<p>Swarthmore recently put out a hundred-page study of the school, and it has valuable information for those who want to learn more about the college. I'm not sure if everyone else will be able to download it, but because I was a student, I was able to.</p>
<p>Thanks, dchow!</p>
<p>There's a lot of interesting stuff in the acreditation self-study (obviously with an emphasis on good stuff). As I come across tidbits, I'm just going to paste quotes from relevant sections:</p>
<p>On diversity and community:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Our most recent survey data, for the Class of 2006, indicates that we reached a high point for student satisfaction (86 percent) with the sense of community on campus. The data indicate a high level of interaction across dimensions of difference, with nearly all students reporting having “some” or “substantial” interactions with students from economic backgrounds (96 percent) and religious backgrounds (98 percent) different from their own. Students of color represent more than one third of the student body, yet at least three-quarters of all students reported “some” or “substantial” interactions with students from various race backgrounds, far exceeding the percentage of students from these groups within the student body (with the exception of interactions with the very small percentage of students who are “American Indian or Alaska Native” or “Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander”). The ratings of satisfaction with the College’s ethnic and racial diversity continue to be strong, with 88 percent of minority students and 81 percent of non- minority students “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with our diversity. Likewise, 85 percent of minority students and 88 percent of non-minority students report that they are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the climate for minority students on campus.
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</p>
<p>An interesting take on Swarthmore from Mark Neustadt, an educational marketing research consultant, based on focus group interviews with Swarthmore students, high school guidance counselors, and high achieving high school students:</p>
<p>"There is a strong, unifying academic culture among students regardless of major -- indeed that choice of major takes a back seat to the overall Swarthmore intellectual experience. Swarthmore students have a certain conversational style that especially manifests itself in groups: they speak in long and complex phrases. They have a tendency to offer ideas, not with any certainty that they are correct, but understanding that they are part of an intellectual conversation that will explore and challenge premises and first principles. They are willing to admit high levels of complexity and intellectual sophistication into their conversation -- indeed they often seek out complexity and intellectual sophistication and are uncomfortable with simple, or straightforward formulations.</p>
<p>At Swarthmore there is a tightly bonded student community that establishes certain norms of behavior, mainly, it seems, having to do with the ambitious exploration of ideas, but also with social preferences and patterns. Then there is the influence of the faculty and the pedagogy itself, which encourages extremely high levels of academic engagement. All this appears to result in a community that is truly quite different from the communities at most other liberal arts colleges. </p>
<p>Whether Swarthmore is actually a unique institution in the way that many other liberal arts colleges are not becomes a key consideration when one turns to the question of positioning. Virtually no one in the "prospective students community," from the students themselves to guidance counselors, fully understands the distinctiveness of Swarthmore. Clearly, Swarthmore is a truly distinctive educational environment and part of our positioning challenge involves the question of whether, and how best, that distinctiveness should be conveyed."</p>
<p>While consultants will often (always?) try to write their reports in ways that please their clients, and telling Swarthmore leaders that the college is unique and distinctive would certainly be to their liking, I think this characterization does have more than a few grains of truth. It will be interesting to see how Swarthmore tries to project its distinctiveness to its target market -- high achieving high school students and their parents, and high school guidance counselors.</p>
<p>dadx3:</p>
<p>I think that the results of the focus group testing drove the development of the website as a "blog" of interesting stories about Swatties doing interesting things. War News Radio and similar endeavors appear to be driving interest in Swarthmore.</p>
<p>IDad,
I'm sure the market research report and focus group testing has been a major input in the redesign of the admissions site and other marketing materials. I'm not sure how effective it can/will be with the target market, though. I see a few high school seniors every year as an alumni interviewer for Swarthmore, and many if not most of them don't have a very clear picture of what makes Swarthmore different from other highly regarded liberal arts colleges. It may just be hard to get the message out there that Swarthmore has important distinctive characteristics beyond being a highly rated LAC with an engineering program, close to Philadelphia, with a beautiful campus and a big endowment.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I see a few high school seniors every year as an alumni interviewer for Swarthmore, and many if not most of them don't have a very clear picture of what makes Swarthmore different from other highly regarded liberal arts colleges.
[/quote]
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<p>That's true. However, many if not most of them won't get accepted to Swarthmore, either.</p>
<p>IMO, Swarthmore's unique qualities are probably most often communicated during campus visits.</p>