Haverford College Top Questions

Here's your chance: Say anything about your college!

Greg

What sets Haverford apart from other colleges is our Honor Code. It allows the students, faculty, and administrators to all engage in conversation to make the college experience better, safer, and more enriching for everyone involved. The Honor Code creates an atmosphere of trust and respect at the college and creates a greater sense of community than any other college I visited. It creates an environment that is extremely conducive to success without the cut-throat competition to which many other high-ranking institutions are prone.

Julia

The honor code allows the administration to put more trust in students than at other institutions.

Eve

We have an honor code. There are no "rules" at this school, just a social and academic trust system.

Lauren

Haverford has a consortium with Bryn Mawr College and Swarthmore College, so you can take classes and enjoy the social life at either one. Haverford students can also take classes at the University of Pennsylvania or enroll in the 3-2 engineering program we have with Caltech. These consortiums are really useful because they open up access to departments that Haverford does not have. For example, you can take Art History or Archeology at Bryn Mawr or go to Swarthmore for a more comprehensive linguistics program.

Tori

Jerks exist everywhere, sometimes you would rather bash your head into a wall than finish a problems set, you can be jealous at friends at party schools with 4.0 GPAs and you don't always like your professor. Still, life sucks sometimes but overall, I am glad I was there. Make sure you have fun.

Paige

There is no Theater Department at Haverford although there is one at Bryn Mawr. It is "Bi-Co" department so Haverfordians can act in the "Mainstage" productions as well as take Theater classes at Bryn Mawr. But theater as well as the arts in general really does suffer in the Bi-Co. It's a problem that gets talked about a great deal. There are often a few student-run shows per year, but they are very few and far between. We did just get a new performance space, a 55-seat theater in the basement of the dining center, with a lighting booth, curtains, backstage and speakers, but still, institutional backing for theater could be much stronger.

Andrew

One of more the interesting things about Haverford is the guy/girl ratio. Although Haverford guys are only slightly outnumbered by Haverford girls, when you factor in Bryn Mawr (an all-girls school, five minutes away, buses run to and from there every ten minutes, any Bryn Mawr student can take classes at Haverford and vice-versa, etc), the ratio becomes about 4 girls to 1 guy. For straight men, this is good news. A disproportionate number of my straight male friends have girlfriends. For gay men and straight women, the dating environment is less hospitable. A couple of my gay male friends are really dissatisfied with the dating environment at Haverford. Because Haverford is such a small school and guys are so few, there's usually only around 15 out gay men at Haverford each year. And while there are many more straight men, many of them have girlfriends, so there's usually a bit of unfriendly competition between Haverford girls and Bryn Mawr girls over the remaining guys.

Charlie

I love Haverford, but it is a small school and the students are very focused on academics. If you want to party a lot, this is probably not the place for you.

Alex

As a Fine Arts major, I feel terribly overlooked in terms of academics. There are few option in terms of classes, the major requirements are a joke, and the facilities are shabby. Yes, we are able to take classes at Penn, but with the numner of students at Penn already taking these classes and rigidness of each schools scheduling, it's nearly impossible. And the heads in the Fine Arts Department feel like you're giving them the finger if you try to take a class there.

Mark

It tries to be perfect and ideal, which helps improve things a lot, but Haverford is certainly not perfect, just like everywhere else, but maybe its closer than most. This perception of ideal though doesn't help when students assume it can be true and get disappointed/burned out. You just have to explore and definitely visit a college is you think it's right for you. It's not in the rankings or any guides, it's all about personal feel.

Cameron

The DC isn't as bad as people say. We just like having something to bitch about. Every time the DC has a themed-meal or comes up with a new name for the vegetable soup I think, "Aw, DC, you try so hard for us!" Oh, and everyone's going to tell you about Mrs. Dubin who swipes cards and John Francon who looks like Mr. Clean. But everyone who works at Haverford is awesome!

Megan

Because there is so much student activity and there is so much student involvement in running things, not to mention the constant shifting of the students body, there is immense potential for change. There is something you want that isn't there, or something you like? Start it yourself, there are lots of support structures for doing so. Examples of this are E-house, the Quaker House, the monthly Open Mic night, the Alliance (group to have open discussions about race, racism, and oppression), Club Crew and others...

Davo

I have very mixed feeling towards Haverford. They do not hand you the College experience on a golden plate. They pamper you too much in terms of cleaning after you, having your food ready... they will kill you with work... but there are nice and interesting people. As a united student body, this place sucks, but if you go after each student individually you will find AMAZING people.

