Swarthmore College Computer Science department is one of the most popular general Computer Science departments in the country. Swarthmore College ranks 10th in computer science, according to U.S. News and World Report’s most recent rankings of the nation’s colleges and universities. Collegelearners Website will provide informations you are looking for on Swarthmore College Computer Science Ranking, Overview of Swarthmore College Computer Science Ranking and Requirements for Swarthmore College Computer Science Ranking.
Swarthmore College Computer Science Ranking
The computer science program at Swarthmore is ranked #2 in the nation. The college offers a BA in Computer Science and a BS in Computer Science with an option to minor in music. Students can also get a minor in philosophy, mathematics, or physics.
The average GPA for incoming freshmen is 3.8 or higher, and 90% of students graduate within four years. All freshmen are required to take an introductory programming class, which teaches them how to program using Python. They also take classes on machine learning and artificial intelligence as well as data science, which covers topics like statistical inference, Bayesian statistics and probability theory. Students can choose from elective courses like computer graphics and animation; cryptography; natural language processing; human-computer interaction; operations research; and more!
Overview of Swarthmore College Computer Science Ranking
Swarthmore College Computer Science Ranking
Swarthmore College
500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081 | (610) 328-8000
3 in National Liberal Arts Colleges
2021 QUICK STATS
Tuition and Fees
$54,656 (2020-21)
Room and Board
$16,653 (2020-21)
Total Enrollment
1,594
Application Deadline
Jan. 1
Swarthmore College is a private institution that was founded in 1864. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,594, its setting is suburban, and the campus size is 425 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Swarthmore College’s ranking in the 2021 edition of Best Colleges is National Liberal Arts Colleges, #3. Its tuition and fees are $54,656.
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 percent of students study abroad. Swarthmore has about 20 NCAA Division III varsity sports teams cheered on by mascot Phineas the Phoenix. Its Greek life is limited to two fraternities and one sorority. Although only freshmen are required to live on campus, less than 10 percent of students live off campus.
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Special announcement from Swarthmore College
At Swarthmore, we have taken significant steps to protect and support our students, including helping them pay for food, transportation, laptops, and home internet access, and are also working with admitted students and families. What has not changed are our core values. We remain committed to helping students thrive and preparing them to shape our world.
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Last updated: March 3, 2021 at 1:55 PM EST
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Swarthmore College’s 2021 Rankings
Swarthmore College is ranked #3 in National Liberal Arts Colleges. Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.
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6
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4
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Swarthmore College Alumni Starting Salaries
Below are the median starting salaries by major for alumni of Swarthmore College.
Median starting salary of alumni
$61,900
By major
Biological and Biomedical Sciences
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About Best Computer Engineering Courses
We currently offer a wide variety of courses on a regular basis. Many of our upper level courses are offered in alternate years. Depending on student-faculty interest and availability of faculty resources, we offer additional courses on an irregular basis. There are also courses of special interest to CS students offered by the departments of Engineering, Mathematics, Linguistics, and Psychology.
Our Computer Science department is close knit and robust. You can get an excellent background for graduate school or meaningful employment. You cannot take 20 courses in CS here but you can take 15 outstanding courses in the most fundamental areas of CS. Our students who want to go to graduate school get into highly competitive graduate programs. Those who want employment have found many offers with both small companies and large well-known companies.
Our dynamic program resides in a setting of other excellent liberal arts departments and a small but outstanding engineering department.
The study of computer science in a liberal arts environment helps students hone their skills in problem solving, abstraction, careful and critical thinking, management of complexity, and clear and concise communication of ideas. These are important, general skills useful in every discipline and useful for life. Furthermore, the computer itself is an important general tool, used in almost every discipline.
Although our program is regarded by some as moderately theoretical, our students have competed, and been quite successful at the national level, in research competitions and programming contests. In the last several years, Swarthmore College has placed first in several categories in the SENSEVAL computational semantics competitions (Swarthmore was the only undergraduate group to compete in this competition). Similarly, in recent years Swarthmore has won robot contests at the annual American Association of Artificial Intelligence conference. Several times in the past 20 years our students have qualified for the International Finals of the Association for Computing Machinery programming contest. This requires being in the top 50 of about 1,000 teams that compete in regional contests around the world. Our students also have won awards for undergraduate research papers and our faculty have won awards for educational software development.
