Swarthmore College Top Questions

LOVE LOVE LOVE SWARTHMORE. for now.

I love Swat, and I am not your typical Swattie. If you can get in that probably means you will like it. Knowing people who go to Ivy Schools and the like, I can say with confidence that you'll get a better education here than you will anywhere else (save other high-ranking liberal arts schools). And if you're worried about slaving over your work, don't worry because you don't really have to.

So in terms of dorm life, in particular. At Swarthmore, we have RAs (residential assistants) in every hall, usually it will be a junior or senior, who organize study breaks, hall bonding activities, and are there to support you in any other way. Never is it the case that they are deliberately going out of their way to hunt down and turn in students for underage drinking and such, and usually this isn't necessary anyway. This campus really isn't about that and this includes the faculty and administration.

Some of the best students I've known here have also been huge stoners. That's not to say that the work isn't hard: it definitely is. But a good number of people at Swarthmore seem to be able to balance a lot of partying with a lot of work quite well.

Swat is totally awesome if you love theoretical knowledge.

Five years after graduating I'm only now fully realizing how Swarthmore shaped every aspect of how I view the world and myself. I think it gives you a very particular, post-modern understanding of how the world functions and can be analyzed. This has informed all of my work since graduation.

Swarthmore can be a very intense place academically and in your personal life, but I really believe that most students graduate feeling really empowered and ready to take on careers, graduate school, and life in general.

it's not for everyone. you have to really want to learn and be involved in order to do well at Swarthmore. If you're not an engaged student or citizen, you probably would not like Swarthmore.

The food isn't great, but it's edible. The freshman meal plan is annoying and freshmen aren't allowed to change it until second semester.