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Swarthmore College Opens Classes for 142nd Year

Swarthmore Opens Classes for 142nd Year

by Stacey Kutish
08/30/2010

This week, Swarthmore begins the 2010-2011 academic year and welcomes 388 first-year students and 10 transfer students into the campus community. This is the start of the College's 142nd year of instruction.

Sudharshan Seneviratne
The Class of 2014 gathered for First Collection during orientation.

The first-year class was selected from among 6,041 applicants, of whom 16 percent were offered admission. "It is a great pleasure to welcome such a globally diverse and intellectually and socially talented group of individuals into our community," says Jim Bock '90, dean of admissions and financial aid. "Our rich academic program and distinctive Honors Program, talented faculty, the College's support for community engagement through the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, and our proximity to Philadelphia are factors that continue to attract the best students from the U.S. and abroad. We look forward to the contributions that the Class of 2014 will make on our campus and in the world."

The Class of 2014 comprises 195 women and 193 men. Among the domestic students, 11 percent identify themselves as African American/multiracial, 11 percent as Hispanic/Latina/o/multiracial, 17 percent as Asian American/multiracial, and one percent as Native American. International students represent nine percent of the class. In addition, 12 percent are the first generation in their family to attend college.

Thirty-nine states are represented by the members of the incoming class as well as the District of Columbia and Guam. Members of the new class attended high schools most frequently in New York, followed by Pennsylvania, California, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, Virginia, and Illinois.

Thirty-six international citizens representing Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe are members of the Class of 2014.

Fifty-nine percent of the new students attended public high schools, 26 percent private independent schools, five percent parochial schools, and 10 percent schools overseas. At least two students were home-schooled. The most popular anticipated majors among Swarthmore's newest students are economics, biology, political science, engineering, English, history, psychology, mathematics, and sociology and anthropology.