Swarthmore's Famed Academic Rigor

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
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<p>How hard will it be to adjust to it?
Is it rigorous because of the amount of work, like needing to write 10 page papers every weak and read 100+ pages per day? Or is it rigorous because it requires heavy thinking, or talent?</p>

<p>Is adjusting to Swarthmore's rigor different from adjusting to any other college's academic rigor? Or is this heavily dependent on the major?</p>

<p>For example, I know there are fail/pass courses first semester, so does that encourage us to take harder courses to not worry about GPA but still get credit?</p>

<p>For example, should I jump up to Multi-variable calc after taking BC calc in high school, even though I only have a B currently, and thus taking the class can help me fulfill requirements but not worry about GPA? Or would it be better to take Calc II again just as a refresher to help me adapt?</p>

<p>Also, are there "weeder" courses here? How difficult are the Intro Courses here?</p>

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<p>No “weeder” courses, but the workload can be heavy (amount of reading, writing, etc.) and intellectually rigorous (e.g. intro Bio. is very difficult, examinations require “thinking outside of the box”, not rote memory). Critical thinking is emphasized. It is also true that there is far less grade inflation than at other elite LAC’s and ivies, but the average GPA has crept up a bit from, say, 20 years ago. If you are talented enough to be accepted, you can likely manage the work, but it’s a far cry from most students’ high school experiences. The P-F first semester is a great concept and eases the adjustment for incoming students.</p>

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<p>Whether or not you jump to Multi will be dependent on how you do on the AP exam. You need to qualify to earn credit for Calc before you can take Multi. For example, my S got a 5 on Calc BC exam as a junior in HS & even took a Multi course his senior year, but, in no way, was he ready to bypass Multi at Swat. Even with all his math courses in HS, he found Swat’s math courses challenging.</p>

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<p>With regard to taking M/V Calc or retaking Calc II: if my daughter’s experience at Swarthmore is any indication, I’d recommend retaking Calc II. She entered Swat thinking she might be a math major, had straight As in math through hs and found it very easy, got 5s on the AP Calc AB and BC tests, a 780 SATM, 800 on SAT Math II. Took Linear Algebra first semester at Swat. Many tearful phone calls followed. She studied, met with the professor regularly, followed all the standard suggestions on how to get up to speed. She pulled out a C (hence a Pass), but spent much of the semester thinking she might fail. She said more than a few kids in her class had already taken LinAlg in hs and were retaking at Swat. The following semester, she managed a C+ in Calc III. She is, perhaps needless to say, no longer planning on a math major. AP math is very different from college math. Retake Calc II at Swarthmore to get a feel for those differences</p>

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<p>As far are placing into Calc courses at Swarthmore, always err on the side of dropping back a level. Don’t even think about jumping ahead. No matter how good you think you are in high school math, you probably aren’t that great in college math. My daughter’s experience echo’d that of others here – and it’s not just a Swarthmore thing. I know of other similarly strong high school math students who had to really grind to get through freshmen calc at other similar schools.</p>

<p>I think my daughter described it perfectly when she said, “I’m just better at math with numbers…”</p>

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<p>As far as adjusting to the rigor in general, I would say that Swarthmore’s strength is not the rigor, but in the resources they focus on helping (most) students successfully raise their games to a higher level where that rigor is manageable. I suspect most of the parents here would say they have been stunned at how smart their Swarthmore kids got and how fast they got smart.</p>

<p>There are also some practical tips, which new Swatties learn right off the bat from upperclass students – balanced course selection, triage prioritization of reading loads, etc. It would be misleading to say that nobody struggles or that it isn’t a hard school, but by and large most Swatties adjust pretty well and end up feeling that they got some perverse satisfaction, if not outright benefit, from playing a championship caliber course from the back tees.</p>

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<p>Even though they still give me nightmares, I have continually drawn upon my experiences in reading for Honors in the course of my two professional careers (law and television writing and producing). I don’t believe any undergraduate program anywhere could have prepared me as well to succeed in such diverse fields or given me the confidence to make the switch after 6 years as a lawyer. As the Chairman of the Board once sang, I believed that if I could make it at Swarthmore, I could make it anywhere.</p>

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The two examples you cite are far from equivalent. My heaviest reading load has been a 400-page novel in 2 days (partially my fault, but also partially the fault of an unclear/unbalanced syllabus). But weekly 10-page papers is unrealistically excessive, especially since the professor has to READ submitted papers.</p>

