Swarthmore's very open to racial, religious, LGBT, and socio-economic groups on campus. I write for the campus newspaper, and sometimes I interview students who have started organizations and groups. So, students are interested in exploring issues and trying to effect positive change in society. Now I should probably bring up again the fliers that were posted in Parrish Hall commenting on the financial aid here. That, I think, is sort of representative of much of the student body. (1) Students are trying to fix problems that they see. (2) But they sometimes try to do this in not the best way. It's certainly good to raise awareness, but the messages have an accusatory tone--they see the financial aid office as somewhat corrupt, unkind to students, and uncaring to students, which might be the case, but you get this sense of ignorance from a lot of students. In other words, I think a lot of students don't really reach out and listen to the other side--they may see themselves as superior and therefore think that other opinions shouldn't really matter as much. The same goes with politics here--a lot of students claim to be liberal, but they aren't open to considering lots of different views--you don't have to accept them, but you should think about them. A lot of students are politically aware, but a lot of them also really don't know what they're talking about. In other words, you see a lot of people supporting Obama but without many clear-cut reasons why. Now, I think most people would have clear-cut reasons, but I want to get the point across that a few people here are annoying and ignorant and really don't know what they're talking about.
Some of my high school friends really would feel out of place here--among them, pretty much all the popular kids in high school. You've really got to enjoy learning and be willing to work very hard to like it here, I think, because that's largely what Swarthmore's about, based on my not-even-one semester here. Most students dress relatively poorly to class and don't care. Today, I woke up late and I just woke up, changed, put on a sweatshirt and flip-flops (because putting on socks and shoes would take too long), grabbed my backpack, and was out the door in like 30 seconds. Some dress nicely though, but not many.
I don't think different types of students really interact that much, but it's a bit hard to avoid because you see them all the time...I think most people just stick to their friends, and your friends tend to be similar to you.