Seeking advice from students (or parents of students) at Brandeis & Haverford.
Two very different schools, but my daughter feels drawn to both.
Hard to decide with accepted student events cancelled!
(We originally visited during school breaks & had helpful tours-- but didn’t get a true sense of student life on campus. Virtual visits have been marginally helpful… not the same as actually feeling the ‘vibe’ on campus.)
If helpful: She was accepted as a Humanities Fellow at Brandeis, if anyone has experience with that program.
Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom!
Personally, I would pick Haverford. The ability to take asses at the other schools creates a lot of opportunities for a small school, great location, very intellectual and engaged academics, tight community, very kind vibe.
Tough one. But I would go with Haverford, not knowing more about the specific area of study, etc. Brandeis is close to Boston but not actually in the city like many other schools. Haverford has great access to Philly and the class-sharing system with U Penn, Bryan Mayr and Swarthmore is a huge plus. Super intellectual, quirky vibe and kindness dominates. That last piece is not often seen, and should be valued, IMHO.
I will agree with the above poster about kindness dominating at Haverford. My daughter is a freshman and is having a wonderful and warm experience. She takes about half her classes at Bryn Mawr (and has friends who take classes at Swat and Penn) and gets into the city regularly for fun- and there is a tri-co program of classes in the city too (not at penn, but rather using the city as the classroom). The only complaints she’s had are of the freshman dorm she has and a bit about the food- but she eats at Bryn Mawr usually once a day and likes their food better.
@gardenstategal - Hilarious typo! I imagine there are some students who did indeed choose Haverford or Bryn Mawr with that in mind!
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@Penn92- Congratulations to your daughter! Both are great choices. I am sure your daughter could thrive at either.
The experiences of current or former student or parents with more knowledge should bear more weight, but here are some thoughts for what they are worth.
Both colleges are filled with very intellectually oriented students. Neither has frats. Both are comfortable places for the quirky or nerdy as well as the more socially typical student to thrive. Both are in suburban areas a very short trip to a big city. Both have great reputations, smart students, and accomplished and accessible professors.
University or college? Brandeis boasts that at Brandeis you don’t have to choose between a top tier research university (where some bio professors were very recent Nobel prize winners) and small classes/ close relationships with professors; you get both.
Haverford is a quintessential small liberal arts college. A small college environment is very special indeed, with a close-knit community and all the academic advantages of all the resources and research opportunities and professorial attention going to undergraduates.
What happens with the virus may impact how much that matters. I was so happy my own kid chose a small college… but I believe that coronavirus’s online learning negated the benefits of a small prestigious LAC for at least this one semester.
Haverford is the prettier campus. Brandeis has more modern buildings and a crowded feel, and most upperclassmen need to live off campus.
Brandeis certainly attracts its share of top scholars, such as the valedictorian of my local high school’s class of 2018. But Haverford will have a higher percentage of students concentrated at higher scoring/ performance levels. Haverford’s overall feel and prestige are affected by that difference, although neither college is a household name with the masses.
Neither college is religiously affiliated. But Brandeis is the only completely secular, non-religiously affiliated college in the United States where Christian students are not the majority. Brandeis has no religious majority. Jews form the largest plurality. The religious openness of Brandeis is even expressed architecturally: there are three temples of different religions built on campus so that none ever casts a shadow on the others.
If you are from New York or a similar area and your daughter has younger siblings, Brandeis’s breaks align better with New York public school breaks than do most other northeastern colleges’.
Haverford is not known for good food. We ate at a lot of colleges’ dining halls, and we thought Brandeis was one of the best. But, as someone noted above, a Haverford Student can dine at Bryn Mawr for variety.
Haverford’s immediate environs are more upscale/ nicer-looking than Waltham, although Waltham is nice, too.
If she likes cricket, I hear Haverford excels at it!
Consider how your daughter feels about the centrality of the honor code at Haverford. Both colleges are filled with honorable students, but how they comment on it may be different. Does she prefer earnest types who like to speak of the importance of their oath to abide by their code, or is she more at home with ironic self-deprecating humor; would she prefer ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ or ‘Seinfeld?’ Of course, students of both these types, and many other types, exist at both colleges. But the fact that Haverford’s supplemental essay is about the honor code will continue to attract more students of a certain type.
And her fellowship at Brandeis is very nice!
Final analysis? Your daughter can get a great education at either. She can’t go wrong here. It can be a question of which environment suits her better.
Best wishes to her!
Wow! Thank you for the amazingly detailed analysis of both schools!
(I have no idea how you intuited that she has a younger sib in NYC–
but that was definitely a helpful tidbit!)
She actually only applied to small LACs…PLUS Brandies
(–in response to my recommendation that she put ONE university on the list, just to explore the difference. She didn’t expect to like it so much!)
She specifically only applied to schools without a Greek system…
but is now hearing that Brandeis has some off-campus Greek life.
Any idea how central this is to student life? (She prefers a campus that is focused more on learning, less on partying.)
Thanks so much for all your input!