As a high school senior, navigating the college application process felt like I had just been tossed into a veritable lion’s den, one in which I felt like I was floundering with no guidance or tools at my disposal. To make matters worse, I was one of the only students in my year who had chosen to apply to colleges through a completely different process—the QuestBridge National College Match, a prominent program available for first-generation students with the opportunity to match to top colleges across the country with full-ride scholarships. Heading into the fall semester of my last year in high school, I felt isolated, confused, and I had no clue what I was looking for in a college—after all, deciding where to spend the next four years of your life is a hefty decision, and while I knew I wanted to attend an institution that would allow me to make lifelong friendships while learning as much as I could, I had no idea where to even begin narrowing down the scope of seemingly endless options out there to choices that would be the right fit for me specifically.
Then one day, while I was pacing around my living room at home, stressed and trying desperately to figure out what colleges to finalize for my application list, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye: a small rectangular guest badge, complete with a neck lanyard and laminated nametag, all the way back from 2017. It was a visitor’s pass for Swarthmore College, one of the colleges I looked into only briefly during one of my many late-night research spirals. When I saw that visitor’s pass, memories came flooding back to me from middle school, when I accompanied my older sibling and parents on a tour throughout the Northeast, visiting various liberal arts colleges and small towns while my older sibling went through the exact same deliberation process as I now was. Swarthmore was one of the colleges that we visited, and I distinctly remembered just how wondrous the experience was for my younger self; I caught myself staring at the greenery in the arboretum, looking wide-eyed around at the seemingly boundless ceilings of the libraries and academic centers, and I remember my tour guide, a senior at Swarthmore, cracking jokes about everything from their decades-long traditions to the student culture. Since visiting Swarthmore at thirteen, I almost forgot just how much I enjoyed that small glimpse into the school’s culture and environment that I received; seeing that visitor’s pass was like a physical reminder for myself, and later that same day, I found myself researching Swarthmore even more intensely, looking into their majors and academic programs, researching extracurricular clubs and groups that sounded interesting to me, looking up the names of professors and faculty in the English department that I could envision myself learning under one day. By the end of the night, Swarthmore became the school I could, out of the vast sea of schools out there, most clearly see myself fitting into, and while I hadn’t quite yet decided what a “dream school” for myself would look like, I knew that Swarthmore would be the school that would not only push me to learn but also provide me with a new environment to explore my interests. In the end, choosing to apply to Swarthmore wasn’t about trying to follow a predetermined path like the rest of my peers, but more about recognizing where I felt like I could grow the most, both intellectually and personally. The more I learned about this environment, the more I could see a community that valued curiosity, collaboration, and genuine engagement with the world. I saw a place where I could ask difficult questions that may be frowned upon elsewhere, challenge my assumptions and preconceived notions, and be surrounded by people who were just as excited to learn as I was. Looking back, that small visitor’s badge felt like a clear reminder to trust my instincts and pay attention to the places that had made me feel inspired long ago. In a process that often felt overwhelming and uncertain, that clarity meant everything.
As a senior now reflecting back on my last four years at Swarthmore, those values of curiosity, passion, and engagement with the world have manifested in countless ways throughout my time at this school. For one, the friendships I formed, some from freshman year and some as recent as last semester alone—these friendships are undoubtedly what make Swarthmore so fulfilling for me, to be surrounded by such genuinely brilliant, curious, and kind people every day. The people in the Swarthmore community, from faculty to staff to guest lecturers and the people in my classes, all contribute to make my experience both meaningful and, in many ways, challenging: I find my viewpoints challenged, at times even contradicted, by the people around me, but in a way that pushes me to grow for the better. For example, joining the QuestBridge Chapter at Swarthmore as an intern starting my freshman year and gradually gaining more experience over time has been incredibly gratifying. One memory that will undoubtedly stick with me for long after my college experience is sitting around a dinner table full of other QuestBridge Scholars, sharing our experiences and planning ways to create programs that would benefit other Scholars on campus like us. Moments like those, of somehow feeling connected to peers who, in many ways, could not be more different from me in identity in background, make me eternally grateful for this diversity, and I know that I will take what Swarthmore has given me into the future with pride.