First-year applicants may apply to Swarthmore via Common Application, Coalition on Scoir Application, or QuestBridge Application. Swarthmore does not have a preference among any of our application options. Please submit only one application in an application year.
Required Materials
Common Application, Coalition on Scoir Application, or QuestBridge Application
Swarthmore College Short Answer
As part of the Common Application and Coalition Application, you will be asked to submit no more than 250 words in response to each short answer question (QuestBridge applicants are asked the same question on our Swarthmore-QuestBridge Intent to Apply form). For the 2024-2025 admissions cycle, students will be asked to answer both of the following questions:
-Swarthmore College maintains an ongoing commitment of building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive residential community dedicated to rigorous intellectual inquiry.
All who engage in our community are empowered through the open exchange of ideas guided by equity and social responsibility to thrive and contribute as bridge builders within global communities.
Our identities and perspectives are supported and developed by our immediate contexts and lived experiences — in our neighborhoods, families, classrooms, communities of faith, and more.
What aspects of your self-identity or personal background are most significant to you? Reflecting on the elements of your home, school, or other communities that have shaped your life, explain how you have grown in your ability to navigate differences when engaging with others, or demonstrated your ability to collaborate in communities other than your own.
-Swarthmore's community of learners inspire one another through their collaborative and flexible approach to learning. Swarthmore students are comfortable with intellectual experimentation and connection of ideas across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and interdisciplinary studies through a liberal arts education.
Tell us about a topic that has fascinated you recently ? either inside or outside of the classroom. What made you curious about this? Has this topic connected across other areas of your interests? How has this experience shaped you and what encourages you to keep exploring?
$60 application fee or fee waiver*
School report
School counselor recommendation
High school transcript
Midyear grades: If your school does not have midyear grades, please provide a midyear progress report from your teachers.
Two academic-subject teacher recommendations/evaluations
*Eligible students for application-fee waivers to Swarthmore College are determined by Swarthmore College, Common Application, Coalition Application, NACAC, the College Board, or the ACT. All students with financial need are welcome to complete SwatPass to find out if you qualify for an application-fee waiver.
Optional Materials
Self-reported or official standardized test scores (
Swarthmore's Testing Policy). For students applying to Swarthmore in the current cycle, we have suspended our requirement that applicants submit SAT or ACT scores. Instead, test scores are optional.
Swarthmore offers optional
interviews. Please note that applicants who do not interview are not at a disadvantage.
All students have the option to submit a video response as a supplement to your application. We want to hear directly from you and give you the chance to give us unique insight into your thought process or experiences. After you submit your application, you will have the option to record a video response in your Swarthmore application portal. Application portals open by mid-October
Students with especially strong backgrounds and interest in pursuing the arts at Swarthmore can share samples of their work via
SlideRoom, free of charge. Additionally, we accept supplements in creative writing (written or spoken-word poetry and fiction), dance (performance and choreography), music (performance and composition), theater, and the visual arts. Submissions provide our Admissions Committee with examples of students' artistic talents and are subject to faculty review. Please know, however, that we cannot guarantee all works will be evaluated.
Please review
financial aid application instructions and deadlines for first-year applicants.
