Swarthmore questions from potential student

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
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<p>Hey everybody! I was just wondering if anyone could help me out with a few questions i had about Swat. I’m really into track, and i’ve been talking to the coach quite a bit (i just got off the phone with him, actually… lol) and the track program sounds like a great fit for me! Also, I’m academically qualified (2280 SAT’s, president of a bunch of clubs, etc.) So the question now remains whether Swat is a good fit for me. I will be visiting in about a month, but since it’s summer, i’ll be missing out on seeing the students in action. The main problem is that until now, i’ve never really considered a school this small, and the size is definitely something i’m still wary of. I’d appreciate it if someone could help me out by answering one or more of these questions…</p>

<li><p>Is there a lot of drinking at Swat? I don’t drink, and while i guess i’m ok with others drinking, i’d rather not have that be the main social activity.</p></li>
<li><p>Is it cliquish at all? I mean, there’s so few people, so that would really be a bummer…</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve heard it’s really liberal… is this referring to the students, professors, or both? (i’m a conservative)</p></li>
<li><p>Is there plenty to do nearby? I don’t have to go to Philly to see a movie, do I?</p></li>
<li><p>If I don’t want to apply ED, will this hurt my chances as a recruit in the RD round?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you so much for your time… I really appreciate it!!! :)</p>

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<p>hey, im going to be a freshman at swat in the fall and ill take a crack at your questions (although i doubt ill be anywhere close to as much help as some other members of this board <em>cough</em> interesteddad&achat<em>cough</em>) this isnt really from first hand experience, just what ive learned from others.</p>

<ol>
<li>Is there a lot of drinking at Swat? I don't drink, and while i guess i'm ok with others drinking, i'd rather not have that be the main social activity.</li>
</ol>

<p>there's drinking, yes (just like at other colleges) but there's plenty to do if you want to stay away from it (like i do). theres free beer every weekend but it's not too hard to find a group of people who are having fun while staying sober (boggle seems to be a popular passtime) - stuff like just hanging out, watching movies, playing cards, etc seems pretty common</p>

<ol>
<li>Is it cliquish at all? I mean, there's so few people, so that would really be a bummer...</li>
</ol>

<p>nope :) well, not REALLY. there's always going to be some kids who don't try to mix with all the students (i met a guy at the bookstore who said that swarthmore students were a bunch of nerds and only his group of friends was cool) people like that exist, yes, but for the most part everyone is open to meeting everyone else no matter what race, religion, beliefs, etc</p>

<ol>
<li>I've heard it's really liberal... is this referring to the students, professors, or both? (i'm a conservative)</li>
</ol>

<p>both. for the most part most people are very far to the left, but of course you will have some conservatives. this fosters healthy debate!!! you're not going to be ostracized or ridiculed for being conservative, just be prepared to defend your opinions :)</p>

<ol>
<li>Is there plenty to do nearby? I don't have to go to Philly to see a movie, do I?</li>
</ol>

<p>i hear there's lots to do. clubs sponsor activities all the time and i remember seeing a blockbuster really really close to the campus. i dont' know where the nearest theater is though, although i remember seeing some restaurants/hang out spots nearby (ihop - mmm)</p>

<ol>
<li>If I don't want to apply ED, will this hurt my chances as a recruit in the RD round?</li>
</ol>

<p>welllll..it's def. not going to help your chances. you'll have a better shot as an ed applicant because they know you're def interested in the school. that's not to say it's going to eliminate your chances - i got in rd. i just made it very very clear in my why swat essay that swarthmore was definitely my first choice, i just couldnt apply ed because i needed to compare finaid.</p>

<p>hope this helps!!</p>

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<p>Wow, LisaSimpsonReborn... thank you so much for your in-depth responses!!! This definitely helps. Congrats on getting in... sounds like you have a great couple years ahead of you!</p>

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<p>You don't have to go to Philly to see a movie. There are movie theatres and restaurants nearby. Philly is not far, though. Center city is 11 miles from Swarthmore.</p>

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<p>that's good to know... thanks, achat.</p>

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<p>Swat is known to be one of the most liberal campuses in America; I think that you need to do more research on that issue. I am not convinced that a conservative would feel comfortable there.</p>

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<p>Swarthmore is a suburban "village" on the train line to Philly. You can walk to the Springfield Mall, and to various restaurants and the local Borders Books. However it has been my impression that most Swat students rarely leave the campus. It is pretty much the "bubble".</p>

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<p>I doubt that most students rarely leave the campus. My son is a rising sophomore and he and his large group of friends are forever going to Philadelphia - if not every week, at least twice a month.</p>

<p>That is the experience of other kids on this forum and parents who have kids at Swat too.</p>

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<p>Swarthmore, the town itself, has nothing much in it (except going to the local pizza place), so you probably will have to go into PHilladelphia if you want to do something really interesting. Otherwise you can go to the mall in surrounding towns etc.</p>

<p>Swarthmore is really liberal, but I think also very open to different types of people. All of the professors I know are really liberal </p>

<p>But something really cool about Swarthmore is that it's so small, the profs sometimes cook supper for their classes!</p>

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<p>"Swat is known to be one of the most liberal campuses in America; I think that you need to do more research on that issue. I am not convinced that a conservative would feel comfortable there."</p>

<p>My D would disagree. I posted this here before. D came to my work place and my co-worker asked her what is the most unexpected thing she encountered at Swarthmore. She thought for a minute and said "perhaps the fact that Swat is not as liberal as I thought it is", and then quickly added, "that is a good thing."</p>

<p>She tells me about some voiciferous republicans on her dorm floor.</p>

<p>In any case, I endorse mommamia's suggestion: you have to do research. In particular, you should spend few days on campus with swatties.</p>

