My son is deciding between these schools. He wants to study computer science. We live in DC, so Hav is closer, but is worried it’s too small, but likes the area. He liked the campus at Vas but the area around it is not great. Skid, not as academically known especially in stem. Loves the Skid campus and Saratoga. Other considerations and experiences are appreciated. Thanks
Now? As in considering offers? That is odd timing.
Anyway, I think with Haverford it makes sense to at least consider the BiCo relationship with Bryn Mawr. The students cross register enough, socialize enough, and so on that I think it does make them both functionally less “small” colleges than they would be if they were off by themselves somewhere isolated. And of course it is a quick train ride into Philly, which I think is a great city.
Vassar is obviously more self-contained, but what a nice college! I love the campus, Poughkeepsie is not a bad little city, the Hudson River Valley in general is a lovely area, and it is only about a 2 hour train from NYC.
I’ll admit I have never seen Skidmore so can’t really opine on it in comparison, but I will note I have heard good things.
So–big picture, hard to go wrong. I guess the last thing I would add is just that in the last NCES College Navigator cohort, Haverford graduated 31 primary majors in CS out of 315 (9.8%), Vassar also had 31 but out of 624 (5.0%), and Skidmore had 21 out of 617 (3.4%). For LACs those are all decent numbers, but I do think Haverford is a notch more of a CS school (and science/math school generally), followed by Vassar.
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I’ll expand that a little more with Haverford - yes, BM is the “close by” school but students can also cross register with Swarthmore and Penn (if the course isn’t available at Haverford, Swat, or BM).
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Absolutely, although functionally my understanding is Swarthmore cross-classes are significantly less common, and Penn least common. In part that is practical, but there are also some restrictions/limits that do not apply to the BiCo.
That said, Haverford has some interesting dual degree options. Like you can do an Accelerated Master’s at Penn’s SEAS (which includes CS as one of many options) in as little as two additional semesters (although some people take three):
To me this is significantly more valuable than the usual 3+2 sort of program where you don’t get the full four years at your original college and also only end up with a second Bachelor’s.
This works precisely because you can take courses at Penn as part of the program. Like here is a sample schedule for the CS version of a 4+1, and the hyperlinked courses are at Penn:
So while this is not something a lot of people do, for the people who do end up wanting to do it, it is very valuable to be able to cross-register at Penn!
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It sounds like your child is an athletic recruit - if yes, team dynamics, practice and travel schedule should all be part of the consideration too. Is it an issue to be a STEM major and an athlete - do classes that he would need for his major conflict with practice times? How many STEM majors are on the team? I would encourage your child to understand this piece a long with the overall school.
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At least at Haverford at least the vast majority are stem majors.
My son is being recruited by these schools. If anyone has experience or knowledge about being an athlete at any of these schools I would love to hear about it. Thank you!
I have a math major at Haverford. He likes it a lot. He has taken classes at Swat but not Bryn Mawr. He will most likely end up taking classes at Penn.
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Hi College Dad- I have a daughter in a very similar spot Skid, Vassar, Bowdoin,Swarthmore. Wondering how you made out with your decision
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Some of these aspects may be dependent on, influenced by, the athletic conference with which a school is aligned. For this reason, the OP may benefit from researching the Centennial Conference, in which Haverford competes, and the Liberty League, in which Vassar and Skidmore compete.
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They are both great schools! Your son cannot make a bad choice here!
Our story: My daughter (CS major) was a recruited athlete deciding between Vassar, Haverford and another school. She compared curriculum, number of students in the major, enrollment size in classes, number of professors, gender of professors, starting salaries, etc. She met with coaches, captains, players. She made a specific point of talking with a computer science major on her team at both Vasser and Haverford. She evaluated who she would be competing against in her sport and how far she would have to travel for games and how that might affect academics.
From her perspective as a senior in high school, she found the computer science programs to be very similar, in metrics at least. For her, it came down to a vibe check on the school overall and on the team.
Ultimately, she chose Vassar. She has been very happy with the computer science department and her sport team. She has had no difficulty balancing the two and also having fun. In fact, she had a job in the computer science department in one of the computer labs as a sophomore, and is currently on a study abroad that will allow her to come back and compete next semester.
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Is your daughter computer science? If so, be sure to take a look at gender ratios in computer science on the student (and professor) level at all those schools. I think the only computer science program in the country with a 50/50 gender balance of students is Carnegie Mellon. It is very lopsided at some schools.
I would focus on academics, the on-campus vibe, and the team before giving much weight to the area around the school.
Haverford is the winner for easy access to a big city. Skidmore wins for cutest town. Vassar, well, easiest access to NYC? But how much does that impact the whole experience when each of these is set up to offer a robust on-campus experience.
You may want to check on the upper level CS course offerings and frequency of offering at Haverford and Vassar (similar to the example given in your thread about CS at Skidmore: Computer science at Skidmore? - #5 by ucbalumnus )
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