what makes swarthmore special

<p>why is swarthmore different from all the other LACs that i'm applying too?</p>

<p>Uhhh...I think that, for a compare and contrast question, you would have to tell us all the other LACs you are applying to...</p>

<p>In a general sense, things that make Swarthmore unique include:</p>

<p>a) notably rigorous academics. </p>

<p>b) the Honors Program</p>

<p>c) easy commuter rail access to a major urban area, the airport, and the entire Washington - NY corridor</p>

<p>d) extreme diversity (for an elite college)</p>

<p>e) a culture of social responsibility</p>

<p>f) coed from the day it was founded</p>

<p>g) massive per student endowment</p>

<p>h) engineering major</p>

<p>I'm applying to other schools like Skidmore, Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan, Conn College, Vassar, Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>All LACs seem to be pretty similar in general in terms of like small, generally rigorous (at least the ones I'm applying to) community, etc. so I was wondering what makes Swat stand out so much. Like what is a "stereotype" of Swat? I know that is kind of a horrible question to ask because everyone who goes there is different but still there has to be something about Swat that makes them all choose to go there.</p>

<p>One stereotype is the person who wrote, "Jane isn't the only one who likes Dick" on the sidewalk.</p>

<p>Swarthmore doesn't have to stand out for you to want to go there.</p>

<p>I think you will find the list I gave makes Swarthmore different from all the other LACs you mention. For example, none of them have Swat's diversity. None of them have Swat's financial resources. Only one of them (Bryn Mawr) has Swat's access to cities. None of them were founded as coed except maybe Conn. College (I'm not sure). None of them have an Honors Program like Swarthmore. None of them have an engineering major. And, frankly, none of them are academically rigorous as Swarthmore (Bryn Mawr may be the closest on that front, too).</p>

<p>Conn was single-sex until well into the seventies.</p>

<p>Wesleyan is 28% non-white even with half the number of Swat's Asian-Pacific Islanders (10% to 17%)</p>

<p>Wesleyan's College of Social Studies (CSS) and College of Letters (COL) can go toe-to-toe with Swat's Honors Program in terms of intensity and straight-edgedness.</p>

<p>Academic rigor is a subjective thing. If by that you mean, which school turns out more professional academics, Swarthmore wins. However, by that logic, Wesleyan is the bigger sports powerhouse because it turns out more NFL coaches.</p>

<p>Please let me share some of my experience as a parent of a prospective student three years ago. My son was offered admission at some wonderful schools including Swarthmore.</p>

<p>I attended several parents' sessions that were part of the admitted students weekend in April 2006. My son and I were very positively impressed with the quality of the discussions.</p>

<p>One session was a faculty panel discussion with some introductory remarks by Dean Bock. I took some notes during the discussion. Here are some excerpts:</p>

<p>Professor Jefferson, a professor in the Economics Department, said:</p>

<p>-Acceptance to Swarthmore means the faculty believes that you have high intellectual potential.
-The realization is up to you.
-Please give Swarthmore your highest consideration.</p>

<p>Some other comments included:</p>

<p>-"The Meaning of Swarthmore" is opportunity.
-Studies at Swarthmore are characterized by depth, engagement, rigor, and attention to detail.
-The goal is to train students to professional scholar's standards.
-Students write a lot at Swarthmore.</p>

<p>In another session, Dean Larimore said that Swarthmore has "extraordinarily interesting students. Three characteristics of the students are intellectually engaged, socially committed, and amazing conversationalists."</p>

<p>A student's session was both entertaining and re-assuring. Some comments were:</p>

<p>-Selecting a college is a great irrational decision in life.
-Transferring is a pain-in-the-neck. Why go through the admissions process again? Think about size, fit, and distance from home. Go someplace that you are comfortable.
-Some students say I'm not as happy as I'm supposed to be - who the hell is?</p>

<p>On a lighter note, I believe Dean Larimore also said "90% of the incoming students at Swarthmore are in the top 10% of their high school class, so 81% of them are going to be disappointed."</p>

<p>Swarthmore is a very special school. My son has enjoyed the quality of his peer group and the world-wide diversity of the student body.</p>

<p>I'll comment on what swarthmoredad wrote. I agree that students's admittance to Swarthmore reflects high intellectual potential, but this is the opinion of the admissions committee, not professors. Professors don't decide who gets in. Once a student gets in, the student needs to work to get his education. Teachers can't give a student an education; teachers may help a student lto earn, but I think that all learning (as well as writing) is self-taught. If a student puts in the effort to get a good education and there are resources to help him, then he can certainly achieve his goal. Lots of schools provide such resources. That's why I could probably get a good, maybe even great education in lots of other colleges and universities. It's what you do in college that matters. </p>

<p>I also agree that standards here are high. It's hard to get an A in Swarthmore, provided that you take a challenging course. Not all students write a lot at Swarthmore. Some do, but not all. It depends on the schedule. I really didn't write that much so far this semester--three seven- to ten-page papers and a couple of lab reports.</p>

<p>I pretty much agree with everything else that was mentioned.</p>

<p>thanks swarthmoredad and dchow8, you guys were really helpful.
I kind of knew that stuff about swarthmore, but only in a general sense, you gave a lot more helpful details that help me understand swat better
THANK YOU</p>

<p>Coffee - I can give you a view of another college on your list. My older son goes to Skidmore and just loves it. One of his closest friends there turned Swarthmore down to go to Skidmore and also loves it there. My second son however, fell in love with Swarthmore and chose it over Skidmore, Hamilton and others. I honestly don't think you can go wrong with any college on your list. Good luck on your college search! I will tell you though, that my son got a lot of Swarthmore clothes for Christmas and I haven't seen him out of them yet. I think that is a strong indication of how proud he is of being a Swattie!</p>