<p>Being able to read and write will be VERY important skills at Swarthmore. And if I had to pick one, I’d pick reading; there’s a ton of writing support, but I’ve thanked all the gods I don’t believe in that I’m a fast reader.</p>

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Yes. Take advantage of first semester pass/fail.</p>

<p>With regard to the specific Calc example, IMO you should take whatever placement the college recommends. Exceptions: If your high school preparation was weak, consider shopping the next lower level. And if you get a 5 on AB or 4 on BC and end up in MATH 26, but are not planning to major in math (especially if you are taking math for the applied aspects), I recommend dropping down to MATH 25.</p>

<p>I’m a little scared of taking math at Swat, actually… Came in with a 5 on BC and thus 2 calc credits, but I am also “better at math with numbers” and not actually that good at math, in my own estimation.</p>

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<p>Posters have made some really good points thus far. I would absolutely take the course that the college recommends for you in Math placement. HOWEVER, I would not be so quick to dump on Math 26, especially if you are taking it during first semester pass/fail. It offers a lot of fascinating applications in Calculus, and if you’ve gotten a 4 or 5 on BC, or a 5 on AB and are still interested in more Single Variable calc., I would recommend taking it, especially when you are not getting a grade. It is very series/sequences intensive and involves a moderate amount of proofs, but I found the course interesting and am not at all planning on being a Math major/minor.</p>

<p>In terms of the academic rigor, Dad2 is absolutely right about the emphasis on critical thinking and “thinking outside of the box.” This is expected across all disciplines. </p>

<p>Fortunately, though, Swarthmore has some awesome resources that you can utilize throughout your time there. For instance, there is a Writing Associates program, to which upperclassmen apply and are hired to review student written work, offering 30-minute meetings to discuss paper planning, organization, formulating theses, and revising/fine-tuning work. Certain introductory courses at Swat also have Course WAs, Writing Associates who have been trained and specially approved to read assignments from a certain course, and to whom the students submit a first draft of work before they revise and submit the final to the professor. </p>

<p>Many introductory Natural Sciences courses also have Science Associates (trained students who have already taken the course), who hold study groups and help sessions at least a couple of times a week to help on problem sets, review of concepts, etc. </p>

<p>All these resources combined with the benefit of a Credit/No Credit first semester make adjusting to the rigor and level of academic work expected at Swat much more reasonable, IMO. I think it can be very rewarding to be able to experiment and grow as an academic writer and tweak your study habits for a whole semester without the pressure of a grade coming afterward.</p>

<p>In terms of the workload, it can vary greatly between courses, especially as a freshman. I agree that the examples you offer are a bit ludicrous at any institution. I’ve had first year courses that expect about 100-pages of reading a week, and ones that assign about 30 pages. I think it’s pretty typical for a professor who evaluates based on writing to assign 3-4 papers and then a final project/paper in a semester. </p>

<p>In terms of the rigor of the courseload, everyone adjusts to that differently, but I do believe everyone adjusts.</p>

<p>Finally, because Swat is an LAC, it seems unlikely to me that adjusting to the academic rigor would be different depending on your major, since you are likely to take courses from a spread of disciplines during your first year (when most of the adjusting will take place).</p>

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<p>These things are not unrelated. It’s mostly rigorous because of the workload, but if you’re really talented, all of that work will go by faster. If you want to give yourself an easier time of handling the workload, then you should take a course in speed reading prior to matriculation. It may seem like a gimmick, but it’s a useful skill when you’re faced with an ocean of reading to get through every week.</p>

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<p>It probably depends on the major. I obviously can’t speak to all majors at all schools, but I found that in science, math, and foreign languages the difference was either non-existent or not very pronounced. I think in majors like philosophy and English Swarthmore can require more adjustment, because the professors aren’t shy about assigning an overwhelming amount of reading as compared to other places.</p>

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<p>The courses available to you as a first year simply aren’t as challenging as those available to you as a junior, so this isn’t a big issue.</p>

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<p>See how you do on the exam before you make a decision.</p>

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There absolutely are weeder courses, though not in every major. I think biology and engineering are the most notorious for this, but it may be different now than when I was there.</p>

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<p>“How hard will it be to adjust to it?”</p>

<p>The harder you had to work in high school, the easier the adjustment should be.</p>

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<p>How hard is Intro to Econ, Language (like Spanish, Japanese), Intro to Philosophy?
What classes would you recommend for people who want to take advantage of the Pass/Fail courses? And if they are pass/fail, it doesn’t count in GPA right? But it still shows up on your transcript? Like if you fail…</p>

