<p>On Penn...I know a bunch of people who have taken classes there and been very disappointed. The classes are bigger/less serious/easier and the students less interested, or so I've been told. The exception of one kid who took a buddhism class and loved it, but the class was a higher level seminar of some sort. </p>
<p>So while yes, you can take classes there, it doesn't sound like a wonderful experience.</p>
<p>Thanks for your very helpful responses, son of momof3sons, interesteddad, and arador.</p>
<p>To those who applied regular, did you get your admissions decisions on exactly 4/1 or is that the day they mail it out?</p>
<p>Some RD applicants get their positive admissions decisions before 4/1. I have heard that this happens mostly with recruited athletes, but don't know for sure. My D got her acceptance several weeks early (don't remember exact date).</p>
<p>Hi, this is momof3sons issuing a "last call" if there are still questions for an actual Swat '07 student home on break. He will be available to answer questions for prospective students through Friday.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder.</p>
<p>Questions:</p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>Do you typically do your homework every night/do you have a specific night when you do more work than others? Do you know of anyone who doesn't use your method and if so is it as effective (for instance, do you or any of your friends do the majority of work on, say, the two days before it's due in class?) Also, if you space out your work evenly, about how many hours per day do you spend on average, if you had to guess, doing homework?</p>
<p>Thanks. :)</p>
<p>I'd say I do work just about every night, although it varies from week to week. I'm a political science major, and so the only work for most of my classes is reading, except when we have papers due. Thus, when possible, I try to do my reading within a day or two of the class (at most). Otherwise, I find that the reading isn't really fresh in my mind when I go to class. Thus, I tend to do more work on days before I have class. For instance, this past semester I had all of my classes on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday, and so my Tuesdays and Wednesdays were particularly bad (and I often had to do reading for my Wednesday night class over the weekend).</p>
<p>In terms of total workload, I'd say that if you take Saturdays off (which most people do, more or less; I'd say the average Swattie works 2-3 hours on Saturday) expect to do 8-9 hours work, counting class time, 6 days a week. On a day with more class time, you'll probably do less homework, and on a day with less class time, you'll get more homework done.</p>
<p>Hope that helps you out. Obviously, this varies greatly between different majors.</p>
<p>Which majors are the most demanding and/or stressful?
Which depts are the strongest? Weakest?
Thanks!</p>
<p>
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Which depts are the strongest? Weakest?
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</p>
<p>That is really subjective. For example, poli sci would be considered one of Swat's stronger departments -- many Swatties major in it, the professors are good, and so forth. However, there are Swatties who would rate it as one of the school's "worst" departments because of its large size. By Swarthmore standards, the largest departments are viewed as being somewhat "impersonal" and "bureaucratic".</p>
<p>Conversely, there are departments, like Art History, that would not be objectively described as Swarthmore strengths based on course offerings, size of faculty, etc. But, students who take courses in the department really rave about the professors and the courses.</p>
<p>Then, there are some departments that get mixed reviews. For example, I think it's probably fair to say that the History department features one of the school's most popular professors and one of the school's least popular professors.</p>
<p>As far as demanding: Swarthmore is like every other college in the country. Engineering and the hard sciences are very demanding majors.</p>
<p>"For example, I think it's probably fair to say that the History department features one of the school's most popular professors and one of the school's least popular professors."</p>
<p>How does one find out which is which? (or who is who?)</p>
<p>It shouldn't be that hard for any Swattie to ask around. I'd be willing to bet that virtually every current Swarthmore student could identify the two History department professors I mentioned.</p>
<p>The most popular is easy to identify from his blog and the popularity of some of his courses like "Image of Africa" and "History of the Future":</p>
<p><a href="http://weblogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/%5B/url%5D">http://weblogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/</a></p>
<p>I don't feel it's my place to "dis" professors by name. However, the particular professor I'm thinking about is identified in some Swarthmore Live Journal discussions.</p>
<p>Fair enough, ID. Thanks! </p>
<p>And, I wanted to add to the discussion about study time--sometimes the students in my daughter's hall all get together to study. They're studying different things, but in the same place for a small dash of sociability. And she is one of those referred to above who doesn't study Friday nights or Saturdays, but Sunday is in large part a study day (though outings to Philadelphia and Media have taken place on Sundays).</p>
<p>Yes. My daughter has described study time as being quite social as well, depending on the task at hand. I think that's been the way of college students for a very long time!</p>
<p>I'm majoring in political science and history. I think that the political science department is very strong; I like all of the professors with whom I've had contact. In some areas, the course offerings are a little spare (I'm particularly interested in political theory, and there aren't any courses in the political science department that focus on two or three thinkers). The other drawback is that because the professors are so good, most of the classes are packed to the limit. That really turns some students off; in my opinion, it depends on the professor. Some are better as large class lecturers, others are really only worthwhile in a small class seminar format.</p>
<p>I've had more issues with history. I wouldn't say it's a "weak" department; I think the professors are very knowledgable and they are generally good teachers. However, I've found that most of the history professors take a very postmodern approach to history, which I completely disagree with, and so that's made some of my classes less enjoyable.</p>
<p>I've taken classes in a number of other departments; lab sciences are more time-consuming because you have a lab section as well as class. It's hard to really pin the demanding label on some departments more than others. Different people have different strengths; I had a particularly rough time in Physics 7, which is a major track second semester course. However, I don't get the sense that most physics majors do more work than I do. I think a lot of the physics majors do basically all of their work for a given physics class in a group session on the night or two nights before their problem set is due (usually it's one problem set a week).</p>
<p>Departments also vary widely on the requirements necessary for majoring. Thus, some departments only require eight credits in the dept. for a major. Others require as many as 12-14 credits for the major. I think that regardless of the requirements for the major you're considering, you obviously need to decide if that's what you want to concentrate on.</p>
<p>
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Different people have different strengths.
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</p>
<p>My daughter and I were talking about that the other day...how some students click with a professor more than others.</p>
<p>She and a friend might take a class together. My daughter will have relatively easy time of it and the friend will find it rougher sledding. Then, the same two students take another class together, even in the same department, and the roles reverse.</p>
<p>Some very helpful responses. Thanks a bunch :)</p>
<p>Hi, this is mom of momof3 sons again. I just wanted to add that Swat gives students the opportunity to take 4 courses credit/no credit after first semester freshman year. This allows a student the opportunity to take a course he/she might otherwise avoid for a number of reasons. For example, my son took a course in the music dept. this past semester credit/no credit. He had previously taken two sequential courses in that dept. and this was the third in the sequence. He knew how much work the course entailed and it would be populated basically by music majors/minors. Taking this course credit/no credit put his mind at ease because he knew that he would not have the time to do all the work this course entailed. (With this course he was taking the equivalent of 5 credits.) He could certainly put a lot of time into the course and learn a lot from it, but didn't feel that he had to dot every "i" and cross every "t," if you get my drift.</p>
<p>Also, as an honors poli. sci. major and honors history minor, while his work entails much reading and writing at this point, things weren't always this way. Before junior year he took courses in many different depts., including math, physics, economics, religion, philosophy and chemistry. That entailed balancing weekly problem sets with reading and writing.</p>