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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DD and I toured Haverford and Swarthmore recently back to back. She is somewhat conservative but not overly so. She loved Swarthmore but found Haverford too "woke." I try to caution her by saying that we should not base our judgement based just on a 90 min visit. Some things that she mentioned: Assistant Director of Admissions who gave us an info talk was dressed somewhat unconventionally (bandana in her hair and tanktop showing multiple tattoos on her arm), same person encouraged tour students to introduce themselves with pronouns "if they are comfortable," about a third of the tour participants looked trans or gender neutral, student guide emphasized that 60-70 percent of dorm rooms are singles with no roommates, and also emphasized the "student compact" assemblies which sounded like a groupthink exercise. The campus was gorgeous but based on the visit, she is not so excited to apply to Haverford anymore. She found the Swarthmore tour much more "normal" and very much liked what she saw/heard there.   [/quote]

I took my DS to Swarthmore, Haverford, and a few other LACs this summer. He skews slightly conservative and didn't like Haverford nearly as much as Swarthmore. There was a somewhat lefty vibe (the emphasis on 'student agency' got old even for me) but generally it felt drab, a bit rundown, and unfun. Swarthmore has the intense reputation and maybe a funny tour guide helped but my kid came away *loving* Swat. I wish it were the reverse because it's a crazy tough admit. He also really liked Wesleyan too despite the fact that DCUM always describes it as woke; our tour came off as a sort of chill but very preppy CT.

2 other things: both Haverford and Swarthmore talked up the Quaker consortium. There's a ton of Bryn Mawr/Haverford cross-registration, they're very close and share professors and departments. But Swarthmore is a 30 minute commute in traffic and Penn is a train ride (with a 15 minute walk to SEPTA from Haverford.) It's nice to have but I wouldn't see it as a meaningful perk except for Haverford and Bryn Mawr.

Also re: the other PP who worried about the gender split at Haverford due to the BM students. I agree although not for the same reason as the PP. (No chance of my sons becoming players!) It's just that college is where you hopefully meet lifelong friends and it's important to have male and female friends. My older kid is at another SLAC with a 50/50 split and has a great diverse group of friends. Maybe the same would be true at Vassar or the many, many other schools where women vastly outnumber men...but why wouldn't you want to be part of a more balanced community?[/quote]

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