<p>Swarthmore President Rebecca Chopp touches on the Chicago comparison in her Washington DC Q&A last week:</p>
<p>[Presidential</a> Listening Tour](<a href=“http://media.swarthmore.edu/listening_tour/]Presidential”>Presidential Listening Tour)</p>
<p>She got her PhD at the University of Chicago and has been honored with distinguished alumni awards. She recounts a recent conversation with a “famous UChicago professor” who called her to congratulate her. He talked about Chicago being the best university in America to get a PhD and Swarthmore being the best school in America to get an undergrad education. Of course, he’s probably biased since his daughter is a Swarthmore student.</p>
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<p>Williams is a fine school. Excellent students. Excellent professors. Best sports teams in Div III. If you are talking undergrad academics and a student body/faculty that is highly engaged with learning, ideas, and a culture of intellectualism, it’s not Swarthmore. I could go down the list from the much heavier investment/commitment to community service with the Lang Center (with students being honored for projects started around the world), to innovative interactive learning programs like War News Radio, to leading academic support programs like the Writing Associates program that is viewed as a model around the country, to the very high per capita PhD production rate, to the high percentage of students majoring in math and sciences. If you want a school with the biggest commitment to athletics, Swarthmore can’t compete with Williams. If you are looking for commitment to undergrad intellectual pursuits, there is no comparison – and that’s not to take away anything from Williams’ excellent academics.</p>