<p>Did anyone make the bookings using the Swarthmore travel agents? How will the students get from the airport to the college? Any experiences to share? I am surprised the college is picking up the tabs for travel.</p>
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How will the students get from the airport to the college?
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<p>It's really easy -- whether it's for Ride the Tide or for just coming and going during breaks once you are a student.</p>
<p>a) Swarthmore runs free shuttle vans to and from the airport. Just meet at a pre-assigned place and time at the airport and it's about a 15 to 20 minute ride to campus. My daughter returned two days early from Spring break and was still able to arrange a shuttle van. [Sidenote: Swarthmore also runs free shuttle vans to and from downtown Philly on Friday and Saturday nights for students who want to go out on the town and not have to worry about missing the last train.</p>
<p>b) Option 2: It's easy to take the train directly from the airport terminal to Swarthmore's campus. Take one train from the airport to either the UPenn or 30th Street Station downtown, then take the train from their to Swarthmore's station. It takes about 45 minutes including the connection and is about $7.50 each way.</p>
<p>c) Sometimes groups of returning students share a cab. I think it's about the same price as the train if there are three or four students.</p>
<p>It is a very easy campus for travelling to and from without a car. Several of the discount airlines serve Phila, including Southwest. Plus, there is Amtrak service up and down the east coast. For super cheapo travel, Swatties often take the train downtown and then catch a Chinatown bus to NYC. It's about $10 to downtown Manhattan.</p>
<p>As for free travel to Ride the Tide, might as well let them arrange it and just mail you the tickets...unless you are trying to combine other travel.</p>
<p>OH MY GODDD!!!!!!! I just got the letter!!! SO FREAKIN' EXCITED!</p>
<p>Slight correction to ID's post. The airport shuttles that run for breaks are not free, they actually cost $5 one way and $10 round trip, if you make arrangements (which is quite easy to do, just fill out a request card and send it through campus mail to the van coordinators) in advance. It's cheaper than the train, though, and is at most a 20 minute drive.</p>
<p>And yes, getting to PHL is quite easy from most major airports, I'm from fairly far away and I can usually get a direct flight.</p>
<p>collegialmom: did ur son graduate from swartmore or is he still attending...i was talking to a doctor who had a son that went to swarthmore and a daughter that goes to dartmouth...she said that i will have a difficult time choosing btwn either bcuz they are both incredible schools that have prestige...im honestly in a quagmire right now trying to decide which is better for me...for the past several months i was worried about GETTING into a college, now im have trouble deciding...senior year is harder than i thought...lolllz</p>
<p>He is still there. He actually really did not want to go to Dartmouth because it felt too isolated and he was happy that Swarthmore is near Philly, especially because it is so easy to get to by train. Having said that, he hasn't been there too many times because he is so busy. I think it seemed liked Dartmouth had much more of a drinking culture, and I think they have more fraternities. He wasn't interested in fraternities, or the drinking culture.</p>
<p>He applied ED and was very happy with getting in, and I think it is a good choice for him. Swarthmore is very intense academically, but the other students seem to be very nice and not competitive, and there are many opportunities because it is a small school. </p>
<p>If you get into Princeton, then I think you will have a tough choice, because it has a lot of advantages, as well. I know that people really like Dartmouth, but we just didn't like it as well. Princeton is another story, and that would be tough to know what to do at that point. </p>
<p>Just my honest opinion. The best way to judge is to go visit the schools if you can, and Ride the Tide is a great event!</p>
<p>I got a letter saying that they'd pay for my flight to and from Swat, but do you think that will also pay for the shuttle or whatever that takes me from the airport to Swat?</p>
<p>Edit: Nevermind! Just read some posts above me. Thanks for the info!</p>
<p>Artemis:</p>
<p>Thanks for the correction on the vacation shuttles. I do think the shuttle vans are free for Ride the Tide.</p>
<p>In any case, the good news is that there are multiple easy options for getting to and from the airport.</p>
<p>I think the shuttles for Ride the Tide may be free, but you could check with them.</p>
<p>has any intl received early write?
oh this anxiety is killing me.
oh mailman, please come to my house!</p>
<p>let's stay strong, intls!</p>
<p>not to sound pretentious or anything, but just out of curiosity, does anyone know how many people, or what percentage or applicants, get these "early write" decisions?</p>
<p>I also have a question. If you are not an early write or and EDer, does that mean you're not invited to go to RtT? It says you must have everything registered (or something) by the 29th, but if the rest of the Regular Decisions don't come out until April 1st, then how will they know?</p>
<p>surfinsofa: I believe everyone who has received an "early-write" decision has also received a username and password to enter the "Class of 2010 SwatBoard." If you log-in once into the board, then it automatically lists you as a member under the Admitted Student category. I checked the number of people who are listed as admitted students on the board and it is currently at 187. I do not know if the people who were accepted under the early decision plans receieved a username and password yet (I believe they did not).</p>
<p>Using last years figures (4085 applicants in total, 917 accepted. ED: 321 applicants in total, 160 accepted. RD: 3764 applicants in total, 757 accepted), I have made some calculations (with the 187 people so far in the Admitted Students category of the board):
187/4085 = 4.6% of all the students who applied received an early-write
187/917 = 20.4% of all the students who were accepted received an early-write</p>
<p>This is all guess preliminary work since most likely the amount of applicants this year increased (this is a general trend) and it is obvious that everyone who has received an early-write decision did not log in the board.</p>
<p>But I thought it would be fun to do anyway. Enjoy.</p>
<p>The early decision people have received their usernames and passwords.</p>
<p>brickbreeze:</p>
<p>All accepted students are invited to Ride the Tide, whether they were accepted ED, EDII, Early Write RD, or RD.</p>
<p>Once you get to Swarthmore, it doesn't matter one iota when you were accepted, what your SAT scores were, or any of that. </p>
<p>The Early Write letters are a marketing campaign to give the college a competitive shot at landing students who likely have multiple acceptances to mull over. The vast majority of the RD acceptances are not early write, so for those who haven't received a letter, don't worry about it.</p>
<p>So basically, if all the early writes are clear admits, then my application was already rejected or is "on the edge"
I really hope my app tips into the admit pile b/c Swat is my only chance to go to an LAC!! (I should've applied to Pomona too!=huge regret)
Do you think an email update would help at this point? to my regional counselor or to Suzi Nam? A lot has happened since November...</p>
<p>i think you should give it a shot. they might not see it, but the potential benefit might be worth it.</p>
<p>jennyz:</p>
<p>Most applicants at a place like Swarthmore are in the "on-the-edge" pile where it could go either way because they are choosing from equally well-qualified applicants. That's just the nature of the beast. Very few Swatties are in the top 25% of the accepted students, so don't worry about it!</p>
<p>i can't believe i got an early-write. i really can't. i didn't expect to get in at all and a lot of people told me it was impossible. </p>
<p>i don't really know what to do right now since i assumed i would never get in.</p>
<p>I'm not sure all those who haven't gotten one yet are "on-the-edge" or would not be in the top 25% of accepted students. I can't really tell from what I've read on CC, but I'm wondering whether it's a smaller subset of those top students who are getting the early writes. Perhaps top students in particular demographic groups? My D has not gotten an early write from Swarthmore, but she's already gotten into several pretty competitive places, so I would think that she wouldn't be "on-the-edge", or at least not academically. It's hard to tell from CC, because it may not be a representative sample anyway. I don't mean at all to detract from the excitement of those who've gotten early writes, but I think those who haven't gotten them shouldn't necessarily be discouraged or think that they are any less capable candidates.</p>