As our Program has grown, so has the number of students who are pursuing honors. A fundamental piece of the honors major is a two-credit thesis which is done in close consultation with a faculty member. Typically, an honors major will spend the summer between junior and senior years on campus doing research and will then spend the fall semester of the senior year writing the thesis. A number of joint faculty-student papers have resulted from these research collaborations.
About 60 students graduate each year with a CS major and another 10 with a CS minor.
Many of our students ultimately attend graduate school, after working in industry for several years. Others choose medicine, law, teaching, or a job in industry.
Most of our students who want to go to graduate school in computer science get admitted to schools that are ranked in the top 15. We have had students accepted at the best graduate schools in our field: Stanford, MIT, CMU, Berkeley, University of Texas, University of Wisconsin, Cornell, and University of Washington, to name a few. A special report by the National Science Foundation, “Baccalaureate Origins of Science and Engineering Doctorate Recipients (1997-2006)” (NSF 08-311) shows that Swarthmore is one of the top five schools from which Science and Engineering doctorate recipients received their bachelor’s degrees.
The Computer Science Program currently consists of 10 tenure track faculty.
Lisa Meeden joined the Program in 1994 with a research focus of artificial intelligence and cognitive science.
Tia Newhall was hired in 1999. She studies cluster computing and distributed systems.
Richard Wicentowski started in 2002. His research area is natural language processing.
Andrew Danner joined our department in 2008. He studies computational geometry with applications to Geographic Information Systems.
Ameet Soni started in 2012. His research interests include machine learning and computational biology.
Kevin Webb joined in 2013. He studies networks and distributed systems.
Joshua Brody was hired in 2014. His research examines communication complexity, and unconditional lower bounds.
Lila Fontes started at Swarthmore in 2016. She studies privacy in distributed computing and communication complexity.
Vasanta Chaganti started at Swarthmore in 2018. Her research includes networking, performance modeling, and differential privacy.
Zachary Palmer joined in 2020. He studies software engineering, compile-time metaprogramming, subtype constraint theory, and related program analyses.
Charles Kelemen started the Program in 1985 and specializes in theory of computation. He retired in 2011.
In addition, some of the Engineering faculty teach courses that are cross-listed in our department.
Requirements for Swarthmore College Computer Science Ranking
Swarthmore College Computer Science Ranking
For those looking for a top-tier computer science program, Swarthmore College is the place to be. The school’s Computer Science Department boasts that it has been ranked #1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for four years running, and it’s easy to see why: Swarthmore is committed to providing students with the best education possible.
The department at Swarthmore prides itself on its small class sizes and one-on-one attention from professors who are eager to help students reach their full potential. With an average class size of 15 students, you’ll get plenty of personal attention from your professors—but you won’t be left out if you prefer not to work in groups!
The Computer Science Department also offers more than 40 majors and minors for students who want a broader education than just what they learn in their classes. You can study everything from economics and business management to linguistics or psychology—and even take courses outside of computer science!
The department emphasizes research as well as teaching, so there are plenty of opportunities for undergraduate students to work with faculty members on research projects or internships. There are also several research centers at Swarthmore which focus on different areas of computing.
Swarthmore College
Ranked among the top 5 National Liberal Arts Colleges of US, Swarthmore College welcomes students from all around the world. Swarthmore College is among the 50 most innovative schools of the US. Furthermore, the College is one of the 3 members of the Tri-College Consortium, which also includes Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College. Among the total student body of 1,600+ students at Swarthmore, almost 13% are international students. Programs at Swarthmore College are offered in more than 600 different study areas.
Admissions at Swarthmore College take place in the Fall and Winter semesters every year. It is a highly selective institute, with an acceptance rate of only 9%. The average cost of attendance at Swarthmore College is estimated to be about 70,744 USD. Almost 56% of the students at Swarthmore College receive need-based aid from the college, with the range of financial aid awards being 1,000 – 55,074 USD.
