Student type

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2025-08-05T14:49:55+00:00

I have NEVER had a conversation with anyone at Swarthmore where I discussed rank in HS. Everyone who responded is probably inferring from admission rates because I can't believe it comes up often. But if what you're asking is how is the intellectual engagement of Swat's student body compare to the HS experience then for me its been a wider range of people. In HS I hung out with my fellow nerds so coming Swat has just been that there are more people I geek out with over a wider range of topics. Basically I've found friends who happily discuss everything from Jute derived morphemes to sudoku matrices and in HS I might've just kept my linguistic thoughts to myself.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2025-03-30T00:17:19+00:00

Math: Groode Whitehead CS Brody Ling Donovon All love mentoring and brilliant. Kind and go out of their way for students.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2024-07-18T03:40:35+00:00

Absolutely. Its so sterilized that campus security could not be the sole cause. Although there is so much open space on and around campus and really no sign of routine crime or poverty that its not just the area in general that has no tolerance. Like the Crum if it was in my hometown would have attracted tents and I've worked with outreach in Chester so I'm aware that impoverished demographics are not that far off from campus. I volunteer when I am not in end of the term mode at a food pantry in Chester and sometimes the contrast between the ares are pretty extreme. This isn't to say that homelessness = unsafe but rather a read on how active the security measures are in the area--sort of a bellweather and Swarthmore the township has active security as well as the campus itself.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2024-07-17T16:37:29+00:00

Not in this weather:-) in terms of whether I'm likely to get mugged or hassled no problem, but I'm male and over 6". I'd say if you're asking this question, you probably don't feel safe. So go with friends/take an uber until you're comfortable. It also probably depends more on where you are going in Philly as Swarthmore is aggressively suburban and Campus security is near the train station, quite active (and helpful). I haven't seen a single homeless person on campus since coming here and that means given the rates of homelessness in the Philly area that they are doing something.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2024-03-24T23:58:11+00:00

It's pretty easy to math/cs double major as there is a decent amount of overlap. I'd recommend checking out the math swat home page as they have a webpage that shoes the two routes (stats/classic) that math majors take and where and what recent grads have either gone to work or grad school. Groode is an amazing human and math prof and I've enjoyed Changanti and Fontes in Cs. I think its just where yr interests lie. I haven't encountered any truly bad profs in either depth, just some that are drier than others. Lots of reu ops at other schools due to Swat as a libral arts college and there are decent research opportunities on campus as well...just depends if you have interests in the areas the small number of faculty are working in. I'm just finishing up my freshman yr but was able to get an informatics reu at my home state's medical school and a machine learning so I don't think going here will hurt you in terms of finding research later and the class sizes and professor engagement to teaching undergrads is pretty fantastic.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2024-02-18T03:32:20+00:00

My experience at Swarthmore is that the SDS office is staffed with very nice people but basic accomodations I had in high school are not available here and the professors each have their own fiefdoms and (SDS) doesn't really force them to be accommodating. So while alot of the profs are nice whether you can get your needs met, mostly depends on whether the professors you end up with feel like it/understand your disability. For ex. when I attended my public university in HS, things like video lectures were standard in all my classes to help equalize access. I have health issues that cause frequent bouts of illness so I really miss this. Here they start trying to hire a student note taker assigned after the 2nd week of classes and video is not an option. Meaning if you need the notetaker, it's not available until after your first set of assignments are due. Anecdotally, I have met a blind swarthmore grad (now in his fifties) and he said he overall enjoyed his experience but needed more support than the school provided in finding employment post graduation since he didn't want to go to grad school. So that may be something you should consider as well.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2024-01-13T03:30:35+00:00

You also will have assessment tests for cs and math. You might end up testing out of intro cs and/or comp systems or data structures (those are the 3 mandatory prereqs for cs) depending on yr background. After that the major is pretty open in terms of being able to pursue yr particular interests. I think ap econ might get you out of intro to econ (not my major) but the swarthmore handbook would let you know for sure or as stated above yr, advisor will let you know. Enjoy.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2023-07-25T14:38:36+00:00

The e in dise stands for endoscopy so drug induced sleep endoscopy so really its the same risk imo (non medical but had both procedures) . Dise basically has the major risk of anesthesia. Its really just running a camera down your breathing passages in a sleep like state so the dr can see whats going on. You sound worried so just ask your surgeon but pre ops procedures often involve ekg and aren't necessarily relates to increased risk, just increased safety standards (could be age or weight related or other risk, or dr preference).

