<p>A couple of questions. How does it work out for you being close but not in Philly? We’re from Chicago and my son’s dream school is Penn, so he’s not at all intimidated by the city, but getting into Penn may be a reach (he only has a 3.75 but nearly all honors/APs, 34 ACT). I know that Swarthmore has an outstanding reputation of its own; I just think that if he went there he’d keep wishing that he was at the other end of the SEPTA line. Also, how does the size work for you? He’s currently at a large and academically competitive public high school (just under 3,000 kids). Frankly we’re concerned that Swarthmore wouldn’t be large enough where he could find a real community - he has some social delays that are common to the kinds of kids who gravitate toward programs like engineering, so he needs decent odds to find commonality. I went to a similarly intense architecture program at a medium-large school (UVA) and the A-school was a tight community unto itself, so I had the best of both. Is your life as a Swattie (if I spelled that right) really all about the engineering department, or do you find you have a circle of friends outside the E-school as well? My son is specifically interested in computer science, with an eventual focus/thesis on game design.</p>