Haverford College Top Questions

There is a ridiculous number of clubs at Haverford. Haverford has clubs for affinity groups (religious organizations, political networks, ethnic groups, women's groups, the Sexuality and Gender Alliance, etc), sports, dance, improve theatre, and music. There are so many options that you probably won't have time to do everything you want, but it's nice to know it's there. For example, if you want to try singing a cappella, you can join one of the eight groups on campus. Think about it. There are only 1,200 students on campus and still there are eight a cappella groups. Nearly 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of Haverford sings a cappella! Crazy! In terms of sports, leave your football helmet at home. We've been undefeated (i.e. without football) since 1972. Baseball, basketball, cross country, cricket (the only collegiate varsity team in the U.S., by the way), fencing, lacrosse, softball, soccer, squash, tennis, track and field, and volleyball are the varsity sports. Club sports include crew, golf, rugby, and ultimate frisbee. On the weekends there are parties as well as other, non-alcoholic events. Fords Against Boredom (FAB) is a group that works hard to organize events like trips to see plays in Philly, quizzo, and campus-wide games like a photo scavenger hunt and water tag (otherwise known as "Assasin"). There's a dance about once a month, as well as some kind of musical performance every weekend. Late night food is available at the Coop or Lunt Basement. There is also a 24 hour Wawa within walking distance. There are no fraternities or sororities. The dating scene is also notoriously lacking, probably because there are so few people. I know Fords in relationships, but it is not as common as at other colleges and universities. Philadelphia is a short SEPTA (regional railway) ride away, so there are always things to do there. Common attractions include the Philadelphia Museum of Art, South Street, and various cheesesteak places.

Always guest speakers. Always events to go to. Dances and parties and concerts on the weekend. Can have a good time without drinking, depends on your circle of friends. But most people do drink . Go into philly for art/music culture.

If you were voted most popular in your high school class, well then, Haverford might not be the right school for you. On the other hand, if you were voted most athletic, then Haverford might be of interest. Mostly all Haverford students play some sort of sport whether it be varsity or intramural or club. The basketball games probably bring around the most fans, but is not Haverford's strong sport. The cross country and track teams are the star athletic teams consistently bring home conference championships. Men's lacrosse is an up and coming team making the national tournament this year. Bringing in a strong freshman class, it should be really impressive to see what they can do in the next few years. The lacrosse team and baseball team have a

Haverford has no frat life, so the varsity baseball and lacrosse teams take the place of those- providing big keggers and parties for the community. For people that don't like big keggers, there are always concerts and performances every weekend. Bands come to campus, improv groups perform, a cappella groups sing-- there's a whole array of performances to attend. Theatre is growing. The year I started at Haverford ('04), Haverford students created the first student-run theatre program, since the only theatre program fully-established, was at Bryn Mawr. (Of course that's another important thing to mention: Bryn Mawr, the all-women's school right near Haverford, is a great resource for theatre, and other classes not offered at Haverford, as well as good food. For the women of the LGBT community, too, Bryn Mawr provides a lively gay scene, with lots of out women.) At Haverford there are musicals and plays going on-- one-acts are popular, but it's also an option for Haverfordians to audition for Bryn Mawr's plays, since they have a strong theatre dept. over there. In general, as hard as students like to work, they also like to party. As soon as it's the weekend, most of campus is out and about, attending events, and partying. There are people who don't drink, but most people who go to parties drink. However, there are always those other fun events that I mentioned that people can go to if they don't like going to parties. Also, a lot of people head to Philly to go out to dinner, or go to museums, or just walk around and get off campus, so that's always an option, too. Playing on the women's frisbee team was awesome, because not only did I have a fun way to exercise (five times a week, for 2 hours a day), but I had a great group of people to hang out with. The team was filled with openminded, motivated, supportive women, and I had a wonderful time playing on the field with them, as well as partying with them on the weekend. Every spring, too, we traveled to South Carolina and played frisbee for the week, staying in a huge house, with the men's team. Because the team was a super supportive, socially active, comforting environment, I felt really comfortable and able to be fully myself. Finding that community helped me a lot in my time at Haverford.

Lots of different types of people. Avant guard people can see cool bands on weekends. Those who want to save the planet have CPGC. Athletes have friends on their teams and of course, parties.

