I just got into both Swarthmore and Wesleyan as an international student. I plan to study Computer science or possibly physics or music (Idek). I was hoping to get some advice on which school to attend with regards to my interests. Ideally I would go to Swarthmore but i hear that there are now only 8 CS classes to take (which is unfortunate). Plz help me in deciding!
and where did that info come from? I count 12 going on right now, and while I didn’t take the time to check, there are likely a different 12 or so next semester. If I recall correctly, CS was the most popular major last year when my son graduated from there with that degree. If not, one of the top couple majors.
I have no particular knowledge of Wesleyan. It’s a good school, but my impression is that it is not as “science oriented” as is Swarthmore.
The CS policy changes of Swarthmore are listed here:
www.swarthmore.edu/computer-science/2018-19-changes-to-cs-major
Some CS courses are lotteried:
www.swarthmore.edu/computer-science/lottery-wait-list-info
I wonder what the effects of the new CS policy will be.
Wesleyan CS department seems to be small. 2.6% of its 2017 graduates majored in CS. Currently it has 7 faculty members and 82 majors, according to its website.
www.wesleyan.edu/admission/academics/splashpages/comp.html
If you would “ideally” go to Swarthmore in a general sense, then you should not be deterred by unreliable impressions regarding the breadth of its CS offerings. However, it might be fair to say that the popularity of CS at Swarthmore could lead to restricted enrollment in some classes, an aspect that you may want to research further.
In Wesleyan’s favor, it would likely be stronger with respect to your interest in music.
Almost all colleges are finding it difficult to find CS professors, including places like Princeton and Harvey Mudd, as described in this article: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/05/09/no-clear-solution-nationwide-shortage-computer-science-professors. Swarthmore is not alone in its struggle to keep up with the demand for CS classes with limited CS profs available.
Swarthmore has a more active CS department, to be sure. However, Wesleyan has a very strong physics department - two students in the past 10 years have won the Apker Prize in undergraduate physics (two recipients nationwide per year), and the best part is that Wes competes in the research institution category because it has a tiny graduate program. Those Wes students beat out the large university students.
I would choose Wesleyan. 1) much more fun student body IMHO; 2) pleasant campus culture; 3) excellent school; 4) music department is really hard to beat. It’s amazing.
Wesleyan has a hip, fun, interesting, motivated student body on a campus where the culture is to be helpful to each other and the world. Intellectual while also being creative and arty. Top-notch student body.
Swarthmore has a hard-driving, intellectualism-for-the-sake-of-intellectualism culture, and I personally have never met anyone who genuinely enjoyed their time there. Prizes cleverness and for that prize will forsake human relationships. On this forum you will find Swatties – praising the school and the intense rigor of the academics – who say that it may “crush” the student.
Crushing the student, for me, is not necessary for an excellent education.
The long-range career outcomes of the two colleges are interesting. For a LAC offering its own engineering program, only about 5.2% of Swarthmore graduates have found their way into the tech field over a twenty year period, although the number has no doubt increased considerably over the latter half of the period under study:
https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/career-services/SeniorPlans2018.pdf
At Wesleyan, with its enviable assets in Physics and Math, technology was the second most popular career path for the Class of 2018:
@Dustyfeathers I know plenty of people who have loved their time at Swarthmore, including my daughter who is a student there now. She loves it, doesn’t find it “crushing” and has made excellent friends who are mutually supportive
They are both great schools, congratulations! I don’t think you should rule out one over the other on CS classes alone. My impressions (I attended one of them and visited the other extensively) is that the students at Wes were interested in many things and usually had several different areas going at once. Double and triple majors, sports plus school plus theatre plus art. Swarthmore students were more focused and interested in diving deeply into their majors. Both campuses are beautiful. Wed is in a larger “town” but it’s easier to get into the big city from Swat. I think Swat takes the prize on housing and Wes on dining. Maybe if you can describe a little more about who YOU are people could give more applicable advice because truly - it’s not a clear choice between them for a generic student.