Swarthmore vs Virginia Military Institute

Swarthmore College and Virginia Military Institute (VMI) stand as two distinct institutions of higher learning, each offering a unique educational experience. Swarthmore, a private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, boasts a highly selective admissions process with an acceptance rate of 10%, while VMI, a public military college in Virginia, maintains a more accessible acceptance rate of 68%. Swarthmore's student body is predominantly female (60%), while VMI's is overwhelmingly male (90%). Both institutions offer a diverse range of academic programs, with popular majors at Swarthmore including social sciences, humanities, and engineering, and popular majors at VMI encompassing engineering, social sciences, and business. While Swarthmore boasts a higher graduation rate (94%) compared to VMI's 73%, both colleges provide ample opportunities for students to excel academically and professionally. Explore the detailed comparison table below to discover more about these institutions and determine which one aligns best with your

	Swarthmore College	Virginia Military Institute
Overview
Location	Swarthmore, Pennsylvania	Lexington, Virginia
Campus setting	Suburb: Large	Town: Distant
College type	4 year	4 year
Control/business model	Private (Non Profit)	Public
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
Students retention rate	95.0%	87.0%
Common app member	Yes	Yes
Religious affiliation

Admission
Acceptance rate	7.8%	63.9%
Application fees	$60	$40
SAT range	1430 - 1560	1080 - 1300
ACT range	33 - 35	22 - 27
Students submitting SAT score	39.0%	29.0%
Students submitting ACT score	21.0%	12.0%
Total number of applicants	13,012	1,549
Total number of admissions given out	1,013	990
Admitted students who chose to enroll	454	461
Yield rate	44.8%	46.6%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Not required	Not required
Recommendation letters	Required	Not required
High school transcript	Not required	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	Not required	Not required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	$75,793	In state: $33,182 Out of state: $61,836
Average net price	$19,733	$18,100
Tuition	$55,856	In state: $9,782 Out of state: $38,436
Room & board	Room/dormitory: $8,796 Meal plan: $8,354	Room/dormitory: $3,102 Meal plan: $7,260
Available payment plans	Tuition payment plan	Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	76.0% Average amount $40,072	91.0% Average amount $10,832
Students receiving federal student loan	6.0% Average amount $5,191	59.0% Average amount $3,385
Students taking out private loans	1.0% Average amount $30,543	11.0% Average amount $22,604

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	1,651 Men 49.7% Women 50.3%	1,652 Men 86.2% Women 13.8%
Graduate students	N/A	N/A
Racial/ethnic diversity	Moderate	Low
Out-of-state students	89.9%	38.2%
International students	15.4%	1.7%
Campus local/setting	Suburb: Large	Town: Distant
Dormitory capacity	1,605	1,751
First year students are required to live on campus?	Yes	Yes
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	New York California Pennsylvania New Jersey Texas	Virginia Pennsylvania Maryland North Carolina New Jersey

Academics
Popular study areas	Visual & Performing Arts Computer and Information Science Engineering Social Sciences Mathematics and Statistics	Engineering Social Sciences Psychology Biological and Biomedical Sciences History
Students to faculty ratio	8:1	10:1
Institutional accreditation	Middle States Commission on Higher Education	Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges

Outcome
Graduation rate	94.1%	73.7%
Dropout rate	5.7%	4.4%
Transferred out	N/A	21.7%
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	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	Economics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $41,118 Year 2: $41,937 Year 3: $60,559 Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $41,215 Year 2: $44,942 Year 3: $59,186 Civil Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $47,030 Year 2: $49,270 Year 3: $57,955 International Relations and National Security Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $39,302 Year 2: $39,305 Year 3: $55,311 History (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $39,325 Year 2: $45,094 Year 3: $55,205 Psychology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $38,487 Year 2: $38,649 Year 3: $52,930 Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $39,025 Year 2: $39,909 Year 3: $52,845 Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $38,712 Year 2: $41,007 Year 3: $43,814 Computer Science (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $43,367 Year 2: $64,493 Year 3: N/A English Language and Literature, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $39,671 Year 2: $46,087 Year 3: N/A

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Swarthmore vs Virginia Military Institute

Swarthmore College

Virginia Military Institute

Overview

Admission

Tuition and Fees

Financial Aid

Students and Campus

Academics

Outcome

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