Swarthmore or Bowdoin?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
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<p>My last D is trying to decide where to submit her early app. She did overnight programs at Swarthmore and Bowdoin and loved them both, could see herself at either college, and is having a terrible time deciding between them. I know they have such different reputations and different student cultures, but her experience being on campus over multiple days was that she feels equally at home and sees value in both colleges. She needs to choose carefully, in my opinion, because she will probably get in wherever she applies. Her academic strengths and interests are in foreign languages, creative writing, and international studies, with a specific interest in language revitalization particularly indigenous NA languages. I'm sure both schools are strong in most departments but would there be anything to recommend one of these two colleges over the other in terms of these fields of study?</p>

<p>Personally I think she might be better served by Yale or Brown (also on her college list) for in depth language study and related resources but she is absolutely committed to the LAC experience, and loves these particular colleges so any experience or knowledge of the above mentioned departments at Swat or Bowdoin would be so helpful.</p>

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<p>I don’t know about Bowdoin, but it seems like Swarthmore Professor K. David Harrison is right up your daughter’s alley:</p>

<p><a href=“K. David Harrison :: Swarthmore College”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/dharris2/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Nice one @dadx3! Just what I’m looking for - thank you so much.</p>

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<p>Is this of interest? <a href=“Untitled Document”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/Linguistics/LenapeLanguageResources/index.html&lt;/a&gt;
Swarthmore is a short train ride from the foot of campus into Philadelphia. It’s nice for students who want to be near a major city if this is important to your daughter. But, your post makes me ask this question. Why is she applying ED when she doesn’t have a clear first choice? That’s what ED is for-the student who is absolutely certain about the first choice school. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. Lots of students mature and change their minds between the fall application season and when they are close to finishing high school. She really needs to be absolutely sure about one school or another if you really believe that she is a “lock” to be admitted to either Bowdoin or Swat.</p>

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<p>@momof3sons. Actually I agree, and there’s nothing I’d love more (both selfishly and for D’s sake) than for her to have a pile of acceptances next spring, attend the admitted student days and make a leisurely informed decision. Also that would be fun for me :smile: and I haven’t ever gotten to do that since my first 3 all had some form of early acceptance. Sadly, it’s not my call to make. I’ve shared my opinion in my most persuasive mother mode and she is firm on this early thing. She just wants to be in and done in December. She hates having to make decisions (really really hates it) and hates stress and also has seen her sibs have fantastic early acceptances - but then they all had really clear strong first choice schools. </p>

<p>The other piece is that she’s attended these fly-in programs (they require an application and can be very selective - in the case of Swat the admission to the fly-in can be more selective than their actual first year admissions) and they really encourage the kids to apply early, assuring them that their acceptance, while not quite guaranteed, is all but. They create a fantastic experience for the kids over 3 days and nights on campus, exposing them to the best of what the college has to offer and all kinds of special programming, faculty dinners, etc. and build a really cohesive group which is very exciting and attractive…it’s very hard for me to argue with the emotional appeal of the fly-in. “Disco Swat” and “Explore Bowdoin” headed by the inimitable Claudia Marroquin are two of the the best run and most successful of these programs. Kids who know relatively little about Bowdoin or Swat leave with the college at the top of their lists, ready to commit. Unfortunately for D, neither of these 2 outshone the other and she claims she would be equally happy - she just needs to decide which in the next couple days. Thank goodness she did eliminate all the other schools where she attended a fly-in program. </p>

<p>I honestly do wish she would SCEA to Yale so she might have a non binding acceptance and could then apply RD just to her top schools and take her time deciding - but she already believes she prefers Bowdoin and Swat to Yale so I have no leverage there. I keep asking: "if you’re accepted early to Bowdoin/Swat won’t you regret not having the chance to see if you might have liked the other better? or Brown?Vassar? Bryn Mawr? Smith? a college you haven’t visited yet? Her answer: nope.
Thus my question here - just trying to help her gather some more data. And btw that was a great link! Absolutely perfect – thank you! Swat does seem to have a stronger program in languages and linguistics as far as I can tell. </p>

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<p>All academics aside, for me Swarthmore would have a (big) edge in the travel department. Perhaps you could do some “scenarios” to determine flight schedules etc. to see how much of her breaks etc. would be eaten up by that. I’m a Swat alum and parent, so won’t attempt to lean any which way on factors that are not easily factual!</p>

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<p>Yes! travel is so easy to Swat. My D is also looking closely at Swat - it’s in her top 2 schools. When she attended Disco Swat she was able to fly to Philly in an hour and be on campus shortly after that. Or do an easy 4 hour drive. That excellent location is another plus for an incredible school.
OP, our kids have some academic overlaps and I agree that Swarthmore will serve those areas of interest beautifully . Did you know that at Swat they can major in “modern languages and linguistics” – so rather than have to choose French or Arabic or whatever, a polyglot can actually major in a subject that will allow broad exposure to language and culture. Looks amazing and ideal to me. </p>

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<p>I attended the fly-in programs for both Bowdoin and Swarthmore and I’m a current student at Swarthmore. The programs made me really want to go to both schools, so I’ll list out my analysis comparing both schools based on my priorities, why I ultimately went with Swat ED, and hopefully it will be helpful.</p>

<p>Both had great academics, especially in political science and biology. Swarthmore has more intense academics and more people who wanted to go to grad school and therefore more studious orientation. On a given weekend night, they will put studying before going out if work gets too much.</p>

