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One truly has not known the meaning of the word quirky until he or she has visited Swat. While Swarthmore has a reputation of its students being educational masochists as opposed to preppy jocks, not one student is your typical geek. These self-motivated students come in many forms: the artsy political activists, the intellectual athlete, the introspective engineer, the charming humanities scholar, your typical Type A student, and many more subtle shades along the personality spectrum. None of them is afraid to challenge themselves to their limits academically, and all of them strive to create an inclusive social community on campus.

My favorite aspect of Swarthmore is the intimacy: of the classes, student relations, and the administration. While our politically and socially active students are often known to make their voices heard loud and clear to the administration, the transparency of each dean’s function and open communication lines make it possible for their voices to actually be heard.

The attentive attitude on campus also ensures that there are student activities for every kind of student, as well as an incredibly diverse course selection with a subset of renowned, specialized seminar courses. Closeness in classes and clubs makes it incredibly, unusually easy to find friends for life and establish lasting rapports with professors; Swarthmore is known for having an incredibly devoted alumni and faculty groups, and it is quite easy to call upon these resources through the excellent Career Services office for job recommendations or jobs themselves during and after college! But even without these links, don’t fret: while less urban areas often don’t hear of Swarthmore college, Swatties experience a renowned higher education that urban dwellers, numerous employers, Ivy Leaguers, and fellow academics treat with the utmost respect and admiration.

Tradition is also an amazing, strange part of preserving Swat’s close community, with unforgettable, highly anticipated annual events such as Screw Your Roommate, the Crum Regatta, Pterodactyl Hunt, Yule Ball, and others that solidify student friendships, and make one’s time here a uniquely Swarthmorean experience.

One drawback students often gripe about is stress. Being surrounded by such multitalented, ambitious people, it is easy to stretch yourself too thin between course load, athletics, and extracurriculars— especially during your first year! This sometimes leads to a group game of misery poker in which you and your friends enter the vicious cycle of complaining about the stressful tasks you must complete. However, this can be fixed by using the multiple, extremely accessible psychological, administrative, and academic resources available to achieve a balance in one’s life. There are also many (helpful!) peer tutor small-group sessions for some courses, generally in math and science, which meet at least twice a week.

Another setback depending on the individual is its suburban setting. Although the SEPTA public transportation train runs literally though the base of campus and can take students to Philadelphia in twenty minutes, it can get pricey and rather time consuming to make this a regular event. Coming from one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, I find the suburban small town of Swarthmore, PA to hardly be a fair substitute, as it tends to shut down rather early. I would like to see the college make metropolitan opportunities beyond the campus more accessible to students. Yet, students don’t have to worry about boredom, as there is an abundance of activities such as concerts, club dinners, movie nights, and parties to participate in on campus, open to all students as a part of the inclusive Quaker philosophy.

While there is no escaping those pesky distribution requirements (2 Writing courses, 1 lab, and courses in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences), there are tons of ways to fulfill them through the multitude of classes. Swatties can even avail themselves of Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and some U Penn courses.

I intend to be a Psychology major, and the department has expressed to me their great acceptance of me taking a variety of general education courses not directly linked to my major. The only time course selection becomes somewhat limited at Swat is on the Engineering track, but then again this sort of pre-profession track rarely lends itself to a liberal arts lifestyle.

Personally, I have found some of my more obscure course selections to be the most satisfying; To fulfill a writing course requirement during my first semester, I took a quirky First Year Seminar called What’s So Funny?: Cultures of American Humor. Despite its name, this was one of the most unique, intellectual, challenging courses I’ve taken! We analyzed the cultural merits of varieties of American humor from Benjamin Franklin to Tina Fey. The seminar-style class, capped at 12 people, also let me have a valuable, non-competitive, give-and-take relationship with my peers and professor.

Even in the larger-level introductory courses, I was surprised that the professors still know each student; once while grocery shopping in the Ville (Swarthmore’s village), I ran into one of my intro biology professors. While this was my least favorite class because of the student “anonymity” I thought existed, and I was certain she would hardly recognize me being one of her other 120 students in the class, she greeted me by name.

As this shows, people hardly stop caring about you outside of the classroom. Nor do students stop caring about academics; Swatties are known for their tenacious personalities when it comes to being informed, value learning as it’s own reward above competition and grade-grubbing, and participate frequently regardless of class size. So it should come as no surprise that studying is an ongoing, rigorous, vital part of a Swattie’s daily life. Expect to spend some weekends holed up in McCabe Library, especially during exam crunch times!

