Swarthmore College Top Questions

Swarthmore is certainly very diverse, and most groups of friends and dining tables are highly mixed racially. The only thing that I've found, as a Middle Eastern student, is that the Middle East is not very well represented here. There seems to be a group on campus for every other region of the earth (except perhaps Antarctica and Australia) besides the Middle East. It's somewhat disappointing.

The decrease in racial diversity is subtle, but very distinct. I think the numbers go back to 1970, when we had more Black students accepted than we had in the class of 2011, which is very dissappointing to see that a "progressive" institution such as this is so limited in its racial scope, and usually the type of people that categorize that racial scope, in terms of social and class background.

Coming from Los Angeles, I believe that I came from a very diverse community of people; however, at Swarthmore I have experienced more diversity than anywhere else at Swarthmore. There is a great mix of race, religino and sexual orientation among the student body and, Swarthmore has a persona that allows all different subgroups among these groups feel welcome among the campus. I really believe that very few people would ever feel out of place at Swarthmore.

people pay too much attention to these issues, issues that are clearly not a problem on campus, i am not going to get into the student body

The student body leans towards a very liberal. Almost everything goes. Students feel very free on campus. I think that being conservative could create some difficulties. The most noticeable table in the dining hall is the Sci-Fi people's table,

So...we're liberal. We're smart and we know it. A lot of Swatties are involved with a lot of progressive groups and organizations, and generally there are some pretty amazing people all around you. That girl next to you in seminar? Wrote a book. That guy in front of you at Sharples dinner line? Professional mountain unicyclist. Most of us are pretty idealistic and want to change the world, so we're all resigned to living in boxes. There aren't really any cliques or anything, although there's the general SWIL group and athletes. Since it's such a small group, we have a fair amount of mixing. We really are very diverse here, racially, socio-economically and so on. Whereas in high school, all my friends were Asian, here my closest group of friends are Caucasian, Middle Eastern, Black, South Asian, Asian, Hispanic...and that's really pretty much the norm. People here are also really, really nice. Like, everbody. I've never had so many people who don't personally know me open doors for me or hold an umbrella over me when it's raining. We are generally very considerate and we have good relationships with each other, the professors, the EVS, the Sharples staff.

Students are super aware in some ways, but not so much in other ways. People will be throwing around the words "hegemonic" and "heteronormative" when talking about gender oppression, but will have no idea what you're talking about when you mention the Elliot Spitzer scandal. We have a week for everything -- Class awareness week, coming out week, earth week, peace week, the list goes on. Most people here are middle class students who love to talk about oppression and injustice and want to help every poor person in the entire world. Most students are from Pennsylvania and New York, with a big population from New York City and a sizable amount of kids from the Philadelphia area. Almost everyone is liberal and being an extreme leftist is pretty much the norm. The College Republicans may be the least popular group on campus, but they do exist (after fighting for like two years). Very few people talk about how much they'll earn one day, most people think earning money is evil. If there were four tables of students in the dining hall, there would be the hipsters (men clad in super-tight jeans, girls in flannel and tights, listening to atonal music and discussing obscure art exhibits in NYC and even more obscure books, printed on an independent printing press in the Meat-packing district), the athletes (in their sweaty clothes, fresh from practice talking about how many men/women they "banged," how drunk they're going to get, how much they hate their "faggie/dykie" roommate), the kids that were mocked mercilessly in high school (usually wearing tye-dye, or shirts with animals screen-printed, or long, flowey skirts with those strap-on sandals, talking about video games and Dungeons and Dragons), students of color (generally dressed well, in clothes that reflect the fashions of the time, talking about different things -- movies, books, classes, life). (Sidenote: these are probably the four most sizeable and extreme groups, there are a lot of normal, average people at Swarthmore, and very few people sit at the same table or with the same people in the dining hall).

I was happy with my experience at Swarthmore as a gay. No anti-gay sentiment or anything like that--being gay is completely unremarkable at Swarthmore. Given the school's small size, if you're a gay male you can only really hope for 25 gay guys max per class, so incoming classes' crops o' gays are scrutinized intensely for potential mates. (The straights do this too, although there is a little less pressure on them.) Student attire: It is not possible to feel underdressed at Swarthmore; on the contrary, it is very possible to feel overdressed, as wearing "nice" (i.e. expensive but conventional-looking) will make you stick out like a sore thumb and make you feel like an ass. Political diversity at Swarthmore ranges from centrist Democrat to anarchist. The six or seven Republicans on campus any given year are usually obnoxiously vocal and viewed as douches by everyone else.

i like the "diversity." sometimes i feel the people here try to have discussions about racial or socio-economic issues too much. because the discussion can never get past the surface because their so worried with being politically correct and not offending anyone

Outside of Heidi, there are not a lot of pretty girls.

