Overnite Visit - Ideas!

Moot · 10-02-2005, 03:44 PM

Hey guys,

I'm going to Swat for an overnite in the coming week. Is there anything/anywhere that you would suggest me going to get a real taste of Swarthmore. It will be on a Sunday night, if that has any affect.

Just looking for suggestions of where to go and what do do since I'll be mostly by myself finding my own way.

Any comments are most appreciated!

interesteddad · 10-02-2005, 04:08 PM

Moot: I don't understand your timing. This week is mid-terms. Next weekend is the start of fall break and the campus will be a ghost town. No classes. No activities. No students to speak of.

Have you got your dates right?

nngmm · 10-02-2005, 05:01 PM

October 8-16 is the fall break. There is no point going during that time. If you are going this Sunday, try to ask for a freshman host, preferably in Mertz or Willets. Find some classes you would like to sit on.
For campus events:
http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/org/daily/
For classes:
http://www.trico.haverford.edu/cgi-b...bin/search.cgi

Moot · 10-02-2005, 06:09 PM

Hah, my apologies.

I forgot an "S"--- In the coming weeks. Going on the 23rd.

ecape · 10-02-2005, 06:40 PM

Yeah, def sit in on a lot of different classes. I never did that at any of the colleges I applied to, because no one had suggested to me, but college classes really are VERY different at different colleges. If you spend the weekend and really look around, you might see some stuff that surprises you as different from the impression the college guidebook gives. Based on books I was reading, I for one never would have guessed how preppy UChicago is becoming, for instance. And oh yeah, check out a Paces party -they're the center of social life for underclassmen.

momof3sons · 10-02-2005, 07:38 PM

moot,
Do what nngmm suggested. Contact the admissions office and ask them to arrange for a student host for an overnight. Sunday night is a good time to go-students will certainly be working, but they do take breaks. Either tag along to your hosts classes or, on Monday morning you will be able to find a list of suggested classes to visit posted in the Admissions Office. (Just introduce yourself to the professor before the class starts.) If you can, sit in on classes in different departments. Have one or two meals at Sharples, the dining hall, and strike up a conversation with students.

interesteddad · 10-02-2005, 09:32 PM

I would recommend planning a couple of courses to attend yourself beforehand. If you go to this website, you can see what your options are in any department:

http://www.trico.haverford.edu/cgi-b...bin/search.cgi

Just check the "Fall 2005" box and the Swarthmore box. Then select Monday. Pick your department and hit search. You'll get a list of all classes on Monday for that department. Make sure you have the name of the Department right. For example "Sociology" will return no hits because the name of the Dept at Swat is "Sociology/Anthropology". You'll get the hang of it.

Generally, you want to avoid sitting in on advanced Junior/Senior seminars because you'll be lost. Give us your options and maybe we can point you in the right direction. It's nice to email the prof ahead of time and ask if it's OK to attend the class (it almost always is, but this gives the prof a courtesy heads up and perhaps the chance to ask questions before or after the class. My daughter had one professor say, "no, that class woudn't be a good choice, you'd enjoy "this one" more. Or, if that doesn't work, stop by my office and I'll arrange a tour of the labs for you..." Another professor said, "sure, that class would be perfect. Here's the novel we'll be discussing so you can read it beforehand..."

If there is something you want to find out about -- like the Theater department or the Lang Center community service -- e-mail ahead of time and set up a meet n' greet.

Mertz and Willets are good dorm for overnights. Big dorms, so if your host is busy, it would be easy to walk around the dorm and find some people to talk with. It's pretty common to pass "specs" around in those dorms. Dana or Alice Paul wouldn't be bad either. Some of the other dorms are mostly upperclassmen and aren't usually as good for overnights.

Take a book or some homework of your own. Sunday night is a homework night, so don't expect a host to entertain you all night. If your host needs to do some reading, a prepared "spec" should say, "yeah, I brought some stuff to work on, too!" or "that's OK, I'd kind of like to go to this lecture, I'll be back in a couple of hours....". Or, wander down to the dorm lounge and find a poker game or whatever.

nngmm already gave you the link to the Daily Gazette. If you check that on Friday, it will have a list of stuff going on, but Sunday night isn't a big night for lectures, movies, etc.

