Swarthmore College Top Questions

Swarthmore is a highly intensive academic environment where students do work 24/7. And when they're not doing work, they're out trying to save the world.

Stereotypes about Swatties are that they're constantly studying, all liberal, and on a campaign to save the world.

Study all the time, really weird (cape-wearing), socially awkward

Swarthmore students are reputably awkward and inept at dealing with social situations.

Swarthmore students only work and don't play.

The typical swattie has been known to be nerdy, anti-social, and real studious. Another stereotype about swatties is that they can't dance, which aint true either.

Swarthmores students are steretypical thought of as extremely hardworking and socially unadjusted.

The average Swarthmore student is what Bill O'Reilly would call a "god-damn Liberal."

Swarthmore students are all weird. They are unattractive and spend most of their time studying. Classes are way harder than those on other campuses. People that go here are notoriously liberal, both politically and socially.

Stereotypes of Swarthmore: Difficult courseload, intense but not competitive (academically), nonexistant school pride/sports scene Stereotypes of Swatties: Socially awkward, nerdy, overachievers, intellectual, extremely socially conscious, super-liberal, strong opinions

That we're socially awkward, work all the time, incredibly liberal and very socially active.

Swatties are nerds who study too much. Swat is an overly intense academic-wise.

Most all of them are negative--that we're elitist prep school grads and/or trustafarians, sexually repressed and socially uncomfortable, and that we're far out of touch with "the real world." Consistently placing in the top three among the nation's liberal arts schools confers a prestige that probably lays the foundation for elitism, but the incredible diversity of the students makes it hard to justify most of the generalizations.

We're anti-social nerds. People also think we're an all-girl school.

Incredibly nerdy & awkward. The typical Swarthmore student is very intelligent, intense, and driven, constantly over-worked and sleep-deprived.

Athletic People are not as smart.

Swarthmore students are largely viewed as VERY liberal hippies. When I was accepted into Swarthmore, not many people had actually heard of the school before. But those that had generally reacted like this: "You're going to SWARTHMORE?! I hear that place is freakishly hard. Be careful...I once knew a guy that decided to go there. He came back two year later, and you wouldn't believe how much he'd changed. He'd come out of the closet, he was suddenly some passionate tree-hugger, he'd gone from being a totally committed pre-med/engineering major to being 'undecided,' and declared that he was going to take a year off of school to go backpacking through Europe alone, in order to find himself. That place does weird stuff to you..."

We're a school full of really smart kids who work too hard and never lighten up enough to have fun. We're really, really weird, always playing Dungeons and Dragons and pretending to be mythical sci-fi creatures.

They are quirky, weird, and just outright crazy. They spend too much time doing homework. They have no social lives.

I am not completely aware of all the stereotypes, but I do believe that there is an building stereotype, that Swarthmore and Swarthmore students are very open and welcoming. I also believe that there is a stereotype that believes we are very nerdy and work all of the time.