@LisaNCState You seem frustrated that you/your child received no aid from Haverford but my guess is you didn’t do your homework on Haverford’s policies. Like most highly selective colleges, especially in the Northeast, who have no trouble attracting high stat and qualified students, Haverford doesn’t give merit aid because it doesn’t need to do so as a marketing tool to fill its class and meet its goals. Unlike the vast majority of colleges and universities across the country, Haverford is one of the few that meets full need. It is need blind in its acceptances and is actually quite generous with financial aid for those that legitimately qualify based on financial circumstances.
According to Financial aid calculator Haverford for our family would be about 4000 dollars cheaper per year than Duke.
When people have no substantive arguments left to make they quickly reach for the “NC is an apartheid state” nonsense.
Downright shameful.
OP your concern about your daughter’s future career is understandable. At the same time, your D’s preferences for her next 4 years are also important. I’m sending positive thoughts as your family makes this important decision!
We have taken two kids to college tours at Haverford and yes, it is small. I don’t know Duke, so I cannot offer any information. Your D is interested in humanities, so I suspect that a grad degree is in her future. If she will do grad school, either of these wonderful schools will prepare her. These days, it seems like a masters is the new BA/BS.
Are the departments / disciplines your D is interested in are stronger at Duke? Bryn Mawr and Haverford are so integrated that your D can look at both of the two schools’ catalogues and faculty lists.
More anecdotally, the only two people I have known who went to Haverford are a minister and an immigration lawyer. They are “successful” in careers. Both rave about how Haverford helped them grow and to find their paths.
Haverford was on our long list for S #1, and will be for S #2. It did not make S #1’s short list because of the small size. His preference was to be a small fish in a large pond. Now he is frantically chasing down internships. There are many opportunities, but also a lot of competition…it works for some student, especially those who love being overwhelmed with choices. On the other hand S #2 wants to be a big fish in small pond. Is it possible that your D does too?
I wish your family the best, and also the request that you come back and let us know the final decision!
Ya, Haver ford if your child likes it better than the big southern schools. I can understand that completely.
^ Duke is actually a mid sized university. Definitely not “big”.
Also, it may be in NC (although the triangle is like a different world) but it is definitely not culturally southern. Vanderbilt is culturally southern. Duke is not. I don’t think Emory is either.
Why do you care about the weather and the size of the school? Seriously, don’t you think that size and weather conditions should be left up to your D?
Dare I saw it may be a case of “everyone’s heard of Duke, but who the heck has heard of H’ford?” If she likes H’ford she should go there. The atmosphere at those sLACs is, simply, amazing for those who want it.
@NerdyChica yes, my D and I are both looking at job placement data. She doesn’t want go to graduate school so job opportunity is a big factor here.
OP- I’ve spent over thirty years in corporate HR including recruiting of new grads for a wide variety of roles in a broad range of geographies and industries. Just to give you perspective on what I’m about to tell you.
1- there is no such thing as “job placement”. Colleges don’t place kids in jobs. Some colleges do an outstanding job of helping kids figure out what they want to be when the grow up, and then do a phenomenal job of connecting the kid with the right role and others do a terrible job. But any college that claims they “place” students is using terribly inaccurate terminology.
2- No 17 year old can possibly know whether or not he or she wants to go to grad school. When I was 17 I thought I was going to be an archaeologist and get a PhD in Near Eastern studies. Instead I got an MBA and have had a very fun and satisfying corporate career. I have siblings who were NEVER going to grad school, all of whom have PhD’s plus some other degrees along the way. Spouse who was NEVER going to grad school except he did.
Etc.
Grad school is a tool, not a destination. I can tell you that I’m going to fix my leaky toilet without using a wrench, except depending on where the leak is… at some point, I may need a wrench. So voila- you want the toilet to stop leaking, you grab the wrench.
3- Given the above, I think you are approaching the decision the wrong way. Your D needs to end up in a place which you can all afford, which will inspire and challenge her, which will push her boundaries both intellectually, artistically, socially, or any other way that’s meaningful for her. And at the end of her BA, she needs to be well positioned to support herself in the near term, and have a satisfying career in the long term. However she defines that. She may decide to teach in a private HS with just a BA- discover that she loves education, and therefore needs a Masters in order to advance professionally. So she’ll go to grad school. She may get a job as an analyst at a global bank and decide that she loves Risk or Valuation or Econometrics and go to grad school because that’s how you advance in those fields.
So asking “where can she go so she doesn’t need to go to grad school” is like asking “how can I bake a cake without chocolate, flour, vanilla, or eggs”. None of us can tell you because we don’t know what kind of career or profession is going to interest her after four years of college.
I can give you a list of terrific careers that people with “just” a BA from Duke or Haverford or any number of other wonderful colleges can do. But that doesn’t help you because you don’t know what your D is going to be interested in doing four years from now. And I can also give you a list of terrific careers that people do from colleges like these- and then they go back to school to get a graduate degree because that’s what’s required to advance in that career. So they do it.
4- Figure out if you can afford- really afford- any of these fine options. And then let your D pick where she feels “her people”. The fact that more kids from Duke head off to “large global bank” doesn’t mean that Duke does a better job- pound for pound- in the employment market. It means that more kids at Duke decide that they are interested in- or can tolerate- a job at a bank when they graduate. For some, it is a desired career. For others, it’s the path of least resistance.
Good luck, your D must be fantastic to have such incredible choices. And by the by- Haverford is greatly respected and admired by employers.
@momcinco
Will definitely let you know after our trip.