Swarthmore College Rankings by Salary Score

The education I got at Swarthmore was truly invaluable. While the social atmosphere was not necessarily all that enjoyable, the academic experience is certainly unmatched. I have found that I am more than prepared for my graduate coursework, as the work that I did in undergrad was so comparable. many of my cohort members were/are not as prepared as I am- I have written 15-page papers for multiple classes in a semester, I know how to talk to professors, I know how to handle massive amounts of reading. All in... Read More all, Swarthmore did exactly what it was supposed to do for me.

Being an undergraduate at Swarthmore College is arguably one of the most rigorous academic experiences you can find. You will do an immense amount of work, attend myriad challenging and thought-provoking classes, and have at least one serious freak out, but by the end of it, you will graduate vastly ahead of your contemporaries at peer schools. With a demanding liberal arts curriculum, Swarthmore teaches you how to learn, so that you can go into any career, any internship, and any graduate school and excel.... Read More The best part of Swarthmore is the classes, which are intimate, in-depth, and taught by incredible, involved professors. Students are encouraged to take courses in as many different disciplines as possible, regardless of their major, and this breadth of academic material allows for something of a conversation between courses and between subject areas during the semester. A conversation on bioethics in a philosophy class could inform a conversation on population in a political science class, which could inform a conversation on conservation in a biology class. This type of learning is a more accurate replication of real world, learning environments, where one must make decisions based on information from a number of different individuals and sources with different backgrounds and different expertise. The underlying force driving Swarthmores academics is a fleet of amazing, caring professors who make an effort to engage with students both in and out of the classroom. Swarthmore classes are very small, and in most classes, the student to teacher ratio is eight to one. Most professors are really available and encourage students to meet with them during office hours, and sometimes invite their classes to their homes. Developing close relationships with ones professors far easier in these intimate environments than it would be in a larger university in a 200-person lecture. These relationships are also crucial to personal and professional growth as professors are people who you can ask for life advice, career advice, recommendations for jobs and grad schools, or simply a book recommendation. All of this being said, Swarthmore is not for everyone. The social life is incredibly limited as there are very few party spaces, and with so much work to do, there is very little free time. There are generally at most two parties a week, and there are also no bars in the town of Swarthmore because Swarthmore is a Quaker town where selling alcohol is banned. There is only one dining hall at Swarthmore, and in comparison to peer schools, it is terrible. There are very few options in terms of food, there is not enough seating room in the dining hall, and the hours are terrible (the dining hall closes at 8pm.) The administration is well aware of these challenges, though, and will hopefully work to improve them in the coming years. Ultimately, if you can make it through, four years at Swarthmore will make you a smarter, more aware person, who is better able to navigate the world with an eye for social justice.