<p>I need unobjective opinions.
1) Hygiene is not the students top priority. People go for days not bathing?
2) As she has been working so hard in high school, why should she have to work hard in college especially Swarthmore?
3) Lots of drug scene going on in Swarthmore?
4) Students do nothing but debate on political issues, most of them are tree-hugging people?
5) School so small if you are mad with someone, he or she would be in your face every minute of the day and make your life miserable.</p>
<p>waterdragonmom: what have you been smoking?</p>
<p>I'm wondering what an "unobjective opinion" is. If any of this is serious, would you please let us know.</p>
<p>Yes, I would need to have some clue to suggest this isn't a kelleymegreener troll. It's a very suspicious "first post" from a new member.</p>
<p>Yes--very curious. But it may just be that this poster is not a native English speaker, and cannot express these questions very well. Check the original post and some answers on a thread in the Parents Forum--they wanted to have some student input, which is why they posted here.</p>
<p>ooops, objective opinion, LOL</p>
<p>here's my take: waterdragonmom has a d that desparately wants to go to swarthmore, but wdm has never heard of the school. a uc school is less expensive and has more national reknown or if d wants to go to a private school, at least go to wellesly, wdm's brother and sister have heard of it at least. so please tell me what i suspect is the truth. so here goes:</p>
<p>1: swarthmore dorms don't even have shower facilities, everyone bathes in the lake, if they do at all
2. swarthmore clearly overworks its student for nothing, just an excercise in futility. what a waste of otherwise good goofing off time;
3. merck has nothing on the drug making facilities in the basement of the swarthmore dorms. it will take years for south american cartels to catch up to the sophistication of swarthmore's drug pipeline;
4. why do you think swarthmore has an arboretum? so that each student has their own tree to hug. hugging trees not designated for you alone may transmit std's;
5. swarthmore's students when not doing the busy work assigned by those ridiculous professors, spend the rest of their time making other swarthmore students miserable. they do that even if they're not mad at you.</p>
<p>show this to your d and i am sure she will see things your way</p>
<p>Waterdragonmom was referred here from the Parents' Forum because she wanted student answers to the questions. The questions were raised by her daughter as reasons she wanted to attend a college other than Swarthmore. More than one person has already told her that if her daughter is coming up with these reasons, then she really shouldn't be going to Swarthmore, as she obviously really doesn't want to.</p>
<p>Question #1 I think I'll just ignore. Questions 3-5 are exaggerations. Question #2 is, in my opinion, as a parent, a valid concern. And I agree with parents on the other forum that a child who doesn't want to do the amount of work required at Swarthmore shouldn't be there. I discussed this issue over and over with my own daughter, before she actually sent in her Early Decision application, to make sure she really was willing to continue to do hours and hours and hours of work for school. As it turns out, after an academically grueling high school, she finds Swarthmore much less stressful.</p>
<p>But regardless of the truth or falsity of any of the statements your daughter has propounded or repeated, it sure sounds like Swarthmore is simply not her cup of tea.</p>
<p>searchingavalon: her d is not asking those questions. those questions are so outrageous that noone under 20 would actually ask them. in addition, if she thought that way, do you really think she could have answered "why swarthmore?"</p>
<p>It was posted by a parent and those questions are given by daughter. As you are so vocal. May be another question for you. Swarthmore vs Berkeley which would you choose? or do you also have something to say about Berkely? I really want to know too.</p>
<p>which would you like, my opinion about uc berk that would sway your d to agree with you or would you like my opinion that, horrors of horrors, would send your d careening cross country to get away from you? i can do either. i'm a mercenary.</p>
<p>B'n'B: you may very well be right, but, really, only the lst question is totally outrageous. The others are skewed and exaggerated versions of various stereotypes of Swarthmore in particular and small liberal arts colleges in general. And if you are right and the daughter wants to go and the mother is worried, or--more precisely--horrified, what's the harm in trying to assuage her concerns?</p>
<p>As for the "Why Swarthmore?" essay--debate, honors, engineering, francophone studies....</p>
<p>If she is truly worried about student hygiene, tree-hugging, drug use and emphasis on political issues, Berkeley is certainly going to be more worrisome than Swarthmore, but I haven't lived in California for 20 years (born and raised there) so maybe it's changed! As for work, I concur--if she doesn't expect to work hard, then she won't enjoy Swarthmore. Well--it's certainly possible to get by without working hard, but the Swatties I know enjoy it and indeed thrive on it! As for the size, it is a bit of a concern--hard to avoid someone you might have an issue with. OTOH, it forces you to work it out/confront it rather than to let it slide.</p>
