Haverford College

Date: Feb 01 2011
Major: Religion/Religious (This Major's Salary over time)
I am a recent Haverford graduate and part of an underrepresented group (a minority). I would say that I had a love-hate relationship with Haverford. It's one of those places that sounds fantastic on paper and in theory, but in practice it's a huge disappointment. I say this because the Honor Code is definitely presented as the governing social and academic code, but it is only beneficial for the majority group on campus. I'd argue that the social aspect of the Honor Code is not upheld to the fullest extent, especially to people of color or those who don't assimilate to Haverford College. People are not as open-minded as they claim to be; they are only open to those who have liberal viewpoints on the social and political issues of their choosing. The community is also pretty insensitive to people who are religious. Haverford can fall into the "color-blind" trap and thus can be oblivious and sometimes insensitive to racial and cultural issues. I've noticed that people of underrepresented groups have had to "responsible" for educating the entire Haverford community about what acceptable relations "with the other" is like. This is true from administration, to faculty and staff down to the students. Of course this is a general, not absolute truth. I don't think that sacrificing these things, if they are important to you, are worth the now 50/k + per year. If you don't fit the mold, don't go to Haverford unless you're yearning for that challenge of finding your NICHE in any place. If I commuted, I probably would have been much happier, but looking back, I would have just transferred. There are SOME great people at Haverford, but to me it's just not enough for the investment.