Haverford College Top Questions

It is rigurous and alot of work, most classes are engaging and small that helps learn in a more concentrated environment but there is alot of pressure and hard work and you well spend a many sleepless nights on papers, tests, problems sets and homework.

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.

Professors at Haverford know everyone's name by the second meeting of a class. They make an effort to know thier students as individuals, not just people sitting in a room. All classes are challenging, even the introduction courses that are labeled 100 courses. In all of teh classes the professors work closely with the stiudents making sure that the student is learning as much as possible in the course.

The faculty to student ratio could definitely be better, and in fact the school is hiring more faculty to help this problem. Lower-level classes can be huge, and seminar classes are sometimes only sparsely available in some departments. For example, in the psychology department, there is only one seminar class offered, and I could not even take it because the year it was offered I was a sophomore and did not get into the lottery, and it hasn't been offered since then. I have generally been lucky with getting into the classes that I need but the first week of classes is always stressful in terms of seeing which classes you get into and don't get into. I am a psychology major and feel really lucky to have worked with the professors in that department. They are all really nice and approachable and want to see you succeed. They are also all excellent professors on top of being brilliant. It's too bad though that there are too many majors now, which makes it hard sometimes for majors to get into the classes that they need to satisfy their major requirements. Self and Identity with Jen Pals was an awesome class, and anything taught by Ben Le is always fun and interesting. Classes are generally really hard and require lots of work. In my experience Bryn Mawr classes are easier, though some have told me that this is not always the case. Students study a lot! Do not come here if you do not want to work hard. On week-nights it's generally hard to find people doing things other than studying. Haverford students do have intellectual conversations outside of class; I have met some of the most smart and interesting people in my time here. People are mostly very passionate about their fields of interest. The Honor Code breeds a non-competitive nature here. In my experience students help each other succeed and do not talk about grades, though of course there are exceptions. In the pre-med department people are more competitive with each other, I think because (and I am not sure if this is true) only a few pre-med students with the top grades get recommendations for medical school from the faculty. Once you get to the upper level classes of your major it's more likely that you'll get to know professors better. Some of the requirements are a pain, especially if you are not a natural sciences person (you need to take 3 natural science courses to graduate). There are easy natural science courses that can satisfy this requirement, but tbecause a lot of people need these courses it could be hard to get in. Education at Haverford generally helps people more with getting into graduate school than with getting a job, unless you major in economics or math. Of course, the state of the economy is really bad right now which means my opinion might not be representative of how it really is.

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{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} 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)

Challenging.

The academics are demanding, just like at any other elite liberal arts school. But they aren't TOO demanding. If you stay on top of your work you can learn a lot and get good grades. Haverford students have been known to extend academics outside the classroom. I've taken part in many philosophical discussions about either course material or life in general during my time. The professor/student relationship is phenomenal as well. Professors are always open for meetings, and they actually teach the courses, unlike at many large schools (where they are taught by TAs). If you want to have a good relationship with a professor, it is very easy to do so.

Academics are the reason I came to a school like Haverford--because of the honor code, small student body and liberal arts experience. The smaller body allows a lot more personal interaction, both with other students but also with professors. Classes are much more engaging and smaller. The most students I've ever had in a class is about 40, while others of mine have had 10. There always small enough that I get the opportunity to participate and speak. Professors of the smaller classes know my name, but all hold office hours to allow the chance to interact more personally with the professor and to get some more help. It's a very personalized experience, which I love, and I know I would have a hard time finding something like this anywhere else. It's nice because the school affords a small school feel while allowing access to bigger-school resources. I can also go take classes at Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, or UPenn which I find really widens my options. The academic requirements are for the most part really doable. To fill the education studies requirements, you have to know that's what you want to do from the beginning. But other than that, they seem really doable.

I recently went to the Religion departmental picnic. It was outside at my advisor's house on campus, across from the duck pond. There were probably 7 professors and 20 students. A beloved visiting professor who's time at Haverford is up almost shed a tear saying his goodbyes, a student sang and played guitar, my advisor gave me a book for summer reading, and I learned that my New Testament professor makes a killer brownie. Take her class. It's amazing.

Academics are rather demanding. It is nice that everyone tends to be very interested in their school work, and there are plenty of classes that are on the easier side, where only a couple hours of work is needed a week, and there are plenty of interesting intro level classes, or fairly easy classes that are of a very different quality or focus at Bryn Mawr. Many of the classes are extremely challenging and require a lot of work, up to 8 hours a week, but at the end you are extremely knowledgeable about something you never knew about before. Not all, but many of the professors are great, interesting, knowledge, friendly, or at least fairly easy, although there are some crazy ones (both good and bad kind of crazy), world famous ones (both good and bad) or strict demanding ones (only good if you want a lot of work/really want to know...in that way). There are many departments, but because we are a small school there is some limitation, although there are some majors, like geoloy, environmental biology, or linguistics at Swat or BMC. We have amazing natural sciences departments, and one of the best pre-med departments in the country, but it is highly demanding, and many people come to this school interested. I believe that over 90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}of the people who continue al the way through the pre-med program get into their first choice medical school. This is a rigorous plan though, and not to be followed lightly. The most annoying bit is that everyone must take PE classes and especially the "fitness" class where you learn about your body. This is not a bad idea in itself, but no one retains the information, and the class tends towards being a joke because no one gets academic credit for it, only PE credit- although it does get students familiar with the gym, which is a great place. That being said, I do generally like it that we have a mixed set of academic requirements, so that we are must try all different sorts of academic areas. After all college is one of the last places that we can truly explore our interests, and it is good that we are required to be well informed in many areas of academic knowledge.