<p>I am an international student. I plan to major in Chemistry. I plan to attend graduate school. I know chemstry major is quite strong at Haverford. A Haverford student told me there is a big difference between the chemistry major at these two schools. But Bryn Mawr students can still choose classes at Haverford. </p>
<p>Is there really a big difference between the student body and professors? Is it possible to major in chemistry at Haverford while I am a BMC student? </p>
<p>I am worrying that if the time between two classes is only a short period of time, is it possible for me to trasport to another campus to attend mt next class? </p>
<p>I do not care whether it is a single-sex or coed school the most important factor may be academics and friend network.</p>
It determines your general education requirements.
It determines the amount of research funding available to you. (Bryn Mawr has more funding for students than Haverford.)</p>
<p>Here’s how it won’t matter:
It won’t determine which campus you take your classes on.
It won’t determine which professors you interact with.
It won’t determine which dining hall you eat in or which campus you socialize on.</p>
<p>I would like to highlight the difference in general education requirements. Haverford is encouraging a broad education by requiring that students take 19 credits (out of 32) outside of their major. That severely limits how much you can specialize as an undergraduate student, which might impact your graduate school chances. Graduate school-bound students at Bryn Mawr, on the other hand, usually start specializing earlier and fare quite well in graduate admissions. An international friend of mine graduated with an AB/MA degree in chemistry from Bryn Mawr last year and is now a PhD student at Harvard. </p>
<p>Did you hear of the AB/MA program, by the way? Bryn Mawr’s chemistry department has a small graduate program. That gives undergraduate students the option to take a few graduate classes, and some even complete a full Master’s degree in their undergraduate years!</p>
<p>May I ask how the two chemistry departments are different, according to your friend? I have heard quite a bit about Bryn Mawr vs Haverford in a few other science disciplines, but chemistry doesn’t usually come up in these conversations. Now I am curious! If anything, I was under the impression that chemistry is the only science department that might be stronger at Bryn Mawr than at Haverford. But you could certainly major in chemistry at Haverford if you choose to attend Bryn Mawr, and vice versa!</p>
<p>To address your concerns about cross-registration: the schedules between Bryn Mawr and Haverford are coordinated to allow time for transportation. For example, Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes start and end on the hour at Bryn Mawr and on the half-hour at Haverford. That would give you half an hour to take a bus to the other campus.</p>
<p>Oh, she said the main differences are the students and quality of teaching, which I understood as professors
Thank you for your great help, I am leaning a lot towards BMC. It feels like the relationship between Haverford and Bryn Mawr is really close-knitted.</p>
<p>If you attend one of the Bi-College Consortium institutions you can major at either one of the schools. For example, while Bryn Mawr does have a Political Science department, I chose to major in Political Science at Haverford because the classes fit my interests better. You can do the same for Chemistry. I would suggest picking which school you feel most comfortable at, and where you think you can grow the most because if you come to Bryn Mawr and find that you like the Chemistry classes at Haverford better, you can major there, or vice versa! You have two great choices!</p>