<p>As a prospective student, I was wondering if any current students or graduates could comment on the party and drug scene as it currently exists at Swarthmore? Any and all input is appreciated.</p>
<p>I would say that the party scene at Swarthmore is similar in sheer number of occurrences to that of other schools, but the feel of the parties differs greatly. When I say this I mean to suggest that the parties that take place at Swat are not very reminiscent of college parties as displayed in the media. </p>
<p>Alcohol, in my experience, is by far the most widely used drug on campus (aside from caffeine), can easily be found, and (sorry folks) not completely avoidable. </p>
<p>In terms of drugs, I would say that marijuana use at Swat is as widespread as it is at other comparable liberal arts colleges and probably more prevalent than most schools given Swat's notoriously liberal student body. </p>
<p>I think that harder drugs, on the other hand, are less commonly used and harder to access at Swat than at other liberal arts colleges. </p>
<p>I hope this helps.</p>
<p>I definitely second the post above. Alcohol is very widely used on campus and is a big part of student life - but I was dry all of last year, and never felt any pressure to drink at any parties or events, so either way you should be fine. It's very much a Swarthmore-leaves-it-up-to-you atmosphere, assuming that all of its students are responsible adults and will make their own decisions knowing the consequences of their actions. A lot of people smoke weed, but hard drug use is infrequent and frowned upon by most of the student body.</p>
<p>We do have parties and bands every weekend, and the frats do their own thing as well. I will say, though, that by 2nd semester most of the people at parties are the same people that were at every other party. There isn't much variation in that sense.</p>
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A lot of people smoke weed.
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<p>...but if you don't want to deal with it, it's very easy to avoid. I only remember being directly exposed to it maybe four times all year, and I wasn't a hermit.</p>
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When I say this I mean to suggest that the parties that take place at Swat are not very reminiscent of college parties as displayed in the media.
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<p>Indeed. Swarthmore's academic demands along with the extracurricular activities in which students participate make traditional Greek life incompatible with the college. Nonetheless, students do find time to have a good time.</p>
<p>While the above post does contain a grain of truth (in that smoking weed is much less out in the open and in your face than drinking), I would argue that it is much more common than fhimas' post makes it seem. To give a ballpark estimate, I would say that probably anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of swatties toke the ganj every now and then. With this being said, we're not of the likes of Bardians or Wesleyans, and 'now and then' does not mean every day.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. I visited Wes, and it was def in your face (though I was also there on 4/20...). However, as I've said, I didn't have too much trouble avoiding it... though, to be fair, I did live in Parrish.</p>
<p>I'm not much of a partying type. You could say that my idea of fun might not be the same as other people's idea of fun. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't even dance or do anything like that. It's not that I'm anti-social, it's just that I much prefer to go to the theater, or go to an orchestra concert, or go see a ball game, or read, or watch a nature documentary, or write. It's not that those things (drinking and watching movies) are mutually exclusive--there are probably people who do both--but I hope I will still fit in, with my complete lack of dance skills. Then again, I'm probably worrying too much over nothing.</p>
<p>My friend is going to Wesleyan this year, and last year he smoked weed everyday before Latin class. Now he's not smoking weed anymore and wants to be a "new man." I wonder how he'll do at Wesleyan.</p>
<p>dchow08: You will not be alone in this regard, except that you may want to learn to dance.</p>
<p>The Dean's Office started to sponsor alcohol-free parties last year, on Friday nights, and I think the non-drinkers appreciated these. Look for them again beginning in the Fall, in Parrish Parlor! Food and good company!</p>
<p>It would be very, very difficult to make estimates of marijuana use from any one student's perspective. The College is comprised of many overlapping groups of students; it would be hard for any one student to estimate for all those groups.</p>
<p>The national averages, according to the 2001 Harvard School of Public Health survey of college students were:</p>
<p>47% had smoked marijuana ever in their iives
30% had smoked marijuana in the prior year
17% had smoked marijuana in the prior 30 days</p>
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As a prospective student, I was wondering if any current students or graduates could comment on the party and drug scene as it currently exists at Swarthmore? Any and all input is appreciated.
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My experience of such was as follows, in the context of other similar schools:</p>
<p>Binge drinking: less frequent than average.
Marijuana smoking: more frequent than average.
Hard drug use: less frequent than average.
Amount of overall fun to be had in the party scene: less than average.</p>
<p>dchow08: you will not be alone if you cannot dance well at Swat, rest assured.
nothing new to add here, just as a non-smoker and (mostly) non-drinker here, I've never once felt pressured or felt that I couldn't find something to do that didn't involve chemicals. And I lived in Willets for two years so that says something, I suppose : )</p>
<p>I drink infrequently and do not smoke (tobacco or pot). In my experience, pot is very very easy to avoid. While I know a lot of people who have smoked, I've only run into it personally a handful of times.</p>
<p>That said, I have been struck by how much tobacco smoking is permitted at Swarthmore. I mean ... SMOKING DORMS? ***? This isn't the 80s. Swarthmore really needs to get smokers out of dorms.</p>
<p>arador--I agree that it's a noble goal to have fewer students who smoke, but I actually like the idea of having a few smoking dorms. If smoking dorms were abolished, we would still have students who smoked--they would just be spread through all the dorms on campus, and everybody would have to deal with it.</p>
<p>I know Arador didn't mean this, but what he wrote could be misinterpreted. Swarthmore does NOT allow smoking in the vast majority of dorms.</p>
<p>There are a handful of designated smoking dorms where smoking is allowed in a student's own room with the door closed, but not in the halls or any common spaces. The dorms where smoking is allowed are:</p>
<p>Hallowell 90 beds
Robertson 43 beds
The Lodges 16 beds
Strathhaven 3 & 4: 11 beds
Worth M & N: 25 beds</p>
<p>Total: 187 beds out of the roughly 1375 to 1400 beds on campus are in buildings were smoking is permitted</p>
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Total: 187 beds out of the roughly 1375 to 1400 beds on campus are in buildings were smoking is permitted
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That may be more than in all of the selective New England LACs combined. </p>
<p>According to the college</a> list at the American Non-Smokers' Rights Foundation, the residences at Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Conn Coll, and Wesleyan are all 100% non-smoking. Williams and Middlebury also appear to have no-smoking policies, although for some reason they are not included on the ANRF list. </p>
<p>I wonder if Swarthmore's looser policy is perceived as a significant plus by some applicants.</p>
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I wonder if Swarthmore's looser policy is perceived as a significant plus by some applicants.
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<p>I doubt it. I've not seen evidence that college applicants pay that much attention to stuff like that.</p>
<p>BTW, Swarthmore's Dean of Students has said that the administration would be amenable to a campus wide ban whenever the students decide to push for it.</p>
<p>Swarthmore has a somewhat unusual governance style that tends to not impose edicts from above on students, but does tend to be responsive to student-generated initiatives with broad support.</p>