<p>They said on the tour that Swatties can take class at Penn and made it sound really easy; have any of you current students done so? I've heard about some students hardly leaving campus at all, but going into Philly several times a week sounds like the opposite of that.</p>
<p>I took a class at Penn this semester, and I know of at least five other Swatties who did the same. Not many students do, because the 30-45 minute commute each way (depending on how the train schedule lines up with your class) does end up taking a bite out of your day, and Swatties are notoriously oversubscribed to begin with. </p>
<p>Essentially, if you have a reason to take a class at Penn–most likely that it’s not offered at Swat (obscure languages, specific subfields, etc.)–you’ll find it doable, with only a little bit of hassle. But the fact of the matter is that most people are satisfied with Swat’s offerings and don’t have a compelling reason to choose a Penn class.</p>
<p>What about at Haverford or Bryn Mawr?</p>
<p>There’s less administrative hassle involved in going to the Bi-co for classes (easier to get approved, no train tickets to get reimbursed for, same exact academic calendar, etc.), and for the most part the vans between campuses are well-timed, but there are not many people who do it without a compelling reason, because it still takes at least a half-hour commute each way. </p>
<p>But, both the Penn consortium and the Tri-college consortium are fabulous resources because, for the few students who need or want to take advantage of it, it’s readily available. I’ve known Swat students to go to Bryn Mawr for their Cities program, or to Haverford because of a great poli-sci professor. And bi-co students come to Swat for Linguistics, or for a certain specialty theatre course–stuff like that.</p>
<p>Also, remember that your time at Swat is just very limited. You’ll find too many ways you’d like to spend your time on campus that spending the time commuting to take probably less rigorous classes might seem like a waste of time, especially when you’re sleeping less than you’d like. This isn’t to say, of course, that there’s no merit in taking classes off campus, but rather that the opportunity to take classes other than at Swarthmore, while nice, isn’t something that should concern you greatly when making the decision. </p>
<p>Yes, the option is there, but it’s pretty unlikely that option will be a large part, or even a small part, of your time at Swat.</p>