A capella is huge at Haverford. Haverford has the most a capella groups per capita of any college. With barely 1100 students, we have twelve a-capella groups (counting bi-co groups, which are a-capella groups that both Haverford and Bryn Mawr students are part of). So about 1 in 9 Haverford students is in an a capella group, and it gets a little ridiculous sometimes. Since most a capella groups do skits and parodies in addition to singing, you get a lot of a capella groups parodying other a capella groups. One less-established group drew big crowds by titling its show "Not Another A Capella Show" and having each of its members dress up as singers from different a capella groups. And I have to admit, I really enjoyed the performance. Apart from a capella, Haverford students do a lot of other stuff.

Athletic events are not very well attended. A cappella concerts are very popular, as are band performances and improv comedy shows. The social life is entirely repetitive. Most people find their niches and then do mostly the same thing weekend to weekend. Most of my friends are through my extracurriculars (singing, theater), but some I met through other friends and get to know better at parties on the weekends.

Weekends at Haverford can take different styles. There are always parties to attend but people are often just as content watching a movie with friends or hanging at one of the on-campus eateries. Either way, no one judges and people generally just accept that no one activity is or is not right for everyone.

Because it is a small campus and most people are very focused on academics, there is not much of a party scene except on the weekends. And on the weekends, again because of Haverford's small size, there are only a few large parties. Most of the people on campus who enjoy parties will be at one of these parties. It is nice because you can see most of your friends at one party, but the limitations of the parties can get boring. Especially into sophomore year, it seems that the weekends are all similar. Dances at Founders Hall are very popular and fun. Much of the school is in attendance at these dances.

Haverford has way too many A Capella groups. There are three Co-ed ones, two all-male, and two all-female. In each category, only one group is really any good, so I just wish we slimmed it from 7 to 3 groups. Our literary magazine is a pretentious joke - the people who help organize it, myself included, are more concerned with ripping writers a new one than actually puttnig together a readable, entertaining magazine. And for the most part, if you don't shop, party, or sing, extracurriculars are obsolete.

there's FAB (ford's against boredom) which organizes fun sober events and brings movies on campus. No fraternities and Sororities on campus and no football team. Limited but fun social circles for people who want to go out and drink and dance, themed parties and student controlled alcohol policy makes it great for drinking with your frineds and throwing parties on campus without worrying about police.

The Honor Code not only governs academics but students' social lives as well. For this reason, people tend to get along pretty well and most people are very trusting. Most people do not lock their doors. The first group of friends any new student will have is their customs group. The customs group consists of 12-16 freshmen living on a hall or in an apartment together with 4 upperclassmen plus 5 other upperclassmen who live elsewhere on campus. The freshmen live with their customs people, who are a bit like RAs, but with no policing and more friendship. They are the first resource for new students. Also living with the freshmen is the UCA or UpperClassmen Advisor who helps the students figure out what classes to take and where and with whom. The other upperclassmen who don't live with the freshmen are the PAFs or Peer Awareness Facilitators who hold discussions on topics from race to religion, the HCOs or Honor Code Orienteers who help the freshmen to understand the Honor Code and how it works, and finally the AMAs or Ambassadors of Multicultural Awareness who make the freshmen aware of different speakers and events taking place on or around campus. Together all these people form a family, and generally these groups are very close, going to dinner together, having movie nights and generally having a good time. Thus all freshmen start with a basic friend group which can be expanded through classes, sports and clubs.

Haverford offers so many activities for the student body. On a regular basis there are professional musicians that come and perform in our auditorium. ON weekends there are student improv, comedy and accapella groups that perform across campus. The student's council host numberous dances every semester. THere are no frats/soroities. Every year there is Haverfest, which is the last weekend before finals where the entire campus chills out on the green and has a large celebration.

People are generally said to either hang out at Drinker parties (where the baseball team lives) and lacrosse parties or to go to Lunt (where bands play). There is a tangible divide between athletes and non-athletes, which is to be expected as sports teams spend a lot of their time together and might have less opportunities to see other people. Students often leave their doors open and unlocked. The Honor Code allows for an atmosphere of trust, though I know several people who have had things stolen so this is not always wise. Sometimes good guest speakers and performance groups come, but people generally have to make their own fun. If you do not like drinking or smoking pot you might feel out of place here. The dating scene is horrible for girls due to the ratio. The boys here come to adopt an air of entitlement due to the fact that they have their choice of girls from two schools. People generally do not party during the week because they have too much work to do. HaverFest is usually a great time. Everybody lies out on the green, drinks, and listens to bands play. There are no frats or sororities though the baseball and lacrosse teams kind of fit that stereotype. The track team only parties with each other. People go into Philly to see live music, get good food and visit people they know who have graduated (who often relocate to Philly).

