Things that suck about Swarthmore

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
1

<p>I go to Swarthmore.
I love my school. I think academically it's great, I can take interesting classes with great professors, I love my friends. But there are some things that I wish I knew about Swarthmore that are becoming more and more of an issue the longer I stay here. They probably would've swayed my decision against Swarthmore, so I thought it was only fair to share.</p>

<ol>
<li>Our internet SUCKS. ITS is awful at actually keeping the internet functional. It goes through several periods a day where it's slow or just off and there's nothing you can do about it.</li>
<li>There will never be paper or ink in any of the printers, and that's just how life is.</li>
<li>Meal plan options suck. If you don't use meals, they don't roll over -- you just lose them and the insane amount of money your parents pay for crap food. There is no way to be taken off the meal plan unless you live off campus.</li>
<li>NOTHING is open past 9. Nothing. If you want coffee at midnight because of your paper, too bad. You've either got to make it yourself, or suck it up. There are no other options.</li>
<li>Food delivery options suck.</li>
<li>The fact that a majority of students are at least somewhat socially awkward is a novelty at first, but don't worry: it wears off. The novelty, I mean, not the social awkwardness. That's here to stay.</li>
<li>None of the stuff in your dorm will work properly.</li>
</ol>

<p>There's more, I'm sure, but that's what I could think of right off the bat.</p>

2

<p>No food available after 9? You just turned me off Swarthmore for life, thanks bud. Methinks you should transfer out ay-sap.</p>

3

<p>I mean… one of the snack bars is open to 10:30 (I think) or 12, depending on the day, but the food sucks. And you can order pizza until 11, but it’s not like you can go outside and go to a Starbucks. It’s just strange when my other top choice was in the middle of NYC to think that there I could order frozen yogurt at 4:00 AM and here I can’t go get a latte… ever.</p>

4

<p>That does sound horrible! Just for perspective, you mean it’s so bad that the free network printers in the library and in every dorm on campus run out of paper because students didn’t reload them and you have to walk down and put paper in to print something?</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Kohlberg Coffee Bar is open 'til 10 pm on Sun, Mon, Tues.
The Science Center coffee bar is open 'til 10pm on Wed and Thurs.
The snack bar is open 'til midnight, Mon - Wed and 'til 10:30 every other night.</p>

<p>BTW, Ruby Tuesdays and Bertucci’s are both open to 10.
Starbucks is open 'til 9. I don’t know how late Dunkin Donuts is open.</p>

<p>Don’t they still have coffee in McCabe Library? That’s open 'til 2 am Sun - Thursday. Plus, you can always send your print job to the printers there, right?</p>

<p>But, I agree. Not being able to get a latte at 4am does suck really bad! But, during the day, you can certainly stroll up to Starbucks and get a latte. You can even hop on a bus if you have a sprained ankle.</p>

<p>I always liked the food at Kohlberg and the Science Center. Coffee was great. Muffins, danish, and bagels were all really good. Plus, can’t you get the 14 and 17 meal plans that have points you can use at the coffee bars?</p>

<p>PS: A lot of college students don’t have the money for Starbucks lattes in New York City. What are they now? 12 dollars?</p>

5

<p>though, in all likelihood, it’s still probably easier to get coffee after 9:00pm than paper for a printer. :p</p>

6

<p>I think you have to buy the more comprehensive meal plan your first semester freshman year, but after that you can buy one of the smaller plans with points that can be used at various locations. Swatties love whining about food options, but after visiting and eating at various places on campus, it is hard for me to feel much compassion in that regard. Grow up. Soon enough you will be making your own food - I doubt this will make your menu much more exciting.</p>

<p>And yes, the Village of Swarthmore is not Manhattan. I am sorry you did not realize this early enough to make a right college choice.</p>

<p>I know of no other school that offers unlimited free printing (not that they don’t exist, but it certainly is not the norm…)
You can always buy your own printer for about the cost of 10 lattes if the school’s printing services do not meet your expectations.</p>

7

<p>I’m a senior and I am still mostly content with facilities, dining services, ITS, and the socially awkward students. But it sounds like you’re really unhappy–so why not apply to transfer to a school in a big city where you can live in an apartment and control your own food, printing, internet, and social scene? Swarthmore’s a great place, but there are some people who just aren’t right for it, including people who want to be in city schools. If you’re worried about credits transferring properly, Penn might be your best bet in that regard. </p>

<p>For the purposes of setting the record straight–my internet (I use only the wireless) has significant problems perhaps once or twice a semester. Keeping paper and ink in the dorm printers is an issue, as is stuff breaking in dorms, but if you ask to get something fixed, facilities is generally good about getting to it before long.</p>

8

<p>I appreciate the fact that Swarthmore can be a love/hate relationship while you’re there
–for many reasons more complicated than what you list here!</p>