<p>Pluses about Bowdoin:</p>

<p>Bowdoin had the BEST food by far out of any school I’ve visited. If food is important to you, GO TO BOWDOIN. The guys and girls at Bowdoin were so much more attractive. Furthermore, they were very friendly and I appreciated the culture of saying hi to everyone you walked by. They were also very social, athletic, and outdoorsy. The dorms are huge and amazing.</p>

<p>Why I went ultimately with Swarthmore: </p>

<p>As a minority, I was really looking for a diverse campus and a good social fit. Bowdoin is similar to Williams in that I got a very outdoorsy preppy Patagonia wearing vibe, and an overwhelming majority of students were white. The party scene is dominated by sports teams, which I really didn’t like. </p>

<p>Swarthmore was definitely quieter, less fun, and the people definitely less attractive. But most students there carried this intense intellectual vibe that I found very unique and attractive. The student body is about as quirky and non-preppy as you can get, and one of the most diverse racially in the nation. People were friendly in this really awkward but endearing way, even the athletes were pretty nerdy. I really felt that minority voices could be well represented and integrated into the social life at Swarthmore. Lastly I was looking to study CS and the department at Swat has stellar grad school placement.</p>

<p>Lastly, Swarthmore is 30 min train ride to the city, and Bowdoin is very remote. </p>

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<p>It’s fine to prefer Swarthmore, but I wouldn’t call Bowdoin’s location “remote.”. Bowdoin is located in a thriving small city of 20 thousand people on the Southern Maine coast about 2 1/2 hours from Boston. There is a direct train line between Bowdoin and Boston. Bowdoin’s location is much less remote than peer schools like Williams, for example. One point not highlighted above is that Bowdoin’s student body is about 25% larger than Swarthmore’s.</p>

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<p>Brunswick is a very nice town. Some very good restaurant’s and the gelato is world class. That said: it is remote (especially when comparing to Swarthmore as the title of the discussion suggests). </p>

<p>The train to Boston runs twice a day. There are 47 Amtrak trains per day from Philly to NY, and dozens more on regional rail (since college kids have to watch their money). </p>

<p>In the same distance from Brunswick to Boston (~120 miles), Swarthmore has Washington DC to NYC, and access to the outdoors (from the Chesapeake bay, to the Delaware and NJ beaches, to Gettysburg and the Poconos). </p>

<p>For anyone flying, Swarthmore is 8 miles from PHL airport. It is quite possibly the easiest airport trip of any selective college in America (UPenn could argue it’s a mile closer, but traffic / roads to Swarthmore are easier). Boston schools have an argument, but will lose on traffic.</p>

<p>For this discussion…Bowdoin is remote.</p>

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<p>If your mindset is that any college outside the suburbs of Philly is “remote,” then you are right. For the other 99% of us who have a broader world view and have seen other NESCAC schools, it is not. Just because you love Swat doesn’t mean you should lose perspective.</p>

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<p>This is somewhat off topic, but is Middleburry also on your daughter’s list? I’ve heard positive things about their languages program there</p>

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<p>Bowdoin and Swarthmore are both excellent schools. Many students could be happy at both schools. </p>

<p>I cannot resist commenting on a couple of specific points. Apparently I am in the vaunted 1% also as I consider Bowdoin’s location remote. (For the record, I have a couple of friends whose children attended recently and loved it.) Bowdoin is not as remote as an Arctic village (or even Williams College), but a college whose athletic teams are named the Polar Bears does invite claims of remoteness. </p>

<p>On multiple occasions I have realized that my perception of Swarthmore differs somewhat from that of many students and parents. The last time we were on campus, we were with our student when a couple of friends walked by. One noted casually that all three were carrying the same North Face backpack (albeit in different colors). When I asked whether North Face was big on campus, the answer was that Patagonia was much bigger. I will not dispute that Bowdoin has a greater concentration, but Swarthmore does have its pockets of preppiness. </p>

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<p>Bowdoin’s mascot is the polar bear to honor the school’s famous alums who explored the North Pole, such as Admiral Peary. Sheesh! Anymore preconceptions about Bowdoin need debunking? </p>

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<p>^There is nothing to debunk as there was nothing in my post about the origin of the nickname. My conclusion that Bowdoin is in a remote location came from multiple graduate students of mine who were Bowdoin alums. </p>

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<p>On the remoteness spectrum, it is clear that Bowdoin is more remote than Swarthmore. Swarthmore and a few other highly selective LACs are close to or in major urban areas (Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Pomona, Reed, Barnard, Macalester, Wellesley come to mind). Bowdoin is 30 minutes from Portland, ME. While Portland, ME is a very nice city and the largest city in Maine, the city itself has a population of 66,000 and the urban area a population of about 200,000, so it is not in the same league as Philadelphia or Portland, OR. Further out on the remoteness spectrum, a good number of selective LACs are more remote than Bowdoin (Colby, Whitman, Grinnell, Middlebury, Williams come to mind). </p>

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<p>I love Bowdoin (my own D is applying there) but I worked for UPenn for 10 years and lived in Swarthmore. SWAT is a fantastic place and many students end up taking course at UPenn or Haverford/Bryn Mawr. (I rode the train with them!) I believe you have so much more choice in terms or curriculum offerings because of this consortium and access to specialized courses.</p>

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<p>Thank you Dadx3 for bringing a balanced view to this thread. There is no question that Swat is part of a larger urban setting. My objection was to the description of Bowdoin as being in a remote setting and then the misguided reference to the polar bear mascot as somehow reinforcing the notion that the school is in some arctic burg far from truly civilized places like Philadelphia. The reality is that the school is in a small city, 30 minutes from the largest city in Maine and 2 1/2 hours from Boston. </p>

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<p>I agree that Middlebury seems like an excellent fit given her interests. </p>