Swarthmore College is known for its top-level placements, and the highest salary observed at the college has been 175,000 USD. Around 19% of Swarthmore students go for graduate studies within 5 years of graduation and 22.5% of graduates complete a doctoral degree which is 3rd highest in the United States.
Also check Student Reviews of Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College Rankings
As per the U.S. News & World Report 2022, Swarthmore College has attained the following positions:
- #2 in Best Value Schools
- #3 in National Liberal Arts Colleges
- #4 in Best Undergraduate Teaching
- #42 in Most Innovative Schools
- #135 in Top Performers on Social Mobility
- #35 in Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects
- #54 in First-Year Experiences
Moreover, Swarthmore College has been ranked #29 in the US College Rankings 2022 by Times Higher Education
Swarthmore College Highlights
| University Type | Private |
| Campus Setting | Suburban |
| Campus Size | 425-acres |
| Academic Calendar | Semester-based |
| Acceptance Rate | 9% |
| Programs Offered | 600 |
| Total Enrollment | 1,600+ |
| International Students | 13% |
| Full-time Faculty | 198 |
| Student to Faculty Ratio | 8:1 |
| Financial Aid | Available |
| Admission HelpDesk | admissions@swarthmore.edu |
Swarthmore College Campus
Swarthmore College has a vast campus located along the north-south axis, in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. The campus is equipped with a wide range of resources for students including student-led clubs, leadership opportunities, on-campus residence, dining facilities, 7 libraries, and a post office facility.
- There are more than 100 student clubs and organizations within the campus. These include anime club, archery club, drama board, racing club etc.
- The Art Studios consist of The Beardsley Hall and The Old Tarble, which provides a dedicated studio space to students. The Old Tarble is also the site of Art Department classrooms and studios, such as the printmaking studio and a photography studio.
- The 3 theatre studios at the campus enhance the learning experience of the students enrolled in the theatre program. Additionally, the Boyer Dance Studio and the Troy Dance Lab provide high-quality space for rehearsals of students.
- The artworks of students at Swarthmore College are regularly exhibited at the “List Gallery” and the “Kitao Student Art Gallery”.
- The Underhill Music & Dance Library at the Swarthmore campus contains approximately 40,000 items that include books, scores, journals, sound recordings, and video recordings.
Swarthmore College Accommodation
Swarthmore College offers affordable accommodation options to students on-campus. It has a total of 17 residence halls that vary in size from a cozy eight-person house to a lively 200-person dorm. The students may choose from double sharing, triple sharing to single room options.
- At Swarthmore College, around 95% of the students reside on-campus.
- Dining facilities are available for all the residents through the 4 dining halls operated by Swarthmore College.
- These are some of the major residence halls at the Swarthmore College:
Also check Off-campus housing in US
(Accommodation rates not available, that is why I used bullet points and included the above information only)
Swarthmore College Programs
Swarthmore College offers more than 600 courses across different study areas like science, mathematics, statistics, political studies, astronomy, dance and film & media studies.
- Swarthmore College offers undergraduate programs in more than 40 streams. Furthermore, the students are given the liberty to design their own major, according to what interests them most.
- The College’s Honors Program is designed uniquely and emphasizes independent learning in small seminar classes. At the end of the programs, students have to give oral and written tests assigned by external examiners who are experts in their field.
- Swarthmore College offers an Engineering program with specializations in civil, computer, electrical, mechanical along with some additional coursework in biology, chemistry, and computer science.
- More than 300 study abroad programs are offered across 60 countries all over the world. The program lasts either a single semester or a complete academic year. Around 40% of the students participate in study abroad programs.
- Swarthmore College’s externship program is a hands-on, real-time program that provides the students opportunity to work and learn from the Swarthmore alumni that are successfully employed in different professional fields.
- Every year, 200 students with more than 300 alumni sponsors coordinate to gain valuable insights regarding the professional work culture.
- The Exchange programs offered by Swarthmore College provide the opportunity for students from other institutions (such as the Ashesi University College in Ghana, the University of Tokyo, Yale-National University of Singapore) to study at Swarthmore.
