Swarthmore College Top Questions

The best thing about Swarthmore is the people who come here. I would change the infrastructure, but not if it cost a reduction in the quality of people. The school is small and just right. People react with congratulatory surprise. I spend most of my time in my room studying. The college town is accessible for most students and great. The administration may be a little overstaffed, but it is otherwise effective. The biggest recent controversy was the student who had sexually assaulted another student. There is school pride in the academic sense, but not in the sense that everyone goes to football games (of which we have none). The unusual things about Swarthmore is its surprisingly good reputation and the ability to whip students into shape once they get here. The once experience I'll always remember is meeting my best friend for life. The most frequent complaints tend to include lack of adequate facilities, food, and the amount of work, but most of it is in good humor.

Best thing- people are super nice. Change- don't know what. Size- just right. Reactions- varies, some don't even know Swarthmore. Time spent- dorm, library, class, Sharples. Evenly split, almost. What college town?! Admin- it's okay. Wish it could be just slightly more personal. Controversy- drug bust in Wharton; homosexual lingo used by the Republican Party student group. School pride- so so. Unusual- :). perhaps, but it's perfect for me. Experience- getting stung by a hornet or something like it on the night of the trust walk during orientation. Complaints- workload, food, lack of social scene.

Best thing: Teachers are great; friends I've made here are great. Thing I'd change: There's a very loud volunteer fire alarm that goes off a lot and drives everyone crazy. how do people react: most haven't heard of it. Spend most time: in and around my dorm. Not a college town. Adminstration: No big complaints though things are pretty bureaucratic for such a small school. biggest recent controversy: Last year during coming out week or something like that the gay-lesbian group wrote and drew various phrases and paintings all over campus with chalk. Some of them were blasphemous/generally offensive, people who took offense erased them, and people on both sides became outraged. Obviously there is not too much controversy on campus. School pride: Not too much, definitely not over sports teams, but there's definitely a certain camaraderie here because most people like it and it's a very unique place. unusual how?: Swarthmore is unusual in almost every imaginable way. i don't think there are many other college campuses -- even at places like harvard -- where the majority of the students read the new york times pretty much every day. Experience i'll always remember: too many to recall, few of which have anything to do with the institution of swarthmore. student complaint: the biggest student complaints are about having too much work, though this is rarely a complaint of mine as i usually have very little.

I love Swarthmore because of the people here, the faculty and administration, and the students. It's absolutely the best atmosphere for learning. The faculty and administration are always available and open to the students and truly there to support the students. There are so many resources here that it is impossible for any student to fall through the cracks. College can be daunting at times but Swarthmore really makes the experience worthwhile and all that it can be.

I think that the students and professors are the best part of Swarthmore. Their friendliness and enthusiasm for their studies form the core of what Swarthmore is. The most recent controversy was over the appropriation of the phrase "coming out" by College Republicans constituted misappropriation, and if so why. What it means to be an ally of the LGBT community is at the heart of almost all campus controversies. I spend almost all of my time in the Science Center.

Most of the time the size is nice because you get to see pretty much all of your friends (and acquaintances) everyday - but when you don't want to see someone, it's pretty impossible. I try to mix up where I study, because the library gets so dreary, but luckily there are lots of interesting places to camp out. I personally have not had good experiences with the Swarthmore administration - they claim to care about the campus community as a whole, but in doing so they leave out the individual's needs. Also, the food is pretty monotonous.

I came from a high school of 400 students, so at first Swarthmore felt huge to me, but by my sophomore year I realized it's tiny (plus a lot of people are away on a semester abroad at any given time, so the campus population is even smaller than the number of students enrolled). You live and eat and take classes with everyone every day and you quickly know lots of information about people you haven't even met yet. It's an insular community - though the train station is on campus and it's easy to get to Philadelphia, in my experience most people don't go into the city much, and there is virtually no swarthmore town - which has it's pros and cons. Sometimes the smallness of the community feels stifling, but most of the time, for me, it felt supportive and nurturing. Everyone is young, everyone is trying out different selves and figuring out who they are and it's a place that fosters that. In terms of how people react when I tell them I went to Swarthmore - either they don't know what it is or they know and want to show you they are also in the elite by knowing. It's not like going to Harvard or Yale where everyone knows it's a great school. It gets a little frustrating sometimes having to either explain what/where it is or having to deal with people wanting to show you they are of your status by knowing about it.

