Swarthmore vs. Middlebury

<p>I'm interested in majoring in English literature, and I'm pseudo-aware of Middlebury's reputation in that department. I would like to know how Swarthmore students have taken advantage of their English department, internships, study abroad programs, and etc. </p>

<p>I'm also curious as to how Swatties spend their summer and winter intercessions. I know that Middlebury have a winter term program. Do Swatties have winter internship options?</p>

<p>Obviously, I'm leaning towards Middlebury. Someone remind me, Why Swat?</p>

<p>Well, Swat and Middlebury have different atmospheres, so if I were you I would make that the number one determining factor, not what people do over break.</p>

<p>Swarthmore has a very popular externship program where students get matched up with alums in a requested field for the last week of winter break in one of a number of cities (I think it is NY, Philly DC, Boston or SF, but I might be wrong) and are provided housing. I know people who externed at major law firms, schools, senator's office, labor union, art galleries, major science museums, etc, and then got summer internships there. Over the summer break, in many fields (but especially the hard sciences) it is easy to get a job doing research with swat, these jobs, I believe are pretty well paid. In addition, there are grants from swat to pursue unpaid internships over the
summer - mostly in the fields of public services or the arts, but possibly in other feilds as well. </p>

<p>I think Swat's financial and logistical support of students' break time activities makes it stand out from among other colleges, and is the area outside o financial aid where, for me, Swarthmore's endowment most directly impacted my college experience.</p>

<p>Thank you for your response. It may or may not be obvious, but I'm certainly not basing my college decision on "what people do over break." It's simply a question of curiosity, and I really appreciate your answer.</p>

<p>Any comments on Swat's English program?</p>

<p>The upper level classes and seminars are really fantastic. Intro courses are good too, but it is the ones where more people are majors which are super interesting. Recent English grads have been very successful after graduation, with the greatest number in grad school, law school, journalism, or publishing.</p>

<p>I agree with the first sentence of post #2. Your decision between two outstanding schools should be fairly easy due to the vastly different campus cultures.</p>

<p>How are the campus cultures vastly different? Could you elaborate a bit?</p>

<p>One's in the middle of nowhere, the other is in a suburb of Philly. One is the only college around for quite a while, the other has two nearby colleges (surprise, surprise, you can take courses in the others as well!). And oh Swarthmore equals more girls (does that make a difference?), due to the proximity of Bryan Mawr.</p>

<p>Tetris is right, but I meant something more intangible... something along the lines of Middlebury is more 'preppy' and Swarthmore more politically active? Middlebury students are more similar to Dartmouth or Princeton Students and Swarthmore students probably are more similar to Brown or (less so) Yale. Middlebury probably has a higher percentage of econ majors going into I banking and a lower percentage working at the federal reserve or going to grad school. Minority communities (off the top of my head, I'd say the queer community, South Asian community, Jewish community and probably African American community) are larger and have more resources at Swat, for a variety of reasons (although Middlebury is by no means as all white as its environs).</p>

<p>Vis-a-vis the Swarthmore English department, in addition to innumerable graduates who now populate the faculties of English departments around the country, Swarthmore has produced an impressive number of "applied English" types, including novelists (e.g. Jonathen Franzen, James Michener), poets (e.g. Laurence Ferlinghetti) and journalists (Ben Brantley, theater critic at the New York Times; Christopher Lehmann Haupt, former book reviewer for the New York Times; Peter Bart, editor of Variety, etc.).</p>

<p>Or on a more contemporary note:</p>

<p>Swarthmore grad Cynthia Lieve, who is Editor-in-Chief of Glamour Magazine.</p>

<p>From a 2005 NY Times profile:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/22/nyregion/22lives.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&position=%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/22/nyregion/22lives.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&position=&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
Ms. Leive grew up in McLean, Va., with two working parents; her father was a lawyer, her mother, who died of uterine cancer when Ms. Leive was 19, was a biochemist. Her editorial aspirations articulated themselves early: At age 8 she compiled a neighborhood newsletter, soliciting short stories and poems from peers. The catch was, she rejected most of their submissions and used her own.</p>

<p>She went to Swarthmore, where "women's magazines were thought of, when they were thought of at all, as the enemy of feminism." After summer internships at The Paris Review and The Saturday Review, she took what she assumed would be a one-year "airhead job" at Glamour. One year became 11. Ruth Whitney became her mentor. She was editor in chief of Self, Cond</p>

<p>
[quote]
Or Justin Hall, who is widely credited with publishing the first internet blog while a student at Swarthmore in 1994.

[/quote]

Justin Hall wasn't an English major. I don't know why you brought him up in the context of this thread.</p>

<p>Sorry I didn't check with the thread police...</p>

<p>Justin Hall pioneered a new literary medium while at Swarthmore, something that might be of interest to those fascinated by writing or literature or communication. </p>

<p>He actually was a "special major", submitting a proposal for a custom major (sorry if those tuning in for Middlebury talk consider "special majors" off-topic for the Swarthmore forum.</p>

<p>Here's a link to Justin's blog page on getting his special major ("Meaning Context and Media") approved at Swarthmore:</p>

<p>what's</a> your major?</p>

<p>
[quote]
i've taken nearly all classes i've wanted while i've attended swarthmore, which leaves me without a department. the nearest thing is english - i'd have to take maybe three more classes, one about dead white guys for sure,
fortunately swarthmore allows me to do a special major -
all i have to do is write a proposal...</p>

<p>...and get it approved.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>We've found the references and links to Swat alums very interesting and informative as our daughter, like the OP, is seeking distinguishing characteristics between Swat and LAC peer institutions like Middlebury (and others.) Thank you.</p>