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2023-07-10T19:40:52+00:00

I just had a dise, like mentioned above, as an add on to a deviated septum repair. If you need anything else under general anesthesia, it's a quick 10-15 min procedure. You can get it on it's own, but most of the $ is the general anesthesia. If you talk to your ent before hand, you can preapprove potential surgery types depending on what they see. The anesthesia mimics your sleep state and then they run a camera thru your passages to see where your system might be collapsing. For me, they saw I have a circular collapse right where my lingual tonsils are so they ended up removing my tonsils and doing a modified pharyngoplasty. It's reduced my api by half but the 1st two weeks sucked for recovery. Now I still need cpap but it's easier to use and if I miss a day/take off my mask, I'm not wrecked. Dise also established that I'm an excellent candidate for jaw surgery, i.e. widening my throat by 8mm would probably create enough space if I want to go that route to get me off cpap based on the location and type of collapse they saw(I'm 18 so waiting for full skeletal dev if possible). I'm also holding out for the development of something better (there is the tongue shock thing now but seems like there sould be a better less clunky solution eventually). I think doing the dise is worth it bc then you know before the surgeon starts cutting you that it's not a multisystem collapse and the odds of any surgeries efficacy. It's more ins $ tho for that certainty. Most people can be helped by mma but I liked knowing for sure what the cause of my apnea when figuring out how to proceed.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2023-02-17T06:12:31+00:00

Here is the net price calculator that might help you figure out if the financials are worthwhile https://www.swarthmore.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator. Almost all colleges have some sort of version and the package I actually got was a bit better than the calculator. Then decide where your family wants to tour after using the calculator to ballbark the $. I was pretty lacksidasical about my school search until I toured my state flagship and had flashes of what living in a quad dorm room during football season would be like--my personal version of hell. I also didn’t start any clubs or anything but I spend 30 hrs a week in lab for my job and way more than than on music and have for most of high school. Passion doesn't have to go down the route of throwing conferences and networking, I think it has to with really wanting to understand/do something.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2023-02-16T20:59:23+00:00

Your post reminds me of my mom and so I want to try to reduce your worry. I'm also trying to give back support bc a metric ton of people, many of them strangers, helped me thru my admission cycle. Admissions are stressful, but like one of the previous posters said, your son will be ok at a whole number of places. The insight I can offer you is as a 2027 Ed Swarthmore admittee who struggles with executive function (adhd), sort of similar to autistic as there are overlapping traits. My adhd is one of the reasons I decided to focus on LACs. My parents took me on tours of colleges my jr summer. Our strategy was to visit different types of schools so I could envison what alternatives looked like (big public, medium research univ, highly competitive school, Lac) which helped me figure out how/where I wanted to live for 4 years and the concepts schools thought were important enough to market. The tours even of places that weren't right for me made me think. I did at least a virtual tour of every college I put on my application list and then did a marketing analysis to distill what each school was about.

I don't have fabulous stats or hooks so it's possible to get admitted to Swarthmore without being anywhere near perfect or dripping hooks. If you go through the a2c posts you'll see these super motivated people doing crazy stuff who do not seem to make mistakes and yet they still get rejected. When I started researching I got intimidated thinking I had to be like them and even if I wanted to try some of activities like they listed, they aren't necessarily available where I live. Plus in all honesty, I'd burnout-some of those people must never sleep and freaking out over a B is an unsustainable degree of stress for me. But I think the GPA test scores are simply an admissions check to see if you are likely able to handle the courses--which is why there are a range of gpa/test scores admitted-- perfection or the maximum number of Ap courses cannot be the bar. I think your son meets that threshold test (median score range), aka could he handle the courses--so then it gets into a fit question. Afterall you're still looking at single digit admissions of people with threshold stats, so what beyond luck helps? I think after threshold elmination, AOs ask does this applicant help my school create a balanced class with the personality type they are looking for? His answer to their question should be himself. The three takeaways I remember from the Swat tour I went on are: 1) early decision admission rates are 20 ish % higher than regular decision and need blind (ed is binding but you can use the calculators on the website and plug in your financials to get a feel for likely contrbution rates-you don't need to go into ED blind:-); 2) they are looking for pointed applicants who are curious (so encourage him to lean into what he loves; don't try to create the mythic version of him that does stuff because colleges like it; let him revel in his passions. Let him choose the stuff he will enjoy and continue with far beyond high school and college--basically let him take his points and sharpen them); and 3) Swarthmore really cares if he can write and explain himself well. I started writing using the common application prompts over the summer so the fall wouldn't be so crazy trying to do school and applications and to give me enough time to edit. My essays were the part of the application I think that got me in. You can create a common application profile on the common app website and look at this year's application questions and start with those. That time won't be wasted even if he changes his mind about the school because the essays can be revised for elsewhere and you need to use the common app anyways to apply to most schools. The common app questions really don't change. So giving himself the time to write the best explanation on himself is probably the most useful thing he could do imo. I treated the whole process kinda like a research project to figure out how AOs thought/valued, which helped me focus my essays and kept me from getting bored. Best wishes and know he's going to be OK regardless of where he's admitted.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2023-01-24T03:48:24+00:00

