Swarthmore vs Northwestern`

WCASParent
Sat, 03 Apr 2010 17:32:31 +0000

THey are so different that no intelligent comparison can be made. Swarthmore is one of the very best (Top 5) LACs in the US, but it is tiny. They campus is gorgeous; it looks like a country club in some respects. The academics are superb. Its students are top quality, but Swarthmore has a reputation for attracting somewhat eccentric types. (I hate generalizations, so take that with a grain of salt.) Also, Swarthmore’s engineering program, if I recall correctly, was more of general engineering science, rather than specialty-oriented.
NU’s McCormick School of Engineering is superb. I think the engineering education is probably superior to anything Swarthmore could offer (although for liberal arts, i am sure Swarthmore would be at least as good, even if the course offerings were less numerous). Evanston is great; the Lake is gorgeous (although the NU campus overall is not nearly as aesthetically pleasing as Swarthmore’s);Chicago is fabulous and exciting. But there are 8000 undergrads, so it’s roughly four times the size of Swarthmore.
You are choosing between wildly different college experiences. Go with your gut and where you would be the most excited and happy to be.