PC, aggressiveness, depression, vibe, over-activism, clique? And a few other questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
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<p>Hello.</p>

<p>So I was admitted to Swarthmore, freshman, and I've been agonizing to make a decision. </p>

<p>As an international student I couldn't schedule Ride the Tide, and in reading students' reviews I found some things that alarmed/troubled me. I seriously don't know very well about Swat so I'm asking for input. This post is quite long and somewhat awkward, but ANYTHING would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>1) Quite some mentioned that many tend to keep being politically correct and therefore are either sort of pretentious or don't tend to discuss some things deeply so as to not offend some of the others. One also noted "[it is] always common for a certain group to be 'personally offended' by something relatively insignificant."</p>

<p>2) Many people suggested that if conservatists and moderates really wanted to come, they must be prepared for defending their opinions from being attacked. A few said such was also true for religious people. While many say that "Swat's Republicans tend to be defensive" (defensive?), I also remember there was one who said "The six or seven Republicans on campus any given year are usually obnoxiously vocal and viewed as douches by everyone else." Obnoxiously? Douches?</p>

<p>3) Many people and a few other sources said that many aren't happy, including one from the Phoenix (2013/02/07/mental-health-at-swarthmore-are-we-happy-here , whose descriptions about anxiety and depression issues scared me -.-). I remember somebody talking about there having a non-surfaced flow of unhappiness (sort of this thing), and a few days ago an actual freshman complained to me that the vibe was depressing, who said one of her friend thought it's because there were too many who, like her (and like this friend, according to her), wanted As. Another freshman I was able to talk to said the atmosphere was "kind of strange, rather depressed/stuffy" but I failed to get details.</p>

<p>What's the reality like? How happy are Swats you know, in which ways and to what extent? (And...I assume that this sort of I-will-die-without-getting-As mentality will soon fade off, right?)</p>

<p>4) A few complained that the campus activist zeal was excessive. I remember one writing "I'm not homophobic but I don't need to see anal sex like every time I turn." I sort of wanted to laugh but then wondered what it would be like.</p>

<p>5) A lot said people tended to be clique-y, though some of the others said people did interact a lot...? </p>

<p>6) Swat has a name of social awkwardness, which I don't mind. That said, I want to make sure that such people are mostly accessible (instead of sociophobia-ish) if you want, right?</p>

<p>There's a problem that 1) and 2) are contradictory, though...How can one be that PC if they are so aggressive to attack others' views?=.= And why/when/how/where do you think, if some do, would one actively attack others' ideology? </p>

<p>How open-minded and accepting are Swatties as you feel, in which ways and to what extent? </p>

<p>If some Swatties indeed are pretentious, does pretentiousness include "arrogance"?</p>

<p>Also would anyone offer a perspective/description of what happened last year April to Zoellick?</p>

<p>Plus, any recommendations/advice? I can have seriously missed out many spectacularities or unpleasantries or other aspects of Swat.</p>

<p>Many, many thanks.</p>

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<p>You might do best to search the Swat forum on here. All of these issues have been discussed ad nauseum. And at least those past posts are more timely in terms of their responses to actual events. Just a thought.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^^sorry, I’ll do that. I thought I’ve done research ad nauseum but it appears I forgot this part. Thanks.</p>

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<p>^^ I am not kidding though, and I was not being dismissive. </p>

<p>Really, the past year, this forum has discussed everything you state to the point that posters bowed out of the threads because it always came down to a shouting match. The only people who would be interested in responding now are those who feel very strongly on either side. The result would be you will get a skewed viewpoint. Not sure how helpful that is to you at this point. </p>

<p>I would think the 16% drop in applications this year should tell you that families and students are voting with their feet for whatever reasons.</p>

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<p>I think one thing to keep in mind is that posters in some of the more heated threads in this forum actually are parents, not students.</p>

<p>We visited during RTT last week. These questions were raised, by a few parents, in some of the panel meetings. As President Chopp noted, college campuses in general, and LACs in the northeastern U.S. in particular, tend to be left-leaning. This is nothing new and, frankly, as with the question about drinking on campus that also was raised on Friday, I am a little surprised that parents are not aware of these matters, or that they think they are peculiar to one school or another. While it may seem, to our children, that we went to college in the dark ages, I do have fairly clear memories of the political climate and the access to alcohol at my alma mater. The campus leaned way left and alcohol was easy to obtain. </p>

<p>President Chopp also said that there are a considerable number of students on campus with more centrist views, although she also acknowledged that Swat centrists would be seen as left of center by many people in a non-college setting. Conservative students are a vocal minority, but they have their own newspaper, which the president said has the best sense of humor of any of the campus publications.</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, I have reliable second-hand information, courtesy of the kid, of a spirited but respectful and open exchange of beliefs and opinions during RTT. </p>

<p>Edited to add: I have no interest in engaging in any political debates in this forum, and I would suggest that any assumptions the reader is inclined to make about my own political ideology most likely are wrong. The above statements are my observations, as a student some years ago and as a parent at RTT.</p>

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<p>I’ll direct you to some articles on Swarthmore written by guest writers (students) or blog editors. I’ll also include some nice quotes.</p>

