What's up, internet community! Take a second and absorb this first draft for a minute, will ya? Feel free to be as mean to me as you'd like. Biting sarcasm and over-the-line criticism is welcome.
So, Why Swarthmore?
Swarthmore is the Quaker scholar's answer to an Ivy league university. I see in Swarthmore a valiant effort to trace back to what education should be, and executes it impeccably. In my first rounds of research into the next four to six years of my life, I was attracted to Swarthmore because of its small population and class size. I have seen many colleges that seem to lose sight of each student in the throng of scholars that surround him. Not so under the beautiful canopy of of the Scott Arboretum. I know that I thrive in small classes, preferring to speak up and lead class discussion rather than sit back and doodle. It is my expectation that, at Swarthmore, my doodling prowess will significantly decrease.
However, not everything at Swarthmore is small. Accompanying its individual focus is a staggering breadth of academic opportunity and a unique, rigorous curriculum. I am ready to step into a refreshing new kind of education, and Swarthmore offers exactly that. I need a place where I can walk up to a professor and ask him anything. I need an environment that matches my own personality and my own principles. Like its students, and like me, Swarthmore is an outgoing and intriguing institution.
Among the students of Swarthmore is a certain kinship that is scarcely seen elsewhere. In following with the principles of the Quakers, students prefer to work together in their education rather than adopt the competitive ambiance of many other schools of Swarthmore's tier. I thrive in places that encourage cooperation. I need a setting where I can feel comfortable starting a conversation with a stranger. Just as I am not only a physics pupil, Swarthmore's affect is not limited to any specific pathway. I can expect to meet people whose background and interests may seem completely opposite to mine, and still become great friends. Who's to say that, by taking a few steps from the Hicks Hall steps and by walking a few meters east, I won't meet an interesting German Studies major and start discussing Victorian-era art? Anything is possible with the global stance of Swarthmore.
I am prepared to meet a challenge that will change me for the better. I may find countless new friends as active in 3D animation as I am, or as adept at Guitar Hero as I am, or as accustomed to wearing plaid as I am. Although I am convinced that I will be a physicist, I do not want to be limited to this pursuit. I want to have the opportunity to engage in other interests. Both within and without the classroom, education embodies a lifelong quest to 'let your life speak,' and I think Swarthmore speaks for itself.
What can I change? What can I add? Subtract? Multiply?