Alison

If you are looking between Swartmore and Haverford know this: they are very different schools, and if you are a down to earth, fun-loving yet smart person Haverford is for you. Seriously, rivalry aside, Swat students are very tight lipped, not as fun, and often Haverford rejects. Swat sucks!

Annie

I LOVE HAVERFORD.

Sally

this is a great place for someone who finds that the ivies are not good for undergrads and want a place to explore and a rigorous program. settled in the suburbs, 20 mins from philly great weather, all seasons, the campus is probably 80{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} singles. most people do not have roommates. customs program is unbelievable. imagine going from complete strangers to a family that you trust and love in 4 days. i didn't believe it, but i wouldn't have wished for anything else right now. there is no authority, everyone is charge of themselves, no RA, no fearful and strict admin. all friends and equal in the quaker environment

Molly

I love it here. Also, I had a single as a freshman. Pretty rad.

Harper

The campus is beautiful and covered in trees and flowers. the gym is state of the art with plenty of space for everyone. Classrooms are very well equipped as well, especially chemistry labs.

Jo

The school is small but don't think you'll ever get to know even everyone's story in your year. You can take classes UPenn or the other small school in the area (Bryn Mawr, Swatmore). I tend to party all around so anything within a 5 mile radius is fare game (3 other schools). There is a huge mall near-by (KOP). The food is really bad and sometimes the work can get crazy if you don't stay on top of it. If you do come here make sure you do get off campus every once in a while cause a small campus can get smaller when you trying to avoid people.

Blake

Make sure you can really handle this place. It's possible that as Haverford gets more and more popular, it may start to resemble a normal college with normal people. But please please test the waters before you make the jump. It's a weird place in here, and not everyone can/should handle it.

Emma

I love Haverford, the good outweighs the bad. I couldn’t have seen myself anywhere else.

Sarah

Most people, once at Haverford, really, really, REALLY love it. One or two discover that it's really, really, REALLY NOT the school for them. I'm one of the loving-its.

Jeffrey

I would come here a hundred times over if I could ever make the choice again. It is a special, inspiring and uplifting place that supports growth by fostering trust, concern & respect while encouraging leadership.

Torry

The Honor Code is fabulous. People also talk about how they are nicer here in the Haverbubble than in the real world because everyone is so nice and smiles all the time, its hard not to get in on the action. I am totally one of those people.

Ricky

I have been at Haverford for three years now and the only thing that has kept me sane is being abroad right now and my friends on campus. For being a so-called liberal and open-minded campus, people hide behind the label of being liberal when in fact they are just as prejudiced and ignorant. They are just not as overt. The administration is shady and they only do what is best for them. If anything of major concern happens and could possibly jeopardize the Haverford name, they will do their best to protect their name. I have felt highly unhappy at this school many times. When I am on campus I find I get depressed easily because as a black male, I just don't feel like I'm a part of the community. I have walked on the path at night and have had people walk/run to avoid being near me. When people pass each otehr at this school, they will not acknowledge each other or even make eye contact. People are extremely socially awkward and it bothers me more than I can describe. If I could re-choose my college, I would probably not do anything different only because I have met the best friends of my life at this school and have endured so much with them. I could have been much happier anywhere else but I wouldn't be as aware of the subtle racism and discrimination which permeates even the most open-minded and liberal of liberal arts schools. If you come to this school, you will receive a fine education and you will learn how to work however you sacrifice a bit of your humanity. My advice would be to learn what you like to do and while you're not studying, do as much of it as possible to stay sane.

Stella

For me, personally, Haverford was great for the first 1.5-2 years: fresh out of high school, I would have drowned at a large university. Once I got a better sense of myself, my abilities, and my interests, though, I feel I outgrew Haverford. As a senior, I moved off campus, and I'm really enjoying it. The administration is very flexible and accommodating to changes like this, though the student body is a little less so. There's a sense that anyone who deviates from the Haverford norm is somehow unfathomable. This mindset is a shame, because it seems to go against everything the school stands for. As negative as I find the community as a whole to be from my perspective as a senior, I have to stress that I've met some of the most fantastic people as a result of going to Haverford.

Samuel

I think kids are more PC here than open.

Sam

I wish before I had come to Haverford someone would have told me about how much Bryn Mawr is a part of the school. Mawrters, as they are called, are in all our classes and are constantly hanging around on the weekends. For a woman on campus, it can be a little frustrating because the Mawrters make it so there are two women to every guy on campus. Mostly though I just find it annoying and I was really surprised by it when I came here. Beware: Almost every singe Haverford guy-Bryn Mawr girl relationship/hook up I have witnessed has ended with massive amounts of regret on the Haverford end!