Haverford College Student Reviews

Academic Life

Professors know your name and work closely with you in the classroom and outside of it on things from academic work of your own and theirs to completely different areas of life in extracurriculars and on college committees. some professors though are pain since they put their own needs at time in front of the students, and while incredibly demanding don't hold up on their end of the bargain. This rare though but not unique to Haverford, its a problem with academia as a whole. Students, for the most part, study quite a bit as this is a challenging college that can be quite demanding. There are those who break from the mold, and not ina good way, they goof off and try/do everything to get by/around the system without doing what they are supposed to. This number at times seems large but it depends on the class. I wouldn't say there is any grade inflation here though, but neither, perhaps deflation? Competition is discouraged here as the idea of personal intellectual growth is the main aim, and grades are not talked about while academic and intellectual discussion occur regularly. This doesn't some though and this is a bit of a simplistic and idealistic idea. It also tends to stop recognizing people who should be recognized for their incredible work. This is slowly changing though with the College breaking away from what they thought it meant to be Quaker to embracing better ideals that help everyone. The Honor Code, which is both social and academic, allows for a very different feel to this college. Take-home exams, and self scheduled finals are the norm and students and faculty pride themselves greatly on doing their OWN work, though, of course, everyone absolutely expects everyone else to be doing their own work and the community holds each other to the highest standards. The education at Haverford,a liberal arts college, is not geared to getting you a job, though it certainyl doesn't hurt one's chances, and our CDO does help a lot. Occassioanlly, some people do covert jobs and money but the message is pretty clear here, its not more learned or more anything, it is about a better education and doing not only well for oneself but good for all. Over 80% of Haverford students continue their education within a few years out, with many earning their PhDs, MDs, JDs, MBAs etc. Acceptance rates are very high for this post education and to many top grad and professional programs. the education at Haverford though above all prepares each student to go out into the world and use the tools learned there to explore and discover as well as give back. Class size is usually very small. It literally ranges from 1 on 1 with a professor to at most about 80 students (very very rare) who do meet regularly with the Professor and only have TAs to give extra help outside the classroom. The college offers a lot of experiential learning, as well, through Extern and Intern ships, work with professors and alumni, funding for work with various organizations around the world, and more, even student desgined and taught classes (though these are non-credit but incredible opportunities)