Lafayette Vs Swarthmore: How different?

interesteddad
Wed, 05 Apr 2006 03:29:06 +0000

Can you give comparison between these two schools in terms of intellectual atmosphere, if people are down-to-earth or arrogant and conceited?



From what I have seen, Swarthmore’s student body is very down to earth. No display of wealth. In fact, that’s considered uncool. There’s a streak of self-deprecating humor that seems to run through Swarthmore. Very easy to make friends. Not cliquish at all. People tend to move among groups, pretty comfortably. There is no “theme” housing, either official or unoffical, so jocks live with geeks and so forth.

From what my daughter describes, the main exception to the down-to-earth standard are a few students who are quite full of themselves, intellectually. Love to hear themselves talk in class. Will debate at the drop of the hat. Every school has 'em. She says that she (and her friends) learned to not get stuck next to them at the dinner table…or they just start talking about hot celebrity guys. She joked about one kid in her freshman Physics seminar who kept trying to debate Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity with the professor, “yeah, like he’s really gonna win that one…give it up.”