How does Swarthmore differ from Haverford?

[Anonymous]

In terms of athletic facilities, Swarthmore offers a pool. Both are sans ice rinks, however.

[Anonymous]

I would expect ice rinks to be fairly uncommon at small LACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would expect ice rinks to be fairly uncommon at small LACs.

Nine of the ten NESCAC LACs offer on-campus ice rinks, I believe, with Bates being the exception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the past decade, Haverford College has become a poster child for "wokeness" and "political correctness" that interferes with developing a mature, accepting campus culture.

Swarthmore's rep is as a PhD candidate factory. Very serious students & faculty.

Did you hear this on Fox News regarding Haverford? I know a relatively apolitical kid who is politically moderate and possibly even leans right in the traditional sense (but is not MAGA) from outside the northeast who is very happy at Haverford.

Generally agree on Swarthmore.

Doubt that Haverford Colege ever made it to Fox News as it is a tiny, inconsequential college.

No, the campus turmoil over wokeness/political correctness was reported in the school newspaper & carried in other print sources.
Was discussed at length on other college forums.

Happy to read that you know one student at Haverford College who is not obsessed with being woke/political correctness, but that is not the reality for the rest of the kids.

You’re speaking on matters years ago. None of the students you’re blabbering about even attend Haverford anymore, move on and actually help OP.

Yes, the reported events occurred in 2020, 2021, & 2022 (campus strike).

Anyone who asserts that Haverford College is anything but far left liberal is not being truthful.

[Anonymous]

Swarthmore has the “benefit” of the honors program but reviews on it vary as it is very intense. Swarthmore will have hard to notice advantages like more departmental funding and academic opportunities due to its endowment. Haverford has a long history of being particularly academically rigorous, but it has lost those days due to the national grade inflation trends. Haverford still leads in PhD attainment, particularly in the stem fields. Haverford takes honor code a lot more seriously, and people genuinely invest in the idea of Quaker tradition (Swatties couldn’t care less).

The BiCo gives you access to more academic programs and speaking opportunities than swat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would expect ice rinks to be fairly uncommon at small LACs.

Nine of the ten NESCAC LACs offer on-campus ice rinks, I believe, with Bates being the exception.

Ok, I would expect ice rinks to be fairly uncommon at non-NESCAC small LACs. Neither Swat nor Haverford are NESCAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the past decade, Haverford College has become a poster child for "wokeness" and "political correctness" that interferes with developing a mature, accepting campus culture.

Swarthmore's rep is as a PhD candidate factory. Very serious students & faculty.

Did you hear this on Fox News regarding Haverford? I know a relatively apolitical kid who is politically moderate and possibly even leans right in the traditional sense (but is not MAGA) from outside the northeast who is very happy at Haverford.

Generally agree on Swarthmore.

Doubt that Haverford Colege ever made it to Fox News as it is a tiny, inconsequential college.

No, the campus turmoil over wokeness/political correctness was reported in the school newspaper & carried in other print sources.
Was discussed at length on other college forums.

Happy to read that you know one student at Haverford College who is not obsessed with being woke/political correctness, but that is not the reality for the rest of the kids.

You’re speaking on matters years ago. None of the students you’re blabbering about even attend Haverford anymore, move on and actually help OP.

Yes, the reported events occurred in 2020, 2021, & 2022 (campus strike).

Anyone who asserts that Haverford College is anything but far left liberal is not being truthful.

Okay? There’s a whole new cohort of students with other matters currently. Why do you care so much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the past decade, Haverford College has become a poster child for "wokeness" and "political correctness" that interferes with developing a mature, accepting campus culture.

Swarthmore's rep is as a PhD candidate factory. Very serious students & faculty.

Did you hear this on Fox News regarding Haverford? I know a relatively apolitical kid who is politically moderate and possibly even leans right in the traditional sense (but is not MAGA) from outside the northeast who is very happy at Haverford.

Generally agree on Swarthmore.

Doubt that Haverford Colege ever made it to Fox News as it is a tiny, inconsequential college.

No, the campus turmoil over wokeness/political correctness was reported in the school newspaper & carried in other print sources.
Was discussed at length on other college forums.

Happy to read that you know one student at Haverford College who is not obsessed with being woke/political correctness, but that is not the reality for the rest of the kids.

You’re speaking on matters years ago. None of the students you’re blabbering about even attend Haverford anymore, move on and actually help OP.

Yes, the reported events occurred in 2020, 2021, & 2022 (campus strike).

Anyone who asserts that Haverford College is anything but far left liberal is not being truthful.

I don’t know why someone who cares this much about progressives or advocacy would respond to this thread. You shouldn’t be considering LACs if you want a conservative environment: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/02/swarthmore-students-suspended-pro-palestinian-camp

[Anonymous]

Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, St. Lawrence, Union, & Conn College all have ice skating rinks.

[Anonymous]

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, St. Lawrence, Union, & Conn College all have ice skating rinks.

No one asked for these colleges. Reported comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, St. Lawrence, Union, & Conn College all have ice skating rinks.

No one asked for these colleges. Reported comment.

These schools pertain to a brief sub-topic. — DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, St. Lawrence, Union, & Conn College all have ice skating rinks.

No one asked for these colleges. Reported comment.

These schools pertain to a brief sub-topic. — DP

No they don’t. We are talking about Swarthmore and Haverford stay on topic. Please don’t drag this out, either. This is the last comment I will make on this.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I prefer Haverford. Swarthmore sounds suffocatingly boring.

[Anonymous]

Visited both with DC last year. Swarthmore seems like a great education but very intense—tour guide was bragging about how much work/little sleep everyone gets, they have an honors program you have to apply to and if you get in you take something that sounds like a lower level version of phd orals with external examiners, and if you do not choose that I guess you are signaling to grad programs that you did not choose top rigor. Less grade inflation than similar LACs. I’m not sure how much harder the classes actually are or whether there is just a culture of “misery Olympics.” DC took a hard pass after the tour. But if you are headed for a PhD/ are happy to grind, it might be a fit. Certainly is much more prestigious than Haverford these days, within the group of people who are aware of LACs and their relative rankings.

in other respects they seem similar— small classes, lots of faculty attention, plentiful research opportunities, a fair number of nerds/non-partiers (Haverford even has a nerd house that hosts alcohol free weekend events like laser tag, board games, mystery, etc), beautiful campus, access to Philly.

Haverford has a high percentage of athletes and is one of the smaller LACS, so not sure what it would be like for a non-athlete boy who does not see himself at the nerd house. Haverford also has a nice but small strip of restaurants and shops in walking distance (Ardmore), whereas we might have missed it, but it didn’t seem as though there was anything very close to Swarthmore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, St. Lawrence, Union, & Conn College all have ice skating rinks.

No one asked for these colleges. Reported comment.

These schools pertain to a brief sub-topic. — DP

No they don’t. We are talking about Swarthmore and Haverford stay on topic. Please don’t drag this out, either. This is the last comment I will make on this.

Lol get a grip. I assume pp was replying to my comment about the rarity (or not, apparently) of ice rinks at non-NESCAC schools. It’s ok to have brief side conversations.