Swarthmore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swat and Haverford are anti-semitic hellholes right now.

I've heard directly that Bryn Mawr is as well.

Are there any schools in the Northeast that are NOT anti-semitic hellholes? I think I've heard this accusation lobbied at every single school above the Mason Dixie line.

I believe this assertion comes from those conflating opposition to Zionism and genocide with anti-semitism. If one thinks genocide is no big deal, I would in fact suggest a southern party school.

Sadly, opposition to Zionism has turned into antisemitism in many cases. A Jewish fraternity member was attacked at Michigan just recently and a student wearing a Jewish star necklace attached at Pitt. Jewish students at Michigan I believe are organizing escorts leaving religious services. So, as a parent of Jewish students who are proudly Jewish AND actually rather appalled by recent Israeli actions and policies (more than we their parents are even) it’s still a huge problem because they may not feel safe as Jews on campus just for being Jewish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Wow! Still developing the ol’ social IQ I guess! One would think tour guides get some guidance.

I don’t think it’s an accident that the guides are so often low income “we pay nothing” students. Highly selective colleges simply don’t care about donut hole families. If you’re not dirt poor or full pay, get lost, go to your state flagship where you belong.

[Anonymous]

tour guides are usually on work study. if you're full pay, you dont get that job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swat and Haverford are anti-semitic hellholes right now.

I've heard directly that Bryn Mawr is as well.

Are there any schools in the Northeast that are NOT anti-semitic hellholes? I think I've heard this accusation lobbied at every single school above the Mason Dixie line.

I believe this assertion comes from those conflating opposition to Zionism and genocide with anti-semitism. If one thinks genocide is no big deal, I would in fact suggest a southern party school.

Sadly, opposition to Zionism has turned into antisemitism in many cases. A Jewish fraternity member was attacked at Michigan just recently and a student wearing a Jewish star necklace attached at Pitt. Jewish students at Michigan I believe are organizing escorts leaving religious services. So, as a parent of Jewish students who are proudly Jewish AND actually rather appalled by recent Israeli actions and policies (more than we their parents are even) it’s still a huge problem because they may not feel safe as Jews on campus just for being Jewish.

This is so sad.

[Anonymous]

What I remember about Swarthmore is my on campus admissions interviewer bursting into tears about a recent campus event. As a teen, I had no idea how to react and did not get in.

I have spent time with Swarthmore students, definitely a nerdy and academic bunch and more intellectual but they didn't seem hyper cutthroat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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

If a kid can get into Swarthmore you can get into other schools with great aid. So, what set Swarthmore apart from those? There’s a big difference between aid being one cited reason vs the only. And if they truly can only cite “it’s free,” then the college should’ve matched them with a different campus job. Even at Swarthmore a full ride is rare, and few if any in the tour group would qualify for that much aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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

If a kid can get into Swarthmore you can get into other schools with great aid. So, what set Swarthmore apart from those? There’s a big difference between aid being one cited reason vs the only. And if they truly can only cite “it’s free,” then the college should’ve matched them with a different campus job. Even at Swarthmore a full ride is rare, and few if any in the tour group would qualify for that much aid.

First) Why would few tour guides qualify for aid? Most college jobs have preference towards students with Pell grant.
Second) You understand that the college isn’t going to be able to sniff out BSers in the interview, right? Anyone can say they love swarthmore for any number of reasons, but really that doesn’t change that maybe they came solely for aid. Not a bad thing- it’s good that swarthmore gives out good financial aid.
Third) maybe that was the only school that gave them great aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Wow! Still developing the ol’ social IQ I guess! One would think tour guides get some guidance.

I don’t think it’s an accident that the guides are so often low income “we pay nothing” students. Highly selective colleges simply don’t care about donut hole families. If you’re not dirt poor or full pay, get lost, go to your state flagship where you belong.

…or financial aid offices don’t have big budgets and the federal government pays tour guide wages, not the college…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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

If a kid can get into Swarthmore you can get into other schools with great aid. So, what set Swarthmore apart from those? There’s a big difference between aid being one cited reason vs the only. And if they truly can only cite “it’s free,” then the college should’ve matched them with a different campus job. Even at Swarthmore a full ride is rare, and few if any in the tour group would qualify for that much aid.

