Haverford vs Bryn Mawr

I just got off the waitlist at Haverford. I am currently committed to Bryn Mawr. I know Haverford is rated better, but Bryn Mawr is about 12k cheaper per year (48k overall) due to a scholarship. This is a unique situation since the schools are so closely connected through the bi-co that I can take classes on both campuses, so academics isn’t truly a factor. Also, I plan on being an English major.

Really, the factors I need to consider are social life, housing, prestige, and cost. Which school do I choose? Any advice from those familiar with the bi-co?

I just got off the waitlist at Haverford. I am currently committed to Bryn Mawr. I know Haverford is rated better, but Bryn Mawr is about 12k cheaper per year (48k overall) due to a scholarship. This is a unique situation since the schools are so closely connected through the bi-co that I can take classes on both campuses, so academics isn’t truly a factor. Also, I plan on being an English major.

Really, the factors I need to consider are social life, housing, prestige, and cost. Which school do I choose? Any advice from those familiar with the bi-co?

Stay at Bryn Mawr . . . .I can’t imagine paying almost $50k more to have a diploma from Haverford rather than Bryn Mawr, given the cooperation between the two schools. Both schools are respected intellectually and academically, and there will not be doors closed to a BMC grad that would have been open to a Haverford grad. I love Haverford, including its Quaker ethos, the tradition of plenary etc. but I just can’t see that as being worth so much more than BMC (with its shared honor code expectations, as well as its own traditions). Full disclosure, I am a BMC alum, from when Hford was still all-male – I did most of my coursework at Haverford, studied at the Hford library most nights, and ate at the Hford dining hall (though I’ve hear BMC food is generally considered better now).

I am totally with @Midwestmomofboys on this one.

I love Haverford – part of me wishes that I had gone there for college, instead of the Ivy I attended – but I agree that it’s probably not worth the extra 50k. I have no doubt that you’ll end up spending a lot of time on the Haverford campus anyway, because of the shared classes and proxmity. And supposedly the food at BMC is really great.

Stick with BMC. Haverford is not worth 50k more than Bryn Mawr. With regards to prestige, BMC is a very prestigious and well known college.

My daughter is at Haverford and absolutely loves it- and chose it over Bryn Mawr to ED to… but she takes close to half her classes at Bryn Mawr anyway (they haver certain subjects that she is interested in that Haverford does not). I would say that if Bryn Mawr were that much cheaper for her I wouldn’t have been able to advocate haverford in good conscience. You can take classes at haverford, eat at haverford, hang out and party at haverford, and there are even joint clubs with haverford. The feel of the two schools is much more different than you’d think, but you can integrate as fully as you’d like. Heck, in normal times you could even live at haverford (though Bryn Mawr seems to have better housing anyway).

But! And this is just my daughter’s impression… Bryn Mawr has a more cultish feel about their identity, and she doesn’t think a girl wanting the Haverford experience at a discount would be well received at Bryn Mawr… so I wouldn’t shout about it from the rooftops. YMMV- that’s just her opinion.

Also, one big difference between Haverford and BMC is the honor code at Haverford. Do you have an opinion on the Honor code specifically?

Bryn Mawr has an honor code as well.

http://sga.blogs.brynmawr.edu/

Re honor code – because the academics between the two schools is so fully integrated, at least in terms of academic life (self-scheduled exams etc.), the honor code at each school works the same. On the other hand, Bryn Mawr does not have plenary to ratify its honor code each year the way Haverford does, and does not have the same formal system of social accountability through its Honor Code. But the culture of respect, cooperation, competition with the self, to do one’s own best work and not compete with others, is similar on both campuses. I defer to folks with more recent campus experience than myself, but certainly my BMC alum materials all portray a normal, smart female vibe.

I will add, the commitment to women’s education and achievement at BMC is so deeply embedded in everything the college does that it prepares young women to enter the workplace, professional school, academics etc., confident and self-aware.

I’m pretty sure BM has plenary as well. Plenty of references to it via a google search that indicate it being 2x per year at BM.

@doschicos – maybe that would be new? As an '80s BMC grad, I do not recall plenary at BMC (though I did skip a lot of stuff at BMC, so who knows?)

I was at BMC before Midwestmomofboys, and if my memory serves, we only reviewed the constitution every two years. One difference between the two student governments at that time was that Haverford required consensus, and Bryn Mawr allowed for majority rule. We did have preferential balloting for campus officers. I wonder if that still holds true.

$50k is a lot of money, that this student or her family could certainly find other uses for. If the Haverford financial package is only need-based and has no merit-aid components that would only be on offer as a freshman, I’d encourage her to start at BMC. If she decided that she really truly preferred Haverford after a semester or two, transferring probably would not be difficult.