<p>Hi guys, I'm confused about what to do next year so hoping for some advice. CC is so helpful. :)</p>
<p>Well, I got into Swat and I was thrilled. I loved the school when we visited during the summer (I'm an international) and I loved the campus and hit off with my campus interviewer. But now I check out the admitted students facebook page and I read some of the stereotypes about Swat and I'm quite worried. The thing is, I'm not really that intellectual or stereotypically nerdy. I mean, I love reading and I can hold an intelligent conversation but I also love cheesy romcoms, chic-lit and nail polish. I can talk about the situation in Pakistan but I'm also happy psycho-analysing the characters of my favourite soap operas. I've never tried gaming. I got scared by some of the discussions on the FB page about videogames and scifi which I've never tried before. So my questions are, is everyone at Swat like that? Will I be out-intellectualized by my peers and be the odd one out? And since Swat is such a small place, I'm worried that if I don't fit the dominant campus culture, I will have a hard time fitting in.</p>
<p>Also, I'm an international so I am not very aware of American culture as others and what I am aware of is strictly the mainstream. I don't know any indie bands and I don't even fully understand the meaning of the word hipster. I realize that I'm generalizing terribly but well, availability heuristics... :P So I wonder if I will fit in without knowing any indie American culture. I've heard that people are liberal, but are they accepting of anyone who is different? I don't mean racially different but someone with a different thought process. I'm bound to be culturally different since I've never lived in America before.</p>
<p>Taking all of the above into consideration, I'm conflicted about where to attend college next year. So far I've gotten into: Swat, Middlebury, USC (L.A.), UPitt and a top college in my home country. I'm seriously considering Swat, Middlebury and USC. I love Swat a LOT, and I've almost decided to attend, but I want to make each decision with my eyes open. Midd is great for intls and a little bigger but too remote for me to consider seriously. That leaves USC. The weather is very condusive and I feel I won't be the dumbest person in class here but of course I feel Swat is a lot better in terms of teaching/academics.</p>
<p>Go for Swat. The school embraces diversity and is academically tops. Proximity to Philadelphia and New York is a plus for internationals (and others).</p>
<p>My D and her friends get together and watch romcoms on the weekends. They also go shopping and do lots of other “normal girl stuff.” There’s a social niche for everyone, and you will find your’s too. I never got the impression that the gaming community at Swarthmore was all that large - just passionate (: I think the FB group is skewed to emphasize that passion. I’ll bet if you started a discussion about loving “Sleepless in Seattle” there’d be a following within minutes!</p>
<p>I get a hyper-friendly vibe from the Facebook group. I think that some of their passion also comes from being excited in general about Swat / meeting new Swatties. And, I mean, can you blame them for that? Swarthmore is amazing. ^_^</p>
<p>One of the reasons I applied to Swat was because I wanted a friendly and intellectual but diverse community where I could grow from being exposed to a lot of different opinions, interests, experiences, etc. without (any/much) judgement. If you stay open-minded in terms of your interests, I think everyone will do the same for you. I say this as someone who loves video games and indie music just as much as shopping and chick flicks :)</p>
<p>My D is a junior and if her experience at Swat is any indication you have nothing to worry about. My daughter is a hard worker but also loves to have fun. And for her and her many Swat friends, fun means watching soaps, having snowball fights, hanging out in friends rooms, going into Philly on a Saturay afternoon to go clothes shopping etc etc. And neither she nor her wonderful friends are nerds or hipsters. Not that there’s anything wrong with either but if that’s not your style…I don’t think you have anything to worry about.</p>
<p>Your worries sound perfectly normal to me. The fashions in language and the media in American culture are at times ridiculously idiosyncratic(as well as hegemonic), but since, in general, they don’t depend on any sort of intelligence in order to function, are not difficult to learn at all… </p>
<p>As a member of the class of 2015 I can tell you that I have no plans whatsoever to play video games… although I do enjoy satirizing from time to time the anthropocentric tendencies of modern science fiction(i.e. STAR WARS)… i hope that doesn’t make me too much of a nerd… :)</p>
<p>As an internationally minded student I hope you choose Swarthmore, for the sake of my desire to remain on the outside of American fashions in thought and action!</p>
<p>P.S. “angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night” – Ginsberg or [Urban</a> Dictionary: hipster](<a href=“http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster]Urban”>Urban Dictionary: hipster)… I think the etymology might relate the postmodern version of the adjective “hip”… “to be hip” “being hip to the point of O.C.D.” = hipster</p>
<p>Ummmm…if you really want to know what a hipster is, this parody may be informative. Although I’ve heard Swarthmore doesn’t have too many hipsters, it may still be useful to know. By the way, this is a TOTAL exaggeration. Nobody is REALLY this, um…well…you’ll see.</p>
<p>Ummmm…if you really want to know what a hipster is, this parody may be informative. Although I’ve heard Swarthmore doesn’t have too many hipsters, it may still be useful to know.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your supportive comments! Just to make it clear, I am not against being nerdy, videogames, hipsters (jari I haven’t yet checked out your link so I am not too sure what they are) etc. etc. I am just worried that since my exposure to American culture is quite superficial, I may not know enough about these things. Like, I am a nerd, but not a nerd with knowledge of American books/games etc. I get a friendly vibe too from the group but I guess I am awed by some of my future classmates who seem very smart. Just to clarify again, I would love to learn about all these things - music, scifi etc. etc. (can you believe I’ve never seen Star Wars?) as long as people would be willing to teach me. </p>
