<p>I'm a student from Oklahoma (my location will matter more a little ways down) taking a good look at Haverford. So far I'm extremely impressed with the academics, in particular the breadth given by the coorperation between Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and others.</p>
<p>However, I'm suddenly a bit disenchanted with Haverford, after seeing two things:</p>
<p>1) Hearing about bad food;
2) Hearing about concrete-walled dorms without air conditioning.</p>
<p>These two together are almost enough to turn me against the idea of going to Haverford. Exactly how bad is the food? What's the best option besides eating there on campus (Bryn Mawr is supposed to be quite good)?</p>
<p>Also, how relevant is A/C around Philadelphia? Here, of course, it's a big deal; almost big enough to be a deciding factor for me.</p>
<ol>
<li>The food is eatable. It's not great but it's not as bad as other places (cf. Princeton Review's rannking for 'Is It Food?'). Haverford is very tiny, so we only have one dining center and the cooks mass produce all of the food at once. The result is obviously not gourmet but it's not as bad as people make it out to be. The themed-food nights, etc. are usually very good.</li>
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<p>The coop serves entrees but they are quite expensive (unless your parents give you a coop account). Lunt cafe serves bagels which are pretty filling as well but again very pricey. We also have e-haus which provides, home-cooked vegan, vegetarian offerings at least 4 times a week. Invitation is open to the entire community.</p>
<p>If you don't like the food, you can easily hop on the blue bus to bryn mawr and eat there as often as you like. The food there is very good and you have your choice of three dining centers (Erdman (AWESOME), Rhoads (eh), Hafner(good).) </p>
<p>After freshmen year, you can opt to stay off the meal plan entirely. The only problem is cooking/finding time to buy all your food. This is obviously only possible in the apartments since they are the housing with kitchens.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>AC is not a problem. You'll suffer through a breif humid/hazy/hot stint when you first arrive but by mid September/October, the weather gets very nice. Then BAM 6 months of winter. Usually, by May it's not that hot. I hate the heat but had no problem adjusting at Haverford since there were only about 3 weeks of actual "hot" weather...which never broke 90 degrees. You can only request an AC if you have a medical condition. </p></li>
<li><p>The block walls refer to gummere. this is one of three options for freshmen housing. The block walls aren't bad at all when you take into account that you will have a single room (unheard of for freshmen anywhere else). The other freshmen dorm, Barclay, and the apartments are actually quite nice but there is a chance you will have a roomate. I don't recall the make up of the walls in the north dorms, program houses, or leeds...but believe me...it's not a problem. haverford has nice housing with a lot of options and nearly everyone gets a single...PLUS you can live at bryn mawr if you want.</p></li>
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<p>I'd be pretty gobsmacked if they'd let guys live at Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>Also, thanks for the AC information. I looked at the weather for that area and it doesn't look bad at all. To me, 90 feels cool in summer--here we're used to it breaking 100 frequently.</p>
<p>Also, is it possible to just walk to Bryn Mawr too? The campuses only seem to be separated by a couple miles.</p>