Swarthmore College Top Questions

I love my school. There are tons of great people which makes the experience all the better. Classes are difficult - our ranking doesn't lie. I do feel like I am getting a valuable education and am learning valuable life lessons and gaining new perspectives along the way. This school is amazing and was definately the right choice for me.

I love this place, and I love the people. The students make Swat what it is, and everything moves faster and with more excitement due to the enthusiasm of the ~1450 people around you who have a love for learning and life here. Swarthmore is basically the perfect size for what it is; any less and it couldn't justify all its facilities; any bigger and Swat would probably lose the intimacy of academics that make it so perfect. People outside of the northeast generally have no clue what Swarthmore is, which is a shame, but we've been getting the name out there. The borough of Swarthmore, or the 'Ville, as the students usually call it, is a nice convenience to have by, but the fact that the town mandates a 10 PM closing of all businesses except pizza delivery prevents it from ever really being a hangout spot; it's basically only a place to get your hair cut or buy some groceries. I spend an enormous amount of time in Cornell Library, the science library on campus, and it's a pretty common hangout for science students even when they're not studying. People seem to do that, congregate in the Commons of academic buildings just as much as in dorm lounges and such. Which is cool. Students complain most about Sharples, the dining hall, about both how crowded it gets at lunch/some dinner times, and how the food is bad. The crowdedness can be a valid concern at times, certainly. The quality of the food is generally not a problem unless you're extremely picky, and the dining staff really tries to cater to student suggestions. Sharples does, however, close far too early. Another area of complaints is the housing situation; sophomores often get screwed over, as seniors get the best third of numbers in the lottery, juniors the second third, sophomores the lowest numbers. (Freshmen are, of course, simply placed into wherever Housing decides to put them for that year.) It needs to be fixed, it's true, but since David Kemp hall is being built the problem should decrease significantly.

The best thing about Swarthmore is its size. Classes are always comfortably sized and the professors always know your name. At the same time its why it sucks; it's socially confined and sometimes its hard to find the right group of kids because there are so few to choose from. People react with a "isn't that a girl's school?" or a "oh" + a fake look of knowing wtf Swarthmore is. Maybe that's just me. Even my spell checker doesn't know what Swarthmore is--and that's pretty sad. People hate the food. (see the period?)

School is a good size and I enjoy being able to see people often. As a transfer student from a larger university I used to hate how sometimes I wouldn't see people for days at a time. Now, I'm able to pretty much find anybody I want to see within a day or so. I would lessen the workload for a lot of the science/lab courses at Swarthmore, or up the credit value. Often there is a lot of busy work for no more credits. I wish my lab courses were 1.5 credits all the time. A 1 credit ENGL course feels like half a credit in comparison. I spend most of my time in the Science Buildings (Sci Center, Hicks) and generally the places where people go to get collaborative work done. I really like the dynamics of working together at Swarthmore, and I value the teamwork that happens for pretty much everything. Swarthmore, the town, seems to be pretty lifeless as college towns go. There's five places to eat, literally, and they get old. Swarthmore has weird parties.

Best thing: Professors are friendly and accessible. Very community-oriented school. The academics are amazing. The student body is very politically-aware. Campus is gorgeous. One thing I'd Change: More dining options. School size: Small enough for personalized attention and small community-feeling, but large enough to not feel suffocated. People's reactions when I tell them I got to Swarthmore: "Oh wow, I heard you guys are super hard." College town: Definitely not, but there are stores/restaurants not too far away. Plus, Philadelphia is easily accessible via the train at the edge of campus. Where do I spend my time: My room. Opinion of Swarthmore administration: Quick, efficient, friendly. Biggest recent controversy on campus: String of on-going thefts on campus. School pride: Not so much in terms of athletics, though students here are proud of our quirkiness, intellectual passions, and the fact that we work so hard to get only mediocre grades.

swarthmore is one of the most beautiful unis in the world

Stuff and things and things and stuff and stuff and heidi shut up and stop reading this cuz ur mean and i dont like ya!!! ARRRGHHH!!! just kidding ur kool. with a k for some reason.

Swat's got its small-liberal-arts-bubble, but it has excellent resources and great opportunities. If your bubble pops, college becomes a trampoline to support your jump into the real world (note, the real world is very different from Swarthmore). If your bubble never pops, you'll have a safe, happy and fun 4 years. Most people complain about the dining hall. Come on, it's fine. It's food, and it's not brilliant, so people think it's ok to complain about. Well, I worked at a large university over the summer, and their food was catered by the same place that catered the PRISON. The school is small. Very small. You recognize nearly everyone on campus (so if you see someone you don't recognize, it occassions comment, and you ask the two people near you to find out which one of them knows the mystery person). It's nice though, since it's a large community, with many facets. It's not small and intimate, just small for a college. The feelings of closeness and smallness are enhanced by the allegiance everyone feels to each other, as identifying as a Swattie. Everyone is nerdy, awkward, brilliant and passionate. Read, normal. And it's all ok. When I tell people that I go to Swarthmore, people either pretend to know it (isn't that an all-girls school), have never heard of it or their jaws drop and they look at me in a new light. Mostly it's because I do so many different activities, and am very busy in other aspects of my life, that these people think it would be an accomplishment if I could maintain sanity while even undergoing a community college course load. Nope, I go to one of the best colleges in the world. Boo-yah.

Initially, people reacted very strangely when I told them that I was going to Swarthmore, because my high school is in the next town. As a small, private, academically-rigorous liberal arts school, however, Swarthmore fit my needs. Though there really is no "college town," there is a train station and Philadelphia is only about twenty minutes away. The town of Media is also near by, and many restaurants have sprung up there in recent years. Though school pride is limited, as is our involvement in sports, the new mascot (a Phoenix) is expected to arrive later in the spring of 2008. The most frequent student complaints include the quality of the food in Sharples, our dining hall and objections to controversial sidewalk chalkings, generally involving issues of gay students on campus.

The best thing about Swarthmore is the small community. OF COURSE there are downsides to having such a small campus, but seeing a steady stream of friendly faces is really nice on otherwise stressful days. I have friends at larger institutions who really only hang out with their hallmates; at Swarthmore, however, I have multiple friends from each dorm. The one thing I would change about Swarthmore is its allocation of money. At other institutions with slightly higher endowments, absolutely everything is in pristine condition: landscaping, desk lamps, tuned pianos, etc. However, at Swarthmore, only some things are kept up (like landscaping) leaving other things (like broken desk lamps and untuned pianos) with no support. Honestly, most people don't know where/what Swarthmore is. Many confuse it with Skidmore; they think it's in NY. However, if we're talking about the academic community, most everyone is familiar with the school. Only a few schools (like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, maybe Stanford) have the kind of name recognition for which most students strive. Everyone always complains about the food. Compared to some other universities and colleges, I think the complaints might be warranted. However, given some experience at local state schools, I think Swatties should be happy about the food at Swarthmore.