<p>Swarthmore’s science programs are, and have been, very strong. The college has, I believe, the second highest per capita number of nobel laureate graduates in the U.S., with all but one (economics) being in chemistry/biological sciences and physics. An outstanding peer group and excellent faculty who don’t have graduate level or post-doc students and therefore mentor Swarthmore students in graduate level research are key ingredients. Being a liberal arts college has the advantage (as vs. attending, let’s say Cal Tech) of a breadth of academic exposure in other non-science disciplines as well.</p>