Transfers + Social Scene

smwhtslghtlydzed
Sun, 09 Dec 2012 15:12:41 +0000

Hi, I’m a freshman at UMD considering transferring to Swarthmore for next fall, partially for the academics and partially for the social aspect - UMD is just way too big for me and I’ve had a lot of trouble finding people that I fit in with (people are really nice but pretty much everyone’s idea of a good time is partying which I’m just not into - I really fit in more with a slightly nerdier group and I’m hoping I could find that at Swarthmore). When I came to Swat for accepted students day last year, I really liked all the people there and just felt really good about the school (I chose UMD because I got a full ride, but I’m starting to think it wasn’t really worth it). I was just wondering though, from what you’ve heard is it fairly easy for transfers to make friends at Swarthmore or do friend groups really form in freshman year? My main fear in transferring to Swat is that I would end up still being unhappy and then I would have given up the full ride for nothing. So I’d really appreciate people sharing anything they’ve heard about how easy it is for transfer students to find a place in the school, and just in general if transfers are happy here and what kind of people really like life at Swat.

Also this isn’t my primary concern but given that part of my motivation for transferring is academic, I’d love to hear about the quality of academics, specifically in Political Science, Arabic, and Islamic Studies.

Thanks so much for sharing your opinions on any of my questions, I really appreciate it :)