<p><a href=“At Swarthmore College, Conservative Views Not Welcome | The College Fix”>At Swarthmore College, Conservative Views Not Welcome | The College Fix;
" The conservative group fliers I’d designed–and paid for, since I felt guilty about using the library ink–were removed and replaced with parodies. My ads made use of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid.” The mock ads–purposely rendered to look eerily similar to mine–featured taglines about taking away people’s housing and healthcare. Suddenly I sounded like the humanity-hating conservative cartoon college liberals imagine–because they’d replaced my words and inserted their own, imagined speech bubbles!"</p>

<p><a href=“Swarthmore Feminists Freaking Out | The College Fix”>Swarthmore Feminists Freaking Out | The College Fix;
“Apparently Swarthmore College feminist-activist students hate fraternities so much they want to join them.” and “They propose defunding campus fraternities until they have at least 10 percent female membership.”</p>

<p><a href=“Demonized By Students, Renowned Foreign Policy Expert Cancels Commencement Appearance | The College Fix”>Demonized By Students, Renowned Foreign Policy Expert Cancels Commencement Appearance | The College Fix;

<p><a href=“College Sponsors ‘Fat Justice’ Feminism Event | The College Fix”>College Sponsors ‘Fat Justice’ Feminism Event | The College Fix; and <a href=“Activists At 'Fat Justice' Event Accuse Ronald Reagan, Medical Professionals Of Oppressing Fat People : News : University Herald”>http://www.universityherald.com/articles/8350/20140324/activists-at-fat-justice-event-accuse-ronald-reagan-medical-professionals-of-oppressing-fat-people.htm&lt;/a&gt;
“Swarthmore College hosted a “Fat Justice and Feminism” seminar during which students were told that President Ronald Reagan “f***ed everything up” for fat people, that the Body Mass Index was invented by white supremacists and — for good measure — that communism is superior to capitalism… at least for fat people.”</p>

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<p>I make it a practice to avoid going to websites (i.e. the collegefix) that my firewall (Webroot Secure) says this of “This is a suspicious site. There is a higher than average probability that you will be exposed to malicious links or payloads.”</p>

<p>But I find it ironic that in a post supposedly answering the question of whether Swarthmore allows a diversity of opinion, j814wong seems to be criticizing Swarthmore for … wait for it … hosting a workshop expressing an opinion he/she dislikes. </p>

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<p>^^ I think the point was a response to the first issue the OP raised.</p>

<p>OP wrote,"[it is] always common for a certain group to be ‘personally offended’ by something relatively insignificant."</p>

<p>That workshop is looney and clearly an example of being concerned about something insignificant because let’s face it - that entire premise is fabricated and just stupid. But hey, it does illustrate the supposedly intellectual can be stupid as well, i.e., diversity of stupidity. </p>

<p>For feminists to be concerned and offended by such silliness as BMI as a capitalist invention is laughable.</p>

<p>PS: The suspicious site issue is not a website issue; it is a hosting server issue. So to try and discredit the website content for something it most likely has nothing to do with is way off.</p>

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<p>Although I said I’d have started searching but I had to pause it soon, and it still isn’t completely done now :frowning:
I’m not in any time zone of the US, so I have to go to sleep right now, and I thought I should seriously ask for help.</p>

<p>I’m mainly worrying about 3) - the atmosphere issue.</p>

<p>I don’t worry about 5) and 6) anymore, since they appear as I hoped - non-cliquey and approachable. I got a quite convincing and positive source saying people had been changing and how they were accepting and supporting enough, so pretty much everything else was solved (btw since the 4) was out of curiosity).</p>

<p>I know I’m being incredibly late now…but I still greatly appreaciate any input, be it descriptions, feelings, thoughts, etc. Even a few words will help.</p>

<p>Edit: I actually got a third student’s input and he said he frequently felt depressed because of the academics: he has his high standards and others were being great. Is academics pretty much the sole cause of the “depression”? And how lively is ths campus, by the way?
I won’t mind if I’ll feel pressured by my own courseload because I want to, but if it’d come to an extent that people around me will be sort of competing (there’s a subtle difference between solo-competing with others and bettering oneself to match others) then it sounds less wonderful.</p>

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<p>I was at Swat this weekend and have a child presently attending. My student’s perspective is that Swat is not clique-y. This was something that drew him to Swat. He has friends from all different backgrounds and with very different interests. The Zoellick controversy seemed to be initiated by a small group of vocal individuals. There was significant backlash and a letter/ petition signed by many seniors requesting Mr. Zoellick reconsider and attend graduation. Moderates and conservatives need to come to Swat for there to be multiple views on campus. As for your question about atmosphere, I think Swarthmore talks more about mental health issues than some other schools. I don’t know if more folks have anxiety issues and mental health concerns or if there is simply more openness about it. My son is quite happy. In fact, he is a happier and more relaxed kid since attending Swat. He really enjoys the opportunities available to him. I am continually amazed by how Swatties are involved in so many different activities. The workload is heavy and it is stressful at times but the education is terrific and the students are multi-faceted & interesting.</p>

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<p>@lacgrad: Your son’s experience sounds very much like our daughter’s. She is very happy that she decided to attend Swarthmore. Her friends are serious students, but they all devote substantial time to extracurricular activities as well. Your final sentence bears repeating: “The workload is heavy and it is stressful at times but the education is terrific and the students are multi-faceted & interesting.” You absolutely nailed it. </p>

<p>I also agree with your assessment of the Zoellick controversy. Although left-leaning herself, our daughter found some of the political activism last year frustrating, to put it mildly. Fortunately. the atmosphere this year seems much better. </p>