Swat alum here. I'm currently in a Zoom meeting with hundreds of Swatties listening to Robert Putnam (of Bowling Alone fame) sharing stories about his time at Swarthmore, being roommates with the famous film scholar Leo Braude, meeting and then marrying his progressive, Jewish now-wife there, taking the train to DC as a student to hear JFK Jr's inauguration speech, etc. He'll be talking about the state of US democracy soon.
If this is the sort of thing that DD finds cool, then Swarthmore is for her. Alumni interviews are random. Think about the larger picture and values.

I had a horrible interviewer for Swarthmore. The interview started crying in the middle of the interview talking about a recent campus event. I had no idea what to do as I was a teen and expected more professionalism. And I didn't get in. The interview process is really not that useful considering how so much depends on your interviewer.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t base any decision on a random bizarre comment from an interviewer.

Why wouldn't a 17YO be influenced by a representative of the school they are matched up with during the application process? That isn't random.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out some of the info on Niche.com
If you scroll down a bit, you will see the % of students who find a school's workload manageable. Swarthmore's is 22%. That is relatively low but of course it's a small sample size and subject to how students felt in that moment.

That's pretty low, but it's not dramatically lower than Princeton (24%), Amherst (25%), or Williams (36%).

The lowest I found was Mudd, in which somehow 0% of the 20 respondents agree the workload is manageable. Ouch!

RISD is 8%, which I've heard is an all-consuming grind.

Mudd is pretty awful workload wise. You have to get through Math, Physics, Bio, Chem, Engineering/CS (if you major), and a humanities course for your first two semesters, and some of those subjects might have two classes within them for the major. Pretty much everyone is taking 6 courses and multiple labs.

Anonymous wrote:Check out some of the info on Niche.com
If you scroll down a bit, you will see the % of students who find a school's workload manageable. Swarthmore's is 22%. That is relatively low but of course it's a small sample size and subject to how students felt in that moment.

That's pretty low, but it's not dramatically lower than Princeton (24%), Amherst (25%), or Williams (36%).

The lowest I found was Mudd, in which somehow 0% of the 20 respondents agree the workload is manageable. Ouch!

RISD is 8%, which I've heard is an all-consuming grind.

Check out some of the info on Niche.com
If you scroll down a bit, you will see the % of students who find a school's workload manageable. Swarthmore's is 22%. That is relatively low but of course it's a small sample size and subject to how students felt in that moment.

DC at Swat after gap year. In school took rigorous curriculum and did well.

Always busy at Swat with academics, activities and sport. Made lots of friends. Loves the school.

Like at any other college, the workload is ultimately dependant on the courses you take and how driven you are to excel. Swat is probably no different from any other top school in this regard. Kids who are used to rigor should not have an issue in navigating Swat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it number one on the colleges with the most work list??

Doubtful when UChicago, Caltech, and Harvey Mudd exist.

+ Princeton

Most of Princeton has nothing on Caltech.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it number one on the colleges with the most work list??

Doubtful when UChicago, Caltech, and Harvey Mudd exist.

+ Princeton