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<p>That sounds about right. </p>
<p>It can be as hard as you want it to be. Some students (five courses a semester, double majors in tough departments, tons of ECs) make it very challenging indeed. </p>
<p>I doubt anyone sails through Swarthmore without ever encountering a course that gives them fits. Frankly, if you sailed through four years anywhere without ever being challenged, it wouldn’t be much of a college. I still remember “Advanced Conversational French” and “Political Philosophy” (taught by Karl Marx) kicking my butt at Williams 30 years ago. I’m still not sure in which one I understood less of what was being discussed! Advanced Calc kicks butt at almost every college. I know of friend and family butt-kickings in that course at Swarthmore, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Georgia Tech just in the last two years. We won’t even talk about the nearly-universal Organic Chemistry butt kickings. Of all the friend and family college pressure-cookers I’ve heard about, Georgia Tech is probably the worst – there is intense competition for grades. My daughter teases her Ga Tech friend about picking such a tough school.</p>
<p>I have gotten no indication that Swarthmore is unmanageable or horribly stressful. My daughter gave me her updated “review” of that over Christmas break – I knew that she had a particularly nasty “finals” week with one course having both a final exam and a final paper (that’s unusual). She said that she got through it, still without having pulled her first college all-nighter (for studying). She said that the key was planning out what had to be done, starting at the beginning of reading period, allocating “x” amount of time for each item, and being satisfied with the results possible in “x” amount of time. She stuck to her schedule for 10 days and got it done. I think that she felt a sense of accomplishment.</p>
<p>If anything, she complains that Swarthmore professors are too lenient on extensions. She laughed that she and at least one of her friends have told professors, “don’t you dare offer me an extension and let me e-mail you the paper from home, I just want to get the thing done!”</p>
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<p>It’s not the right place for many smart kids. Here’s what my daughter tells specs: “If you aren’t the kind of student who just gets the work done or if you are going to go into a tailspin if you don’t get an A in every course, don’t come here.” There are kids who don’t do the readings, but I really don’t think that’s a sound strategy at Swarthmore unless you are really a genius.</p>
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<p>That is in the study abroad handbook (and website) to provide useful information to students. Unlike many study abroad programs that do give preference to Swarthmore students, Oxford’s very large study abroad population is judged by very mechanical standards – like a large state university in the United States. The same advice would apply if you go to a very demanding prep school and expect to get a boost on a mechanical numerically driven admissions process like the old UMich system or the Texas top-10% system. Ain’t gonna happen. </p>
<p>They provide additional information such as the fact that it is easier to get accepted to an Oxford program for the full year, rather than just for spring semester. Information like the study abroad website is typically very matter of fact at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Plenty of Swarthmore students do study abroad programs at Oxford; a 3.4 to 3.5 GPA is not that unusual. Keep in mind that the Oxford programs recommended by Swarthmore are not watered down programs where the American students live together and have only limited access to Oxford facilities like the libraries or dining at the college. Most of the Swarthmore programs are direct enrollment and/or programs where you have full visiting student status. </p>
<p>Frankly, if you aren’t in the top half of your class at ANY college, you probably aren’t going to be a likely acceptance for an Oxford study abroad program. So what? It’s not like it’s the only English speaking study abroad program in the UK. Depending on what you major in, Oxford might not make any sense at all – for example, it’s not ideal for lab science courses. Who knows, you might end up wanting to do something a little more adventuresome, like a full language-immersion homestay or more culturally challenging type of program.</p>
<p>Honestly, if you are worried about whether or not you will have a 3.4 to 3.5 GPA to get into an Oxford study abroad program two and a half years from now (without having any real basis for knowing if that’s what you will even want to do), Swarthmore is probably not the right school for you. You are smart to listen to your gut.</p>