<p>My D just finished her sophomore year. She and many of her friends (“all of them” if you were to ask her) had a very tough year. The campus shrinks as you feel you’ve met “everyone” and academics heat up. While she handled the workload well (got up at 6 AM and studied before class, kept up with the required readings, got all As/A-s) she felt all year as though she couldn’t “measure up,” bringing many tearful episodes Strange. She didn’t see a path to changing the world, which weighed heavy on her, since her peers at Swat seemed to be doing all that in addition to excelling at the academics. She really felt the pressure. Hopefully, this summer has been restorative and she’ll go back with renewed confidence, but it’s pretty sad to watch your extremely capable and once-confident child whither. The environment is tough. There were times during the year when I asked whether she wanted to transfer out, and times when I was almost demanding that she do so (seeing her emotional response to the whole experience), but like tsprite’s D, she steadfastly refused. She “loves” it at Swarthmore.</p>