There are many diverse ppl from whom i learn to accept other pl that are different. a student who is stupid would feel out of place. I wear a ripped flannel plaid jacket to class. one table is jeff santner, ben starr, and chris caruso. one table is travis and heid and jimmy jinn. one table is saxmaster scott. one table is the music majors who all eat together. The aristocracy is the most prevalent. students are politcally aware and hav incorrect belifs about plitics. we are mostly lefties. I will earn 150,000 dollar per annum.

diverse passionate caring loving open intense opinionated funny awkward outgoing weird nerdy proud smart easy going liberal achieving better than haverford from all demographics from all backgrounds from all experiences from the places you can't even imagine with life stories that inspire you with goals that seem unreachable with the ambition to reach those goals with the drive to find the facilities to make goals realiteis active aware searching finding looking for more finding more insatiable if you want greek life, dont apply here if you dont want to interact with all kinds of ppl, dont come here somewhat in your face, but always with respect one dining hall,you sit with everyone there is no one that falls through the cracks there are no cracks

Students here definitely care about many different issuea. And its hard because everyone has their own passion and you want to support all of your friends. It just difficult to keep grounded when you are so obsessed with learning these specific things and then you go out into the "real world" and no one really cares.

Most students are left. don't come here and expect to not be constantly under attack/ have to defend your beliefs if you are a hard core conservative or religious person.

For domestic students: Lots of Californians, lots of New Yorkers, lots of Pennsylvania kids, and it seems like all but 5{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the rest are from New England. Midwesterners and Southerners aren't at all shoved out of social situations or anything; it's nice to have that diversity, but there sure are concentrated areas of origin. There are lots of international students, thankfully, because that's a really cool element of Swarthmore. Sadly, a lot of those students just head toward the sciences and never peek their heads out of the engineering and chemistry books, but hey, there are times when everyone mixes. Every religion and sexual orientation is openly presented and accepted, so that's fantastic. Class issues are actually a source of hidden confusions sometimes, however; financial aid is rarely discussed, but some people get really class-conscious and push things into the open that perhaps don't need to be discussed. The one type of kid that would feel like an outsider here would be a Republican with a southern accent, especially if they were rich and flaunted it. The political leanings on campus are certainly liberal, and there's often a slightly aggressive element of politically active students. The College Republicans are often kind of defensive but what little presence they have is valuable and acknowledged.

Lots of talk about race, sexuality and class. Lots. Sometimes too much. There's one week where LGBT community "chalks" drawings of explicit LGBT stuff all over campus. Sometimes its a little too much--I'm not homophobic but I don't need anal sex thrown in my face everywhere I turn. I admit that I was born into a pretty wealthy family but sometimes I feel like that's a bad thing when I'm here. I shouldn't have to feel like that but I feel like if I complain about it I'll look like a spoiled priss. The clothes people wear to class varies greatly. Some people wear pajamas, some wear suits, some wear jeans and a shirt. And even these vary--some PJs come from the local Target and some come from Ralph Lauren. Some jeans come from Levi's and others are Sevens and Rock and Republics. But despite all this, everyone interacts well. Sexual orientation, religion, race, and class don't get in the way of making friendships.

Students are generally very much into grassroots organizing. Most students are left-minded and the College Republicans take a lot of abuse from pretty much everyone.

There are many minority support groups and associations. These groups often meet to discuss issues relevant to their group and to the campus at large. Students that would feel out of place at Swat would probably be closed-minded people and people who feel the need to exert their intelligence or wealth. Students tend to not be very conscious of dressing nicely--typical jockwear for athletes/athlettes or ugly high school-ish clothes for those completely out of touch with their new college life. There seems to be a hipster resurgence going on in terms of fashion, but it's annoying since it's mostly annoying rich kids playing boho-chic dress up. Most students are from NJ, CA, PA, and NY. Students are politically aware and active--predominantly left. I would say that most students probably don't talk much about future earnings--most probably will end up poor activists or end up as poor grad students. I think a lot of the people at this school are probably well off--but people always talk about class issues as if they were raised poor. It's weird. Different types of students definitely interact, but I wouldn't say that they hang out together all the time.

so diverse yet so boringly liberal.

I was gonna say Heidi has a hot student body but not anymore cuz she just penned me up.