Swarthmore Academic Support

murmillo
Sun, 01 May 2011 02:03:20 +0000

There’s a lot of student support. There actually is quite a bit, I think on the Swarthmore website. Look into the Writing Associates program. I’ve only used WA’s when I had to, but I’m sure they will help you with your writing if you need help. There are also designated writing courses where developing writing skills is emphasized. I think some of them don’t really deserve to be called writing courses (especially the ones in math), but I have taken an English course in my freshman year where we wrote drafts, edited, etc. I think it really helped my writing skills, especially because there were no SparkNotes for the books we were reading and it forced me to think on my own and carefully construct an argument.

In many departments there are students who are paid to help other students on homework. For example, most weeknights there are math clinicians who are available to help you. There are student helpers in biology, engineering, chemistry, and physics. I myself am one of the math homework helpers. I think the students who provide help try not to be judgmental–it’s their job to be helpful. There are also student academic mentors (SAMs), who are willing to offer you advice about study habits, etc. if you ask.