| Um, just to say about awb's post: A LOT OF SWARTHMORE'S CLASSES ARE WRITING INTENSIVE. Humanities classes especially (obviously). When you're choosing your classes, ask current students about how the workload would be- you don't want to be too heavy on problem sets or on papers, and students really would know how to balance their workload. If you don't have a good reason for it, don't take that extra fifth class. Depending on your major, you might have to learn how to right well very quickly.
But luckily for you, Swarthmore has an amazing writing center and WAs, which are Writing Associates- they're students that are trained to help you write essays. They can do anything from helping you outline/organize it, or just read it over. Really, don't be afraid to use the WAs and writing center. They're really helpful. (I don't go to Swat but one of my friends is one, haha). I also had a lot of the same worries as you when I was applying to Swat, and I still am plagued with thoughts of "Oh crap, what am I going to do when I can't write a 20 page paper?"
OH! And I almost forgot! Remember that your first semester is pass/fail, so that should give you some time to get some help with your writing skills without hurting your GPA. After that, I think you can take 4 more pass/fail classes...
Anywho, I'm going to Bryn Mawr next year and I'm definitely going to take a class or so at Swat, so know that there's people out there that at least feel the same way as you do...
Or maybe you're actually brilliant and you're just not confident enough? I don't know. |