Last week, letters of admission were sent to 1,021 prospective members of Swarthmore’s Class of 2026. Here is the class by the numbers:

Thirty-three percent of the admitted students are among the first generation in their family to attend college. A total of 35% are affiliated with local, national, and international community-based organizations such as Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA), Matriculate, Open Dreams, Philadelphia Futures, TeenSharp, Thrive Scholars, Misongi Scholars, and QuestBridge. Sixty-six percent of the admitted students attend public or charter schools, 24% attend private independent schools, 10% attend parochial schools, and 1% are home-schooled. Among all the students, 11% are enrolled in schools abroad. Additionally, 7% attend rural public high schools. 
 
Of the admitted students attending high schools reporting class rank, 93% are in the top decile.
 
“We continue to be inspired by the number of students who are seeking a residential liberal arts education and the opportunity to grow our community of active citizen scholars,” says Jim Bock ’90, vice president and dean of admissions. “Swarthmore received more than 14,700 applications from the most diverse pool of talented and engaged students. We continue to be humbled by their resilience and collective accomplishments. We look forward to seeing how these students will continue the proud Swarthmore tradition of serving as global leaders dedicated to the common good. And we are especially looking forward to a healthy and safe year ahead.”
 
The admitted students represent six continents, 79 nations, and 50 U.S. states as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico. New York is the most highly represented home state of members in the newly admitted class. Rounding out the top 15, in order, are California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, Delaware, Washington, Arizona, Illinois, Georgia, and Oregon. 
 
Non-U.S. citizens represent 55 countries in the admitted class and include Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bhutan, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Cabo Verde, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
 
A total of 108 students carry dual citizenship with the U.S. or have permanent residency.
 
Engineering is the most popular intended major among the admitted students. Next, in order, are biology, computer science, political science, psychology, economics, English literature, environmental studies, philosophy, and mathematics and statistics. Swarthmore expects to yield a first-year class of about 420 students.

Due to the ongoing challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, many new students will be seeing Swarthmore in person for the very first time. In light of these challenges, we couldn’t be happier to welcome the incoming class to our campus for Swatstruck this spring and celebrate their arrival this fall.