Despite Swat’s suburban setting, diversity is by no means a foreign or neglected concept for students. As a multi-racial student myself, I am a member of three of the main ethnic student-run clubs: ENLACE (Swat’s Hispanic & Latino organization), SASS (Swarthmore African American Student Society), and SWOCC (Swarthmore Womyn Of Color Collective) which, like many other groups, fit the needs and create inclusive sub-communities for the unique students on campus. While a private institution, the college impressively attracts a wide cross section of young adults, with burgeoning, highly welcomed LGBT, ethnic, geographic and socio-economic groups of students on campus. There is a rather substantial middle and lower class population, and no socioeconomic class is ostracized or patronized as they are well represented.

These groups all interact well with the help of some annual events that certain clubs hold for the whole student body, like ENLACE’s Pub Night or DESHI (Swarthmore South Asian Association)’s Mango Lasse get-together or SASS’s Thanksgiving Dinner or SAO (Swarthmore Asian Organization)’s Traffick Light Party. These open events really link these groups to the larger community and allow for a lot of social fluidity on campus. The only rigidity at (least within my class) that seems to prevail is that urban students from the same regions seem to flock together, but that can be because geography coincides with common cultural interest; for instance, in ENLACE, almost every other member seems to be from Bronx, NY!

That said, it is hard to feel left out in Swat regardless of your stereotypical social identifier, as everyone is more concerned with your perspective on a given social issue than how many sports you can play or how rich they intend to become someday. By no means does anyone try to artificially impress, and so most students do not attend class or roam campus in anything much fancier than jeans and a tee or sweats.

Given the general attitude of acceptance on campus, I’d say the only students who would not feel accepted at Swat are ones who do not care to be challenged about virtually everything. Thus, there are essentially no political conservatives on campus, evidenced by the absence of a Republican club! That said, for diversity’s sake, I would like to see more moderate and conservative thinkers at Swat to provide a more politically accepting and understanding student body.

Contrary to popular belief, Swatties find time apart from studying to join various clubs, teams, committees, and other groups. I, for example, am a member of the Village Education Project. The group provides education opportunities for young Ecuadorean children by giving them school supplies and sending Swattie volunteers to a partner school to teach them over the summers. Overall, politically oriented and a capella clubs seem to be the highest populated and most represented groups, reflecting Swarthmore’s artistic, eco friendly, and activist inclinations. Specifically, political activists can find a wide range of projects to get involved with from stopping hydraulic fracturing to War News Radio to (economic) Class Activists to Global Health Forum and much more. Even clubs with different interests have an activist purpose: for example, TOPSoccer gives soccer players the opportunity to play with and teach kids in nearby underserved communities. For the more creative types, there are seven a capella groups (not to mention additional choral and musical groups!) with their own styles/ fields of expertise.

Although athletics are not at the forefront of Swat’s reputation, our men’s Garnet soccer team is highly competitive, and their games are also great social, prideful bonding experiences for the students. Each of their matches home and sometimes away is attended by the majority of the student body. In fact, class of 2011 alum Morgan Langley was signed with the MLS Philadelphia Union shortly after his recent graduation from Swat. Swat’s intellectual atmosphere also attracts tons of students to incredible guest lectures; renowned journalist Nicholas Kristof was a recent visitor whose lecture attracted and captivated practically the entire student body!

After the soccer games, the two on-campus fraternities Delta Upsilon (the “baseball frat”) and Phi Psi (the “lacrosse frat”) have been known to throw popular themed late-night parties like 80s Night and Western Wear, and Swat’s Pub Night every Thursday in Paces Cafe starts the weekend off on a great note for many students. Pre-and-after-party shindigs are usually held by each dorm (especially Willets: the party dorm!) Besides making the occasional trip to U Penn, there isn’t much to do off campus for entertainment in the small town of Swarthmore, and people usually only party once to twice a week. As such, it’s possible to get “Swat Goggles” (a close relative of beer goggles) at on-campus events from being such a small school, but the dating scene is pretty intimate in a charming, quaint way. In fact, Swat is often called the Quaker Matchbox because of the high number of Swatties who find themselves married to one another after their time in college.

