Swarthmore College

Swarthmore offers the best of both worlds. On our idyllic, 425-acre campus with world-renowned gardens and sprawling woods, you'll find over 4,000 species of plants, heritage trees, a winding creek, hiking trails, and sun-soaked meadows. Yet, only 11 miles away lies the city of Philadelphia — accessible from campus by a quick, 25-minute train ride. In fact, all students are provided with a free transit pass to take in and out of the city and around the region. In the city, you'll find internship opportunities, vibrant cultural offerings, diverse cuisines, and world-class museums. From there, you can then easily catch a 90-minute train to New York City or a two-hour train to Washington D.C. And the best part? You'll have a green oasis awaiting your return.

Swarthmore offers programs, services, events, and resources that support the personal and intellectual development of students from all backgrounds. Programs sponsored by the Black Cultural Center, Gender & Sexuality Center, Hormel-Nguyen Intercultural Center, Interfaith Center, and International Student Center add to the College’s goal of educating and supporting the whole student.

The recently opened and reimagined Martin Hall is the dynamic home of Film & Media Studies, Computer Science, and the Media Center. Complete with screening rooms, gaming studios, and computer labs, all students are welcome to learn, innovate, and socialize here.

The Matchbox fitness center and other athletic facilities like the Mullan Tennis Center and Costonis '92 Golf Center offer a multifaceted, modern approach to wellness, recreation, and community, along with our swimming facility and robust resources for our 22 Division III teams. Regardless of your major, you can learn a new dialect through immersion in the Language Center, make sense of the universe in the Peter Van de Kamp Observatory, or connect your studies to your communities beyond campus through the Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility. Singer Hall, which brings together the Biology, Engineering, and Psychology departments, serves as a model of environmentally intelligent construction that will help the College achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2035.

Whether students are teaming up to design a prototype in the state-of-the-art MakerSpace, sharing conversations in a cozy eight-person house or a lively 200-person residence hall, meeting up over locally grown food in our new Dining and Community Commons, or taking a study break in one of several campus coffee bars, the abundance of campus resources permeates all aspects of life at Swarthmore.

Underpinning our robust facilities is the College's ambitious energy plan, To Zero By Thirty-Five (20X35). By 2035, buildings across campus will be connected to a new heating and cooling geoexchange system. Powered by renewable energy, the process extracts heat from buildings during the summer and stores it underground for use in the winter — all while producing zero carbon emissions. Together with ongoing energy efficiency improvements across campus buildings, onsite solar and off-site renewable energy procurement, and a standby electricity generation plant, the College is positioned to significantly reduce our carbon emissions and reach carbon neutrality by 2035.

The Tri-College Consortium, which connects us with Bryn Mawr and Haverford colleges, allows you to expand your social and academic opportunities across three stellar institutions. The Tri-Co Philly Program offers further curricular and co-curricular activities in Philadelphia. Students also have the option to enroll in one elective per semester at the University of Pennsylvania. Swarthmore encourages students to spend a semester or year studying abroad to enhance their degree programs. With 300+ approved programs, you can choose either a College program coordinated by Swarthmore faculty members, a direct-enrollment program at a university abroad, or one of a broad array of other study-abroad programs. Students are billed for study abroad like a typical Swarthmore semester, and all financial aid decisions travel with them. Beyond study abroad, Swarthmore Career Services provides a host of opportunities, including career mentorship, career advice and counseling, and programs like Swatworks, which connects students with alumni working in an array of professional settings. SwatWorks's micro-internships are short-term, paid, professional assignments that are similar to those given to new hires or interns. The program helps students to demonstrate skills, explore career paths, and build their networks as Swarthmore alumni and parents mentor them.

The Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility also creates opportunities locally and around the globe, with engaged scholarship opportunities like internships with nonprofit or government organizations, research with faculty members, and projects with community partners. These beyond-the-classroom experiences can be a crucial bridge between your academic pursuits and the people and issues you care about.

The town of Swarthmore itself, known as "The Ville," offers a variety of local shops, restaurants, and gathering spaces immediately outside campus and can be accessed by foot or the College's free shuttle service.