<p>While some tour guides “oversell”, if you ask applicants genuinely interested in HC, the emphasis on the code may not be viewed as so extreme. What seems to be bubbling through some of these posts, however, is the belief that personal opinions are the reference point for normal and that if you don’t like a particular college, it’s somehow their loss or their problem rather than simply about fit. This is ironic because Swat cherishes its reputation for being “intellectual” and “analytical”… and falling into a kind of ethnocentrism is neither. </p>
<p>It’s also interesting to see that the same people who champion that an education is not a popularity contest, who write # reasoned essays on the merits of a boutique LAC experience over traditional Ivy choices, who state that colleges (like applicants) have unique personalities, seem to then forget their words and judge other LACs as misguided if they don’t conform and market themselves for mass appeal. Since when is any LAC for mainstream appeal?</p>
<p>As one example, if HC’s Bio dept wanted to be mainstream, it would follow other LACs like Swat and teach a potpourri of general bio. Instead, it concentrates its efforts towards biomedical and nanotech research and subsequently offers the most thorough undergrad experience for this for the last 50 years (ie. only HC and Williams teach immunology and how to make monoclonal antibodies (a basic in this field)). Sure, it probably turns off many kids who want to study animals or environmental bio (all to be had at BMC), but for those kids interested in this area, there’s no better place. Same thing with HC’s code and the unique academic and social environment it fosters.</p>
<p>If you know anything about Swat (I was accepted, brother and college GF went there) you will realize how funny the last post is. My impression is that Swat doesn’t believe in an honor code, not because they “don’t need it”, but simply because, as a campus, they don’t care to formally deal with such things as “trust”, “respect” and “community” (which can be frustrating) and their energies are considered better spent elsewhere. “Not needing” and “believing you don’t need” aren’t the same and confusing the former for the latter is a presumptuous mistake to make as it often doesn’t reflect reality.</p>
<p>Each college has its own personality and attracts students that reflect that. In the case of Swat, it’s intellectual, opinionated, “quirky” (which ranges from exciting creativity to socially disturbed) and occasionally pretentious, and, as nicely illustrated by several posts, sometimes bitter, sarcastic and delusional as well. Let me see, my brother told me once of a Wharton hall mate who liked to sleep naked and this “weirded” out his roommate… so, instead of a civil discussion, the roommate just invited the whole hall into the room one afternoon nap without warning, or, the time when I was at a party in ML and the joke was that some kid left his camera in the bathroom so these students took advantage of that by taking serial pictures of hairbrushes being swished in the toilet and then placed back on the shelf for a good laugh, ect… As parents, you probably don’t hear about such things. Clearly, these are anecdotes but there seems to be a higher % of the emotionally immature at Swat than elsewhere. Unfortunately, while many socially adept kids who enter Swat leave with great opportunities at life, the many few who are arrogant, dismissive and who can’t hold a decent conversation unless it’s about academics, intellectual masturbation or complaining, remain socially stunted and wind up disastrously unprepared for the real world (especially outside of academics) where book smarts and quirkiness are not as highly valued as wisdom, maturity and social skills.</p>