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<p>thanks so much for the comments everybody! yeah this whole liberal thing is definitely one of my concerns (though i'm glad, northeastdad, that your daughter finds it is not as liberal as its reputation would lead people to believe). Does the liberalism only manifest itself inside the classrooms and around elections, or will it have an impact in social settings?</p>

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<p>achat, I guess if you call leaving the campus twice a month, "getting around", that pretty much says it all. Swat is not exactly NYU, it's not even Bryn Mawr. Although things are going to improve - they're putting in a Dunkin Donuts in the old Michaels Drug Store and I hear a Baskin Robbins is coming to town. The locals are aghast, but it may drive the college kids a block off campus. I do see quite a few Swat students at the local Borders on the weekend. Although it's sometimes hard to tell them apart from the Elwyn Institute kids who are bussed in on the weekends too. As for the liberal/conservative thing, it's certainly not as liberal as it was in the 60's or 70's. My general impression is that the students are generally pretty liberal, but not really into serious activism, especially off campus. The administration appears to be quite conservative, especially financially. And I just read in the paper that the town cops have become more aggressive in enforcing drinking and drug violations on campus, much to the college's concern. (The college security force is probably 5 times the size of the Borough's police dept)</p>

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<p>koala717, the vast majority of elite (if you'll pardon the expression), secular and non-military institutions of higher learning in the country have student bodies that are significantly left of center, Dartmouth not withstanding. However, in my opinion it is pretty much meaningless to call oneself a liberal or conservative unless one knows what the terms really mean. To take an informed stance, for starters a person needs an understanding of macroeconomics (including supply & demand, scarcity, monetary, fiscal & tax theory, etc.). In addition, knowledge of history (e.g. civil rights, suffrage, gender equality, collective bargaining, workplace safety, child labor, pollution, resource depletion, slavery, treatment of natives and immigrants of color and non protestant religions, etc.), psychology (human motivation), philosophy (e.g. concepts of liberty, freedom vs. determinism, social obligation, ethics, etc.), science (e.g. global warming, deforestation, desertification, species decimation, evolution, statistics, anthropology, etc.) and religion are a must. And this compendium is hardly exhaustive.</p>

<p>I have never met a 22 year old, much less an 18 year old, that has had time to do more than scratch the surface of more than a few of these disciplines. Nevertheless, everybody, pretty much, is a conservative or a liberal anyway. What else can they be? Undecided? </p>

<p>The good news is that college provides (or at least is supposed to provide) the foundation and starting place for gaining the knowledge required to take an informed political/economic stance. Spirited debate among and between peers (called bull sessions back in the dark ages) forces a young adult to begin synthesizing newly acquired information and to defend positions against concerted attack. In my opinion, Swarthmore is without a doubt the wrong school for anyone who does not relish the prospect of acquiring the knowledge necessary to inform the opinions they have picked up from assorted sources (e.g. parents, school, friends, church, etc.) during their formative years and does not have the confidence that their intellect will hold them in good stead when they are asked to defend those so informed positions.</p>

<p>I myself am socially liberal (with a couple of stark exceptions) and fiscally middle of the road, for lack of a better term. However, my Swat soph son accused me of being a Puritan (me?) in the middle of a recent heated debate. I took solace in the fact that he still hasn't learned that much compared to the fossil that I certainly am.</p>

<p>At any rate, my very liberal son who still has a lot to learn (don't we all) has a passion for debate and only has contempt for those who take positions they can't begin to defend (i.e. he can't abide fools). I believe he is a typical Swat. A Swat will likely respect you if you can back up what comes out of your mouth with reasoned thoughtful argument. It's not that much to ask.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>I can take a stab at a couple of these.</p>

<p>First, the "Village of Swarthmore" is a little misleading. The collection of shops (a co-op food market, a bank, etc.) immediately adjacent to campus is small and sleepy. But, less than half a mile away is a large mall and a miracle-mile strip with restaurants (Bertucci's, Thai, etc.), Starbucks, Target, Best Buy. Easy walk. City bus goes straight to the mall in five minutes. Or, college runs shuttle buses on Saturdays. Target is a routine Saturday afternoon destination to stock up the mini-fridge.</p>

<p>Movies are shown on campus every weekend -- after theater release, but before DVD release. Also very common to watch DVD movies in the dorm lounges. Most dorms have big-screen TVs. There is a large multi-screen cinemaplex about a mile from campus. College shuttle buses run there on weekends.</p>

<p>Downtown Philly. My D is like Achat's son. She goes into Philly with a group of friends for dinner at least a couple times a month.</p>

<p>Drinking: Yes, there are plenty of opportunities to drink at Swarthmore, if you want to. It would be wrong to give the impression of a temperance society. However, by contemporary college standards, it is not a dominant social scene with the hard-drinking crowd being relatively small. Non-drinkers and moderate drinkers make up the overwhelming majority of the campus.</p>

<p>On the liberal thing: I think gladdad summarized it quite well. My D says there's probably a litte too much political debate, but that may be an impression formed by an election year.</p>

<p>On the "clique" thing: I can't imagine a LESS cliquey college on the face of the earth.</p>

<p>On "too small". I went to a different liberal arts college at a time when it was about the same size as Swarthmore. I think that an LAC can get a little claustrophic by the end of four years, expecially one that is isolated from the real world. I would have killed for the ability to go into a city just a couple times a month without a major "road trip" production. I think that makes all the difference -- just to be able to get out of the "ivory tower" every couple of weeks. Swarthmore's location is a HUGE plus, in my book.</p>

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<p>Thanks everybody for the responses. This was all extremely helpful. :)</p>