BY YINGJIA WANG

In print | April 17, 2008

The college’s population will swell this Thursday and Friday, Apr. 17 and 18, as more than 300 prospective students flock to campus for Ride the Tide. Thus far 325 students have RSVPed to the event with more last minute reservations trickling in, according to Associate Dean of Admissions Beth Anne Gluck. Featuring class visits and social activities such as the “SOCA Dancehall Study Break” and “IM Indoor Soccer with the Deans,” Ride the Tide is designed to give admitted students a feel for Swarthmore should they decide to matriculate.

“Our goal is to have wide range of events planned on campus so [prospective students] get a real sense of what it’s like to be a student here,” Gluck said, citing class visitations, faculty lectures, student events, staying overnight and eating in Sharples as some of the experiences for prospective students during Ride the Tide. “We are really trying to give them a snapshot of what it’s like to be a student here at Swarthmore for 24 hours,” Gluck said.

Dean of Admissions Jim Bock ’90 said that while the two days of Ride the Tide are atypical in that they are much more action packed than that of a normal day at Swarthmore, they are also exemplary of the choices that students at the college have to make on a daily basis.

“I let the admitted students know that this is not a normal day,” Bock said. “All the activities do take place but rarely do they take place in a single day. So part of it is realizing you can’t partake in all of it and have to make choices,” Bock said.

Admitted student Ivana Ng said that Swarthmore’s reputed intellectual rigor was one of the first things that came to mind when she thought of the college. “I think Swarthmore is known as a very intense school academically, and I guess that’s the biggest thing,” Ng said.

According to Bock, Ride the Tide emphasizes both the academic and social offerings of Swarthmore, with the goal of correcting any misconceptions that prospective students might have about Swarthmore.

“We are not all work and no play,” he said. “We want to support positive allegations such as our intellectual vigor and intellectual vitality, but we also want to show them that we have fun,” Bock said.

As in years past, the 2008 Ride the Tide was organized with much student input, especially compared to similar programs at other institutions, according to Gluck. “makes Ride the Tide an authentic experience and makes it more about student participation than about an admissions show,” she said.

According to Gluck, the college’s faculty has also been invaluable in the planning process. “I think the faculty has been really responsive,” she said. “We know that it’s important to students to have interactions with faculty and learn about what their departments have to offer,” Gluck said.

Since most students visit their prospective colleges in the month of April, it is common that multiple schools hold their admitted students programs on the same dates.

This year, Swarthmore’s Ride the Tide is overlapping with similar programs at a record nine other institutions with Swarthmore often competes for students. These other colleges include the University of Chicago, Brown University, Princeton University, Dartmouth College and Wellesley College. Despite this overlap, the college is still seeing a record high number of students RSVPing to Ride the Tide.

“The overlap doesn’t seem to be hurting us,” Gluck said.

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