<p>Picked Swarthmore. Was /this/ close to choosing Penn, fought with my parents over it, agonised for months, and finally enrolled at Swat. Reasonably glad I did now, although I’d probably have enjoyed myself at UPenn as well. Two things about Swarthmore:</p>
<p>Socially, it’s great. I see my friends every day without even trying, and even the people I don’t know too well are so friendly I pinch myself sometimes. Swarthmore is possibly the easiest place on the planet to be yourself, there’s a very strong culture of tolerance (note: unless you’re a conservative). I’ve seen people walking between classes in capes, or wearing ball dresses in the dining hall - and yeah, I thought that was weird too when I got here, but I’ve realised that on average those people are generally far more fun to hang out with (or if not, at least fun to watch) and I have no license to be judgemental. Don’t think those things would have happened quite as much anywhere else I could’ve gone to.</p>
<p>Academically, it’s pretty cool. I went through this weird curve where I found everything really easy and didn’t do work, got tolerable grades, went around saying “hey, this ain’t too hard” and then got totally destroyed by a math class the next semester (thank god for pass/fail). Moral: don’t underestimate Swat. It is hard. Having said that, I would be skeptical of anyone who claimed that it was significantly harder than the very-top-tier research universities. It’s also very good for placements into… most places, I guess. My friends are getting internships at Google and Facebook left right and centre. I’m not as sure about social sciences/humanities, bigger brand names may be more helpful there.</p>
<p>Overall, it’s a great school. You’re not going to realistically meet people who are as smart as those at Stanford/MIT/Harvard, but you will get academics which are pretty much as good, and an experience which, for some types of people, is ideal.</p>