<p>Hello all. Hope you've been getting lots of good college news and are not having too difficult a time selecting your future alma mater (or are enjoying spring break, if you're in college).</p>
<p>I've recently had the great luck of being admitted to the three above schools, but I am having quite the hard time deciding where I'd like to go. I will be visiting Swarthmore in a few weeks, and if I can find the money, will be visiting Wesleyan and Chicago as well.</p>
<p>That being said, would any knowledgeable posters be willing to help me sort out my colleges? I'll write a little bit about myself below to give you an idea of what makes me tick:</p>
<p>*Biracial male (Thai/Jewish)
*Middle class family and have to say that I feel most comfortable in an environment that is not wrapped up in totally upper-class values and does not encourage people to flaunt their wealth or possessions
*Financial aid is a large factor in my decision
*Interested in studying either English, Film Studies (edge to Wes), or a social science (psychology, most so)
*Want small classes, intense discussions in and outside of class, BUT a down-to-earth, not pretentious or ivory tower intellectual life (As much as I love philosophizing and debating, I don't want to be around people who take themselves too seriously or always feel the need to top others)
*Passionate about writing, discussion, learning but I have extreme difficulty sitting down and working for more than four or five hours at a time
*Not a huge party guy or a big sports fan but would love to experience some fun parties and have a diverse, lively, exciting social scene
*I like Wesleyan's lack of core curriculum in that I want a degree of academic freedom, but I don't know much about Swarthmore's requirements and Chicago's distribution requirements intimidate me a little (though I love the idea of being an intellectually rounded person)</p>
<p>I know very little about Wes or Chicago, but it sounds like you’d fit in just fine at Swarthmore, both socially and academically. We do have a Film and Media Studies major, though depending on your focus you might feel like there isn’t a lot of breadth in what’s offered. Take a look at the course catalog for a better idea:
[Swarthmore</a> College | Academics | Course Catalog 2008-2009](<a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/coursecatalog.xml]Swarthmore”>Swarthmore College - Modern Campus Catalog™)</p>
<p>Also, Swarthmore’s distribution requirements are not a big deal; three each in natural science, social science and humanities, three writing courses (offered in a variety of disciplines–Intro Bio is a writing course, for example), a minimal language requirement and 20 credits outside your major. This means, effectively, that you will need to take 2-3 natural sciences (depending on if you get a science/math AP credit that counts). Not hard, as there are some natural science classes very much geared towards non-majors.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision! I’m sure you’ll be happy wherever you decide to go.</p>
<p>This isn’t true…not everyone majoring in a social science takes Stat. But you can, as some social sciences recommend you take Stat (not all, though, and I can’t think of any that require it, although some may exist). That said, most non-science people I know end up taking Stat as one of their natural science classes - that’s what I did. :] As etselec said, the distribution requirements are not at all a big deal, and it’s really not something that people worry about often. I think what you describe as wanting definitely fits in with Swarthmore!</p>
<p>There is a very strong recommendation at Swarthmore that social science majors take at least one statistics course. It is not required, but there is pressure since doing any kind of social science research requires working knowledge of basic statistics.</p>
<p>Social science is a broad category. Statistics is required or recommended for Econ, Psych, and Poli Sci but not for Linguistics, Education, History or Soc/Anth, as far as I know. </p>
<p>As a Linguistics major, in fact, my advisor told me that Discrete Math would be more applicable than Stats (which is true for certain branches of linguistics).</p>
<p>to any Swat students: Do you think Swarthmore has the potential to be a socially exciting place? I know that that is a pretty subjective question, but my idea of socially exciting is:
Easy to have conversations with lots of different kinds of people, free access to great musical and cinematic events, some wild, booze-soaked debauchery if wanted, protests and marches to join in on and/or start, and the ability to meet enough members of the opposite gender without having to fear wildfire gossip and silly high school drama (Do Swat students have the opportunity socialize with Bryn Mawr students? Is it possible to go to Penn or Penn state if the Swarthmore social scene begins to feel too small?)</p>
<p>Silly questions, perhaps, but I’d like to make up for some of the fun I missed out on in high school.</p>
<p>Easy to have conversations with lots of different kinds of people
Yes
free access to great musical and cinematic events
Yes
some wild, booze-soaked debauchery if wanted
Yes
protests and marches to join in on and/or start
Not many…most of the social activism on campus is more awareness events/fundraising/service focused.
