Swarthmore
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Anonymous
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Our toured leaned into everything being “free”. Free food, free copies, free transit passes, so much FA it’s very very cheap.
For us, full pay with 200k salary, I wasn’t loving it. |
Anonymous
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My DS was very close to going to Swarthmore but ultimately chose Pomona.
In my mind, Swat and Pomona are closely related. In comparison to Williams and Amherst, Swat and Pomona are slightly more academic, intellectual, and socially conscious. Williams and Amherst are slightly more preprofessional, athletics-dominated, and traditional. I say "slightly" because there are all kinds of students at each school. S and P sent loads of students to Wall Street, law school, etc. and W and A are extremely well represented in PhD programs. All four schools have amazing financial aid that runs deeper into the upper ends of the middle class than most schools. You should run the NPC. Swat has a reputation for intensity. But a more positive spin on that is that students are genuinely passionate about what they study. Pomona and Swat have an exchange program and the general consensus seems to be the two schools have an equivalent workload but that Pomona students approach it with a more laidback attitude. Some people on DCUM will conflate Swat's rigor with competition, but I've never heard any Swattie corroborate that. While there's no doubt that Swat is rigorous, students appear to be very collaborative and non-competitive with one another. Swat is definitely not a party school, but the claims that its students are miserable is horses**t. Swatties have fun and are mostly normal kids. The vast majority of Swat alums, like the one above, seem very satisfied with their experience. But, like most SLACs, there will always be a few who wish they had gone to a bigger, more socially active school. What DS liked about Swat: The students are diverse and very interesting. The access to Philly from campus is convenient. Similarly, NYC and DC aren't too far away. The campus is beautiful. The academics are as good as it gets. The resources and opportunities are amazing. The Quaker principles of egalitarianism and equality are actively applied on campus. DS's reservations about Swat: It's a very small school and it didn't seem like many Swatties take advantage of their ability to take classes at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, or Penn. The immediate town of Swarthmore is tiny and suburban. (Williamstown may have more to offer than Swarthmore.) While the misery reputation is overstated, Swat seemed less social than Pomona. Why DS chose Pomona: The reservations above weren't dealbreakers. But, in the end, DS concluded that Pomona offered most things that Swat does but has the additional benefits of the 5C Consortium (a greater community of 6k-ish undergrads), warm weather, and a more laidback attitude. He is very happy at Pomona, but I reckon he'd also be happy at Swat. |
Anonymous
| Dear friend heads a department at Swarthmore. He insisted that his two kids go elsewhere because the students at Swarthmore are so miserable. |
Anonymous
We've had a couple tours like that. One parent said, well, not really free, I mean we're being asked to pay $90,000 a year plus interest on the loans. Awkward moment. |
Anonymous
As a professor at an R-1 that doesn't have a "cashless" campus, I've seen first hand how financially segregated students are by their ability to pay for things. At my university, students have to pay to attend sporting events, lectures, to go on trips with certain clubs, etc. A lot of socializing happens around students going out to eat, taking Uber to different parts of town, even joining upscale gyms and exercise classes (Equinox, Pure Barre, etc.). Even worse, the dorms have different pricing, so the wealthier students end up with singles in the nicest dorms, whereas the poorer students end up in the "cheap" dorms. When I was a student at Swarthmore I did not have to pay to attend concerts, movies, athletic events, etc. Clubs had a ton of funding, so we could travel as a club up to NYC or Boston without leaving anyone out who couldn't afford to pay. As someone who grew up working class, I truly appreciated this aspect of Swarthmore's Quaker legacy. |
Anonymous
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it's a lot of redistribution. it's a choice. they could also decide to offer FA to families making a little more with two kids in college.
eh, it's within striking distance of costing 100k a year. some quaker legacy. a kid I spoke w at swat worked at a restaurant over the summer had friends who dont' work ever, have full FA, their summer internships paid for etc - all programs that aren't open to him because he's not on a need based plan. my kid ended up at Williams where the cappuccinos aren't free and bottomless, but they gave us break bcs we have two kids in college |
Anonymous
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Our Swarthmore tour guide actually told the group that: "Swarthmore wasn't my first choice but I'm here because I go for free.".
We had a student panelist at Boston College tell 300 kids and parents when asked "why BC?": "I chose Boston College because I don't pay a dime to go here." Meanwhile most of the audience was cringing at the thought of paying 90K/year. |
Anonymous
I like to think I'm a person with a generous spirit, but I die a little on those tours. And it happened to us a lot! As a kid who grew up poor and paid for college mostly with summer jobs (multiple) and work study, I think there's no reason for people to pay nothing. My kid made 10k last year btw 12th grade and freshman year working at a Panda Express and then 2k more babysitting a couple nights a week. She could have taken 5k in loans, which seems reasonable. She has friends in college who make 30k a summer. College shouldn't cost nothing for some kids and 100k for others. |
Anonymous
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I personally dont mind so much that a student is attending free or mostly at no cost. But I do find the info sessions a bit grating as they dont tend to acknowledge that it's not 'free' for many. Even a family that is not full-pay may still pay $30-40k which is likely not a trivial amount for them and these sessions dont tend to acknowledge that. They make is sound like everyone is studying abroad at no cost
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Anonymous
| I have a freshman at Swarthmore now and she is very happy. Made good friends and is adjusting to the workload. She was weary about the intense reputation, but has discovered that it is manageable. So far, it is not a competitive environment—the kids really do work together. Feels like the miserable trope is overblown. But it is a self selecting group of kids. She's not a partier so this is a good fit for her. |
Anonymous
Wow! Still developing the ol’ social IQ I guess! One would think tour guides get some guidance. |
Anonymous
Seems like a fair thing to say. Idk why every tour guide has to lie and tell you that x school was their top choice- there are people at ivies who are not at their top choice |
Anonymous
Working full time while at an elite college is very different than working full time in high school. |
Anonymous
| My kid had plenty of fun at Swarthmore. He was both an athlete and a RA. This is a smart and accomplished group of kids. His immediate friend group are successful (Fulbright scholarship to Harvard law school to medical schools). The “this is where fun goes to die” is tiring. For the record, he received a little financial aid and the aid was very comparable to Williams College, where he was also accepted. |
Anonymous
good thing I never said anything about working full time during college! (also, I went to UChicago, which is elite enough). my kid made 10k between 12th grade and freshman year, meaning the summer break between the two. nobody is making 10k working full time year round. |