Haverford College:

HC_Alum
Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:57:54 +0000

Um… What? Que?

1. Please let me know how I complain about HC. My purpose here is to give an accurate picture of the college (with its pros and cons) so the HC experience can speak for itself. I have no problems saying that the Honor code isn’t perfect and that the performing arts are so-so because, well, they are (like I said, there are great learning opportunities with trying to deal with imperfection and frustration). The last thing I want to do is sell HC by making up things about the college or other colleges… the end result would be getting students to come to HC who are uninformed and unprepared to deal with very real issues.

2) Regarding your friend… yes. Not every student loves HC and some have valid gripes. I’m sure there are students/alums at other schools who disliked their experiences as well and, if you were friends with them, I hope you wouldn’t judge the entire experience based on that one vantage point. If they had a good experience, I also hope that you wouldn’t just generalize that as well. People shouldn’t just listen to me as I’m just one opinion… but, if you notice, I often provide links to stories and examples that support any opinions I have.

3) A culture of “dispraise about others and school”? I think that is a complete misrepresentation. Do kids complain? Yes. I was a complainer as well in college but I didn’t just whine. I, like many students, thought through our gripes, the pros/cons and then acted to make a change. That is something wonderful about an HC experience… the empowerment taught to students because of HC’s culture and size. As one example, the current president (Steve Emerson Yale MD/PHD and HC’74 who was the head of Heme/Onc at Penn) has a weekly informal open office hour for kids to come in without appointment to sit (in rocking chairs) and chat about anything, including complaints they may have and to then reason out how those problems can be addressed. Don’t think that this happens at other places that are more hierarchical.

4) I think HC fosters students to be more tolerant, understanding and good-natured if anything. Clearly, this can’t happen over night though (hey, you come in with 17/18 years of outside baggage to overcome).

http://www.biconews.com/article/view/6353
http://www.biconews.com/article/view/6666
http://www.biconews.com/article/view/6665
http://www.biconews.com/article/view/6613
http://www.biconews.com/article/view/6551
http://www.biconews.com/article/view/6075
http://www.biconews.com/article/view/6019
http://www.biconews.com/article/view/6131
http://www.biconews.com/article/view/6230
http://www.biconews.com/article/view/5872
http://www.biconews.com/article/view/5643

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/haverford-college/241199-weighing-s-s-size-honor-code.html Edit: HC has 160+ faculty, not 120 like I wrote.