<p>Again thank you for your answers. I guess my anxieties about moving half-way across the world are coming into play.</p>
<p>@jari and stendhal, hope to see you in August!</p>
<p>No worries, I totally understand! I didn’t think you were against them at all. I was just trying to say that I think people are just as excited to share as they are to learn. I hope to begin hearing about your experiences abroad in August :)</p>
<p>Also, if you do watch it, don’t get too afraid of that video. I can’t emphasize enough how much of a comedic exaggeration it is. I realized after posting it that it’s really unflattering and probably seems TOTALLY crazy to anybody with minimal hipster experience. The video just does a really good job at capturing (though hyperbolizing) all their stereotypical characteristics (lack of authenticity/general superficiality, intense apathy, love of irony, weird/tight clothing, heavy dependence on their parents money/lack of meaningful employment, hatred of “the mainstream”/superiority complexes, their favorite brands and places to live etc.)</p>
<p>Nahh I don’t take stereotypes too seriously. Wow I think that video needs to be taken with a bucket of salt. LOL Dw, I’m not taking it seriously. hahaha it was funny though. Btw, no offense to anyone, we all know that video was a farce. :)</p>
<p>keep in mind that a lot of people like to play into the swat image. some people here might fit parts of the swat stereotype but not everyone here is going to be the cookie-cutter stereotypical swattie.</p>
<p>swat is really open and don’t worry about not being super up-to-date on american pop culture. people will either a. fill you in, b. not care, c. want to hear about pop culture where you are from… or d e or f. your personality (or the personalities of other people) will definitely not be a limiting factor here at swat. as freshmen people are open and excited to meeting new people – a lot of people pick swat because of its staggering diversity! and, if i say so myself, the people here are super super friendly. and the international students community is great – check out i20. </p>
<p>yeah there is no ‘dominant campus culture.’ maybe an appreciation for some great traditions and habit of talking about classes and work :P.</p>
<p>also, don’t worry about being out-intellectualized or assuming that you’ll feel dumb here for two reasons: 1. you’re not dumb… admissions knows you can handle swat!, 2. everyone here has strengths and weaknesses, you might meet someone who’s a genius in your science class but maybe struggles a bit more with a language class, and 3. everyone here (at least, the people who i know :P) have moments where they doubt themselves… but then you remember that you’re surrounded by awesome, brilliant, talented people and while you may feel like you’re not as awesome as they are you remember that you have a lot to bring to the table and that most people are thinking what you’re thinking! (i made that 3 reasons, instead of the stated 2, to emphasize my debilitating math skills.)</p>
<p>that all being said, your worries are totally legitimate. but i’m happy to say that they will remain worries and will not become realities at swarthmore. congrats on getting into awesome schools.</p>
I can’t talk about either situation, and I’m happy as a Swattie. But seriously, psycho-analyzing soap opera characters is so perfectly Swattie-like it makes me laugh. Don’t worry about fitting in with pop culture; I couldn’t name you a single pop song that the majority of Americans would recognize, I never have, and I get along just fine in America.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies guys, they were very reassuring. So you mean it’s okay to not even have heard of many of the bands people seem to listen to? I’m worried that I might get left out in college. I know these are small worries but I’m trying to think of all possibilities before committing 100%.</p>
<p>oh my god, I totally agree with you! I had been pondering over exactly same issue.
I am another international school who got accepted to Swat through RD this year, and I have never been abroad (except for few days, for sightseeing of course). I watch LOTS of soap operas, and that acutally makes me feel quite confident that I know how to balance my hobby and pastime with my study! Believe it or not, I LOVE lomcom and chic-lit more than most things! and hey, I do not know any indie band, since I have never been to America as I mentioned above, and indie band is not really my thing. I am quite fond of Eminem perhaps, but that’s it. lol</p>
<p>But I decided to attend Swat, because from what I heard, Swat is a place where people value foreigners with even bigger respect, because though we may not know what everybody else knows, we also know those things which no general Americans know. We have lots of things to offer to domestic Swatties, hopefully as much as we would learn from them! I mean, that is the whole purpose of prestigious American universities and colleges selecting us, international students!</p>
<p>I can keep rambling, but what I wanted to say was that, you have nothing to worry about!! I will definitely enter Swat this coming fall, and as far as I know as of yet, I have SO many things in common with ya! Hope we will make real nice friends:)</p>
<p>Pop culture knowledge, even esoteric pop culture knowledge, is absolutely not a prerequisite for making friends at Swarthmore. I smile and nod at my friends all the time when they rant about Glee or Doctor Who (neither of which are, uh, particularly obscure–I’m probably the least-informed person in the school about any country’s popular culture).</p>
But seriously, psycho-analyzing soap opera characters is so perfectly Swattie-like it makes me laugh. Don’t worry about fitting in with pop culture; I couldn’t name you a single pop song that the majority of Americans would recognize, I never have, and I get along just fine in America.</p>