OVERVIEW

Swarthmore College is an independent, private liberal arts college in US. With around 1,545 undergraduate students, it is known as a college with a rigorous intellectual character. It is also a member of the Tri-College Consortium, together with Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College.

The school was founded in 1864 as one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It is located in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11miles southwest of Philadelphia, with its campus adjacent to the Scott Arboretum. The 399-acre campus houses administrative offices, students housing and lounges, together with the academic buildings of the college.

Swarthmore College offers degrees in bachelor’s program, with all the 1,545 students undergraduates. 90 percent of its graduates continue with graduate or professional school, and 20 percent receive a PhD degree.

The mission of Swarthmore College is:

Swarthmore seeks to help its students realize their full intellectual and personal potential combined with a deep sense of ethical and social concern.

ACCREDITATION

Swarthmore College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and its engineering program is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology(ABET). At the same time, its competency-based teacher preparation program meets the General Standards and the Specific Program Guidelines for State Approval of Professional Educational Programs.

ACADEMICS

Swarthmore College offers over 40 courses of study, from Ancient History, Anthropology, to Statistics and Theater.

The most popular majors and course of study for students are as follows:

1. Social Sciences
2. Biological and Biomedical Sciences
3. Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
4. Psychology
5. Visual and Performing Arts

Swarthmore ranks third as a liberal arts college in the 2012 college ranking by US News & World Report.

Swarthmore offers an Oxford tutorial-inspired Honors Program, which allows students to take double-credit seminars since junior year. In seminars, students usually need to write three ten-page papers or more per seminar.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Swarthmore required applicants provide either SAT or ACT test scores, and the application deadline is Jan 1. The application fee is USD 60, with an acceptance rate of 16.1 percent.

COSTS AND FINANCIAL AID

The tuitions and fees for year 2011-2012 is USD 41,150. The room and board expense is USD 12,100 or more.

Swarthmore makes admission and financial aid decisions independently, with about 50 percent of the students get financial aid, and the average need-based scholarship is USD 35,033.