@DramaMama2021 , is your daughter a junior? My sophomore daughter had to pass a swim test last year … that would have taken W&L off the list for me, but I’m so glad it didn’t phase her because she’s had a great experience there. She took badminton spring term and is now in aerobic running.
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Yes, she’s a junior.
I was told the swim test was going away starting this fall, but I just found a FAQ about the swim test still on the W&L site. So perhaps my information is incorrect… at the least it seems the timing of any possible policy change is after this year’s class.
Thanks for the correction. 
I’m glad your D is having a great experience!
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I’m mildly surprised that in all this discussion of swim tests, nobody (unless I missed something) has mentioned concerns over the ways that college swim tests reinforce structural racism (Chronicle of Higher Education, and thus probably paywalled), and which is the stated reason for a lot of colleges getting rid of the requirement over the past couple decades.
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Excellent point.
It’s been a serious topic of conversation at W&L the past few years for exactly that reason. That is where I got the information about the swim test going away.
Now I’m curious about the current plans so think I’ll reach out to OIE for an update.
The irony. It was because of racism that many college-aged black students in the South DIDN’T know how to swim because of lack of access to public pools. Schools like UNC were requiring the test ( and providing the PE classes and trainig to learn how to swim), which helps solve this disparity and provides a crucial safety skill. Learning to swim isn’t racist. Preventing swimming is.
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No good deed goes unpunished.
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Some recent-ish info
We were told that the Doremus family made it a requirement of their donation to build the gym, sounds like that may be a myth.
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Thanks. That’s what I found too when I looked earlier today so you’ve confirmed I found the latest public information.
The article you posted was written by a kid/family we know so that’s what prompted me looking into the topic a couple years ago. I’ll keep looking to see if the followup I’m remembering was in writing or just a conversation.
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According to this article, there were 24 children who drowned in Louisiana in 2020 and estimating 25 in 2021. In 96% of the cases, the children didn’t know how to swim.
This CDC data provides more info, including on the rate of drownings across all U.S. states. Alaska, Hawaii, and Montana are those with higher drowning rates than Louisiana.
And a snip of the map for those who don’t go to the website:
As getting into the water is a one of the least expensive ways of cooling off, and we’ve just had a summer of extraordinary heat across much of the U.S., knowing how to swim is most definitely an equity and safety issue.
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If we are talking about the same student, she very openly stated that she indeed checked the boxes for being open to alternate campuses, was admitted to Oakland, and there was MUCH discussion and some fairly strong criticism that she clearly never could leave Boston for personal/medical reasons.
She also contradicted herself endlessly in the very long threads.
Isn’t it ethically questionable to check any box other than Boston if you know you can’t travel? And then to seemingly put the squeeze on NE to push them to reconsider, and then further accommodate a whole host of significant special needs?
It’s not about this applicant’s personal situation, which sounds like a tough one; it’s about the way it played out. NE was backed into a corner, and as many people noted on the thread, it was a game that the applicant played very well and won.
Our family friend whom I referenced checked the boxes and then lived with the results. Why shouldn’t everyone?
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To be fair, Northeastern caved to everyone and changed policy so London and Oakland students could transfer to Boston after one year. I believe that Oakland was originally a transfer after two years only for major and London was transfer after three. They are having a hard time filling these new campuses and that’s likely going to lead to further overcrowding in Boston as they have to offer more time there to get kids to commit to the new campuses.
Yes. It seemed (by this small sample) that people checked the boxes hoping it would increase the chances of acceptance but then were upset to not get Boston.
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“Do I contradict myself?/ Very well then I contradict myself”—Whitman
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Amherst ended their swim test requirement in 1973 after a student drowned while trying to pass his swim test:
Williams voted to remove the requirement last year:
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The Amherst student drowning is tragic. I can see how it could happen. In the 90s when I took my swimming test at W&L it was a mass event, with tons of kids in the pool at the same time. I like the option to take the test privately or not at all and simply take the intro class. At the same time, I’m not entirely sure it’s the role of a college to ensure that everyone can swim. But I do think everyone should learn to swim and colleges should at least offer the opportunity to take intro classes.
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When my brother was in high school his private all boys school had a swim test. They lined up in a row and jumped in together- one kid immediately sank to the bottom and the teacher jumped in (in his khakis and dress shirt) to pull him out. The kid was too embarrassed to admit he didn’t know how, and thought it didn’t look that hard and he’d be able to fake it/copy the other kids. This was in the late 80s I think. I know some public schools (in ca maybe?) have swim lessons as part of the pe rotation in elementary school, I wish that was more universal.
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I can confirm that there was no swim test for this year’s freshman class at W&L.
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Oh! Thank you! I thought I was going crazy.
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They should update the web site!
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We had a swim unit required in high school. Our PE classes were different units you could pick from, each about 6 weeks - golf, bowling, basketball, tennis, etc. You had to take one swimming unit per year where if you knew how to swim you just swam laps and if you didn’t you learned to swim. Most ‘city’ kids knew how to swim because there were pools around town, but many ‘farm’ kids didn’t know how to swim so they had stroke instruction.
Sophomores and juniors also had to take the dance unit - 8 weeks of square dance. waltz, and polka. It was a blast but many wouldn’t have taken it if it wasn’t required.
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