<p>But it absolutely amazes me what students are concerned about these days! I know I’m going to get flamed by the students for this, but let me contrast this to my own time in college. I went to a similarly sized LAC, in an equally sleepy town–and while I didn’t always appreciate it at the time, I cherish the fact that my parents truly sacrificed to send me there.</p>

<p>We had also only one or two meal options, but honestly, I was too busy cleaning gunk out of the steam tables and picking up other students’ crap to worry about it–I was happy to eat at the beginning of my shift, since I had no appetite afterwards! </p>

<p>After meals, there was one coffee house on campus–maybe open until 1 or so. Going to town would have been like going to Media. If I needed food or coffee in the middle of the night, I fired up tho old hot pot for tea, ramen or instant coffee! Or made popcorn the old fashioned way in the dorm kitchenette.</p>

<p>Similarly, if I found I hadn’t requested enough materials from the library, I’d have to wait until the next day (if I could get them). No internet!</p>

<p>I borrowed my mom’s manual typewriter to take to school and typed all my papers on this, paying for paper and typewriter ribbons myself. When I was senior, thank goodness my boyfriend (now husband) had an electric on which to type my thesis. Copies? Carbon or paid for myself. I was perplexed when I found that well-to-do students sometimes paid someone to type their theses!</p>

<p>I was a studio art major, my supplies were expensive, and when it came time to frame my senior show–my hands were a mess of cuts, since it was cheaper to cut my own glass.</p>

<p>My college also had a stereotypical type of student that sometimes you got sick and tired of (not swawkward–but a word that rhymes with witch). </p>

<p>I don’t really have a profound ending here–I would give anything to go back and repeat those years. You will have the rest of your life to go to coffee houses and eat interesting food and pay for your own utilities and maintenance and supplies. At least you aren’t some of my friends’ kids who complain because there aren’t enough bars, and the shopping mall is too far, and they have to pay for their own gas, and the professors expect them to actually come to class!</p>

9

<p>I might have taken this thread more seriously if there were legitimate complaints about the academic offerings (good luck with coming up with some of those) or at least comments regarding the school as an academic institution. But given that you stated you have no such issues you’re clearly just coming on here to whine. I’m not one to fervently defend an institution just because I attend it but these claims are ridiculously frivolous. Yeah the meal plan is annoying and this isn’t Philly or NYC food-wise, but who has time for that? And, for most college students, who has the money for that? Let’s dissect this a bit.</p>

<ol>
<li>Slow internet.
Internet does slow down – yet miraculously I am managing to use it right now? The internet has gone out only a few times. I’d like to point out that there are campuses that aren’t even wireless so if you’re so concerned about how quickly facebook is loading then go buy an Ethernet cable and surf the web the old-fashioned way.</li>
<li>No paper or ink in the printers.
When the paper runs out you put more in. For someone who’s willing to go out and get a coffee at 2 in the morning I’m sure you can manage putting more paper into a printer. When the ink runs out you talk to the ITS person in your dorm or, if you’re using public printers then ask the people working. At least Swat doesn’t charge us for printing – which DOES happen at schools nowadays.</li>
<li>Meal Plan
Meal plan could be more flexible – extra meals can be used at a snack bar during certain hours.</li>
<li>Nothing’s open past 9.
Tarble is open past 9.
Academic buildings are open 24 hours a day.</li>
<li>Food delivery
Jeez, what do you care about more, college or food? It’s not the college’s fault that the local neighborhood doesn’t have a more flexible delivery schedule. How about taking a trip to Target and keeping food in your room? You can get some coffee while you’re at it.</li>
<li>Social Awkwardness
Did you even google Swat or anything before you decided to come here?</li>
<li>Nothing in the dorms work
Funny. My lights work. My bed works. My desk works. The toilets flush. My door closes. </li>
</ol>

<p>If these are all things that would legitimately deter you from Swat upon a second look at the school then… well… I don’t even know what to tell you… get working on that transfer app.</p>

10

<p>I’m really sad that you felt you needed to come onto this forum to discuss the issues that you’re having here. I’m not going to post another whole long response like others detailing how some of the things you say are just wrong since they have it covered (as someone said, nothing closes at 9, my internet is, miraculously, working, McCabe always has paper, etc) but some are confusing (what “stuff” in your dorm doesn’t work?).</p>

<p>If you don’t like the food, join the Dining Services committee or the Dean’s Advisory committee and make changes - submit recipes to Sharples, make suggestions, meet with their staff. They’re really open to that. If you’re unhappy with the delivery options, take the college-run Media shuttle to Trader Joe’s or, as someone said, the Target shuttle and buy some delicious pre-made food that you can heat yourself. Get your own paper to use in dorm printers when they run out if you don’t feel like walking to a library. Have an Ethernet cord ready if the wireless feels slow. Talk to your RA if things in your dorm aren’t working like you feel they should be: that’s what they’re there for. Complaining for the sake of complaining won’t make anything better for you.</p>