First) Why would few tour guides qualify for aid? Most college jobs have preference towards students with Pell grant.
Second) You understand that the college isn’t going to be able to sniff out BSers in the interview, right? Anyone can say they love swarthmore for any number of reasons, but really that doesn’t change that maybe they came solely for aid. Not a bad thing- it’s good that swarthmore gives out good financial aid.
Third) maybe that was the only school that gave them great aid.

The post you are responding to said most won’t on a tour won’t qualify for a “full ride.” The earlier post had said the reason the guide gave for attending Swarthmore was that it was “free.” About half of Swarthmore students get no aid at all. The average cost after aid is 22k. (Even for homes earning under 30k the average cost is around 5k.) Sure seems it would be helpful to share more than the guide’s sweet package as a reason to attend, if in fact there are more, to those taking the time to visit given they will likely be paying something substantially more than zero.

As for the interview, I assume you are talking about the interview for the tour guide role? Yes I suppose a prospective tour guide could BS about what they say to get the job, but that’s kinda sad. When my kid was a guide at Carleton it was not uncommon for guides to do that and much for free out of love for the school. At any rate it is not unusual for starting tour guides to be shadowed by a mentor the first one or two times so they get feedback.

Even if Swarthmore was the only school to offer aid there’s a better job on campus than “tour guide” for someone only there cause it’s free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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

If a kid can get into Swarthmore you can get into other schools with great aid. So, what set Swarthmore apart from those? There’s a big difference between aid being one cited reason vs the only. And if they truly can only cite “it’s free,” then the college should’ve matched them with a different campus job. Even at Swarthmore a full ride is rare, and few if any in the tour group would qualify for that much aid.

First) Why would few tour guides qualify for aid? Most college jobs have preference towards students with Pell grant.
Second) You understand that the college isn’t going to be able to sniff out BSers in the interview, right? Anyone can say they love swarthmore for any number of reasons, but really that doesn’t change that maybe they came solely for aid. Not a bad thing- it’s good that swarthmore gives out good financial aid.
Third) maybe that was the only school that gave them great aid.

The post you are responding to said most won’t on a tour won’t qualify for a “full ride.” The earlier post had said the reason the guide gave for attending Swarthmore was that it was “free.” About half of Swarthmore students get no aid at all. The average cost after aid is 22k. (Even for homes earning under 30k the average cost is around 5k.) Sure seems it would be helpful to share more than the guide’s sweet package as a reason to attend, if in fact there are more, to those taking the time to visit given they will likely be paying something substantially more than zero.

As for the interview, I assume you are talking about the interview for the tour guide role? Yes I suppose a prospective tour guide could BS about what they say to get the job, but that’s kinda sad. When my kid was a guide at Carleton it was not uncommon for guides to do that and much for free out of love for the school. At any rate it is not unusual for starting tour guides to be shadowed by a mentor the first one or two times so they get feedback.

Even if Swarthmore was the only school to offer aid there’s a better job on campus than “tour guide” for someone only there cause it’s free.

Often, you don't get to decide your first campus job. Being paid to tell people about your school is a pretty sweet gig.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Swat and Haverford are anti-semitic hellholes right now.

Care to substantiate that? Conflating the behavior of some students/faculty with the entire institution is one helluva leap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Ha! Nothing is free for my kids at T10/20s either. I like that parent. Might as well enlighten them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Agree 100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Colleges want certain people in their classes- high achievers- and they are willing to offer free or very reduced tuition to get these people. If kids work hard in high school they can earn this situation.
I think it’s fair.

[Anonymous]

Some tour guides are more than clueless. You have to wonder if there is any training for this important position other than pointing out general places of interest. Some guides come off as pompous a$$es or maybe they are “trying” to be funny?

I have heard students, as well as parents, boast about their full ride when they are paying room and board and have some loans build into their financial aid. Don’t believe everything you hear.