Connecticut College vs Swarthmore

Nestled in the picturesque landscapes of New England and Pennsylvania, Connecticut College and Swarthmore College stand as two beacons of academic excellence. While both institutions share a commitment to liberal arts education, they offer distinct experiences shaped by their unique characteristics. Connecticut College boasts a higher acceptance rate, welcoming a more diverse student body, while Swarthmore's rigorous admissions process results in a smaller, highly selective community. Explore the nuances that set these colleges apart, from their contrasting acceptance rates and popular majors to their vibrant student life and impressive graduation rates. Dive into the comparison table to uncover the details that will guide your journey toward finding the perfect academic home.
Connecticut College logo

Connecticut College

Swarthmore College logo

Swarthmore College

Overview

Location New London, Connecticut Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Campus setting City: Small Suburb: Large
College type 4 year 4 year
Control/business model Private (Non Profit) Private (Non Profit)
Calendar system Semester Semester
Degrees offered Undergraduate Undergraduate
Students retention rate 86.0% 95.0%
Common app member Yes Yes
Religious affiliation

Admission

Acceptance rate 41.0% 7.8%
Application fees $60
SAT range 1333 - 1476 1430 - 1560
ACT range 30 - 33 33 - 35
Students submitting SAT score 12.0% 39.0%
Students submitting ACT score 10.0% 21.0%
Total number of applicants 7,682 13,012
Total number of admissions given out 3,146 1,013
Admitted students who chose to enroll 492 454
Yield rate 15.6% 44.8%
Test scores (SAT/ACT) N/A N/A
High school GPA Not required Not required
Recommendation letters Required Required
High school transcript Not required Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL) Required Not required

Tuition and Fees

Sticker price $80,575 $75,793
Average net price $44,820 $19,733
Tuition $60,420 $55,856
Room & board
Room/dormitory: $9,690

Meal plan: $7,090
Room/dormitory: $8,796

Meal plan: $8,354
Available payment plans
  • Tuition payment plan
  • Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid

Students receiving financial aid

(Grants & scholarships)

99.0%
Average amount $32,882
76.0%
Average amount $40,072
Students receiving federal student loan 36.0%
Average amount $4,933
6.0%
Average amount $5,191
Students taking out private loans 8.0%
Average amount $21,449
1.0%
Average amount $30,543

Students and Campus

Undergraduate students 1,829
Men 40.7% Women 59.3%
1,651
Men 49.7% Women 50.3%
Graduate students N/A N/A
Racial/ethnic diversity
Low
Moderate
Out-of-state students 85.0% 89.9%
International students 8.9% 15.4%
Campus local/setting City: Small Suburb: Large
Dormitory capacity 1,784 1,605
First year students are required to live on campus? No Yes
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from Mississippi New York Connecticut New Jersey California New York California Pennsylvania New Jersey Texas

Academics

Popular study areas
  • Social Sciences
  • Ethnic Studies
  • Biological and Biomedical Sciences
  • Foreign Languages and Literatures
  • Visual & Performing Arts
  • Visual & Performing Arts
  • Computer and Information Science
  • Engineering
  • Social Sciences
  • Mathematics and Statistics
Students to faculty ratio 9:1 8:1
Institutional accreditation New England Commission on Higher Education Middle States Commission on Higher Education

Outcome

Graduation rate 81.0% 94.1%
Dropout rate 18.8% 5.7%
Transferred out N/A N/A
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)
Economics (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $54,308
  • Year 2: $54,522
  • Year 3: $66,698
Political Science and Government (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $43,434
  • Year 2: $45,696
  • Year 3: $54,040
Sociology (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: N/A
  • Year 2: $42,682
  • Year 3: $46,272
Psychology, General (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $36,919
  • Year 2: $32,284
  • Year 3: $41,034
English Language and Literature, General (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $31,642
  • Year 2: $35,060
  • Year 3: $39,884
Area Studies (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $35,171
  • Year 2: $36,312
  • Year 3: $37,344
Computer Science (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $75,808
  • Year 2: N/A
  • Year 3: N/A
Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: N/A
  • Year 2: $35,060
  • Year 3: N/A
Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $32,970
  • Year 2: $28,881
  • Year 3: N/A
Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, and Population Biology (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $30,342
  • Year 2: N/A
  • Year 3: N/A
Computer and Information Sciences, General (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $97,897
  • Year 2: $94,408
  • Year 3: $113,966
Economics (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $56,029
  • Year 2: $81,702
  • Year 3: $88,391
Political Science and Government (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $43,119
  • Year 2: $39,369
  • Year 3: $44,841
Education, Other (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: N/A
  • Year 2: $47,260
  • Year 3: $42,944
Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $34,425
  • Year 2: $25,194
  • Year 3: $36,220
Engineering, General (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $68,963
  • Year 2: N/A
  • Year 3: N/A
Mathematics (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: $59,964
  • Year 2: $125,015
  • Year 3: N/A
Psychology, General (Bachelor's Degrees)
  • Year 1: N/A
  • Year 2: $43,426
  • Year 3: N/A

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