Haverford College Top Questions

Academics are obviously one of the reasons for coming to Haverford. When I applied, I didn’t even know that we are one of the Top Ten colleges in the country, but I did know that it would be a challenge. Of course I know my professors by name! You don’t? A lot of us are on first-name basis. My favorite class in my college career was Psychology of Language. I’m a French major and love Spanish as well, and I have always been a fan of grammar and pronunciation; so learning about how we learn and speak languages was an incredible experience. My least favorite class? Ummm, let me look at my transcript, hold on. Ah yes, my required Freshman Writing Seminar. I enjoyed the books we read (Frankenstein, The Odyssey, etc.), but the classes were not stimulating enough. Haverford students have intellectual conversations outside of class ALL THE TIME. I know that I do it a few times a day, mostly with my people on my hall. As I said, I’m a French major, and although I did not have a very helpful advisor, the faculty is mostly quite friendly and wants you to succeed. There is supposed to be a literature track and a culture track, but the differences are pretty much non-existent. I love spending time outside of class with my favorite Spanish prof; I wish I had more time to spare. My education here at Haverford is mostly geared toward learning for its own sake; we have career counseling to help us figure out our future!

Very strong academics, they don't have grade inflation at all so watch out. The profs are great for the most part. 100-level classes can really suck, but 200 and above are great - they're smaller, on really interesting subjects that the professor is actually passionate about and most of the students in them are too (they're not just there to fulfill a requirement). Most people are sincerely interested in what they learn, and if you poke around the different departments you can find a lot of funding and support for what you want to do. One word of warning - don't come to Haverford expecting to find EVERYTHING you want, it's a small school and with that come good things AND bad things, such as not having the number of classes or the breadth of subjects that you'd find at a big university. Which in my case might almost be a good thing - there are so many fascinating things to learn and classes that look great that I can hardly decide which classes to take as it is! The history department is especially strong and all the profs are great - my one regret is that, as a small school, we don't have an Africanist (that's my area of specialization). The best class I took ... hmmm ... might have been a Sociology class called "Race, Class, and Education" with Professor Gould. He has a reputation for being a fierce old arrogant asshole. He was. He was also a GREAT professor, especially if you were willing to admit that you didn't know everything and let him tell you that he did ... he completely changed the way I thought, taught me to make an argument, and epitomized what I came to Haverford for - to learn how to think and to learn about real issues in American society that we are not exposed to in our little castle-on-the-clouds of Academia.

Professors do know you by name, even in the largest of lectures. Students study generally anytime they have free. Class participation is varied, there are definitely some individuals who are more outspoken than others. At higher levels students spend time with professors out of class. Academic requirements are very flexible and the Career Development Office is outstanding with networking, getting jobs and learning about opportunities.

I regularly meet with professors outside of class. They make it a point to learn your name. They are intelligent, over-qualified, lively and passionate about their work. They will push you to excel. Some students study non-stop while others pursue more extracurricular activities. More than half are involved in student sports, both varsity and club. More than 50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the class of 2009 will have studied abroad for one semester. The opportunity is incredible and coming back was made much easier because I was coming home to Haverford. Business is not a career that most students look to pursue. Graduate school, medical school, not-for-profits and education are high on the list. Haverford embraces learning for the sake of learning and students may be surprised to find that little of the work towards securing jobs comes from the college.

I've always tell people that Haverford is amazing in the way it sparks your interests in academics. I came here never having taken a class in Classics, and after my first semester I began considering majoring in it. In all of my classes, I am known by name to the teacher, and only about one of my classes a semester has more than twenty-five students. One class had four. I've worked for teachers outside of class on their own projects and joked with them in class. Haverford's academics really are pointed more towards academics than vocational training (says the Classics major). And not only are classes great, but I've probably had more intellectual discussions OUTSIDE of class than in. And that's a statement about the students, not the classes. Finally, the Honor Code creates a very relaxed test and paper environment- many tests are take home, even when they're closed-book, and teachers will trust the students not to cheat.

I'm a prospective religion major, and the religion department is beyond amazing. However, academics at Haverford, like everywhere else, are hit-or-miss. Students definitely work really hard, are for the most part really interested in their classes, and are intellectually curious outside of class. Competition between students is much less noticeable than at other, similar institutions; this is probably due to the presence of the Honor Code. Students help each other with classwork a lot, but discussion about exams and grades is almost non-existent. Also, there is definite opportunity to get to know your professors outside of class. One of my friends and I took our professor out to lunch just the other day, and it's really easy to find professors during the day and have interesting discussions, class-related or otherwise.

Last semester, I took General Chemistry with over sixty students (probably Haverford's biggest class) and the professor knew all of our names. Class sizes are small and most are discussion-based. I have two favorite classes. One was a Comparative Literature class with seven students. Discussion was fantastic and, to top things off, we ate at the professor's house twice for dinner. The reason I chose Haverford was because it is noncompetitive. Don't get me wrong- it is rigorous academically. But, as part of the Honor Code, we don't talk about grades and professors encourage us to work with, not against, each other. Also, because of our academic Honor Code, we have no proctored exams and many take-home exams, which takes off a lot of pressure.

Academics at Haverford are very rigorous. If you come here, be prepared to work. Of course there are easier courses than others, however overall Haverford teaches you how to work. What is good about Haverford academics is that classes are relatively small and you will for the most part get to know your professors on a closer level than you would at a big school. Class participation exists mostly in syllabi. I find in discussion oriented classes, especially when difficult issues concerning race or class arise within the poli sci department, Haverford students stay quiet. I tend to have many intellectual conversations with my friends outside of class. The school claims that grades shouldn't be discussed and that there isn't an air of competition however do not be fooled. People compete within the hours that they study, they just don't often gloat about it. Certain Haverford subjects are geared towards learning while others are geared towards getting a job, like economics.

The small class sizes are why I focused my college search on small liberal arts schools. I don't think I've ever taken a class where the professor didn't know my name, except for perhaps a semester of introductory psychology. Class sizes are bigger for specific major-related classes (bio 200 and orgo), as well as very popular classes, but I don't think any classes are larger 140 students, and those are few and far between. I would say every student spends at least some time on homework every night of the week, including weekends. On the other hand, professors are always available whether that's limited to office hours or they spend their free time in their office with the door open. Most are very responsive to emails at any time during the week, and i've definitely gotten responses back at 3 or 6 am. While students are very competitive in working hard and pursuing a good grade, this usually is within the individual. I almost never hear someone say what grade they got on a paper or test, but instead talk about doing better/worse than expected. If you were to outright ask what score a person received, you would probably be met with a stunned or surprised look.

Most of my professors know my name. My favorite class has to be any class with Prof. Miller. Class participation gets to be aggravating because a lot of the students think that they are really smart and feel the need to comment on everything discussed in class. The most unique class that I have taken would have to either be acting at Bryn Mawr or Global Ethics with Gangadean. I am a philosophy major and I like most of the professors in the department, however there are some that I avoid like the plague. Most Haverford students aim to either become doctors or lawyers, so the education is usually aimed toward either one of those goals.