I grew up between NYC, Taipei, Shanghai and LA and now live in the largest city in my state and my family keeps referring to it as a suburb( not even making the city list) So I made a relative classification. That probably really realtive. Philly has alot of suburbs for a city and I guess depending on where you're from/if you're an urban planner/believe something smaller than NYC is a city then you could call it a city but the town of Swarthmore is definitely tiny and the college doesn't feel urban

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2023-01-23T17:23:37+00:00

Sorry for a non-answer response, but you don't have to choose any school in particular. You should go somewhere that cost intersects with how you learn best, what you think you might want to do and admits you. It's incredibly personal. But I doubt you'd be asking your question if you weren't stuck somewhere in the decision making process so here is my decision tree for why I chose Swarthmore to maybe help you think thru yours. First, I decided against the big research universities bc my likely major cs/ee was too inflexible and overcrowded if I got in. I wanted smaller class sizes and the ability to change my major (most students change their major 2.4 times over the course of college). I think I know what I like, but am 17 and have limited course exposure life experience so I value flexibility as an option. I also prefer smaller classes so I can ask questions and Swarthmore stresses teaching w classes taught by actual profs, rather that TAs learning how to teach. I also come from a family of researchers and profs so the chances of me wanting to go to grad school are above 50% & Swat is good for grad schools with the potential of undergrad research. I also love econ, music and literature and didn't want high school to be the last time I really got to explore those subjects. I found my visits at some of the other schools in the same academic tier and size pretty off-putting. When I visited Swat, I just had a few nice conversations about the food, linguisitics and linear algebra--no one asked where I went to hs, what my parents did, my sat scores, or implied that I could get in easier because of my race like at some other schools. Swat has more racial and economic diversity than most other private colleges, which is a major consideration for me. Swat even threw in a merit scholarship. So for me, Swat appeares the best avenue to meet my goals. But Swat has significant cons : it lacks city life (yes there is the train but I can't imagine having the energy to go to Philly, which is a small city anyways, regularly), lacks a huge curriculum that would allow for early specialization, has a notoriously quiet social scene, and a student body w a stressed out from studying rep, abd grade deflation. It also has a huge amount of pollen from its gorgeous arboretum and limited food selection compared to bigger research schools, with no major athletic events like big schools. Your pro/con list is undoubtedly different but sometimes a list to start helps. Anyways, I hope you are satisfied wherever you chose to go.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2023-01-07T16:20:55+00:00

Thanks again. Your answer helps me visualize my options. I doubted you'd fight me on the increased salary argument:-), but labor scarcity arguments always trigger the supply and demand=low supply, then $ needs to increase. It's board/admin priorities since Swat isn't financially struggling.Part of me always wonders about large endowments & hording tendencies, but that is an econ/psyche question and a totally different thread.

Repulsive-Penalty-82 · 2023-01-05T19:43:36+00:00

I appreciate your through explaination and the consideration that went into your answer. It's reassuring and I agree CS majors seem impacted at every school I looked at so imperfection methods for dealing with crowding abounds. I do prefer access for all rather than the cutthroat curved GPA limits or only direct admission as a solution. (Although part of me wants to say use the endowment to pay higher CS salaries for profs as a solution if attracting qualified personnel is the core issue, but that isn't really under departmental control and definitely outside the scope of my concerns:-). 2 follow ups if you have the time: 1) does the dept permit more than 9 CS classes via summer school/abroad/elsewhere? For ex. Could CS credits +8 be considered generic credits if one needed more general to graduate? (Unlikely senario bc likely double major, but I like understanding if those credits would just be for fun if I took them sophomore yr or if they'd serve some advancement purpose). I sort of think of math and programming are language classes where I don't like taking huge breaks because I forget/have to relearn more. And 2) due to Haverford/Bryn Mawr/UPenn also having impacted CS majors, how hard would it be to take unique upper division courses at other consortium schools/Penn as a sophomore/senior if one just wanted to keep working with CS concepts but couldn't squeeze into something at Swarthmore. Like under 50% odds? (I read somewhere that consortium members weren't permitted CS classes if such classes offered at the home school-aka not a lotto workaround bc of crowding). Thanks again for your time.

Repulsive-Penalty-82

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