Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

Can anyone tell me a little about this school (like if you've made a visit or something)? Thanks.

By Quentin_Compson (Quentin_Compson) on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 08:55 am: Edit

anyone?

By Interesteddad (Interesteddad) on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 11:42 am: Edit

Are the Quentin the elder who didn't do so well at Harvard or Quentin the younger?

On Swarthmore. It is an ultra-small liberal arts college (1600 undergrades, total) founded by the Quakers. It's a little unique among similar schools because it has always been co-ed.

It has an an stunningly beautiful campus (mostly gray stone typcial of the area) located in a very wealthy residential area just outside Philadelphia.

It has a reputation, going back many decades, of having the most intense academic workload of all of the small liberal arts schools. No grade inflation. Students work their fannies off. It is absolutely top notch academically.

They dumped their football program along with several other varsity sports a couple of years ago. There are no frats or sororites.

It has a reputation for being notably "liberal" politically, more so than its competitors Williams and Amherst, but not in a militant sense or in ways that impact the curriculum beyond today's norm. It's more of an "old-school" social liberalism in the Quaker or Unitarian traditions. They have placed a heavy emphasis on community service throughout the school's history (a Quaker tradition) and their racial preference admissions policy is among the most aggressive in the country.

There is a commuter rail station at the foot of campus (20 minutes to downtown Phila). Classes can be taken among four more colleges in the area: UPenn, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore. As a general practice, Swarthmore students take some classes at UPenn, but not so much at Haverford and Bryn Mawr.

I think you would find widespread agreement in the academic community that it is one of the two handful liberal arts colleges in the country and has been for a very long time.

If I were trying to find a negative, the extremely small size of the school might be it, depending on what you are looking for. The proximity to a city probably helps keep the campus from being as confining as it otherwise might become after four years, but it is still 20% to 25% smaller still than places like Williams and Amherst. 375 in the "freshperson" class is smaller than many high schools.

By Jymfour (Jymfour) on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 02:31 pm: Edit

I love swarthmore. I've never seen so many people work their asses off and enjoy themselves at the same time. There's always something to do, everyone's doing multiple things at the same time, not only noncompetitve but a downright helpful, and cooperative student body...small classes, GREAT MATH(only Williams comes close in the small schools) and a real engineering curriculum. People talk politics, participate in theater(even the Geeks),party in Philly...I'd go to Swarthmore just to hang out! Interesteddad's description was right on the money. My sister is a recent grad and still thinks choosing Sw was a great decision.

By Quentin_Compson (Quentin_Compson) on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 03:18 pm: Edit

Thanks for the info. Is it incredibly difficult to get in to? Is the admissions based mainly on academics/ECs or finding students that 'fit in' so to speak?

And at the rate i'm going, I'll probably be Quentin the elder .

By Interesteddad (Interesteddad) on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 04:01 pm: Edit

>> Is it incredibly difficult to get in to?

Probably the hardest liberal arts college in the country to get into. Remember, there are only 370 incoming freshman.

This year, they accepted 902 out of 3945 applications. Like I mentioned, their racial preference admissions policy may be the most aggressive in the country. Of the 902 acceptances, 44% or 397 students identified themselves as "Americans of Color", leaving just 56% or 505 of the acceptances for caucasian and international applicants.

We are talking very small numbers and, because the numbers are so small, you pretty much have to have great stats AND a serious "hook" AND be very committed to Swathmore. The 75th percentile SAT score of last year's enrolled freshmen was 1530.

By Quentin_Compson (Quentin_Compson) on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 05:27 pm: Edit

Well, that's quite depressing . I have a 1540 SAT (800V 740M), good SATIIs (800 Writing, 780 Physics, 770 Math IIc), a 3.78 GPA (4.43 weighted), 47 out of 325 in my class (competetive magnet school) in the IB program (will have taken 8 AP tests and 7 IB tests by the end of high school, all AP/IB classes junior/senior years), but I don't really have anything you could call a hook, and my ECs are nothing special at all. Is there any way I could get in (good essays/recommendations/interview maybe?), or anything that will help my chances? It sounds like an incredible school from what I've read and been told about it, and I would like to do all I can to subit an excellent application. Thanks.