Luckily, the matchbox also works great for finding friends! I found my three closest buds attending a Swat diversity workshop over the summer. Once we found out our common interests extended beyond diversity awareness when we found ourselves in many of the same classes, we’ve been inseparable since. This sense of togetherness makes students quite trusting of one another: we usually leave our dorm doors open, and strive to spend time with each other apart from drinking and greek life, as those are present but not dominant aspects of student life (there aren’t any sororities!) For instance, I recently spent my night going for a walk around town with friends and meandering down to the local Chinese food restaurant, where we celebrated the end of finals with a large feast. Wildly exciting? No. Extremely amusing and good bonding? Definitely.

Swat is definitely known for it's incredibly specific and eclectic first year seminars such as What's So Funny?: Cultures of American Humor from Franklin to Fey; Happiness; The Meaning of Life; and More Money, More Problems to name a few.

Notwithstanding, many people have to take larger introductory lecture classes to suit their prospective majors,so Introductory Biology (Bio 01 & 02) and Psychology (Psyc 01) classes are incredibly popular. I believe Psychology is the most popular major here, with Biology a close second; As one can see math and science courses tend to have the larger, more densely populated courses. As a reference point, I was in both Intro Bio and Psych last semester, and my Bio class had roughly 120 students and Psych roughly 70. These are considered rather large classes, and other popular introductory classes such as Economics, Political Science, Math (calculus) and Statistics courses are broken up into multiple sections so the each class size is more manageable.

I will most definitely never forget the night of my first Yule Ball. Yes, that is what you think it is- Yule Ball is a new annual event on Swat's campus named and modeled after the holiday festivities in the Harry Potter series. While this may sound dorky, I must state in my own defense that I was highly skeptical as well, not being a crazy Harry Potter fan myself unlike most other students here. Still, when I was convinced by my friends to attend, it was well worth it! Having settled so long for a life in sweats and eating pizza, it was so refreshing to be surrounded by my peers in their holiday finest, eating gourmet Potter-themed treats and all dancing under the same roof! The Sharples Dining Hall was so well decorated with "floating candles", fog, and chandeliers that I didn't even care that we were there. Besides the good food and good company, the night was perfected by a pretty good live band and good DJ. Although this is my first year and I have many Swat traditions yet to experience, this was one unforgettable night that I will always associate with Swattie life.

Each dorm definitely has its own personality! That said, don't worry about being stuck in the dorm of hell- the Dean of Housing is certainly aware of this, and takes it into account when you fill out the housing form each year.

Parrish Hall, the central building on campus, not only houses the administrative offices of the college, but also students on it's upper floors. These halls are separated by gender, and tend to contain the more substance-free students on campus.

The newer Dorms, Alice Paul (built in '04) and David Kemp (built '09) Halls, definitely have the advantage of the most modern bathroom and lounge amenities! These dorms are located at the foot of campus. While there is a good deal of hall bonding in these dorms no matter the student, AP tends to house many a student athlete and mellow student, while DK holds kind, ambitious, and studious students.

Just north of AP and DK halls is Mertz Hall, an incredibly homey-feeling hall with a close hall life. Architecturally, it has wide stairwell landings with larger rooms for freshman doubles.

On the east side of Parrish lies Willets hall, home of the partying underclassmen. As this dorm is the most densely populated and lively of the halls, it is generally considered the most undesirable dorm for students who don't wish to be in close quarters with their comrades. Yet, it houses the greatest amount of first-years of any dorm, and provides a great opportunity for underclassmen to bond with their fellow classmates.

Next to Willets are the Lodges and Worth, home to upperclassmen. The Lodges are about as cozy as residences can get, with 1 first-floor triple and 1 second-floor double per cottage.

On the west side of Parrish is Wharton, the other primarily-underclassmen dorm. Wharton has a lovely courtyard overlooking the outdoor tennis courts, and is divided into three sections. Wharton residents are incredibly laid-back and often enjoy using their courtyard for many a pre-party!

Near Wharton lie Twin Dorms Dana and Hallowell (aka Danawell), conjoined by a trailer. They hold a fair-but-not-substantial amount of first-years, but bonding still exists within the hall: the trailer provides a space for residents get together.

Lastly, the most dreaded of all halls, is Mary Lyon. Located 20 minutes walking distance from campus, this dorm definitely loses appeal on the commuting front. However, it's remote location makes this dorm incredibly intimate with a the most lively hall life of all the dorms. Usually, the reputation of Mary Lyon students is the opposite of the Willets student: more typically "nerdy" and insular. Yet, recently, you can tell that the housing committee had really tried to add a diverse group of students in there to negate the stereotype.

