Academics
Founded in 1833, Haverford College in Pennsylvania is “small, but exceptionally vibrant and engaging,” offering a “solid academic experience” under one of the country’s oldest honor codes. Though founded by Quakers, the school is nonsectarian, but the community aspect of its founders remains, creating what one student calls “a challenging, interesting environment with the best people I know.” The real love affair is with Haverford’s “awesome, invested” professors, who “lead a group of idealistic students to point—but never force—us into a better way of thinking.” They want to put in the time to get to know you, and the small size of the school “allows for plenty of opportunities for collaborating with faculty and staff and building a relationship.” “You are more than just a face in a classroom of many; you are a unique person that has something to offer,” says a student. “My ‘big intro lecture course’ has forty-one students,” says another. “My professor still knows me by name, and we have long conversations when we pass on Founder’s Green.” The school’s learning environment stresses “engaging in hard and honest conversations with your peers,” and “students have a lot of power” through their roles in the administration of the college. “I love the amount of independence and autonomy [the school] gives to its students,” says a student. Because of the kind of student this attracts, “we wind up with a really conscientious student body invested in the school.” The resources available to students here are incredible, as well. You can get “credit for research” (there is plenty of research here in every department), and if you want to go off campus for research, “you can get funding for that as well.”
Student Body
Everyone is “passionate,” “people are always up for intellectual discussion,” and “everyone works very hard.” Students here were all motivated enough to get in and “want to succeed for themselves and not to appease others.” Students describe other students as having “hearts of gold and giant brains that they put to use to change the world for the better.” “It’s a small school full of nice kids—not naive (well, sometimes naive), just genuinely compassionate and interested in other people, whether or not that’s ’cool,’” says a student. Though all are bound by “intellectual passion and interests outside of academics,” diversity otherwise on campus “lacks a little.” Still, “the great thing about Haverford is that, although we have a variety of students from all different social circles, everyone is a touch awkward.” This is a fact that the “nerdy and ridiculously friendly” students embrace. “I feel like I could potentially become friends with anyone on campus,” says a student.
Campus Life
The culture of “trust, concern, and respect” created by the honor code carries over into the rest of this “awesome, at times idiosyncratic, place where community thrives and cliques are very loose if existent at all.” “The honor code unifies everyone.” “Being able to take an exam in your own room, sitting relaxed on your bed because your professor trusts you not to look at your books is one of the luxuries of being here,” says a student. People study hard here, but they take a break over the weekend at a party or two “before cracking the books again. Athletics are also “really important” for much of the student body—most here are athletic, even if it’s not at a varsity level—and some of the male sports teams “function like fraternities” (which do not exist at HC). Because it’s a small place, “sometimes it feels like everyone knows your business,” but everyone is so insanely nice that “the social scene is great.” Students govern themselves and the happenings at the school through the “Plenaries” that happen twice a year, when the majority of the student body must be present. New York and Philadelphia are both easily accessible by train, and “Suburban Square (the local outdoor shopping center) is a great place to hang out, get coffee, or even go shopping.”
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