<p>Reading about Swarthmore made me really want to go there. Therefore, I visited and stayed overnight to get a firsthand taste of what life at Swat is like. While much of what I saw was predictable, I must say that I was shocked by the masses of hipsters loitering all around campus. They were honestly everywhere. </p>
<p>Though I don't think that this would necessarily prevent me from going to Swat, I wanted to get some other opinions. I guess it could be the case that my host just exposed me to that scene. However, based on the tours that I have taken, Swat ranks up there with Wesleyan and Bard in hipsters per capita. </p>
<p>When did this infestation start? Has Swat always been like this?</p>
<p>Interesting first post ever on College Confidential. The sweet smell of ■■■■■ in the wee hours of the night? </p>
<p>Any comparison to between Swarthmore and Bard is pretty far out there. It is hard to image two colleges at more polar extremes. </p>
<p>BTW, I think the concensus hipster capital (not counting actual NYC schools) is probably Vassar. Swarthmore’s not really “arty” enough to compete for the title unless your definition of “hipster” is anyone not wearing a popped-collar or a baseball cap turned backwards.</p>
<p>Well, what do you mean by hipster? I mean, I think they’re certainly there, and you can’t avoid them, based on how I define hipster. As in pot-smoking liberals who are all about vegan and who are into activism and host parties about activism and invite activist guest speakers? Yeah, they’re certainly there and you can’t avoid them. But there are plenty of people who I wouldn’t call “hipster,” or who are not as “hipster” as others. Those are just the plain nerds who like to talk about math and chess and physics because that’s all they know how to talk about. There are a good number of “normal” people too, as in your average hard-working students. So no, Swarthmore isn’t “hipster central,” as you put it. You don’t get too many of the “hippies” that you associate with the 60’s. But Swarthmore is a very liberal school.</p>
<p>It is very difficult to stereotype Swarthmore students. Never lose sight of the fact that the student body is only 55% white. While I am sure there are Latino hipsters and African American stoners and Asian preppies and so on and so forth, most of these stereotype labels are essentially “white” constructs. When you are dealing with a population that is 45% African American, Latino/a, Asian American, or International, white stereotypes aren’t really a particularly relevant measuring stick. Even less relevant when, within the white cohort, you have athletes, frat boys, hipsters, hippies, Jewish students, science geeks, plain old smart valedictorian kids, kids from Manhattan, kids from Manhattan Beach, gay kids, straight kids, and so on and so forth. If there is one thing that stands out it would be that you will be surrounded by all kinds of sudents, with no one group dominating the campus scene, except that they are all pretty smart and all chose a college that they knew would be a championship course played from the back tees academically.</p>
<p>Not that many hipsters, I would say. Or, I haven’t seen any loitering around lately, at any rate. Maybe you walked by Olde Club? (small student-run music venue that gets some pretty good, smaller acts regularly - in my experience, a lot of it would be classified as ‘hipster’).</p>
<p>There are some hipsters at Swarthmore, and I would say that over the years hipster-ness has increased somewhat as stereotypical nerdiness has decreased slightly. You can avoid hipsters if you want, it’s not hard, but more to the point is that even people who look like hipsters (or jocks, or preps, or whatever) are probably more complex than that, and if you talk to them, you’ll find out about how they also volunteer in Chester or research particle physics or juggle flaming cats or whatever. There’s more to Swarthmore students than their tastes in music and clothing.</p>
<p>I’m going to agree with Jeanie (swattransfer) on this one…there are certainly a ton of hipsters, and going to the dining hall definitely makes you wish the leggings trend would just die already. That being said, there are tons of non-hipsters here too, so don’t let it dissuade you from applying/accepting.</p>
<p>Is there a lot of political correctness at Swat? For instance, if you had a slightly controversial opinion that wasn’t 100 percent liberal, would you be jumped on? Or are discussions more nuanced?</p>
<h2>Any comparison to between Swarthmore and Bard is pretty far out there. It is hard to image two colleges at more polar extremes. </h2>
<p>Bard’s image is an artsy school, but I actually found it similar to Swat in its intellectual rigor. Bard has a rigorously structured and unique curriculum—much like Reed’s.</p>
<p>Endicott–that depends on who you are talking to, and how you present your ideas. There is a small minority of students who will jump on you about certain issues, but for the most part, if you begin the discussion in a respectful and nuanced way, you can have a respectful and nuanced conversation.</p>
<p>On the other side of the coin, there are a few professors who have a clear agenda in the classroom. Students figure out who these are and decide to take or not take a course from those professors, depending on their inclination. </p>
<p>For the most part, if a student tried to use the soundbyte arguments from the media in a Swat classroom, they would probably not fare well. Fpr example, the religious ethics course my D took (all hot-button issues like abortion, death penalty, etc.) had a very intense reading list from top theologians and spokesmen on both sides of the issues.</p>