Is Haverford Quirky?

ReDbUll298
Sat, 19 May 2007 18:57:48 +0000

i would choose haverford over hopkins or vassar. i can embellish on this further if you’d like.
speaking as a current haverford student, i would still encourage you to consider swarthmore; (i also was deciding between the two). however i think to choose swarthmore merely because of its superior USNews ranking would be a mistake. there’s not a significant difference in terms of the top haverfordian academic potential compared to the top swat student… however i would guess that there are a higher amount of “really smart” kids at swat than at haverford. then again, college, especially a small LAC such as swat or haverford, is really what you put into it.
that having been said, i would still choose haverford over swarthmore. the overall sense that i perceived at swarthmore was a bunch of cut-throat, academic elitists who severely needed work on their social skills. it’s not that i enjoy don’t enjoy my fair share of competition, but i was wayy too competitive in high school and felt that the environment at swarthmore would probably drive me insane. haverford is very good at cultivating an environment in which individuals excel without feeling compelled to steal each others’ notes (not that swatties do this-- but i’ve heard this of other “elite” institutions) or talk about grades. talking about grades is considered to be very taboo at haverford. additionally, there is a wide array of other forms of opportunities aside from academia (athletics, journalism, improv groups, PHILLY, a cappella groups, political groups, community service-- haverford recently received an award i think for its stellar student community service involvement, etc. etc.).
if quirkiness is what you’re looking for, you get your fair share of nerds at haverford-- believe me. people just try to hide it more here than at swarthmore, i think, but everyone’s pretty much a closet-dork. it’s part of the charm!
our campus is beautiful, but so is swarthmore’s. swarthmore is a bit more “natural”; haverford is a bit more planned out, but i’d still venture to characterize it as gorgeous (especially in the spring).
i’m sorry they set you up with a lacrosse player. i agree that it’s a mistake to make generalizations, and not every lacrosse player is what i imagine you think they are, but they are probably the most “jock-ish” team on campus. for the most part, they’re fine. there was controversy involving the lacrosse team a couple of years ago, but the students involved will, i’m pretty sure, have graduated by the time you’d be attending. the current sophomore and freshman classes are especially starting to reform the “lacrosse image” at haverford. lastly, i’m also a member of a varsity team at school but can safely say that i do not merely confine my interests/friendships to athletics. i would admit it is more “jocky” than swarthmore, but it’s not quite up there with such LACs as williams.
you do have somewhat of a point of haverford students appearing “basic”; however, the quantity is smaller than you may have perceived/come to believe. take into consideration the size of our school compared to the size of swarthmore… i could be wrong, but i think that swat is three times the size of haverford…? at any rate: swat’s bigger, and therefore it has more room to accept “worldly” students with rare, fascinating backgrounds. this isn’t to say you don’t meet your fair share of really awesome people at haverford. but there is definitely more a sense of quaker modesty/quaker complacency here than at swarthmore, and thus people are less willing to brag about/publicly divulge in their life stories or accomplishments.
nonetheless, the decision is ultimately up to you. i really feel that you can get a sense of whether you’ll be comfortable on a campus by spending time at that respective school. if you really felt more integrated in the swarthmore community, that may indeed be a vaild point to choose swarthmore. i can tell you, though, i spec-ed at swat and met their team at dinner. i walked up to the table and sat down… and they all just stared at me and continued their dinners without saying a word to me. i stayed overnight at haverford on a weekend and, although the parties were awkward since i didn’t know anyone, i went back to my host’s dorm to meet the custom group; we watched ali g in the common room and was able to genuinely meet a lot of really cool, interesting people.