Haverford College | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Casey

Class: Junior
Major: Italian Studies
Gender: F

High School:
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

The one word you will hear over and over again at Haverford is "community." Haverford is a very close-knit supportive community that takes its quaker roots seriously. We are the only school with a working, completely student-run honor code that covers every aspect of student life. Our tests are unproctored, some are even take-home and the teacher will trust you not to open your book while taking the test, and the best part is, you won't. The school takes this so seriously that unlike most institutions, there is no fee to hold your spot once you say you are coming. They take you at your word. The professors, other students, staff and administration are all incredibly helpful and supportive. You can go to anyone with questions from your suitemates to the college president. In order to make this work, Haverford is a very small school, less than 1200 students. Some people find it too small, but there are tons of colleges in the area: Bryn Mawr, Villanova, UPenn, St. Joe's, Drexel and Swarthmore, where you can go hang out. Also, there is no college town, but Philadelphia is just 20 minutes away and is really accessible with the SEPTA regional rail line. Unfortunately, because of its size if you tell somebody that you go to Haverford one of two things is likely to happen: 1. No recognition/blank stare and "Where?" or "Ohh?" 2. "You go to HARVARD?!?" So if you want name recognition, this probably is not for you. The people who know it are always impressed, it's just that nobody knows it. In Summary: really close community with lots of support, no name recognition, close to Philly, HONOR CODE

Academic Life

I've already mentioned that Haverford is a small school. In the realm of academics this is both excellent and not so good. Not so good: Course offerings. A small school can only offer so much at a time. Thus lots of classes are only offered one semester a year instead of both. For its size Haverford does an amazing job, but it has its limits. That said, you can also take courses at Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore, so in the end you do have a very wide selection. Excellent: Professor accessibility and class size. The biggest classes you'll be in are intro courses, and the largest I've heard of had maybe 50 students. That may sound like a lot, but when you consider that big universities will fill lecture halls with hundreds of students, it's actually amazing. Most classes however, have less than 20 students. Also, professors are amazingly accessible. All professors have office hours and really like it when people come. They love getting to know their students and are happy to help. You'll see your professors around campus and they'll say hi, and lots of professors will have dinners and such at their houses with their students. As mentioned earlier, students can take classes at Bryn Mawr or Swarthmore, the two other colleges of the Tri-Co. It is really common for students to take classes at or even major at Bryn Mawr. I, for example, am an Italian major, which does not exist at Haverford so I am majoring at Bryn Mawr. There is the Blue Bus which runs all day every day between Bryn Mawr and Haverford so that it's easy to get to classes. Haverford is completely undergraduate, so there are lots of research opportunities that can't be found almost anywhere else. Most people seem to be at Haverford to learn for its own sake, but the Pre-Med program is very job oriented. Other than Pre-Med, though, people seem to be learning because it's interesting and while they have goals and jobs in mind, they don't let that control their studies. People are not competitive because we are not supposed to talk about our grades, which is nice.

Student Body

Haverford is suprisingly diverse. Like most private institutions, it has ground to cover yet, but it is trying very hard. There is a significant LGBTQ population, mostly gay men because the gay women tend to go to Bryn Mawr (all girl school). Almost one-third of the student population consists of students of color. I would say that most students are wealthy, but Haverford has a need-blind admission policy and a surprising number of students are on financial aid. Haverford is very definitely a liberal school and a Republican is likely to feel very uncomfortable. People mix pretty freely.