Haverford v Swarthmore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Haverford years ago. Full disclosure: I transferred to an Ivy. Haverford demonstrated a boarding school level of academics. Swarthmore was a considerably more serious place.

Are you the BMW poster above?

I love the full disclosure. Very relevant.

[Anonymous]

Swarthmore is intense, but has a wonderful community and provides a great education with a great reputation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Haverford years ago. Full disclosure: I transferred to an Ivy. Haverford demonstrated a boarding school level of academics. Swarthmore was a considerably more serious place.

NP +1 While I was at Haverford I took some classes at Swarthmore and they seemed more intense. IMHO Haverford is over-hyped. I also found it to be a very insular community due to the size. Granted Swarthmore is not that much bigger so you really have to know your kid. 1300-1600 students is small when you are all living on campus for 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Swarthmore is intense, but has a wonderful community and provides a great education with a great reputation.

Some of us don't base our decisions on what others will think about our kid's school choice = reputation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swarthmore is intense, but has a wonderful community and provides a great education with a great reputation.

Some of us don't base our decisions on what others will think about our kid's school choice = reputation

Is that entirely honest? You don’t care what grad schools and employers think about the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Haverford years ago. Full disclosure: I transferred to an Ivy. Haverford demonstrated a boarding school level of academics. Swarthmore was a considerably more serious place.

NP +1 While I was at Haverford I took some classes at Swarthmore and they seemed more intense. IMHO Haverford is over-hyped. I also found it to be a very insular community due to the size. Granted Swarthmore is not that much bigger so you really have to know your kid. 1300-1600 students is small when you are all living on campus for 4 years.

You realize that Swarthmore is as intense as an college in America, right? Hardly a reasonable standard by which to measure Haverford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Haverford years ago. Full disclosure: I transferred to an Ivy. Haverford demonstrated a boarding school level of academics. Swarthmore was a considerably more serious place.

Another transfer to Ivy from a comparable college to Haverford and can agree with you. Many of the LACs are good but function more like boarding schools for sheltered kids. Great academics as you do find at the top boarding schools, but the Ivy was just a different level. More exposure to more diversity of backgrounds and interests and classroom discussions were much more interesting.

We live in Philadelphia and my observation on Haverford and Swarthmore is the latter is academically more demanding and the kids are geeky. The non geeky kids at that level go to either Ivy or Amherst/Williams.

Haverford students are the more normal, nice and gentle kids. They're not the popular ones in high school but still get invited to the parties.

[Anonymous]

<<Haverford students are the more normal, nice and gentle kids. >>

I love this characterization. I am the poster who said we preferred Haverford over Swarthmore. My DC noticed that at Swarthmore, kids weren't walking in groups on campus, or acknowledging the tour guide as he walked by.

Our Swarthmore guide, when asked what kids on campus do to relax, stated proudly "Swatties don't relax."

Ycch!!!!!

[Anonymous]

HC alum here, but from a long time ago.

Swat is the better school academically. Haverford is the more enjoyable place to go to college.

Swat kids were mostly top of their high school class. They're intense. Head down and headed to the libary.

Haverford kids did well in high school, including some at the top of the class, others near it, and others farther down the chain. By and large they are a friendly group of people. Will stop and talk to you on campus if you're roaming around checking it out. They work hard, but are not competitive with each other about grades.

Both schools are small. You know everyone by face and most by name. A lot of people at Haverford study abroad for a year or a semester as juniors, mostly because it's an enriching experience but also because a small school can grow claustrophobic over time. One thing Haverford has going for it is a real connection to all-women Bryn Mawr College, which is a mile down the road. Frequent school-provided bus rides between the two campuses. You can eat, go to class (and even major) and in certain circumstances even live at Bryn Mawr if you want to.

You can't go wrong at either school academically. Just be sure to figure out which one is the better fit for your kid. I found out by doing an overnight at both colleges; I much preferred my visit to Haverford, and that's what sealed the deal for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HC alum here, but from a long time ago.

Swat is the better school academically. Haverford is the more enjoyable place to go to college.

Swat kids were mostly top of their high school class. They're intense. Head down and headed to the libary.