The best thing about Swarthmore, is definitely the people. I have met so many people that just amaze me by how much they have already accomplished in their lives as well as how much potential I see in them. The students I have met are so intelligent and interesting as well as genuinely good people that, idealistic as it might sound believe that a better world is possible. I think the size of the school is just right. People's reactions vary from, "Swarth what?" to "Wow, that is an incredibly good school." Being an engineering student, especially as a junior and senior, you spend most of your time in Hicks, but also Sharples or any one of the multiple libraries. The town or "the Ville" as it is colled is not really a college town. It is a very small suburb that is very quaint, but has most of the basics like places for take out, a small co-op grocery, a weekend farmer's market, etc..., but Philadelphia is only a 30 hour train ride away. The deans that I have met have seemed very interested and responsive to student opinions, but there is a disconnect between what the administration professes is the mission and goal of the college and actual actions that are implemented. I am studying abroad currently so I do not know what the most current controvery is, but a discussion topic that has come up a lot is the need to develop an ethnic studies program at the college. I think there is a lot of school pride amongst current students as well as alumni of Swarthmore. However, it does not manifest itself in the usual venues. Sporting events are not a huge deal at Swarthmore for the most part, unless you are on an athletic team or have a good friend on the team, most people do not go to watch games on a regular basis. The people are the best part of Swarthmore as well as the most unusual. There are definitely a lot of quirky people to say the least at Swarthmore, but that is really embraced. It is strange sometimes because you can get so engrossed in "Swat culture" that it really feels like you are in a bubble, and I think that sometimes we all need to leave the bubble or take a break from it for a while. I will always remember the Tri-College Summer Diversity Workshop, which is a pre-orientation program run by the Tri-College Consortium consisting of Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr Colleges. The program offers around 85 pre-freshmen to participate in a week-long series of workshops about different issues related to diversity in race, religion, gender and sexuality. I learned so much from that experience, made some of my best friends in college, and it helped push me to become a more socially and politically active person. The most frequent student complaints usually revolve around, as with most schools, the cafeteria food, library hours that are too short, or having too much reading and work to do. We like to call it misery poker, which is especially common before mid-terms and finals.

Best Thing: the liberal administration. you don't get in serious trouble for most things here. you just have to sit and have some talks with the dean, where he holds your hand and helps you through your rough time. you have so much more freedom here than at any other school I've heard of. One thing to change: the food situation is dismal. get used to ordering a lot of late night pizza and chinese take out. When I tell people I go to Swarthmore, they either have no idea what it is and try to be polite about it, or else they say "Oh WOW! That's a great school! You must be very smart!" Om campus, I spend a lot of time in McCabe Library, which is as much of a social space as a study space. Also in Tarble, which is recreational space, with a daytime and nighttime cafe, pool tables, meeting spaces, party space, etc. And also the dining hall- Sharples. I like staying at meals for a long time talking to friends. As for the college town, there's a cute cafe like thing I've only been to once, a dunkin' doughnuts, and a pizza place, but thats pretty much it. As far as I know, people don't really spend too much time there. The administration always wants to be helpful, but in general they provide more superficial support than actual support. If you want something done, do it yourself. The administration also loves using college groups to promote itself, so be wary of being used. Biggest Recent Controversy: during student council elections, there was a huge controversy over the fact that the interests of minority students were not being represented, but that is being worked on now. School Pride: Not much. Most people have a love-hate relationship with Swat.

i've met teh most inspiring people at Swarthmore and I have never wished that I went to another school