When DC toured she was told kids rarely go into Philly. She thought it was too crunchy for even her liberal self

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late ‘90s grad. I was a standout student in high school and thought I wanted a serious, intellectual, liberal college. It turns out I had no idea how serious, intellectual, and liberal a place could be. I got a great education but did find it stifling and overly intense.

This was my experience too! I thought I was all those things, but found swarthmore shattered my confidence. It is very rigorous! I think it is an excellent school for the right student.

PP (late 2000's grad). This was also my experience actually, but maybe this is common among people at all top colleges. Also, I was probably never going to be a STEM major, but I took AP calculus and AP bio in high school (I even got a 5 on the AP Bio exam) and I could NOT hack it in Swarthmore math and science.

One thing I will say though: I don't think Swarthmore is a competitive place at all. Nobody is talking about grades or even really cares about them that much. It really truly is a place where everyone wants to collaborate and discuss ideas and arrive at some kind of "truth" together.

Anonymous wrote:Late ‘90s grad. I was a standout student in high school and thought I wanted a serious, intellectual, liberal college. It turns out I had no idea how serious, intellectual, and liberal a place could be. I got a great education but did find it stifling and overly intense.

This was my experience too! I thought I was all those things, but found swarthmore shattered my confidence. It is very rigorous! I think it is an excellent school for the right student.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's like Carleton, except it's in the East.

No. Carleton is a lot more happy and laidback, though just as academically serious as Swarthmore. Carleton's closest east coast competitor would be Williams.

Swarthmore is more like a mini-UChicago.

Agree with this, other than I don’t know much about Williams. Carleton and Swarthmore are both top PHD feeders with great academics, but their settings and feel are very different.

Anonymous wrote:Late ‘90s grad. I was a standout student in high school and thought I wanted a serious, intellectual, liberal college. It turns out I had no idea how serious, intellectual, and liberal a place could be. I got a great education but did find it stifling and overly intense.

+100 and old fashioned, behind the times.

Anonymous wrote:Late ‘90s grad. I was a standout student in high school and thought I wanted a serious, intellectual, liberal college. It turns out I had no idea how serious, intellectual, and liberal a place could be. I got a great education but did find it stifling and overly intense.

+100. Me too! 1987 grad.

Late ‘90s grad. I was a standout student in high school and thought I wanted a serious, intellectual, liberal college. It turns out I had no idea how serious, intellectual, and liberal a place could be. I got a great education but did find it stifling and overly intense.

Swarthmore is for intellectuals and pre professionals. It’s a very serious school. Very diverse. All the students are very smart in an intellectual way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's like Carleton, except it's in the East.

No. Carleton is a lot more happy and laidback, though just as academically serious as Swarthmore. Carleton's closest east coast competitor would be Williams.

Swarthmore is more like a mini-UChicago.

I sorta agree with this post, but I would say Carleton is more like Swarthmore than Williams. Carleton is a PhD factory while Williams is more pre-professional. In many ways I think Carleton is also a lot like Chicago. But PP is right: there are different vibes at each school.

It’s serious and they want you to know that.

Our neighbors’ daughter is a first year there. Got a 2 B+s in one class last semester of high school. Got a letter saying that she should review concepts she struggled with and reflect on what happened the end of senior year. It was also sent via Fedex.

For their first semester, freshmen only get P/F grades, no matter what they take.

My friend's son goes there ---- he is very bright and very academically focused. He loves it and is really happy but it's definitely an intense environment and for certain kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's like Carleton, except it's in the East.

It’s much better than Carleton, but nice try.

What is your metric for better?

Anonymous wrote:It's like Carleton, except it's in the East.

It’s much better than Carleton, but nice try.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not 1988

What happened then? Mike Dukakis? Was that 1988 he ran?

The last schools like this were broadly popular.

Anonymous wrote:It's like Carleton, except it's in the East.

No. Carleton is a lot more happy and laidback, though just as academically serious as Swarthmore. Carleton's closest east coast competitor would be Williams.

Swarthmore is more like a mini-UChicago.