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WHEW!
lol.
I am not about picking at any particular college. Swarthmore is indeed a fine school and one of the most selective in the country, and apparently most diverse.
I could however state that having a high percentage of international students has a double edge to it: it means that many american students are not being admitted. But being a private college, Swarthmore can certainly do as it pleases in that regard and present itself as an international school rather than an american school. Just my observation. I see value in having international students on campus, but perhaps not to the degree that Swarthmore admits them. I would prefer that our own american students be given first opportunity. As for the "liberal" leave of absence/sabbatical leave policy for its profs, one can say that it helps them clear their heads and find new ideas etc, but one can also say it is a colossal waste of money and keeps expenses unnecessarily high.
It is nice to know that they do such a thorough job on applications and reading essays. I am NOT a big proponent of essays, since we all know that some students have tremendous outside help, even professional help in "crafting" them, stretching the notion of honest authorship to the extreme. Not saying of course your d had that problem, but you know it happens far too often.
I am a huge proponent of students doing their own "admissions" test for every college they consider and see if they fit there, see if they want that particular experience whether it be urban, rural, ethnic, religious, scientific, philosophical, geographical, whatever. For some, Swarthmore would be a perfect fit, but for others it would not be what they are looking for in a college experience.
Just the other day a rather well to do father of a kid in my neighborhood boasted that "college is about fraternities, parties, girl chasing...and the rest is just a bunch of crud (he used another term I cant print here)." Well, that is certainly a unique perspective (and one I certainly DONT share). But opinions are as varied as there are applications.
Paying travel expenses for visiting professors to lecture on campus or for Swarthmore (or pick your college) professors to travel and give "white papers" or lectures, or attend seminars to me can go from the sublime to the ridiculous if its out of control and becomes a high percentage of the expense budget on campus. Then again, if you know that going in and know what you are paying for, then who is harmed?
I just state matter of factly that colleges are terribly inefficient institutions. I dont suggest they should be run by and dominated by bean counters who have the paper clip police checking every paper clip that is missing on campus. But the egregious increase in college tuition and room and board expenses the last 10 years has made the dream of a "superior" college education for the middle class very daunting and leaves a lot of kids with few options except the local state university or even the community college because of financial limitations.
Very few colleges give 100% of need. And even so, the EFC is often a ludicrous number that makes people either fall out of their chairs laughing or collapsing in a heep of tears.
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