<p>How difficult is it for a Haverford student to get into classes at Bryn Mawr? I am assuming that the Bryn Mawr students get first crack at everything during registration? My teenager likes many things about Haverford but has some concerns about the relatively small number of offerings there, compared to other colleges we've visited.</p>
<p>Haverford students get equal priority as Bryn Mawr students for Bryn Mawr courses. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a joint curriculum, but both colleges design their curriculum with the course offerings of the other one in mind. Some majors are offered jointly between the two colleges (e.g. education and theater), some programs exist only at one of the two colleges (e.g. geology at Bryn Mawr and music at Haverford) and most other departments coordinate their course offerings with the counterpart at the other school. Departments might alternative upper-level courses or focus on different aspects of their discipline. For example, economics at Haverford offers more theory and business-oriented courses, while economics at Bryn Mawr revolves around public policy. Haverford does small scale (molecular and cellular) biology while Bryn Mawr focuses on the macro aspects of the subject (physiology, ecology, etc). The computer science departments have their upper-level courses on a two-year rotation set off by one year, so that each core course is offered at one of the two schools each year.</p>
<p>When you take their resources together, Haverford and Bryn Mawr cover an impressive amount of academic ground for two small colleges!</p>
<p>We also have the option to take courses at Swarthmore and Penn, which gives us even more opportunities. There’s less interaction with Swarthmore and Penn because transportation is a bit of a hassle (and we also only get to register on a space-available basis), but I wouldn’t discount them completely. I have taken two classes at Penn each semester since my junior year and I have had a blast there!</p>