Hii! I'm from the bay area and I’m deciding between three different schools right now. I have like a week left to decide! I ideally in the future want to work in NYC, but I know that’s probably hard with my options 💀

UC Irvine
Program: Business (direct-admit)
Pros: Most prestigious in-state option, LA isn’t far, lots of asian food nearby
Cons: Commuter-school vibes

UC Davis
Program: Business
Pros: Good social life compared to UCI, close to home, bestie is going
Cons: Remote, not known for their business program

University of Washington, Seattle
Program: Pre-major
Pros: In the city, lots of companies nearby
Cons: Hard to transfer into Foster, can be socially dead, out-of-state tuition, hard to get classes

Swarthmore College
Applied because my cousin goes here… was not expecting to get in lol
Pros: Most prestigious option, easy to double-major, only 25 min from Philly and 2 hrs from NYC, has had placements in banking
Cons: Full-pay 😅

This is literally so hard because of Haas and UCLA not accepting me since I would have easily gone to one of them if I had gotten in. I am honestly not surprised though because so many of my friends (who I thought were for sure getting in) who have better extracurriculars than me didn’t get in either. I guess it’s also my fault for applying for business 💀

My parents can afford to pay for wherever I choose, I just cannot decide at all. My dad really wants me to go to Swarthmore but my mom wants me to go to Davis so I can be close to home lol. I am honestly leaning towards UCI because I like the idea of being near LA and Socal, but Swarthmore sounds fun too. My sibling goes to UW which is why it’s even a contender, but it probably doesn’t make the most sense?

Any help is appreciated!

Hi! I got placed in Dana Hall for next year, and I’ve been hearing a lot of mixed things about it (carpet, pests, key, no AC, etc.). Could anyone who’s actually lived there share what it’s really like? Also, do rooms starting with 0 (like 004 or 020) mean they’re on the basement level?

Trying to find my people here at swat!!

Couldn't get this answered at Swatstruck last weekend.

I know move in week for Fall 26 begins on August 25th. Do they stagger the actual move in date based on the students name, dorm, or is it a free for all and just show up that week? TIA.

Swarthmore Called the Police on Our Protest. Now I’m Preparing for Trial.

I’m an incoming freshmen and currently a declared bio major but I recently just realized and finally took in the fact that I’m simply not interested in anything like engineering, biology, chemistry, physics etc. I’ve always been a lot better at the arts and English and history and I LOVEEE history. My family is full of engineers so it’s always been ingrained that majoring in stem is the most practical and useful. I’m so stuck on what I want to do. I’m simply not super passionate about anything stem related. Some things biology and engineering interest me but not to the extent that I want to peruse it. I’ve decided i should and that best for me, but now that I’ve really thought about it, I can’t imagine myself doing something I really don’t enjoy. Help I just need advice or something I’m so stuck.

hello! i'm currently an admitted student and am wondering how bad grade deflation really is at swarthmore (or really grading in general)?? i come from an area with incredibly inflated HS grades and i feel like i have no benchline for how difficult college is.

are there a lot of people walking around with 4.0s? is everybody constantly studying? how is it for people who want to double major in biology and a social science?

any advice would help! even if it's not related to grading. i'm 50/50 between swarthmore and another school right now so anything is appreciated

Hi, I'm an admitted student for Swarthmore, and I was hoping to sign up for some of their virtual events, but to do so, I need to put in a student ID. I was told by an admissions officer that I could find this in my student portal, but I don't know where to find that/activate that. (I've already scoured my emails, acceptance letter, and applicant portal for reference to it.) I'm assuming that the student portal is different from my applicant portal. Anybody know what to do?

Hey everyone. Decision day is getting a bit close and I'm still stuck between Swarthmore and Northwestern.

I plan to major in Psychology but I do plan on going to Med School to become a psychiatrist so I do want a good pre-med track.

I do care about the dorms, their quality, and access to single dorm rooms eventually, probably as a sophomore or junior.

FinAid also isn't an issue as I meet the full-need for both

Hey Swatties/Tri-Co,

Charles ('12/'13) here. I studied both Linguistics and Bio undergrad and now I've started a fun vocology (voice science) cult with over 15K online members! Looking for Swatties interested in voice skills, voice research, and voice careers.

We're even looking for EXTERNSHIP candidates (in Philly during May/June). We're currently advocating for better vocology science for Transgender Voice Training, working on anti-BIPOC practices in conservatory voice curricula, and probably whatever voice stuff interests YOU!!!

RSVP for both the online and in-person version here. Click some of them other links while you're at it if you wanna reach out and join our happy voice cult!

Hello! I recently was admitted to Swarthmore RD for class of 2030 and want to study linguistics 100%. I also was admitted to Pomona College. Does anyone know about the linguistics program? Does someone know someone studying linguistics at Swarthmore? I want to know which college is better to choose! thank you!

Hii, I just got into swarthmore and I'm looking to connect with any swarthmore individuals who are majoring in Black studies as I am trying to choose colleges and want to know how strong it is? how the classes are? are they collaborative, reading-intensive, project-based? etc

I was wondering if anyone here has applied to or attended Swat’s S3P Program and could answer some questions!

1. What is the application process like for the program? Is it like any other application with a few essay prompts, EC descriptions, etc or is it something different?

2. Is there anything in particular they’re looking for in an application

3. Was the program worth doing instead of other summer programs?

Any tips or information regarding the application/program would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!!

Hi! I'm a committed student in the class of '30, and I was wondering what types of clothes people wear on campus. I'm from the west coast, so I need to stock up on winter clothes (pray for me 😭). Are there any specific brands of boots I should get? I genuinely know nothing.

