About Swarthmore College
Location: Swarthmore, PA
Undergraduate Population: 1,625
Most Popular Majors: Economics, Computer science, Biology, Mathematics, Political Science
Motto: “Mind the Light”
Demographics:
White 31.6%
Asian/Asian American 17.7%
Latinx 14.4%
Multiracial 9.7%
Black/African American 9.0%
Native American less than 1%
History:
Swarthmore was founded in 1864 by the liberal Hicksite branch of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Philadelphia. The founders included Deborah Fisher Wharton, along with her industrialist son, Joseph Wharton, together with a committee of members of the Hicksite Yearly Meetings of Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore. The college was named after a 17th-century English manor house that was a center of the early Quaker movement. The Friends voted for the school to be coeducational from the beginning.
In the early 1900s, Swarthmore had a collegiate American football program during the formation period of the sport. The school would play Princeton, Columbia, and other larger schools. There was also an active fraternity and sorority life. Frank Aydelotte, who took on presidency of Swarthmore in 1921, began the development of the school’s current academic focus, particularly with his vision for the Honors program based on his experience as a Rhodes Scholar. During World War II, Swarthmore offered students a path to the U.S. Navy commission through its participation in the V-12 Navy College Training Program.
In the 60s and 70s, Swarthmore saw the construction of new buildings, including Sharples Dining Hall in 1964, Worth Health Center in 1965, the Dana/Hallowell Residence Halls in 1967, and Lang Music Building in 1973. In 1967, a Black protest movement began at Swarthmore. African-American students conducted an eight-day sit-in in the admissions office in 1969 to demand increased Black enrollment. This resulted in the establishment of both a Black Cultural Center (1970) and a Women’s Resource Center (1974). The Environmental Studies program and the Intercultural Center were founded in 1992, and in 1993 the Lang Performing Arts Center was inaugurated. In 2019, Swarthmore abolished all Greek life on campus.
Today, with a student-faculty ratio of 8:1, Swarthmore prides itself on an intimate, personal learning environment. Undergraduates have the option to choose from 40 major offerings or design their own curriculum.
Notable Swarthmore alumni include author Jonathan Franzen, actor Stephen Lang, co-creator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Isabel Briggs Myers, astronaut Sally Ride, and feminist and psychologist Carol Gilligan.
Traditions:
- First Collection is a candlelit event that takes place every year during Orientation Week. All first-year students gather in Scott Amphitheater for this ceremonial event that marks the official start of their time at the College.
- The Crum Regatta draws many students equipped with paddles and improvised “boats” to the Crum Creek. The 500-meter race through shallow waters is a campus highlight due to the variety of floating devices that students design to “dominate” the 3-foot-deep creek.
- Part treasure hunt, part live-action role-playing game, the Pterodactyl Hunt is a 40-year-old campus tradition. Hosted in the Crum Woods every October by the Psi Phi (Sci-fi) Club, students are divided into teams of monsters and hunters. The heroes wear trash bags and go “monster hunting.”
Noteworthy Features:
- Students are required to take three courses in each of the college’s three divisions—humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and social sciences—and at least two of the three must be in different departments. Undergraduates must also demonstrate foreign language competency, fulfill a physical education requirement (which includes a swimming test), and take three writing courses from at least two divisions.
- Swarthmore has an arboretum campus, surrounded by world-renowned gardens and untamed forests. Biology students are able to conduct fieldwork in the Crum Woods, while those studying the environment have direct access to a system of green roofs that reduces energy costs.
- Swarthmore has an Honors Program, which accepts students at the end of their sophomore year that looks for intellectual risk-taking, self-direction, and originality in its candidates. What separates Swarthmore’s honors program are its written and oral examinations, which are reviewed by external faculty at the end of the senior year and gauge the students’ ability to discuss their work with experts in the field.
Admissions Profile
Average GPA: Not reported
Test Scores (mid-50% range): 1455-1540 SAT/ 32-35 ACT
Admit Rate: 6.9%
Test-optional? Yes
Offers Early Admissions? Yes–Early Decision I and II
Supplemental Essays
Swarthmore College’s required essay prompts:
Swarthmore College maintains an ongoing commitment of building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive residential community dedicated to rigorous intellectual inquiry. All who engage in our community are empowered through the open exchange of ideas guided by equity and social responsibility to thrive and contribute as bridge builders within global communities. Our identities and perspectives are supported and developed by our immediate contexts and lived experiences – in our neighborhoods, families, classrooms, communities of faith, and more. What aspects of your self-identity or personal background are most significant to you? Reflecting on the elements of your home, school, or other communities that have shaped your life, explain how you have grown in your ability to navigate differences when engaging with others, or demonstrated your ability to collaborate in communities other than your own. (limit: 250 words)
This is a long question; consider all parts of the prompt carefully as you brainstorm your response. Swarthmore has asked you about a community that’s been important to you. Find ways to focus on your place within the community. How long have you been involved? What is your role in this group? Why does this community matter to you? What kind of problems have you solved? Have you learned any skills that you’ve applied in other aspects of your life? You could elaborate on one narrative that showcases the difference you’ve made, or you could include a number of events that demonstrate the progression of your growth. In either case, focus on the impact that you’ve made on the place or the people. Swarthmore uses this type of supplemental essay to gauge what kind of community member you are and how you’d contribute to the campus environment.
Swarthmore’s community of learners inspire one another through their collaborative and flexible approach to learning. Swarthmore students are comfortable with intellectual experimentation and connection of ideas across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and interdisciplinary studies through a liberal arts education. Tell us about a topic that has fascinated you recently – either inside or outside of the classroom. What made you curious about this? Has this topic connected across other areas of your interests? How has this experience shaped you and what encourages you to keep exploring? (limit: 250 words)
Admissions officers use supplemental essays to determine whether a student would be a good fit for their institution, and this question is no exception. The prompt lets you know that the Swarthmore community values learning. Consider which topics fascinate you so much that you get lost in studying them for hours.. Swarthmore clarifies that the topic you tackle here can be academic or extracurricular—what’s important is that it interests you. It could be related to your major, or it could be about your favorite sport or a legendary musician that you look up to. No matter what you write about, focus your essay on the impact this topic has had on you and how it’s shaped your perspective.
For more tips on common supplemental essay prompts, see our blog post here.
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