Haverford kids did well in high school, including some at the top of the class, others near it, and others farther down the chain. By and large they are a friendly group of people. Will stop and talk to you on campus if you're roaming around checking it out. They work hard, but are not competitive with each other about grades.

Both schools are small. You know everyone by face and most by name. A lot of people at Haverford study abroad for a year or a semester as juniors, mostly because it's an enriching experience but also because a small school can grow claustrophobic over time. One thing Haverford has going for it is a real connection to all-women Bryn Mawr College, which is a mile down the road. Frequent school-provided bus rides between the two campuses. You can eat, go to class (and even major) and in certain circumstances even live at Bryn Mawr if you want to.

You can't go wrong at either school academically. Just be sure to figure out which one is the better fit for your kid. I found out by doing an overnight at both colleges; I much preferred my visit to Haverford, and that's what sealed the deal for me.

Excellent post, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Swat has a reputation as somewhat of a pressure cooker. Both are essentially the same size. Haverford takes its honor code very seriously and gives a lot of agency to students to run and create things on campus. Haverford is probably more nurturing. Beautiful campus. Swat’s campus even more beautiful. It is a botanical garden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Haverford years ago. Full disclosure: I transferred to an Ivy. Haverford demonstrated a boarding school level of academics. Swarthmore was a considerably more serious place.

Another transfer to Ivy from a comparable college to Haverford and can agree with you. Many of the LACs are good but function more like boarding schools for sheltered kids. Great academics as you do find at the top boarding schools, but the Ivy was just a different level. More exposure to more diversity of backgrounds and interests and classroom discussions were much more interesting.

We live in Philadelphia and my observation on Haverford and Swarthmore is the latter is academically more demanding and the kids are geeky. The non geeky kids at that level go to either Ivy or Amherst/Williams.

Haverford students are the more normal, nice and gentle kids. They're not the popular ones in high school but still get invited to the parties.

I'm glad your exposure to more diversity resulted in such an open-minded and compassionate view of others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Haverford years ago. Full disclosure: I transferred to an Ivy. Haverford demonstrated a boarding school level of academics. Swarthmore was a considerably more serious place.

Another transfer to Ivy from a comparable college to Haverford and can agree with you. Many of the LACs are good but function more like boarding schools for sheltered kids. Great academics as you do find at the top boarding schools, but the Ivy was just a different level. More exposure to more diversity of backgrounds and interests and classroom discussions were much more interesting.

We live in Philadelphia and my observation on Haverford and Swarthmore is the latter is academically more demanding and the kids are geeky. The non geeky kids at that level go to either Ivy or Amherst/Williams.

Haverford students are the more normal, nice and gentle kids. They're not the popular ones in high school but still get invited to the parties.

I'm glad your exposure to more diversity resulted in such an open-minded and compassionate view of others.

Some kids are geeky. Some kids are athletic. Some kids are preppy. Some kids are artsy. Some kids are outgoing. Some kids are shy and retiring. Some kids are just normal because they're a bit of all of it. And colleges absolutely can take on personalities from their dominant cliques that are attracted to the college. Especially smaller LACs.

[Anonymous]

How does Bryn Mawr compare to Haverford?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Haverford years ago. Full disclosure: I transferred to an Ivy. Haverford demonstrated a boarding school level of academics. Swarthmore was a considerably more serious place.

Another transfer to Ivy from a comparable college to Haverford and can agree with you. Many of the LACs are good but function more like boarding schools for sheltered kids. Great academics as you do find at the top boarding schools, but the Ivy was just a different level. More exposure to more diversity of backgrounds and interests and classroom discussions were much more interesting.

We live in Philadelphia and my observation on Haverford and Swarthmore is the latter is academically more demanding and the kids are geeky. The non geeky kids at that level go to either Ivy or Amherst/Williams.

Haverford students are the more normal, nice and gentle kids. They're not the popular ones in high school but still get invited to the parties.

I'm glad your exposure to more diversity resulted in such an open-minded and compassionate view of others.

Some kids are geeky. Some kids are athletic. Some kids are preppy. Some kids are artsy. Some kids are outgoing. Some kids are shy and retiring. Some kids are just normal because they're a bit of all of it. And colleges absolutely can take on personalities from their dominant cliques that are attracted to the college. Especially smaller LACs.

So the others are by definition abnormal. Got it.