and the ability to meet enough members of the opposite gender without having to fear wildfire gossip and silly high school drama
That depends–sometimes there’s drama, sometimes there’s not…depends on your friends and your conduct.
(Do Swat students have the opportunity socialize with Bryn Mawr students?
Yes–not tons, but if you seek it out it’s there.
Is it possible to go to Penn or Penn state if the Swarthmore social scene begins to feel too small?)
Penn? Rare, but possible. Penn State? Not unless you have a car, and why the heck would you want to anyways?</p>
<p>Swarthmore is small, and there’s no changing that. The random person you hooked up with last weekend WILL be in one of your classes and you WILL see them in the dining hall…but conversely, you can always find friends, so it’s a mixed bag.
Good luck!</p>
<p>My thanks to all of you! I’ll be coming to campus for “Ride the Tide to Swat,” which hopefully will give me a better idea of life as a Swattie. I appreciate all of your responses (and am of course open to any more thoughts).</p>
<p>when we visited Wes we were very impressed with the diversity, intellectual passion and creativity of the student body. a very comfortable and welcoming community. swat is also intellectual but seemed a bit too intense. all good schools and good choices</p>
<p>Chicago is very different than Wesleyan and Swathmore. Chicago is a major world class university with many fabulous opportunities that might not exist at smaller schools like Wesleyan and Swathmore. Both fabulous schools, but smaller. Chicago has the advantage of a relatively small undergraduate college in the midst of a larger university. So, it can be the best of both worlds. Research opportunities abound and opportunities in the City of Chicago are many and exciting. Wesleyan is more artsy and is in a smaller city which doesn’t really have much going on. The campus is nice and there are interesting on campus activities, but both New York and Boston are over two hours away. Don’t know much about Swathmore. Do you want a small lac or a full blown university with an undergraduate college reminiscent of an lac? I advise that you visit all three if you can before making a decision.</p>
<p>The University of Chicago is hardly “reminiscent” of Swarthmore College. There is no university with 5000 undergrads that bears any resemblence to the educational or residential experience at Swarthmore. Don’t kid yourself.</p>
<p>For example, at Swarthmore you won’t need a map to “Find Your TA” as you do at UChicago:</p>
<p>For real. That map and the directions cracked me up. You might want to put a GPS beacon on DS #1 in case they can’t find him.</p>
<p>I’m trying to figure out how Chicago, with 5000 undergrads and 10,000 grad students got this reputation for being “like an LAC” in terms of undergrad focus. It’s a fine school, but it’s no Swarthmore when it comes to focus on undergrad education. It’s shameful they put almost half their students out on the street for housing.</p>
<p>interesteddad: Because the University of Chicago strives to give its undergraduates a liberal arts education. Most of the professors at UChicago really care about their students, as the professors at Swarthmore do. You don’t need to go to a liberal arts school to get a liberal arts education. Trinity University in San Antonio, for example, is an excellent liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Thank you dchow and tuppence. The dismissive attitude towards Chicago is a little (maybe more than a little) offensive. no need to bash a fine school with an exceptional educational philosophy.</p>
<p>Sorry. Newenglandparent was suggesting that Chicago offers an LAC-like experience. I’m simply saying that, while UChicago may offer many things to many people, it does not offer an undergraduate educational experience like Swarthmore. I gave two examples (housing for barely half its undergrad students and grad student TAs). That’s not bashing, it is what it is.</p>