In addition to eating at Sharples, there are coffee bars in Kohlberg and the Science Center. Both places would be good places to hang out and find students to chat up during the day. There's also a snack bar in Tarble -- the stone building attached to the big bell tower. The bookstore, which has all kinds of trinkets and logo stuff is located in the basement of that building.

JimmyEatWorld711 · 10-02-2005, 10:36 PM

Hey, I think that's the same weekend as Swat's Discovery Weekend - so about 150 other students (including me) will be there for overnight visits too. Maybe you could contact Swat and see if you could arrange to sit in on some of the scheduled activities for Discovery Weekend.

interesteddad · 10-02-2005, 10:55 PM

If it's the same weekend, just look at someone's schedule of events and show up. They won't be checking ID's!

danashu · 10-03-2005, 06:56 PM

I wonder if someone can help me out with some information about discovery weekends. I have seen them mentioned on Swarthmore threads as well as a number of other lac sites. They seem to require mini applications and u need to be invited by admissions people rather than just going on your own. What are these programs? Are they highly selective and do they foreshadow a good chance of acceptance for admissions> Thanks people.

interesteddad · 10-03-2005, 11:06 PM

Danashu:

Discovery Weekend events are part of a diversity recruiting effort. Basically, they are a large group overnight visit to campus with special events sponsored by the Af-Am students, Asian student, SE Asian students, Latino Students, African students, and Caribbean students associations. The main perk is that the school often picks up the tab for transportation -- train, airfare, etc.

The schools identify candidates in a number of ways: from reports purchased from the SAT people identifying score and ethnic profiles, from selected high schools, and from leads resulting from inquiries. There is some kind of mini-application and then the school invites "x" number of qualified, interested applicants to come visit.

It's too late for this year for Discovery Weekend, but not necessarily for funded transportation the Spring event for admitted students. If you are a junior this year, you should contact the Diversity adcom at Swarthmore (Suzi Nam).

Does attending Discovery weekend increase your odds? Yes, but only because it means you are a qualified, interested applicant. Any qualified, interested candidate would enjoy better odds.

danashu · 10-04-2005, 03:54 PM

Thanks interestedad for the information. As i am not a urm I would not qualify. However, perhaps a more equitable consideration of the scope of qualified participation should be economics rather than race or ethnicity. As was interestingly noted on another thread that u were a part of the philosophy of needs blind admission is a misnomer and economics is as much of an acceptance barrier as race. As the Supreme Court has noted in recent decisions only certain types of race-based admissions is accetable. This is not meant to be politically incorrect but in my mind it is the underpriviledged of all races that get the shiv not just urm's.

interesteddad · 10-04-2005, 05:28 PM

Diversity weekend type events include students that are not URMs. For example, Asian-American students are frequent participants.

Colleges are moving quickly to include low income students from all races in these types of events. One reason is the recent Supreme Court decisions in the Michigan affirmative action cases make it extremely risky to provide programs based exclusively on race.

For example, the Swarthmore/BrynMawr/Haverford summer orientation for minority students that has been around for about 20 years was opened up to include white students this year for the first time.

BlacknBlue · 10-05-2005, 09:25 AM

re discovery weekend. last years discovery weekend yielded 107 applications and only about 22 acceptances (could have been 27, i don't actually recall). this is hardly what i call favorable acceptance rate. average at best.

interesteddad · 10-05-2005, 12:32 PM

Small, but important, correction:

"According to Nam, of the 135 prospective students who attended the program in fall 2003, 107 applied and 22 enrolled."

I make the same mistake all the time. Colleges toss these admissions numbers out there in newpaper articles and it is so easy to mistake one number for another. Oh, and of the three numbers you really need (applications, acceptances, and enrollees), they never provide more than two!

"Enrolled" is a much smaller number than "accepted". Overall, about 40% of accepted students enroll at Swarthmore. However, that number is lower for Latino and much lower for Af-Am applicants.

Because of the pre-screening, I would guess that a high percentage of those applying after attending Discovery Weekend get accepted. I would be shocked if it weren't at least 50%.