Swarthmore Opens Classes for 143rd Year

by Stacey Kutish
8/31/2011

This week, Swarthmore begins the 2011-2012 academic year and welcomes 386 first-year students and 10 transfer students into the campus community. This is the start of the College's 143rd year of instruction.

The Class of 2015 gathered for First Collection during orientation.

The first-year class was selected from among a record 6,547 applicants, of whom 15 percent were offered admission. "It is exciting to welcome 396 new students into the Swarthmore College community," says Jim Bock '90, dean of admissions and financial aid. "The members of the Class of 2015 have embraced the College's rich academic, cultural, social, and intellectual traditions, the distinctive Honors Program, as well as the College's support for community engagement through the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. They are ready to contribute to the campus, the greater Philadelphia region, and the world."

The Class of 2015 comprises 202 women and 184 men. Among the domestic students, 6 percent identify themselves as African American, 15 percent as Hispanic/Latina/o, 15 percent as Asian American, and 6 percent as multiracial. International students represent nine percent of the class. In addition, 11 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. Members of the new class attended high schools most frequently in New York, followed by Pennsylvania, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, Washington, Ohio, and Illinois.

Thirty-four international citizens representing Belize, Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, Egypt, England, Ghana, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, South Korea, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vietnam are members of the Class of 2015.

Fifty-eight percent of the new students attended public high schools, 27 percent private independent schools, five percent parochial schools, and 10 percent schools overseas. At least one student was home-schooled. The most popular anticipated majors among Swarthmore's newest students are engineering, political science, English literature, biology, economics, history, psychology, physics, linguistics, mathematics, and sociology and anthropology.