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Swarthmore College Data & Information Overview

18 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
7% Acceptance Rate
Want the scoop on Swarthmore College? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors Swarthmore offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more.
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How Well Is Swarthmore College Ranked?

#75 Best Colleges in Nation
#5 Best Colleges in PA
Sociology & Anthropology Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2025 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

Swarthmore College was awarded 18 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is sociology & anthropology.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

Swarthmore is ranked #75 out of 2,152 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual's 2025 Best Colleges list. This lands it a coveted spot in the top 5% of all colleges and universities in the country.

Out of the 103 colleges in Pennsylvania, Swarthmore is ranked at #5.

See all of the rankings for Swarthmore College.

Is It Hard to Get Into Swarthmore?

7% Acceptance Rate
52% Of Accepted Are Women
42% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Even if you have the best grades and high test scores, that may not be enough to get into Swarthmore since the school has one of the most selective in the country. Its acceptance rate is a mere 7%, so there's no shame if you don't get in. Be sure to apply to other schools just in case.

Average Test Scores

About 42% of students accepted to Swarthmore submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 710 and 770. Math scores were between 730 and 790.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Swarthmore College  ( 710 to 770 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Swarthmore College  ( 730 to 790 )
200
800
Swarthmore received ACT scores from 19% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 32 and 35.

ACT Composite Scores for Swarthmore College  ( 32 to 35 )
1
36

Learn more about Swarthmore College admissions.

Swarthmore College Faculty

8 to 1 Student to Faculty
88% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio is often used to measure the number of teaching resources that a college or university offers its students. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1, but at Swarthmore it is much better at 8 to 1. That's good news for students who want to interact more on a personal level with their teachers.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at Swarthmore College is 88%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  88 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Swarthmore College

96% Freshmen Retention
91% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

Swarthmore College has a freshmen retention rate of 96%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  96 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at Swarthmore for first-time, full-time students is 91%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  91 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Swarthmore College.

Swarthmore College Undergraduate Student Diversity

1,437 Full-Time Undergraduates
48.4% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
51.2% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 1,437 full-time undergraduates at Swarthmore.

How Much Does Swarthmore College Cost?

$21,595 Net Price
9% Take Out Loans
$30,820 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Swarthmore is $21,595. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for Swarthmore

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$5,341 $8,634 $13,009 $18,389 $50,474

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Swarthmore, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Swarthmore, approximately 9% of students took out student loans averaging $7,705 a year. That adds up to $30,820 over four years for those students.

Get more details about paying for Swarthmore College.

How Much Money Do Swarthmore Graduates Make?

$80,257 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Swarthmore with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $80,257 in their early years. That's great news for Swarthmore students since it is 63% more than the average college graduate's salary of $49,219 per year.

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See which majors at Swarthmore College make the most money.

Location of Swarthmore College

Pennsylvania State
1,437 Full-Time Undergraduates
Suburb Campus Setting
Swarthmore College is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. The suburban atmosphere of Swarthmore makes it a great place for students who want the amenities of city life without actually living in the middle of a constant hustle and bustle.

Get more details about the location of Swarthmore College.

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Contact details for Swarthmore are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 500 College Ave, Swarthmore, PA 19081
Phone: 610-328-8000
Website: www.swarthmore.edu/

Swarthmore College Majors

68 Majors With Completions
1,134 Undergraduate Degrees
1,134 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 68 majors graduated from Swarthmore College. Of these students, 1,134 received undergraduate degrees and 1,134 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Economics 80 $76,944
Computer Information Systems 54 $103,686
Mathematics 53 $72,656
Political Science & Government 36 $40,449
General Biology 30 $41,122
General Engineering 28 NA
History 23 NA
Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution 22 NA
Child Development & Psychology 21 NA
Other Education 19 NA

Learn more about the majors offered at Swarthmore College along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

This is a decrease from the 31 students who took online classes the previous year.

Learn more about online learning at Swarthmore College.

If you’re considering Swarthmore College, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Swarthmore? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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