<p>Are there any recent or present students who can talk about the social life at Swarthmore? We had heard recently that it is an all work, no play atmosphere. Any comments would be appreciated....</p>
<p>While you are waiting for replies from students, here are some threads that may be informative:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/1149541-social-life-swat.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/1149541-social-life-swat.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/612928-review-social-life-swarthmore-current-freshman.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/612928-review-social-life-swarthmore-current-freshman.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/745725-swarthmore-staid-seems.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/745725-swarthmore-staid-seems.html</a></p>
<p>One of the more lively threads on life at Swarthmore is this one: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/604617-review.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/swarthmore/604617-review.html</a>.</p>
<p>it’s not all work no play. it really depends on your friends group. i know people who ALL they do is study. i know people who… i’m not sure WHEN they study or do work. and i know people who some weekends might cut their festivities a little short to get work done on some weekends, and might go all out on other weekends. in other words, there are balanced people and their are unbalanced people. i’ve never had a weekend at swat where there was NOTHING for me to do in terms of parties/events. but i also had weekends where i hung around my dorm room with my roommate and we got through the load of work we had. people tend to go out on thursdays (pubnite) and saturdays… fridays are pretty chill.</p>
<p>obviously swat isn’t… penn state or miami. but mccabe closes pretty early on saturdays so you’ll be hard-pressed to find people working in the library.</p>
<p>Swat is definitely not all-work no-play (newly minted alum here). A more accurate descriptor might be, “more work and less play” than many other schools, but really it depends a lot on the person. You’ll need to spend a lot of time doing work, as a Swattie, but if you prioritize fun, you can make time for it to happen and there <em>is</em> plenty of fun to be had.</p>
<p>I’m fine with the social life here (in fact sometimes I’d prefer to have fewer parties). But some people aren’t and it has affected their college experience a lot. Like other people above have said, if you make time for it, it should be fine. Everyone would be completely miserable here if it truly was all work and no play.</p>
<p>Hey, current swattie here.
I scoured this site a lot before heading to Swat, and though I was happy with my choice to come to Swat, I would always joke with my HS friends about how I wouldn’t be partying, how everybody would be so much smarter than me, and how all the conversations would revolve around Plato and Machiavelli. </p>
<p>Cue to first few weeks of school. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Swat is not just all work and no play. Yes, we work hard (or at least some of us do), but we also play hard as well. There is usually at least one party going on in Paces/the Frats/Olde Club every weekend, in addition to Pub Nite which is every Thursday in Paces. I’d say that the biggest parties of the year are Halloween and Gender**** (excuse the asterisks), where the majority of the school comes out to rage. I’ve been to parties where there were only a handful of people; others where I couldn’t move an inch to save my life (beware of Freshmen Disorientation!)</p>
<p>Other than parties with alcohol, there are also Olde Club shows, fundraisers, musical guests, acapella groups, comedy groups, athletic events, art shows, dance performances (RnM is a huge hit), etc. Some weekends are dead and there’s only one thing going on; some weekends are absolutely stock-full of events. </p>
<p>Besides the party-scene, a great thing about Swat is that you’ll find a group of friends who mutually want to spend their night doing something different. While some kids go out to party (and when I say out I mean 5 mins away), others stay in to watch Harry Potter reruns, play board games, watch YouTube videos, watch Modern Family, go online window shopping, and just generally hang out in a non-alcoholic way. There are also non-alcoholic events that are hosted by the DART team, as well as other organizations. While Swat is no Penn State, there are definitely parties here. Some suck, some are awesome, some you can’t remember. I’m not trying to emphasize the party-scene because I want you all to get crunk and crazy - rather, I know that I, and a lot of my friends, had no idea that there would even be parties at Swat. The Swat online presence generally communicates that we are super-nerdy and super-dry. While there is nothing wrong with that, it should also be stressed that Swat is diverse - not only with skin colors and interests, but also with social activities :)</p>
<p>Also, can I just say, I was told by the internets that Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ was practically the school anthem. Um…no. At least not in the last few years. I’d say the most frequently played song at parties is ‘Closing Time’, which is played at the end of every Pub Nite. Other than that, there’s no real ‘school anthem’.</p>
<p>^ great post</p>
<p>Are most Swatties the same brand of liberal? How much social and political diversity is there (I know there aren’t many conservatives, but in other dimensions)? Are people open to new ideas?</p>