<p>Are the courses tough because its in the swat spirit, or can it vary between teachers?</p>

<p>Are there any relatively generous graders?</p>

<p>A.E.</p>

<p>“But I found that in science, math, and foreign languages the difference was either non-existent or not very pronounced.” </p>

<p>How is it easy to adjust to math and science? I thought these were the toughest courses (generally) in college…</p>

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<p>I don’t understand what the purpose is of asking all of these questions. You’re trying to figure out what the easiest courses are and were also asking on another thread if econ was the easiest major. If you’re concerned with getting through swat by taking the easiest courses with the easiest professors possible then it probably isn’t the best fit for you. Obviously not everyone there is loading themselves up with the most rigorous courses all at once, all the time – but there isn’t really a culture for how easy you can make your schedule… at least that’s not a part of the Swat personality that i’ve uncovered (for better or for worse). It isn’t Haverford :P.</p>

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I think he was referring to the difference between the disciplines of math, sciences, and languages. As in, at Swat those are all about the same difficulty. Not that they are all the same difficulty as they are in high school or that they’re easy to adjust to.</p>

<p>And yeah, seems like a silly question to ask. I don’t know why you’d go to a school reputed for a rigorous curriculum and grade deflation (or relatively less grade inflation) if you want easy. There are plenty of easy/inflated schools out there, many of which are more recognizable than Swat.</p>

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<p>You may be right, NA, I was assuming the above given another thread the OP had started about Econ being easy at Swarthmore (extrapolating that from there being a lot of econ majors or something) – it seemed like a trend to me.</p>

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<p>They are the hardest courses, generally speaking. There are plenty of people who have graduated with from Swarthmore with honors in some humanities or social science subject who would simply be unable to complete a math major at all; not every English Ph.D. out there has it in him or her to understand tensor analysis. The bottom line is that high level mathematics, physics, engineering, and some other sciences comprise very difficult material, no matter where you go to school. At Swarthmore you’re bound to get more work assigned than you would elsewhere, and it will take longer to complete, but it isn’t necessarily harder.</p>

<p>As to your question about learning Japanese or Spanish, Spanish is substantially easier for a native English speaker to learn, and it’s not even close. Note that this is the opinion of the U.S. Department of Defense, not just me. That said, I don’t know how this is reflected in course difficulty. I imagine that Spanish professors have higher expectations than Japanese professors when it comes to speed of attaining fluency, but you never know. All I can tell you is that if I were looking for easy courses, Japanese would be one of the last on my list.</p>

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<p>rover - As I said, I haven’t taken any math classes at Swarthmore yet. But my personal datum is a then-prospective engineering major who took Math 26 first semester under pass/fail and thought that the class was useless and overly theoretical. Obviously, if you like theoretical math, it may well be a good fit; but I have lots of science-minded friends and all of them dislike the theoretical side of math. I also have some very mathy friends–one who self-studied the entirety of Calc BC in order to take the Linear Algebra Honors FYS. But if the OP isn’t confident in his/her math skills, then the applied/non-theoretical version is probably a better fit. Math 25 is still Single Var calc.</p>

<p>Wrt weeders, I can only speak for Computer Science, which is a wonderful department for beginners and non-majors. Horizontal curriculum, no weeders, friendly intro course, very personable professors–if I were (objectively) better at CS, I’d major in a heartbeat.</p>

<p>Wrt foreign languages: Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic are known for being very intense and difficult–more due to the language than to Swarthmore-particular rigor–but the latter two are popular in spite of this.</p>

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Take Discrete Math - you’ll probably enjoy it.</p>

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<p>^That’s what everyone says, heh. It was offered in high school and sounded really interesting, but I took Calc BC instead for “rigor.” And I’m taking CS courses at Swat to satisfy my natural science distribution, so it makes tons of sense.</p>

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<p>My child also had a very difficult time in linear algebra–wonder if our kids had the same professor. Hmm. Generally speaking, yes, the workload is heavy. But my kid says that more to the point, it’s not busywork. In other words, high level thinking is required as well as volume management. We recently met a woman who had twin daughters, one of whom went to Swat, the other of whom went to Yale. The Yale daughter laughed at the Swarthmore daughter, saying, “You work too hard! Are they crazy?” And yet, the other thing I’ve noticed is that these kids put it on themselves. My child doesn’t just work to keep up with the teacher’s expectations, but his fellow classmates, who are all as intense as he is!</p>