. She went to a few other open houses, and heard at least one special lecture (which also had a small group and large group discussion), but decided not to sit in on any classes, as she had sat in on so many during her overnight in October. She spent a good deal of time socializing. I thought it was great that all the students were interested in meeting people and making friends and making plans to have breakfast together. She reported that she never saw anybody standing or sitting alone. She also mentioned that someone told her that people make friends with kids from all the different years in school--lst year students are friends with juniors, etc. So, even though it's a small school, with each admitted class the other kids have a chance to make nearly 400 potential new friends.</p>
<p>Her only complaint was that not all of the activities were represented at the activities fair, but understood that all in all that was not a big deal, and may have had something to do with the fact that the cold rain drove the activities fair inside, and perhaps there just wasn't room for more tables. Even without 100% full representation though, she still found about half a dozen tables that she was interested in. (Earlier in the day, I had stopped by those same tables and was most impressed with how poised and polite the students were when speaking with an adult, even after I gulped at the sex education materials.) She also went to a special debate demonstration and loved it. </p>
<p>One of the last things we did was skim over the authors represented in two large bookcases in the bookstore filled with books written by faculty, staff, and alumnae. She was delighted to find that one of the premier people in her intended field was a Swarthmore graduate. I was thrilled to see that Michael Meeropol (one of the Rosenberg boys) had gone to Swarthmore; I just felt that if he expected it, those many decades ago, to be a warm and welcoming place, then I couldn't go wrong in handing over my daughter to that same place.</p>