Swarthmore vs. Williams vs. Stanford

<p>At this point I have not been able to sleep because this decision is agonizing me. I need to choose a college that can offer unprecedented academics, solid job availability, and an overall good experience which all these schools can do, but basically I am interested in Non-profit organizations or PR/Director @ a major corporation. I am a fun, happy go lucky, hard worker. I go to one of the top boarding schools in the US now and it has given me a solid foundation for a hard work load that Swat or Williams would offer, however, I am sick and tired of the suffocating social bubble and it has created a lot of tension for me.</p>

<p>I am an expert talker and socializer and i really want to have a job where I can help others or a job managing the image of a company like TOMS or Apple. I understand my career goals are hefty, but I am just not knowledgeable enough to make a decision and would love some anecdotal experiences or opinions. </p>

<p>My profile: Hispanic, male, I love to go out, try new things, food, traveling, etc. I am basically a stereotypical guy that likes new things constantly and I hardly ever sit idle.</p>

<p>Money is not an issue and I have already ruled out Bowdoin, Middlebury, UChicago, and Columbia.</p>

<p>See my post on the Williams thread.</p>

<p>Any Swat parents are students have any opinions?</p>

<p>Swat parent (one current student and one very recent grad) plus alum here. Congratulations on your great admits. It’s hard to see how you could go wrong, really. </p>

<p>The thing I wanted to respond to was this, from your post on the Williams thread:

</p>

<p>Absolutely. This is something that I loved about my time at Swat, and that my two very different kids have also mentioned appreciating a lot. You can be a starter on a sports team and still be friends with the Psi Phi kids; you can be a visual artist and still hang out with guys from DU; you can spend days (and nights) in engin. labs and still perform in plays or sing in an a capella group or . . . you get the idea.</p>

<p>I don’t want to imply that this isn’t true at Williams, too; I’m pretty sure it is. I’m just answering what I can speak to from experience. </p>

<p>Best of luck to you.</p>

<p>Stanford. It has to be the least likely of the three to have a “suffocating social bubble,” and it is easily the best of the three in terms of brand name recognition and, as such, job prospects.</p>

<p>Based on your post, as a parent of a Swat grad and a Stanford grad, I think you should go to Stanford.</p>

<p>I am a Stanford alum (it was grad school, but hey, I know the culture there), and both my kids are swatties. I have to agree with the previous 2 posts: It sounds like Stanford would be a better match for you. They are VERY different schools. Both my kids love(d) Swarthmore, and I believe neither would have been happy at Stanford, each for very different reasons. But visit one or both if you can, before you have to make up your mind. It’s all about you and your fit.</p>