<p>Well, after spending two days and nights on Harvard’s campus last week, my son ultimately decided on Harvard over Swarthmore and Amherst (for reasons that, if anyone’s interested, are detailed in a posting [#69] on the Harvard/LACs thread on the Harvard board). But, I’ll tell you, one of many things that I truly admire about the Swarthmore community, as reflected on this board and even on this thread, is that you rarely encounter the sort of seemingly frantic defensiveness - and aggressiveness - that are frequently found on the Harvard board. </p>
<p>Take the last two posts on this thread. While I don’t think that either of them is off-base, I can assure you that posts of this sort would have drawn all sorts of immediate fire on the Harvard board. But here? Well, two days have now gone by, and no one has seen any need to respond as if Swarthmore had been attacked (which it hasn’t) and needed to be defended (which it doesn’t).</p>
<p>I dunno: Maybe the Harvard folks, with all the battering that Harvard takes in the media and elsewhere, have reasons to be a bit, uh, touchy. But in what I assume will be my last post on this board, I simply want to say how much I value, and appreciate, both the content and the tone that I have found here: informative, civil, and unfailingly helpful and supportive.</p>
<p>Best of luck to all of you!</p>