Swarthmore CollegeComputers Summary

Written by Sudarshan Gopaladesikan

Sudarshan Gopaladesikan

Hometown

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Major

Math and Engineering

View all previous student authors

There are more than enough computers—PCs and Macs—at Swarthmore. The College really tries to make sure every student has access to a computer and the Internet. Computers can be found in the dorms, coffee bars, the library, and practically everywhere else. There are also printers in each dorm, and printing is free, so students should never have to worry about coughing up laundry change to print out their linguistics paper. Even the wireless networks have been updated, and wireless Internet speeds are pretty fast. Also, the wireless network covers the whole campus, making any laptop accessible to the Internet wherever it is on campus. The only problem is that the Internet sometimes lags, but it’s rare, and a quick fix to this problem is to bring an Ethernet cable. Overall, Swarthmore has everything a student needs in terms of Internet and computer availability.

Swarthmore’s ITS Help Desk is helpful and generally well-equipped to deal with students’ computer problems. Dorm Consultants and other student computer attendants range from very knowledgeable and friendly to hardly helpful and irritating. Most have at least some experience in both Macs and PCs—even though most campus computers are Apples, many student computers are PCs. Either type of computer can be easily accommodated by the network and ITS, which is a big plus. Most students agree that it is possible to succeed at Swarthmore without bringing your own computer, but almost none recommend it.