<p>the inside perspective:</p>

<p>[1] you can date all the Napolean Dynamites you want!</p>

<p>[2] you can feel bad about your grades cause you will never get an A (unless you become an alcoholic, drug addict and psycho).</p>

<p>[3] you can say goodbye to any social skills you once had and hello to awkwardness. yay! doesn't this just sound awesome?</p>

<p>[4] you can be sure that the rest of your life after Swarthmore will be great... because it won't be Swarthmore.</p>

<p>Hope this helps :)</p>

<p>Lol, student111.
I'm guessing you are not particularly fond of Swarthmore? Or is that all more on a humerous note?</p>

<p>
[quote]
you can feel bad about your grades cause you will never get an A (unless you become an alcoholic, drug addict and psycho)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>When my daughter got an "A" on a paper or course at Swarthmore, she felt a sense of real accomplishment. I don't think she ever felt "bad" about a grade except maybe her mid-term exam in advanced calc first semester freshman year. We know people taking the same course at the same time at Dartmouth, Harvard, and Georgia Tech who all pretty much had the same experience, so it doesn't appear to be specific to Swarthmore.</p>

<p>Her final shadow grade in that course turned out to be her worst of the four years at Swarthmore and, rather than feel "bad" about it, she was dancing on cloud nine to have gotten it.</p>

<p>hey stu, i don't know about dating napoleon dynomites unless you consider random hookups dating) but i got the same info about getting A's and alcohol consumption and dude, it is strictly bogus. i tried it. it seems to work for me at other schools, just not here.</p>

<p>I need to correct my reference to Dean Larimore due to my faulty memory. I meant to attribute the comments to Robert Gross, who was Dean of Students in the Spring of 2006. Dean Larimore started in the Fall of 2006. I enjoyed listening to both of them talk about their impressions of Swarthmore.</p>

<p>I think, as a whole, what makes Swarthmore students stand out is the excitement of the majority of the students. Nearly everyone I've met is incredibly excited to learn and extend that knowledge towards a wealth of situations. Here's a pretty silly but fun example- my friends, who are in engineering, were the masterminds behind an awesome, life-size WALL-E cake for a study break. (It was realistic and delicious, as someone who helped decorate it. :) ) That sort of excitement and resourcefulness goes, as already mentioned, into social consciousness as well.</p>

<p>Coffee,
I am going to try to help you from an outside perspective. My brother graduated from Swarthmore last spring. I am a freshman at Rutgers, and applied to all LAC's besides my backup which was Rutgers. On a side note I ended up at Rutgers because of money and I want to be a philosophy major and RU is known for its Philosophy. </p>

<p>Now, you asked what makes Swarthmore different than other LAC's. Well in general, it is just a cut above. Swarthmore is absolutely amazing. Every person I met at Swarthmore over the year was highly intelligent, wise, charismatic, and of course liberal. Now there are the swatties that are very "nerdy," but that is most certainly not the case for the whole campus. If you want to have a good time, you can definitley have one at Swarthmore, and this is coming from a student at Rutgers. You can pretty much drink wherever on campus and not worry about getting in trouble by the police because normally they are not on campus. In a short verse, Swarthmore students are awesome.</p>

<p>I have been thinking about this one and having said goodbye to my freshman d this morning at the airport, I was thankful that she was going back to a school where she feels everyone treats one another like family. She had a wonderful first semester and was eagerly anticipating the beginning of the next. She has been very, very happy and has met some wonderful new friends.</p>

<p>I believe that Swarthmore is special because there is a pervasive feeling of caring. It is the little things that abound that make it a wonderful place to attend school. I will just note two minor ones because I want to keep this brief. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>At lunchtime nothing is scheduled so that all students can eat together. The school essentially "shuts down" and all students can eat in one place, at the same time. It has been said that one of the activities that helps keep a family together is having meals as a family. I think that it is a very nice "touch" for the students at Swarthmore to be able to congregate in one place, at the same time, every day, if a student chooses to take advantage of this.</p></li>
<li><p>School provides vans to take students to a number of places, but my favorite, and the one for which I am most thankful as a parent, is the airport shuttle. I think that it is really caring and thoughtful for vans to be provided for students flying to and from school during breaks. While her friends have to struggle with cab$$$ and public buses/trains at other schools, and just like her brother did all through college and grad school at two Ivies, she gets to hop on a free school van and rides to and from school with friends. I know that this is not a big deal, but it is a really nice touch. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>And it is the many little things that when added together make a place feel special....</p>

<p>I kind of agree with number 1, but if you've ever experienced eating at Sharples, you'll know that it's not quite like being treated as a family. Some people don't like congregating at one place at the same time, because the lines (like the lunch line today) are ridiculously long, unless you get there pretty much before 12:30 pm. Right after 12:30 pm the line gets ridiculous. If students want to meet up with their friends, they'd schedule a time on their own. But I guess you get a bit of the sense that you're part of a community that eats together.</p>

<p>The shuttles are great, but I get the feeling that student drivers would not be so nice, caring, and thoughtful to give students free rides if they weren't getting paid themselves. People don't volunteer to drive other students around for a long time--it's part of their job.</p>

<p>
[quote]
The shuttles are great, but I get the feeling that student drivers would not be so nice, caring, and thoughtful to give students free rides if they weren't getting paid themselves. People don't volunteer to drive other students around for a long time--it's part of their job.

[/quote]

Swarthmore College pays these drivers, providing the income to the students who need the money, and the transportation for everyone who needs it. This is very unusual (as far as I know), and very generous, and a tremendous help for the students who need to get to/from the airport. And it definitely is one of many examples of the little things that the COLLEGE does for its students.</p>