<p>As many people have said, if these little things are really bothering you this much, maybe you should consider being at a place where you have control over it all. Best of luck making it all work.</p>

11

<p>Hmm, my thoughts as a first-year student:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The internet is twitchy, yes. I don’t find it more than a minor nuisance, although it seems to depend greatly on individual computers (my friend’s laptop gets randomly disconnected much more often than mine does).</p></li>
<li><p>Printers are another minor nuisance. I’ve actually not had problems with paper and ink as much as with just jamming/errors. The McCabe printers are well-stocked but used so much that they’re out of service quite often.</p></li>
<li><p>I will switch to the 14-meal plan as soon as I can, so that I don’t have to plan around Essie Mae’s limited meal-exchange hours. But if you eat lunch/dinner at Sharples and actually do plan ahead, it’s easy to have snacks on hand for post-midnight munching.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>4/5. I assume this is true, but it hasn’t bothered me much because I don’t drink coffee or tea.</p>

<ol>
<li>Yep, my dorm still doesn’t have the promised communal vacuum. Amazingly, it doesn’t bother me that much. (EDIT: Or, apparently we finally do have said vacuum. I’ve yet to use it.)</li>
</ol>

<p>But mainly, I want to talk about the OP’s #6. I would say that the majority of Swarthmore students are weird and/or crazy in at least one way, often multiple ways; but I’ve also found an amazing social life here (as a non-drinker, whose friends include moderate drinkers). Is Swat more socially awkward than your average state university? Yep. But if you want a purely “normal” student body, you shouldn’t be at Swarthmore in the first place.</p>

12

<p>I suspect Swatgirl13 was just having a bad day. We are all entitled to one of those every once in a while.</p>

<p>On internet, run over to Target and get an ethernet cable and plug your computer in. Your dorm room has ethernet jacks. My impression is that Swat’s hardwired internet capability is largely bullet proof. They pay for massive bandwith on a major optic fiber trunk line. Wireless? When you have that many people, configuring and misconfiguring their computers on that many overlapping wireless hubs in stone and steel buildings, it’s going to be less than perfectly reliable.</p>

13

<p>It is not the complaints that scare me, it is the way the OP chooses to express herself, the word choices are so vulgar. I was expecting more from a Swarthmore student.</p>

14

<p>I think most of the responses here have been reasonable, but let’s not forget: swatgirl13 says she loves Swarthmore and has made many good friends. I’m sure she finds the things she says sucks about Swarthmore to be minor relative to her opinion on the school, and that she just wants an outlet to get people to notice some things that are not so wonderful about Swarthmore, since they never really get heard.</p>

<p>I agree with some things she said. I do wish we had more places that are open late at night, and I think a lot of Swatties hold that view. It’s true that often the dorm printers will be out of paper and ink. I always print things in Cornell (science center library) or in McCabe, They’re often out of paper and ink because they’re used so frequently. Yes, the meal plan options do kind of suck, but at least it’s “all you can eat,” which is not what many other colleges and universities have. Sometimes there are days when NOTHING at Sharples tastes good, and I agree that for how expensive tuition at Swarthmore is, it’s not outrageous to expect better-tasting food. But it’s true that you can submit recipes and they will consider them.</p>

15

<p>It’s also true that they have a grill man who will cook you a hamburger or grilled cheese sandwich or whatever you want to order if the menu that day doesn’t suit you!</p>

<p>BTW, I have a little secret. My laser printer is always out of paper, too! It’s one of the laws of the universe: All laser printers are perpetually out of paper.</p>

<p>Consider this: It there were no free printers in the dorms and every Swarthmore student were forced to buy their own printer, paper, and cartridges, then the dorm printers running out of paper would no longer be something that sucks about Swarthmore.</p>

16

<p>^To be fair, not everyone likes hamburgers or grilled cheese. I almost never touch the grill line; if the food is terrible one day, I make myself a sandwich or a salad.</p>

17

<p>^Yeah, same, it’s really not a healthy option - I never use the grill, but I similarly usually make myself a quesadilla or a sandwich along with a salad, in which case you can still get in lots of veggies from the salad bar while filling yourself up. :]</p>

18

<p>Or you can also go to Paces and get something there.</p>

19

<p>So I’m guessing setting up an Xbox for Live is out of the question? :P</p>

20

<p>I am only on this board exploring colleges for my D and I have to agree with Siusplau’s comments. I went to a college in a city and had all the amenities available at all hours. But, we (me and my fellow students) were on a budget and couldn’t afford to dine out. We had 20 meals/week and were on our own Sunday night. In the 1970’s my budget was $10/week. Beer was $1.35 a six pack if you walked five blocks othewise it was $1.50 so we walked. We were not poor, far from it, we had no loans for school as our parents paid the bill. My point is college is great and gives you lifelong memories and an education. Get your own damn paper, buy a coffee maker for your room and stop whining.</p>