Haverford College Top Questions

With the exception of General Chemistry, in every course I've taken this year my professors have learned my name and in some cases I have had in depth conversations with them. Getting in contact with them is extremely easy and they are readily available for casual discourse of problems/questions/concerns about assignments and course material. Students definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class. That said, there's plenty of room to be silly and find people that share activities that are for pure nonintellectual enjoyment. None of the courses I've taken so far are particularly unique. However, I'm enrolled in a history course next fall that's called "Introduction to African Civilizations." I think that sounds really exciting and interesting and definitely out of the ordinary. Education here is definitely geared toward learning for its own sake. However, there is a very helpful career center. I'm forgetting what it's called, but it's very helpful and a lot of students use it to secure internships while they're here and explore employment opportunities after school.

One of my favorite things about Haverford is the fact that all of my professors know my name. First semester I was in an 80 person class, which is unusual for Haverford, but the professor still took the time to learn all of our names. How much a student studies really depends on the student, but classes are hard here so students will study a lot. Luckily, Haverford discourages students from talking about their grades so competition is very rare and students often work together and help their classmates.

There are so many teachers compared to students that many of my professors know my name. Whatever you major in the professors will definitely know your name so that's really cool. Students aren't really competitive since you can't really tell the grade out in the open which is good and i tend to have very intellectual conversations with my friends since they are all so smart in different aspects. The education is very difficult when it comes to classes. You have to work for a good grade but the diploma goes far in the real world since a lot of important people know Haverford. The honor code plays a huge role in academics because i loved the idea of either having take home tests or self-scheduled finals.

Academics are challenging, but I have never felt them to be unreasonable. Professors are extremely chill and approachable, and because they get to know each student individually, are inclined to be more flexible. A major difference (from my high school, at least) is that here, talking about grades is frowned upon. Nobody will ask you how you did on an exam, and nobody will expect (or want) you to volunteer the information. This unwritten rule keeps us smart kids from getting competitive-- our motivation comes from our own aspirations, not from fear of judgment by others.

Professors are generally great. Classes are super hard, but can be very interesting. Don't think you'll use anything you learn in class in the real world, but that's not the point.

Class participation is very common, sometimes even when it is just a lecture class. I can't really say much about classes because I'm only a freshman, but the teachers tend to focus around the students and like discussions and questions. Students here aren't very competitive on the outside, maybe internally they are, because of the Honor Code. Which leads to studying, it's easy to get a study group together and it's the normal amount of studying: 3 hours for every 1 hour in class. I'm pissed that they don't have a fine arts minor. But other then that the academic requirements are acceptable, not so different than other colleges I believe.

Haverford is a very intellectual school. One of the best things I forgot to mention above is that the school is not competitive at all. People don't talk about grades and don't really focus on grades too much. Even in my huge classes (huge being 100) the professors all take the time to get to know each student. People here love to share their opinions, so class participation is never a problem. Intellectual conversations take place everywhere; in classes, in the dining hall, in dorm rooms, and outside. Haverford's academic requirements are meant to give each student a solid foundation in each discipline although sometimes they feel like a burden, especially for those non science people who have to fulfill natural science requirements.

Most of the classes I've taken so far have all been relatively small and more intimate than typical Freshman college classes. Professors usually try to remember your name for the most part, unless the class is too big.

There is no Pre-Med or Pre-Law major, there's almost nothing to complain about. The school is so small that only a few spectacular courses are offered each semester.

My professors absolutely know my name and participation is very common in every class except for the occasional large intro classes. Students do study a lot, but there's not much competition at all. People don't talk about grades and for the most part there's a sense of competing with yourself to do the best you can. The academic requirements are very reasonable, except that pre-med students have a double workload sophomore year as part of the "weeding" process. My most unique class is probably a writing about science class that I'm taking right now just because I figured, as a science person who hates writing, that it would really make me a stronger writer (and it has!). Within my department the professors are really awesome but also spread too thin. The psych department has grown really rapidly over the past few years, so we're working on hiring new faculty members to meet the demands of the major. Our department also has a breadth requirement, which is really great because there are a lot of different areas of psychology covered (like biopsychology, personality, social psychology, primate society, etc.). I've been able to work in my professor's lab for the past two years, and between that and the required senior psych thesis I'm a strong candidate for research positions right now.