Swarthmore College Top Questions

I think that one of the more popular groups on campus is Rhythm and Motion, which is a dance group. Their last performance was pretty packed. Athletic events are not too popular because of the fact that all of our teams, even though we are DIII, are still pretty bad. I think that dating within Swarthmore is very different than dating in the real world. Because of the small size, people find it hard to lead independent lives from their significant others. Thus, when breakups happen, there are several mutual friends that are left in awkward situations. A Swarthmore tradition is Pub Nite, which happens every Thursday and is all you can drink for $4 for underclassmen and $3 for seniors. The profit made from these Thursday night gatherings accrues to the senior class' senior week activities, which is the week before graduation in which they do activities. We have no sororities and only two fraternities, which signifies that the greek scene at Swarthmore is pretty nonexistant.

Last weekend I went to a Rhythm and Motion Dance Concert on Saturday and then on Sunday I attended a professional Taiko performance. It was such a great weekend! One good thing about social life here is that every on-campus event is free and open to all students of Tri-Co. It's such a great system that upholds the campus mission of inclusion and openness.

Sports aren't a big deal at Swarthmore. We don't have a football team, and nobody knows how the soccer team or the basketball team did unless they have a friend on the team. The college administration, academic departments, and students do a good job of bringing interesting speakers to campus. Orchestra 2001 performs music by modern composers at least once per semester on campus. Virtually all campus events are free for students.

Many of the individuals are very involved i activities. There are some that are very anti-social but those that aren't like to be involved with activities.

As with any small school, drinking is a big thing. On weekends, the main form of entertainment is a 10 pm to 2 am party, lots of alcohol included. That's not to say that there aren't other things going on...there are often concerts, plays, lectures, movies etc., but after a certain time of day, it all comes down to the parties. The worst thing about weekend life at Swat is the lack of food...after about 10 pm, food becomes pretty much inavailable on campus. There are a few pizza delivery places around, but after about midnight delivery is pretty iffy and unreliable.

Because Swat is kind of in a bubble, all of the socializing happens on campus. We can technically go to Bryn Mawr, Haverford or UPenn whenever we want, but the reality is that few people go on a regular basis. This makes Swarthmore a little incestuous. I think it's fair to say that I know about a fifth of the student body well enough to say hello to them, and almost a third by name or reputation. Swatties are generally wonderful fun to talk to, involved in at least six different extracurriculars, and prone to excessive social awkwardness. I find the people here endlessly entertaining, and I would rather be spending time with fellow Swatties than with any other group of people I can think of.

We have some crazy traditions. Pterodactyl Hunt (hitting people with foam swords), Crum Regatta (students building and racing "boats" down the creek), the rugby team streaking, etc. Very service and social action oriented organizations. It's really easy to get funding to do your own project, start your own organization, etc. There are no sororities, two non-residential frats, one of which provides most of the parties.

Sports are not a huge deal on campus, although a lot of students are involved. I live in a very social dorm. We like to drop into each others rooms for study breaks just to talk and can lose hours to good conversations, even when we don't have hours to lose. there are quite a few fun traditions at Swarthmore. We have the primal scream before finals where the deans serve the students a midnight breakfast and we all let out a primal scream before the chaos of finals begin. We have a large event called screw your roommate where you set you roommate up on a blind date, dress them up in a costume, send them to the dining hall in a costume (along with the rest of the student body) in order to find their matching mate for the night. There are a lot of these traditions these are just the first two that came to mind. Last weekend I went to a girl's night with the freshmen girls on my hall on Thursday night and then went to another hall to socialize further. On Friday i studied some, went on a run. I watched my best friend's a capella (i can't spell sorry) concert, went to a dance, discussed the war in iraq, and called it a night. On Saturday i studied in the library and on the main lawn in school where some bands were playing for peace week. I hung out with my Frisbee team, after which we attended a rhythm and motion dance concert (it's kind of a big deal on campus).

It's hard to judge "popularity" on campus because there's no real hierarchy. People are popular amongst their own friends, which tends to comprise a group. No real dating scene. Students just tend to hook-up or have unhealthy relationships that lead to them not having other friends.

Swarthmore activities such as clubs and organizations are very strong and informative. But when it comes to just having a strong social life...Swat isn't really the place to be, people study a lot around here.