By Ziplocky (Ziplocky) on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 08:32 pm: Edit

...if you didn't know anything about it to begin with, why do you want to go there so badly?

By Quentin_Compson (Quentin_Compson) on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 08:36 pm: Edit

I never said I didn't know anything about it to begin with. I can read stats and average SAT scores all day long, but I was inquiring about the school because I hoped someone with some personal experience could give me some info that I couldn't get from just reading about it. I haven't visited the college yet, and just wanted to hear more about it.

By Howdydoody (Howdydoody) on Thursday, June 26, 2003 - 06:26 pm: Edit

Swarthmore is tough to get into, but not as tough as Amherst and Williams. High stats are virtually a lock at Swarthmore, while A and W tend to admit students in more of an "Ivy" fashion. Swarthmore is one of the best LACs in the country. Probably a bit less desirable than Williams and Amherst (as seen by its higher acceptance rate and lower yield), but still very good.

Is Swarthmore as prestigious as Williams, less, or about the same?

By Interesteddad (Interesteddad) on Thursday, June 26, 2003 - 07:29 pm: Edit

I don't think Swarthmore is one iota 'easier to get into' than Williams or Amherst. In fact, I think it is slightly more difficult because it is 25% smaller and has a more aggressive racial preference admissions policy.

"Prestige" is six in one half dozen in the other. I remember as far back as 30 years ago when I was a student at Williams, Swarthmore was considered to be every bit as prestigious and one of the few schools considered to be even more academically challenging.

One admissions issue that impacts odds at the two schools is the somewhat higher emphasis on athletics at Williams. Obviously, stocking a competitive football program in a small school is going to require "x" number of reserved admissions slots. Swarthmore dumped its football program, because after their reserved racial preference slots, they simply ran out of room to reserve sufficient slots for varsity athletics. Offhand, I suspect that Swarthmore tends reserve more admissions slots for things like community service "specialists" than Williams does.

When comparing small differences in admissions probabilities, it's a mistake to use only the overall raw numbers. For example Williams had 876 international applicants this year (16% of the total) of which they accepted just a handful. You have to back out the international and racial preference numbers to get a true sense of the admissions odds, because both groups skew the overall numbers. More international applicants lowers the overall acceptance rate. A more aggressive racial preference program increases the overall acceptance rate.

By Jules07 (Jules07) on Tuesday, August 05, 2003 - 12:19 am: Edit

Interesteddad -
Swarthmore does have fraternities...but less than 10% of the male population belong to them and from what I have heard they are mostly "athlete-dominated"
for more info click here: http://www.swarthmore.edu/bulletin/june03/frats.html

By Ddanthro (Ddanthro) on Monday, January 12, 2004 - 06:53 am: Edit

I have several friends who attended Swarthmore. It's a small, highly-selective, rigorous college. There is almost no grade inflation. "B's" are considered very good grades. Students' grades tend to be on the lower side. Graduate schools know about the academic standards at this school; and many of them add points to students' gpa's. There are other schools that have standards as rigorous as Swarthmore: Reed and University of Chicago come to mind. Outside of academic circles, however, Swarthmore is less well-known than, say, Williams or Amherst. But probably not by much. Swarthmore is also the only school to my knowledge that allows outside examiners to determine whether students get their degrees with honors. At Swarthmore any student can 'go honors': They do not need to be invited to participate. Going honors means taking on another set of rigorous challenges: This means a lot of additional papers, readings, and exams. It is possible then that a senior at Swarthmore could have a 2.6 gpa (or an even lower gpa) and still get an honors degree. It has happened!