The College Venture Program, supported by Swarthmore College, Bates College, Brown University, Connecticut College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the College of Holy Cross, Vassar College, and Wesleyan University, provides work experiences for students taking time away from college. Venture jobs are usually full-time, paid positions in a variety of fields including the environment, education, business, social change, government, and the arts. Students do not receive academic credit for these work experiences. The College Venture Coordinator is in the Career Planning and Placement Office. Preliminary approval depends upon adequate information about the content and instruction of the work to be undertaken.
Preliminary approval is tentative.
Final validation of the work for credit depends upon evaluation of the materials of the course including syllabus, reading lists, written papers, and examinations by the Swarthmore department or program concerned after the work has been done. Validation may include an examination, written or oral, administered at Swarthmore. All decisions are made on a case by case basis. An official transcript from the other school must be received by the Office of the Registrar before validated work can be recorded for credit. By College policy, in order for work done elsewhere to be granted Swarthmore College credit, the grade for that work must be the equivalent of a straight C or better, but a better than C grade does not in itself constitute Swarthmore accreditability.