Haverford College- We Pass!
Written: Apr 23 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Beautiful Campus Buildings, Flexible Academic Options
Cons: Dorms, Food, Athletic Facilities
The Bottom Line: I think you have to judge for yourself!
|
|
|
| bwyckoff1's Full Review: Haverford College |
I think I probably know more about college tours than any other human being on this planet. I have two children- both geniuses (aren’t everyone’s children?) And looking for the perfect school is back on my list again. My son is ready to spread his wings and fly away and I have begun the ultimate search and will share all my journeys over the next months as I criss cross the United States in search of Nirvana- first stop was Haverford.
Haverford, Pennsylvania is located just outside of Philadelphia. In fact the campus is located within a short train trip outside the city line. The campus itself was located in a beautiful wooded arboretum type atmosphere. Lovely, quiet and peaceful. Right outside the gates was a nice and accessible small town atmosphere with all the required drugstores, books shops, Starbucks etc.
1. The campus had access to four other academic programs. Not only can you take classes at Haverford. The administration allows cross registration with Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and U Penn. This is super if you get bored of the small school atmosphere and need a change of pace. Since this is a school of under 2,000 students things could tend to get a little boxed in and this would get my son out and experiencing other campus life. They provide free shuttle service back and forth to the other campuses.
2 The athletic Baseball coach seemed young and fresh. The coach seemed straightforward and with a primary emphasis on academics, the athletic schedule was not overwhelming. The facilities include a racquetball center, fencing room; track and field house, and batting cages and fields. The facilities themselves seemed a bit old and run down to me. There seems to be plans over the next four years to construct a new athletic center. I feel it is needed. There is also a cricket team. This seems to be one of the only schools to have one. Who do they compete with? All teams compete on the Division 3 level.
3. I spoke to the kids on campus and evidently the food is awful. One child told me it was a positive attribute that kept him from falling into a rut of eating nothing but pizza. That is positive thinking for you! There are two dining facilities on site. One is in the lovely admission building. This houses a nice campus bookstore that had access to basic store products, as well as, college memorabilia clothing etc.
4. The school has a strict honor code that is drawn up and voted on by the student body. What this determines is that test taking is completely unproctored. The student times himself and closes his own books at the time allotted. The problems I see with this is that there is also a social honor code whereby if someone is bothering you, you must confront them and tell them they have offended you. Not easy for some kids. I asked if this rule also applies to the professors and was told it does not. Too bad. I found that a bit hypocritical.
5. I found the dorms to be a pigsty. Plain and simple. The tour guide said you could not study in the dorms because of all the noise and partying that goes on there. Big minus in my book. There are no resident assistants, but kids assigned to ironing out problems. Knowing kids the way I do- I felt that was a disaster.
6. The college to me did not stress academics. I found this quite disturbing. The requirements or core program was glossed over. The students who I spoke with had no idea what they were going to do upon graduation. The tour guide mentioned many of them join the Peace Corps and other humanitarian groups. At over 25,000 a year tuition- I think a concrete game plan is called for.
7. The library was lovely inside. It resembled a medieval cathedral. The volumes looked a little sparse to me though. On the positive side they did have an inter library loan system so books could be accessed from the other schools nearby.
8. There are no fraternity or sorority systems. Some kids love the peer group camaraderie and need this. If so you will need to look elsewhere.
9. This school has a Quaker heritage. There is a small population of Quaker students who attend here. I found this all right until the tour guide implied that everyone tries and experiments with the Quaker religion while on campus. Frankly, I like my religion just the way it is and don’t want to send my son to be converted from my family beliefs.
10. There were beautiful buildings and ponds around the campus. New science buildings were going up. Things were changing, but we will continue on our journey looking for the perfect college and leave Haverford behind.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
bwyckoff1
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Barb wyckoff
Location: New York
Reviews written: 337
Trusted by: 259 members
About Me:
Film Critic-Painter-Writer- Professional Artist
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.