@doschicos I replied to a comment. Apparently the reply and the tags don’t work the same. I guess the website has coding flaws.
My sister works in admissions at an ivy league school and frankly, many of these parents don’t know what they’re talking about. I would say Gibby and a few other members do. Over all, I see many of the parents adding unhelpful comments.
Reply here is just tacked onto the end of the thread. It isn’t a coding flaw, it is just how the site works. So you do need to specify if you are responding to someone. Going to say, this post seems designed to stir the pot more than to elicit actual information.
If someone hasn’t heard of Haverford they’re going to get it confused with Harvard if you say it fast enough, so name recognition on both schools evens out.
Since you’re asking this time of year, I’m guessing that you’re really weighing which one to do SCEA/ED on and you haven’t gotten into either one yet?
Think about what kind of learning environment is better for you. I have a kid who knew he wanted to know his profs and be in participatory classrooms - not big lectures - and was not so good at making himself stand out. Schools where he’d have had to go to office hours simply to forge connections would not have served him well. Otoh, he has friends who do this well and naturally, so their choices were different.
It’s about the environment where you will thrive.
@justliviglife - Actually you did say in post #12 “lol I thought it (OP’s post) was kind of sassy.” Students, “adults,” and parents who know these schools well want to be helpful to applicants who sincerely ask for information that will help them make difficult decisions about college applications - especially early ones. And for the record, as a college professor, I also greatly respect students who choose to apply to schools because they think that the quality of teaching and excellence of their cohort is more important than the “brand name” of the college. From both personal and professional experience, I know that both Haverford and Yale have wonderful teachers and students, and deeply disagree with anyone who says otherwise.
Just my observation. THere are a lot of Yale vs. xxx threads, but not nearly as many for H and P. Interesting. Wonder why.
@worriestoomuch Oops! I stand corrected. I am sorry. When I was on here earlier, I was just simply having a bad day! I should not have said some things. Although, I do still stand by some things, I should’ve said them differently. I think there is a mix on CC of parents who are rude and those who actually give thoughtful input. I saw a strong presence of some rude and ignorant parents on CC that day.
Thank you for all of the comments. I truthfully like Haverford a lot better. As long as Haverford has the same quality of education, professors, opportunities after graduation, etc. I am sold. The only thing I am concerned about is the name and how not many people have heard of it. I know it’s bad that it’s an issue but that’s just how I feel.
@rman0070, both are great. We didn’t tour Yale with DD’s last year, but we did tour Haverford and we were amazed to hear the post graduate work being done from recent alums - Stanford, Chicago, Penn… And most importantly, if you love the environment you’ll thrive!
@rman0070, prestige is a powerful factor in college choice, and Dave Barry’s light hearted comment aside, it can be deflating when your college choice has low name recognition. There’s really no cure for this except confidence – confidence in yourself and in your school. Only you can judge how much it will bother you not to receive name recognition from people who matter to you (your family and friends) and from complete strangers, but this is a fact of life with small liberal arts colleges, even the most highly rated ones.
Admission committees at top professional and graduate schools will recognize Haverford for its academic excellence. Employers outside of the north to middle east coast may not, but the internships you hold and the connections that you make during your undergraduate years will propel you forward. Most importantly, you will be most successful academically in the environment and culture where you feel the most comfortable.
If you really have to know if you coulda been a contender at Yale, then apply to Yale SCEA and leave Haverford for RD.