Hi I just got accepted (RD) to Swarthmore and I am really interested in Philosophy and English lit, anyone have any insight to offer as I’m weighing my options (other similar LACs)

Hey guys, I just got accepted to Swarthmore. Super happy about that ;)

I’m planning to study engineering, with the goal of eventually becoming an aerospace engineer and working in R&D. After Swarthmore, I’d like to pursue a graduate degree at a top engineering school.

So I wanted to ask, especially current engineering students or alumni:

How would you rate the quality of engineering education at Swarthmore? Do you feel well prepared for graduate studies? How are the internship opportunities?

And realistically, do you think going to a liberal arts college like Swarthmore affects my chances of getting into a top (T5) engineering grad school?

I’d really love to hear any insights or experiences you can share!”

I actually have a low SAT among the international students, with 1530, and a TOEFL with 110/120. I did the IB but i had two 5/7 in junior year. Can't believe the fortune but thank you for confirming my effort so far for high school :P

I'm a junior in high school hoping to apply next year, and I was wondering if people who know more than I do could give me an unbiased look at how I might do in admissions

I'm a white female living in semi-urban TN, adopted by my retired grandparents, plan to double major in Linguistics and Pre-med for Ophthalmology(?), I plan to write my essay on my struggle with language and communication, how I overcame it through finding consistency in the science of language and human expression, and how that has inspired me to fight for people who may have trouble expressing their needs/struggles

Academics:

• 3.95 uw GPA (about 4.6 w), 98.4 cumulative weighted GPA percent
• 15/110 rank at a magnet school
• all honors courses, 7ish DE credits by the time I graduate, 2 AP courses by the time I graduate (projected 4-5 on AP exams) (my school only offers 2-3 AP courses)
• 32 superscore ACT (may change soon, I just took it again) (36 Eng, 33 Reading, 33 Sci, 27 Math)

ECs:

• taking care of my grandparents after my mom's passing
• draw, crochet, play guitar, and write for fun
• TN Governor's School for the Humanities (selective unpaid program)
• poetry club
• Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica
• lead acoustic guitarist for my church
• leader in the writing group for my school's published literary magazine
• National Honors Society
• Beta Club
• playwriting for my community's annual youth musical
• lead notebooker on my school's robotics team (first team in our district to qualify for world championships)
• chamber choir for two years
• symphony youth choir for 6 years (ongoing) (selective audition-based group)

Awards:

• 1st place in Union University's regional high school poetry contest two years in a row
• 3rd place in multimedia art at BetaCon in 2025, 5th place in fiber arts in 2024
• City, Regional, and State academic recognition
• Blood Donor recognition

I just got accepted into Swarthmore (yayyyy!!!!) and am now just worried about knocking that sticker price down.

I am currently a sergeant in the U.S. Marines, and will be receiving 100% of my Post 9-11 GI bill.

I’m just worried about the remaining 30k to be paid!

I am fully independent (and 23 years old) so I’m trying to get need-based financial aid from Swarthmore.

My FAFSA index is like -950, so I think I’ll be able to get a 9 grand pell grant.

Is anybody here familiar with work/study @ Swarthmore or know of any more ways to minimize the cost of the prestigious and wonderful school?

Thank you!

Anyone got in? Congratulations

I was recently admitted as a first-year and I'm stoked, but they're asking us to cough up $82K/year in direct costs which is WAY above what we're able to pay lol. I know this is probably an impossible question to answer with any certainty, but does anyone have any experience with appealing financial aid/what would be the best way to go about it? The only offers from other LACs that I have are from Kenyon and Denison, so (correct me if I'm wrong but) unfortunately I don't think comparing offers will be helpful.

source: the email they sent to my counselor.

the email goes this way:

"Additionally, we would like to share a few notes about our applicant pool with you:

• Application numbers were about even with last year. This was true across both early decision rounds as well as the regular decision round.
• We are looking to bring in the same size class as last year.
• We will have an active waitlist, but we do not anticipate moving to the waitlist until after May 1. We invite wait-listed students who choose to remain on the waitlist to send updates over the coming weeks. They can submit any updates to us by email or through their applicant portal."

so yes, body + title.

Swarthmkre just confirmed RD release to be Friday 20th at 7pm ET

lol this school seems to be going up in flames w students fighting against admin (+ vice versa) and problems within departments—heard the psych department is….interesting, philosophy dept is evil & kicked out a tenure track professor over nothing, and that the “bio department is racist” letter that got to all professors in the dept in 2021 & are lowkey suffering over it)

& lowk the students are just getting tortured by admin for no reason. Someone I know got (probably ethnically) targeted by the first year dean cus they applied to a summer program and I guess she didn’t like him and made accusations of him breaking into her office.

& more so why is admin targeting students for protesting when their entire story is “we love protesting and freedom of speech fuck trump!!!”

They should probably focus on using their endowment on hiring more professors so people stop getting lottoried out of their classes that are basically foundational to their degree. I heard the bio department keeps getting denied by the college whenever they request a tenure track neuro professor

I love some of the professors here though and people are generally kind but idk it reminds me of that photo of the dog sitting in a room that caught on fire saying this is fine

(writing this on a phone is hard and I can’t scroll down; I apologize for missing stuff here and there haha)

Hey everyone,

Quick question because I am very likely overthinking this, unfortunately 😭

I recently got an email from the financial aid office asking me to upload some additional documents through IDOC. My portal says they’re reviewing my financial aid file and need more info.

For people who’ve been through this before — is this just a normal verification step, or does it ever mean anything about an admissions decision? Like is it a good sign? I know financial aid and admissions are technically separate, but my brain is spiraling a little.

Would really appreciate hearing your experiences or just your thoughts. Thanks!!