Swarthmore vs. Pomona vs. Smith

Dad2
Sun, 06 May 2012 13:22:53 +0000

Swarthmore or Pomona (unless one wants a single sex college). Although Pomona’s selectivity has up-ticked impressively in the past several years (in part because they are arguably the only truly top SLAC west of the Mississippi, whereas the East has competition between Swat, Amherst, Williams, Midd and on and on), Swarthmore is the most academically and intellectually (there is an actual distinction) intense and serious among all of the top LAC’s, and likely the most socially engaged. Students at Swat are not intense in the sense of competing for grades or grad school placement, but rather in terms of true intellectual passion and engagement. Swat had, for many years, an exchange program with Pomona which was generally experienced as a (very pleasant) vacation from Swat. Both great schools, though; definitely visit all.