Swarthmore College Admission Process
International students must be well informed regarding the application process and requirements, and must apply by the prescribed deadline only. The students may apply for admission using any one of 3 application portals from the official website of Swarthmore college:
Application Portal: Apply via Common Application, Coalition Application, or QuestBridge Application
Application Fee: 60 USD
Application Deadlines:
| Application Type | Deadlines |
|---|---|
| Fall Early Decision | November 15 |
| Winter Early Decision | January 4 |
| Regular Decision | January 4 |
| Transfer Decision | April 1 |
General Admissions Requirements:
- Completed online application
- Students applying through Common or Coalition Application are required to submit 250 words short answers
- The Applicants applying via QuestBridge Portal should submit a QuestBridge Conversion Form
- SAT/ACT scores(optional)
- High School Reports
- English Proficiency Test Scores
- Letter of recommendation
- A Sample of work in art, creative writing, dance, or music(optional)
- Interview (optional)
Swarthmore College Cost of Attendance
International students willing to study at Swarthmore College are advised to plan their finances in advance, including the cost of living in the US. The estimated cost of attendance for Swarthmore College is given below:
| Expenses | Cost (in USD) |
|---|---|
| Tuition | 55,856 USD |
| Room | 8,796 USD |
| Board | 8,354 USD |
| Student Activity Fee | 200 USD |
| Total | 73,206 USD |
Swarthmore College Scholarships
Swarthmore College provides financial assistance to students in the form of scholarships, loans and grants. A total of 56,048 USD was awarded as scholarships and on-campus jobs to 56% of the students in the academic year 2021. Important details regarding the scholarships are mentioned below:
- International students are required to submit a CSS profile while applying for admission at Swarthmore College.
- The prospective student will be asked to submit a signed ISFAA application before getting admitted into the College.
- Documents required for financial aid include:
- CSS profile
- International Student Financial Aid Application
- Attested 3rd party income
- Financial Aid Deadlines for Prospective Applicants:
- QuestBridge National College Match: November 1
- Fall Early Decision: November 15
- Winter Early Decision: January 4
- Regular Decision: January 4
Also check External scholarships to study in the US
Swarthmore College Alumni
Swarthmore College has produced numerous successful students over its rich history.
The Swarthmore Alumni Online Community offers several facilities to the alumni and helps them to remain connected with college even after completion of their course.
These are some of the benefits offered to the alumni:
- Career Counselling
- Access to job postings on the handshake portal
- Access to the library with a borrowing facility
- Fellowships, internship opportunities and scholarships for higher studies
Notable alumni:
- Elizabeth Anderson – Philosopher
- Michael Dukakis – Former Governor, Massachusetts
- Justin Hall – Journalist and Entrepreneur
- Christian B. Anfinsen – Biochemist and Nobel Prize holder in Chemistry
- Jonathan Franzen – Novelist
Swarthmore College Placements
Swarthmore College provides a variety of resources for the career development of students. The on-campus recruitment every year includes interviews, information sessions, career fairs, and events. The students can register for on-campus recruitment through the Handshake portal.
- The top Companies where Swarthmore Graduates are recruited include Google, Deloitte, The Boston Consulting Group, Amazon, J.P Morgan, and McKinsey.
- About 74% of graduates enter the workforce upon their graduation.
- Swarthmore graduates have an average base salary of 78,000 USD as per payscale.
Top Paid Jobs offered to Swarthmore College Graduates
| Job/Position | Average Salary(in USD) |
|---|---|
| Chief Operating Officer | 175,000 |
| Software Engineer | 99,980 |
| Director of Operations | 95,000 |
| Program Director | 66,000 |
| Research Associate | 52,500 |
| Account Manager | 52,402 |
| Marketing Director | 45,369 |
Check Employment opportunities in the US
Swarthmore College has been consistently providing the students with the best learning experience. The diversity of the programs, and the state-of-the-asrt facilities at the campus are the additional advantages at Swarthmore College. It works for the holistic development of the students and therefore, is one of the top universities in the US.
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