Swarthmore College

Swarthmore College is a private institution that was founded in 1864. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,625 (fall 2022), its setting is suburban, and the campus size is 425 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Swarthmore College's ranking in the 2024 edition of Best Colleges is National Liberal Arts Colleges, #4. Its tuition and fees are $62,412.

Swarthmore College is located 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia – far enough away to have a 425-acre campus that is designated as an arboretum. The school was founded by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), but has no religious affiliation today. The school has more than 100 organizations that students can get involved in on campus, and about 40% of students study abroad. Swarthmore has about 20 NCAA Division III varsity sports teams cheered on by mascot Phineas the Phoenix. Although only freshmen are required to live on campus, less than 10% of students live off campus.

Swarthmore College students can take courses at Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College through the Tri-College Consortium. Unlike most other liberal arts colleges, Swarthmore also offers an undergraduate engineering program. Swarthmore has many unique traditions, including the Crum Regatta, where students race homemade boats down Crum Creek; and Worthstock, which features live music, dancing and food. Notable alumni include Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief of astronomy in the Office of Space Science and "mother of the Hubble telescope”; former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis; and Robert Zoellick, former president of the World Bank.