<p>I don't have a clear direction yet for what majors I'm interested, so I'm looking to apply to well rounded schools so I keep my options open. I know many liberal arts colleges are more limiting simply because they are smaller and have fewer professors, so I just want to get a clear idea of what Swarthmore's strongest and weakest majors are.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Swarthmore is strong at mostly everything. One thing to note, however, is that engineering, though offered, is not for everybody and often students switch to computer science and such.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is ranked among the top liberal arts colleges because of its strengths across ALL programs and students attend Swarthmore because they want a well-rounded liberal arts education with courses taught by outstanding teachers who are also nationally or internationally recognized scholars/researchers. At Swarthmore, a major, which constitutes an in-depth exploration of a field or discipline, occupies relatively little space in the four-year curriculum. A biology major, for example, is 8 credits (8 courses). Most students choose Swarthmore because they want to explore the humanities, social AND natural sciences over four years. For example, my daughter knew that Swarthmore was the right school for her when, on her campus tour, her guide indicated that he was a religion major but that his favorite course at Swarthmore was a physics class. My daughter was a biology major but undertook extensive course work in literature and the visual arts. She had a senior art show along with three other science majors who also had undertaken extensive coursework in the visual arts. Swarthmore is an ideal environment for students who have interests in multiple areas; they thrive among students with similarly diverse interests and among faculty who encourage them to pursue these interests. Graduate and professional schools like the well-rounded Swarthmore graduate: Swarthmore has outstanding placement rates into the top graduate and professional schools.</p>
<p>Engineering is pretty weak as there are only a handful of students taking it each year and it’s subscale. The faculty they have are good but it has lacked investment for whatever reasons.</p>
<p>Econ is one of the stronger and more popular majors.</p>
<p>Engineering pretty weak? I don’t think so. It’s small, but so are almost all the majors at a SLAC. I think most years it’s around 25 students, which is perhaps 7% of the class. A major expansion of the facilities is planned with the huge gift by Eugene Lang</p>
<p>[Swartmore</a> Receives Donation For New Engineering & Science Facility « CBS Philly](<a href=“http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/12/08/swarthmore-receives-major-donation-for-new-engineering-science-facility/]Swartmore”>Swarthmore Receives Major Donation For New Engineering & Science Facility - CBS Philadelphia)</p>
<p>The Strategic Plan (p. 16) confirms what LakeClouds says about the lack of investment. </p>
<p>
<a href=“http://sp.swarthmore.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/StratPlan_Booklet_12e3.pdf[/url]”>http://sp.swarthmore.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/StratPlan_Booklet_12e3.pdf</a></p>
<p>The gift mentioned by donnaleighg will address these shortcomings. although it is not clear exactly when. Let us hope that its gestation period is less than the 15+ years for the campus inn.</p>
<p>Not completely disagreeing about the strategic plan, but this is also a document that is used to justify hitting up alumni for more $, so they have an incentive to magnify the issues, or at least to say why the $ should go here rather than another dorm or whatever.</p>
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<p>The last point explains the assertion by LakeClouds that engineering “lacked investment.” At many institutions, it is harder to raise money for science and engineering. Gene Lang’s own gifts are consistent with this pattern. He has given to support the Lang Music Building (1975), the Lang Performing Arts Center (1991), and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility (2001).</p>
<p>The engineering major is pretty solid in my opinion. It’s just anecdotal evidence but my close friends who majored in it all have good careers (or if they pursued academia, had many choices).</p>
<p>When I was at Swat (2006-10), the weakest major was undoubtedly Linguistics. It was extremely small, with maybe 4 full-time professors. There was 1 really good professor and one or two decent ones, but the rest (including the visiting / part-time faculty) were pretty mediocre. There can’t have been more than 10 majors in an average year and more than a few of them picked it because it had lax requirements (like, easy independent study credits and stuff).</p>