The Tri-College Consortium, known as the Tri-Co, is a consortium between Swarthmore College, Bryn Mawr College, and Haverford College. The relationships between the three colleges are not exactly equal; the way that I usually put it is that Haverford and Bryn Mawr are siblings, while Swarthmore is their cousin. Bryn Mawr, a women’s college, was founded because Haverford only enrolled men; Swarthmore, on the other hand, was founded coeducational and was the second higher education institution in the United States to enroll women, as well as men.
The campuses of Bryn Mawr and Haverford are closer to each other than they are to Swarthmore. The shuttle takes around 5 minutes to get from Bryn Mawr to Haverford, while it takes around 20 minutes to get there from Swarthmore. The social lives of students at the former two colleges are also more intertwined with each other than they are with students at Swarthmore. However, even though I described us as cousins, we are not the type of cousin where you only get to meet at family gatherings once a year at Thanksgiving, we are more like the cousin you hang out with every week/month.
In the Tri-Co, you get access to a range of resources that are shared between the three colleges. Among the most notable ones is being able to take classes there, which is really helpful since the number of classes that can be offered at a liberal arts college may be more limited compared to larger universities. But the Tri-Co, along with the opportunity to cross register at the University of Pennsylvania, alleviates this to a great extent. I have not yet taken a class elsewhere, but I know there are some classes in Bryn Mawr which include a free trip abroad as part of the class, so I am excited to try one out!
As a Swarthmore student, you will also be granted access to the Tri-Co library resources. There is a shared online library resource called Tripod, that you can use to see all the books available in the libraries of the Tri-Co schools. Besides having access to their library buildings, you can also order any book that is not available in Swarthmore’s libraries online from Tripod, and your books will be shuttled to McCabe Library typically within a day for you to pick up.
Another awesome thing for foodies out there is that you can dine at the dining halls at Bryn Mawr and Haverford for free! You simply have to request a meal pass from the OneCard office or the Dining and Community Commons, and then you will be given a stipend that can be used to dine at any of the Tri-Co dining halls. There used to be a tradition called BrynDinner, where students from Swarthmore and Haverford would go to eat dinner at Bryn Mawr’s superior dining hall. However, since the Swarthmore Dining and Community Commons was finished, the title for the best dining hall in the Tri-Co has been contested, and Swarthmore’s food has been on par, if not better than Bryn Mawr’s, in terms of quality, while being superior in terms of food options. (This is according to my sources at Bryn Mawr, who wish to remain anonymous.)
The social scene between the three colleges is also sometimes shared, although more so between Bryn Mawr and Haverford. It is fairly common for students from Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr to take shuttles to Haverford for parties. There are also several clubs that operate between the Tri-Co that students of all three colleges can become a member of. The most notable ones are the famous dance group Rhythm and Motion, along with the writing club The First Page. Additionally, there are shared opportunities between the colleges, such as the Tri-College Career Fair, which brings companies to the area to recruit and hire students.
I chose Swarthmore mainly because I was looking for a small college with an intimate campus community, but I was also initially worried about maybe not fitting well with the student body or getting tired of the Swat Bubble; however, with the Tri-Co and so many other universities nearby (UPenn, Temple, Drexel, Villanova), it’s never hard to find other college students outside of Swarthmore to hang out with. Even though I love the campus and student body here, I think it is always good to know that you have the opportunity to meet new people outside of your own institution.