With so much going on at Haverford, all I can say is: its extremely active here. You don't have to look to hard to find something to do. If you cannot find something though, you can start it or do it yourself and the college will help especially with funding. Some students are very active, maybe too much so, while most are only at best moderately so. Most people tend to stick to their own thing but do get out a lot while a small group of students take all of the responsibility for running the place on themselves. They plan and organize pretty much everything and are on every committee, not because they hog it all but because no one else will do it. This is due to a mix of people who like being over involved and also others needs to study much more to do well in their classes. There is the rumor of the Phantom 500, the idea that half the school never leaves their rooms or underground layers to go out or study, but this is just a myth due to the fact there is so much going on and people with different interests and in different circles don't cross over all that often, except for the big campus events. It's been pretty much been disproved because many students that ae thought to be pahtnoms by some while they themselves were listed as phantoms by others. it's a unique place that honestly often feels like a high school with all of its activities but this isn't a bad thing. it's not for the high school age crowd. People are pretty friendly, though their are naturally some cliques that break down pretty obviously. Dating doesn't necessarily exist at least prominently but many people do get in serious relationships while others stick the single life and venture weekend to weekend. People do drink on campus and there are smokers. But people try to watch out for each other and for the most part are respectful to some degree though they tend to be college kids and hopefully they won't being this type of stuff when they leave. 40+{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the college does athletics but it doesn't get too much support, despite what some think. This is about right though for a college it's size though.

Fun.

There really is a lot to do here. For the most part, however, the social scene is whatever you want to make it. It's a really non-pressuring environment, and there's something for everyone to do--drinking, not drinking, whatever. There can be anything from parties and pong to a cranium tournament (you win free gift certificates!!)...really, something for everyone. Some people start partying on Thursday (or even Tuesday) while others will be studying. There is no Greek life, but there are certain dorms that are known for throwing the best parties, such as Drinker. People party here most weekends, though there are those which people just need to stay in and study. There's plenty to do off campus too, though I've never personally felt the need to go off campus to do something. There are clubs, bars, restaurants...

The baseball team and the lacrosse team think they're frats, but everyone is welcome at their parties so it's not too bad. Basically, the social scene is repetitive. You like the people, or you don't like it. If you're a social climber, go someplace else. We are pretty low-key. We're like Cheers- "Where everybody knows your name". Two words: Pinwheel day.

The most popular groups on campus are the lacrosse team, the women's soccer team, the male/female XCountry and track teams. Also, the GLBTQ club (SAGA), customs (which is what we do instead of RCing and Orientation), Street Outreach (preparing food and feeding the homeless of Philadelphia on Wednesday nights) and Student Council/Council of 12. In general there are many clubs, so each one only has a few dedicated students. Dorms tend to be very social, and in general there is a sense that this campus is a community and a safe one, so though you need key card access to enter the dorms or apartments, but most people leave their doors open, and usually unlocked. That is the kind of place we are in; however, most people have singles, and enjoy having private space (or relatively private time) and enjoy that (though there are a few doubles). There also tends to be a lot of communal hang out time: eating with groups of people, or working with others (though many people who ant to work on their own can do that, especially in either of the libraries), and on my hall everyone spends most of their time working, talking, debating, drinking, in the common room. There are always parties, especially on Thursday nights (seniors have no classes on Friday, mostly). There are some campus wide parties (like Lloyd around the world),and every week the men's lacrosse apartment throws a party, but usually there are relatively small parties on every night of the weekend, just friends and acquaintances. About once a month there are dances, and almost every weekend at least one concert in Lunt basement, and usually one formal concert by some sort of professional or student (classical) performance group (chamber singers, chorale, the orchestra, a string quartet, or one of the many, many a Capella groups)

They suck. Plan your own stuff. People here are attracted to anything with food and alcohol, but ill-chosen music will take them away. If you want varied music, good drinks, a good setting for conversation AND dancing AND eating AND drinking AND playing... come up with it yourself. Most people here are just content with a drink in their hand, the music blasting, and not talking to anyone.