Haverford College Top Questions

Students by and large leave dorm doors unlocked and open; this is because of the honor code. Athletic events are fairly popular. Guest speakers are also popular, but only within each discipline. There is interest in theater, though facilities for theater and dance are lacking; however, this is a major concern of the Student Council and we are working towards a solution. Frats and sororities are nonexistent. The dating scene (For guys) is relatively good, girls are the majority on campus (at least last time I checked), and Bryn Mawr (our sister college), which is a Girls-college makes it easy to find your significant other. Haverford is definitely a "moist" campus, whereas drinking is permitted as long as one does not harm oneself or the community.

I leave my doors open, I fence, walked onto the crew team, started the cigar society and head the business club. I am involved with the alumni association as their student representative and president of the student arm of the organization. i have loved getting involved. There are more opportunities than you will ever have time for. Dating Haverford students can become an experience I consider dull and boring, but when one gets lonely there is Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, Villanova and Penn within 20 minutes of campus.

The social atmosphere and activities here are very energetic and relaxed. We don't have as many or as large parties as other schools might, but students (myself included) combat boredom by making things happen rather than looking at a social calendar. There's almost never a weekend without some kind of show (I'm on the student light and sound tech crews- trust me, I KNOW) and at least one party a weekend. No fraternities; the campus is so small they're almost redundant. The dating scene is reputedly bad, but there definitely is one, whether for the casual hook-up type or the person wanting a serious relationship. And I never, ever lock my dorm room. There's so little theft here it's easier to not chance being locked out while I shower. Meeting my closest friends was a gift of the EXCELLENT freshmen orientation program, which puts you on a hall with a dozen other freshmen, a couple of sophomores, and an upperclassman. This corps of living companions became my closest friends, even after I no longer lived with them. Off campus? Like... off?

Students don't lock their doors, ever. They don't even close them. The theft rate is so low it's practically non-existent, and there is a general atmosphere of trust and camaraderie on campus.

Students in dorms leave their dorms open, mailboxes open, showers open (only sometimes), backpacks and laptops in the front of the Dining Center, the whole thing. We love talking about trust on campus but sometimes I worry that students are too trusting. We don't have any fraternities or sororities so the campus social scene is all over the place. The closest we come to fraternity is the baseball house appropriately named Drinker House. The best event of the entire year is Haverfest. Students sit on Founder's Green listen to live music, go into a foam pit, get meals served outside, and have two days of relaxation and mayhem (not mutually exclusive during Haverfest) before finals begin.

Haverford provides funding for any extracurricular activity you can dream up. If a club doesn't exist, you can get money from student council to create it. It is the one luxury my social hellhole of a school provides. Unless you enjoy drinking to the point of blacking out and awkwardly hooking up with people, do not come to this school. You will probably meet everyone within your first semester. Athletic support doesn't exist and to be a student athlete is just not worth it. The teams are soo terrible anybody with any background in sports or any athletic ability can play any sport. The dating scene is more trouble than its worth. Individuals are so awkward that people cannot communicate without being inebriated. If you don't drink, you must go off campus to have any fun. The train is close but most people don't take advantage of it. People get trapped into the Haverford bubble!

We have groups on campus to promote concerts, safe drinking, and sober alternatives for the weekends. Parties mostly happen on thursdays and saturdays, but definitely decrease in number around midterms and finals. Parties are either in the basement of a dorm, on a freshman hall, or within a group's suite. All of these situations can get pretty crowded. We do not have a greek scene. Most freshman and upperclassmen living in suites spend time in their rooms with the doors open. Random singles draw leaves some sophomores living with people they don't know, and definitely does not promote open doors. Most students even leave their doors unlocked when they are gone, unless they're in a high traffic area (i.e. a dorm with a party planned). Haverford dating tends to be pretty sparse. Most people either date someone off campus, pursue random hookups (which turn awkward when you see them the next day, and you will see them the next day, because the campus is small), or engage in "Haverdating," which is a long term relationship characterized by spending all their time together.

There really aren't any popular groups on campus. I'm not really that involved with any groups on campus. A lot of students do leave their dorm rooms open. Athletic events go highly unattended, as do guest speakers and theater events. The dating scene is very weird and awkward. I wouldn't be awake at 2am on a Tuesday unless I had to do a paper or decided to smoke or drink randomly. People usually stick to partying on Thursday through Sunday nights. There are no fraternities or sororities. If you aren't drinking on a Saturday night, you are either bored or off-campus. Haverfest is a really big yearly party.

My social life is great. I hang out with my friends every weekend. We usually do a lot of running together. We get looked down on for running together, but we do not care.

The dating scene is almost entirely detrimental, due to the terribly skewed demographics. In my years of being there, I almost can't count how many female friends or acquaintances I have seen be upset at maltreatment by a boy: the dynamics just set up women that way. That is my biggest complaint. Haverford has made me more strongly feminist than I ever have been, just because I feel like I've had to stand up for my toes being stepped on--not just in the dating scene, but in the social scene in general. People do leave their doors open, and, by and large, look out for each other. If a kid is drunk and sick, for instance, there will be a small entourage helping her home--even if none of them know her that well. It's very safe. There are a ton of events happening every weekend, both school-sponsored things and student-thrown parties. Again, the options feel limitless when you're a freshman and a little stale by senior year. However, kids at Haverford tend to be sharper, more thoughtful, and more surprising than your average bear. I've known people for months before finding out that they used to compete, say, in figure skating in elementary school. That's pretty great.