<p>waterdragonmom:</p>
<p>Here's the problem. Your questions are so off-the-wall that they raise the suspicion that they are not real. Or, if you daughter is really asking these questions, in that way, then she clearly knows very little about Swarthmore. Generally, speaking Swarthmore students and Swarthmore parents do not recommend that students who have done so little research about the school attend. </p>
<p>To put it bluntly, the questions are somewhat offensive: not unlike if you posted on a college forum for an historically black college and asked if all the students eat watermellon.</p>
<p>On the odd chance that the questions are serious:</p>
<p>-- The University of California at Berkeley is a wonderful huge state university. Many Swarthmore graduates go to Berkeley for graduate school.</p>
<p>-- More accepted students at Swarthmore this year come from California than any other state. From the admissions stats at Swarthmore, virtually all of those students either were accepted at Berkeley or would have been accepted had they applied. Therefore, we can conclude that most Swarthmore students from California specially chose Swarthmore over Berkeley, simply because they prefer the total focus on undergrad teaching, the small class sizes, and the interactive style of education that features close releationships with professors who are engaged in teaching undergrads.</p>
<p>-- My personal opinion. I would only chose Berkeley over Swarthmore for undergrad college if I wanted to go to school in California, if there were a signficant different in price, or if I were studying such a narrow field that I needed the increased breadth of a huge state university. Otherwise, it is simply not possible for a huge research university to offer the same kind of education as a top undergrad college.</p>
<p>the truth would be appreciated.</p>
<p>"the truth would be appreciated." - What kind of a coment is that???</p>
<p>Some people here are trying to help you out, but you have a way to make it dificult.</p>
<p>There is no point asking the questions if you are going to disregard all the answers you get as lies.</p>
<p>I truly appreciated your reply. I do not know how to word these:</p>
<p>1) seeint that she did not have that many friends in high school. d may think when the pool is larger, she may have more opportunity</p>
<p>2) her 4.0 is really a lot of hard work and tears. her misconception is that college is for fun and relaxation. her interpretation of fun and relaxation is when you overslept and miss a class, no one is going to bang at your door or give you a black mark for slacking.</p>
<p>I think the hygiene part and drug is thrown at me for weight. Any feed back now that you know where all these questions and resistance is coming from?</p>
<p>1) My son showers every day (as far as I know. No, we don't discuss it but that's his M.O. at home.)
2) He works fairly hard at Swarthmore, but he worked fairly hard at an outstanding high school, so he is not at all stressed out. If your daughter is not interested in working hard in college, Swarthmore really is not the place for her.
3) My son doesn't do drugs. So, there must be some kids who don't do drugs.
4) My son sings, is active in a religious organization, does volunteer work and occasionally debates political issues.
5) My son has stated on this forum that the school does not seem so small to him, that he probably can only put "name to face" on maybe half his classmates, let alone the rest of the classes in the college.</p>
<p>waterdragonmom, if my answers seem somewhat flip, it's because I find the questions bordering on the absurd. (Almost seems like it's time for kellymegreener to weigh in just about now.)</p>
<p>waterdragonmom,
My understanding of my son and probably many others at Swarthmore, is that they choose a school like Swarthmore because they want to learn. He doesn't give a hoot about his grades, and I imagine the same is true for many others. Your daughter can forget about a 4.0 at Swarthmore. It isn't going to happen.
Fun for my son has always been about learning and studying what he wants to learn and study. If she oversleeps, no one will give her a black mark and call her a slacker. It will be her loss. Sounds like your daughter is ready to take a year off before college if she thinks that college is about fun and relaxation.</p>
<p>Not as computer literate as some of you. I thought when I hit reply, I am replying only to that particular writer. Guess not. When I said the truth would be nice, it is in reply to b n b when he asked what do I want to hear the good or the bad of Berkely.</p>
<p>Actually, if you want to know. I have told my daughter after reading everything the parents have to say that may be I should not push her towards Swarthmore. She is now free to choose whereever she wants.</p>