Apart from these, upperclassmen mostly live on partially-off-campus-houses 5 minutes away from campus with friends, such as PPR, Kyle, Woolman, and Strath Haven Apartment Complex. Here, housing really takes on a homey meaning as students make closer friendships and transition into the real world.

As you can see, there's a place for everyone, and the options get better with time.

The Greek scene is, to be blunt, pretty tired. There are two fraternities, dominated by the baseball and lacrosse players and no sororities. While the frats are known to throw creatively-themed parties quite often, I find them to be a re-hashing of the same event, just on a different day. That said, the Greek scene probably isn't for you if you're more interested in getting-down every weekend than quality bro-mances that last all four years and beyond.

To be frank, not too much! The town of Swarthmore is quaint, with a middle-to-older aged residents and families largely populating the houses, so everything shuts down after 8 pm. However, the train tracks separating the campus from the town luckily lead to Center City Philadelphia in 15 minutes or neighboring city Media in 5 minutes for those who need a quick escape.

With regards to food shopping, there is an extremely fair-trade and organic Co-Op grocery store for food shopping. For dinner off-campus, there is a small (dry) Chinese restaurant Cheng Hing, the ever-popular Renatto's Pizza (with a great student special!), and Aria Mediterranean Cuisine eatery. For a great post-Saturday-night-brunch there is Dunkin Donuts, Hobb's Coffee Shop, Occaisionally Yours baked goods, and Vicky's Place.

Concerning shopping, there are no clothing retailers, but there is Finlandia scandinavian gifts shop, Finely A Knitting Party knitting shop, and T. Bumbles toy store.

It really depends on the individual- McCabe Library is incredibly accommodating to students of a variety of study habits, with different floors for different levels of socializing accepted. Cornell, the sciences library, tends to be better for students who fare better alone, with booths of isolation and a silent atmosphere. People also seem to get a lot of work done during lunch and breakfast at Sharples, the only dining hall on campus.

For people who prefer to study in the comforts of their own dwellings, each dorm has at least 2 lounges per floor, and using them to study is generally respected as long as you claim your space early on. Studying in your room can be easy or difficult depending on your dorm: My hall, Willets, is known for it's boisterous residents whose voices extend beyond the paper-thin walls, so it isn't quite conducive to studying. Halls like David Kemp, however, have a greater tendency to respect students who need peace and quiet on their halls to get work done.

I decided to attend Swarthmore because I was floored by the earnest nature of the students and professors. While I was primarily concerned with receiving a top-grade education, I was aversive towards applying to a bunch of Ivy Leagues because I dreaded the notion of becoming just another anonymous face in the crowd to professors in a vicious cycle of large lecture courses. So, as I was choosing between the small, liberal arts schools I was accepted to, I wanted to be sure that the school I chose would value me individually as a student, activist, community member, and friend, and I can assure you Swat does just that; the classes are small and often discussion-based, everyone eats under the same roof, residence halls are gender and year neutral, all parties are by law open to all students, there are incredible traditions, and there is a club for just about everyone! Since all of these factors came together in a way that made me feel welcomed like no where else, I felt Swarthmore was most definitely the place for me.

Being a vegetarian, I can say the food options are quite impressive for a college campus. While there is only one main dining hall, Sharples, they really do try to not make you sick of the options, having a Main, Vegetarian, Salad, and Specialty bar every night. My one gripe is that there is pasta bar twice a week, with the same, overcooked pasta and sauces every time. Other than that, they do a lot to accommodate the many cultural foods backgrounds of the students and select local food sources to keep things fresh.

When Swatties (understandably) need a break from Sharples, there are other on-campus options: Essie Maes is the equivalent to a grill eatery with mostly yummy finger food and snacks. Both the science center and Kohlberg buildings have coffee-bars with amazing drinks and healthy sandwiches, snacks, wraps, and sushi. Lastly, there is student-run Paces cafe, which also features coffee and baked goods.

The meal plans are also great, and I never personally feel hungry: you get three meals a day, and Sharples is basically an all-you-can-eat buffet. In Essie Maes, the meals are priced by item. But, Essie Maes and the coffee bars also accept meal points: a sort of limited back-up resource one can use to buy snacks to store in your dorm.