Swarthmore College

What are the graduation rates for students at Swarthmore College?

Swarthmore's reported six-year graduation rate is 92%, while its reported four-year rate is 76%. These figures concern defined cohorts of first-time, full-time students, not every person who has ever enrolled or transferred to the college.

The gap between the four- and six-year measures shows why the time frame matters: students finishing after four years can still count in the six-year rate. The reported first-year retention rate is 94%, measuring how many students in the applicable cohort returned the following fall. None of these measures establishes why an individual student stayed, left, or took longer to graduate. Transfer applicants should be particularly cautious about applying first-time-student graduation rates to their own likely timeline.

What is the earning potential for graduates at Swarthmore College?

Available College Scorecard field-of-study figures describe earnings one year after completion for qualifying former students in particular programs; they are not starting-salary offers or predictions for current applicants. The reported measure is median earnings for the population covered by the federal data, which can exclude graduates who are not captured under its employment and aid-based reporting rules.

Examples from the October 2026 field-of-study extract include computer and information sciences at $97,897, engineering at $68,963, mathematics at $59,964, and economics at $56,029. The corresponding figures are $43,119 for political science and government and $34,425 for general biology. These are separate program measures, not an institution-wide graduate earnings average.

One-year earnings can reflect whether graduates enter full-time work, pursue additional education, or take jobs in fields with different pay structures. Small programs and federal reporting restrictions also limit which program figures can be published. Students weighing a major should consider these figures alongside graduate-school plans, debt, location, and the kinds of work they want to pursue.