<p>I was just thinking about this today. Swarthmore is for a very specific type of person. (I know that probably a lot of you will jump on me for saying this, but I believe it's true.) Or at least, there is a common thread (from what I understand) joining all Swatties. And this common thread seems to be a passion for learning instead of achievement, a love of collaboration over competition, a willingness to really challenge oneself and challenge societal norms.</p>
<p>I know very few people who genuinely embody those characteristics. And it seems to me that there <em>are</em> very few people (at least at age 17) who really crave learning and find a kind of beauty in it. </p>
<p>And yet, Swarthmore's acceptance rate is 15% and bound to decrease even more drastically this upcoming year. I don't really understand it. I mean, I love Swarthmore (I'm applying ED), but I'm just so surprised that the mainstream has embraced it to the extent that it has. I would think it would be treated more like Reed: wonderful but obscure; an intellectual haven-- but only if you're the right match. And yet, Swarthmore is in an entirely different league admissions-wise.</p>
I know very few people who genuinely embody those characteristics. And it seems to me that there <em>are</em> very few people (at least at age 17) who really crave learning and find a kind of beauty in it.
[/quote]
You are unlucky then... If you get accepted, you'll meet plenty of them. </p>
<p>But I don't think Swarthmore is nearly as "main stream" as, say, Stanford. Most of the "main stream" students and parents have never heard of it.</p>
<p>nngmm, I agree. I am certainly hoping to meet many people like that. <em>crossing my fingers!</em></p>
<p>I also agree that it's prestige is different than that of Stanford. But it is more mainstream and publicly accepted than, to use my first example, Reed, as well as many other schools devoted to "hard-core" learning (as many think of Swarthmore as being).</p>
<p>Reed is considered "less prestigious" because of its relatively low USNWR ranking (which largely has to do with Reed not supplying them the data, and being "punished" in rankings as a result). So for quite a while it was considered a great option for "brilliant slackers" (kids with great potential, but not-so-great GPA). It is very well known in academic circles, and is becoming harder and harder to get into each year.</p>
<p>@the_daydreamer: your description of Swarthmore (a passion for learning instead of achievement, a love of collaboration over competition, a willingness to really challenge oneself and challenge societal norms) sounds like the perfect match for me ;) However I'm not applying there ED because I'm international needing aid and Swarthmore is not need-blind to internationals. Good luck with your application. Maybe I'll even see you on campus some day :D</p>
<p>I'd say that the main reason why so many more people apply to Swarthmore than to Reed has to do with its location in the East Coast and its ranking in USNWR and Forbes.</p>
<p>But I'm still just so surprised that so many high school students consider themselves intellectuals. (And why aren't any of them at my high school?) :(</p>
<p>Holy Pegasus: best of luck, to you too! I hope both our cards play out to our benefit.</p>
<p>I have a lot of respect for Reed, but Reed and Swarthmore really aren't in the same category. Swarthmore's per student endowment is more than three times larger than Reed's. I don't even think they attract the same kind of student.</p>
<p>daydreamer:</p>
<p>I think you may be missing a large part of Swarthmore's student body: very smart kids who found high school pretty easy, who like to do things like read Jane Austen for fun, and who are looking for college to be challenging. I don't think you have to be unusually "intellectual" or "geeky" to go to Swarthmore. In fact, many of the Swatties I know are just regular kids.</p>
<p>To answer your question:</p>
<p>a) Swarthmore has a huge per student endowment and offers an obviously high-end undergrad experience. It doesn't take long on the gorgeous campus to see that.</p>
<p>b) Swarthmore is one of the very few highly-ranked liberal arts colleges located in a major urban area. The location and the train service directly to campus are real pluses. For example, even from Boston, the location was great with very easy/cheap air connections, plus a manageable seven hour drive. From New York City, it's a piece of cake. </p>
<p>c) It's located within two hours of a very large population base: Washington to New York City.</p>
<p>d) The academics, the diversity, and the social responsibility give Swarthmore a distinctiveness and an identity.</p>
<p>I would think that the students attracted to Swarthmore are often attracted to Reed as well. I certainly was. The main reasons why I picked Swarthmore over Reed was that Reed seemed too small when I visited, it wasn't secluded enough, I didn't really like Portland when I visited, it wasn't really ethnically diverse, and it seemed more on the radical side of things--"Atheism, Communism, Free Love" kind of suggested that that school wasn't for me. Another major reason was that they didn't give me sufficient financial aid, and Swarthmore cost a lot less than Reed did. In the end, I think how much aid you get does matter in your final decision.</p>
<p>^ I agree that Reed has a different social feel. It is very "white", and has a particularly hard time attracting black students. It did feel more "radical" than "liberal" to me, though I am not sure how accurate that feeling was... Fin aid is definitely a factor, and helps to bring even more diversity to Swarthmore.</p>