Haverford College

The resources here are average at best. The labs are small and clearly cannot accomodate the growing number of science students each year (unless you consider waiting in line for 45 min - to an hr to take a reading on one of two GC/MS from the 1940s to be worth your time). The dorms are pitful: small, dark, and poorly kept. Don't bother calling maintenance, they won't get back to you. Our medical center doesn't have a doctor on staff-one shows up when he wants to, usually only once a week, don't count on him in the winter though.

The academics are top notch (the only place i know of where a 94% on a test is not an "A") but believe me, it's not worth it. You'll select from a handful of classes in a handful of departments. Limited Enrollment will screw you out of your first choice classes and schedule conflicts will screw you out of what's left. Sure, feel free to take classes at Swarthmore or Upenn if you can afford a 2 hour commute-one way.

I would never come here again.

However, as a minority student, I mostly don't feel as if I am a part of that community. I can sense the feeling of community that others have, but I am not having it. Haverford is not very diverse, and it is a bit of a problem for me. The school tries very hard to promote diversity, and sometimes the students do also. However, many of the majority students may have never had any experience with students of color. Haverford students are not racist or anything like that, but many are a little ignorant. There have been more racial incidents (Not always anything too major but there was a blackface incident once, maybe some newspaper articles, incidents at parties)in my 2 years at Haverford than I have ever seen in my life. It can just really grate at you sometimes.

If you are a minority student, especially one from a mostly minority experience, don't come to HC. Unless you are willing to try extremely hard to find your place. There will probably be some events, or comments that happen, and you may not be able to handle them to your satisfaction, and it seems into your sense of place at the college, which may in turn affect your social life and maybe even your school work. However, if you can handle all of this, you will probably be fine. A plus is that the Black students(and some other minority groups) in the Tri-Co (Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore) are very close. We have parties together (Black Love Formal in Feb), and attend each other's events. The tri-co relationship in general is not usually utilized so much, but the minority students tend to take advantage of it because of the support network that it creates. As I said before, I really like the idea, but after 2 years, I am not happy here at all. I have actually gone into a sort of state of depression. I wanted to transfer my first year, but my parents wanted me to wait. I plan to transfer to a more diverse school. It may seem like running away, but if you are uncomfortable,it may affect your academics. I can't speak for all, but I do know that many of my friends feel the same way.