Swarthmore vs. UChicago

unalove
Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:36:03 +0000

If you’re using Chicago solely to get a “leg up” in the business world, I think you’d be disappointed by Chicago’s undergraduate academic culture, which I think is remarkably similar to this charming liberal arts school a few miles away from Pennsylvania… ;-)

From what I’ve seen and heard, Swarthmore and Chicago are very, very, very, very, very similar. When I hear my Swattie friends complain about Swat, and when I read what posters say on this forum about Swat, I could all too easily swap out “Swat” and replace it with “Chicago.” When I look at my Swattie friends’ facebook albums… again… same kids, same stuff, same posters hanging on the walls of the dorm room.

As far as differences go, I think Swarthmore prides itself on its Quaker origin and because of this I think the school tends to be more “fuzzy” or “activist” than Chicago. Chicago kids tend to seesaw a little bit more on social and political issues.

I think you should ask yourself whether you’d be happier in a liberal arts college setting or a research university setting. There are ups and downs to either, and I know that for me, I would find small environments where everybody knew my name extremely suffocating, and I liked the idea of streets intersecting my campus (though I do wish we had an equivalent to Swarthmore’s woods too).