I am:
*a Chinese international student
*a parliamentary debater in the high school
*interested in social sciences, including PPE, sociology
*interested in everything related to Hong Kong…
*interested in foreign languages, including Japanese and German
*would like to go abroad for exchange
*would like to explore more about music
*would care about how my academics is related to the real world
*care about how weather would impact my mood…
*care about the level of acceptance of Chinese students in the community…
*care about future prospect
Haverford:
*In the suburb of Philadelphia—easy to reach everywhere?
*Bi-co consortium–I like Bryn Mawr’s course on movie（Karwai Wong)
*Quaker’s consortium: dunno if I could really often have chance to take courses in Swat&Penn that it could be a factor into my consideration
*Honor Code—should I care about it that much?
BC:
*Boston
*Core: is liberal arts education the same as colleges?
Colgate:
*right now eliminating it from my choice due to recent discrimination incident
Haveford: the Consortium is real and viable; how much it is used varies by student- some use it a lot, some hole up in Haverford & never leave. As for whether you should care about the honor code: what do you mean by ‘care about’? should you take it seriously, and be honest in your academic work and respectful to others in the community? absolutely.
BC: Boston College is a Jesuit school, a religious order that is best known for it’s intellectualism and commitment to education. I’m not sure what you mean by “is liberal arts education the same as colleges?”, but “Liberal Arts” in the US educational context means a broad coarse of study, so that you study a range of humanities and sciences at university level. The majority of university programs in the US are considered “Liberal Arts”; the major exceptions are Schools of Engineering, Architecture, etc., which usually have separate admissions. All 4 of the schools you list have a ‘Liberal Arts’ approach; BC is more explicit in having a strong formalized “Core”, but the others all have some:
Colgate: if you are referring to the recent graffiti incident, I wouldn’t rule any college in or out on the basis of a single incident- you will find bad actors anywhere. That said, Colgate is not a school that would come to mind as being particularly, um, diverse.
Occidental: Oxy and Haverford are academic peers. Although Oxy is a little bigger than Haverford, it is more insular. I would check out their course offerings in areas that you are interested in (and the requirements / options for whatever you might major in). Oxy definitely has the edge on weather, but Haverford will give you more options.
But: you mention the Trustee scholarship at Oxy- if $$ is a factor, between these 4 that is the biggest differentiator.
colgate had a recent discrimination incident? interesting, though not surprising in the slightest. i’ve only heard of the one last year involving a black student which was enough to bump it completely down on my list (and enough to keep me from applying at all), so i don’t blame you.
i’ve never been a personal fan of boston college either, so i can’t give my opinions on it.
my vote goes to haverford; however, pennsylvania does get cold and snowy, and haverford is the smallest out of all of your options, but it is the most intellectual. haverford is about ten miles outside of philadelphia, so it’s most certainly reachable. have you looked to see if the college offers shuttles into the city? the honor code is a cool aspect of haverford, but it shouldn’t be a big deciding factor. it’s just a cool feeling to have when you’re trusted by your college that much.
occidental is a great school that undeservedly gets outshined by the claremonts and ucla, so you can’t go wrong, especially if you received a scholarship.
in terms of academics, haverford wins. if money’s a big factor, occidental wins.
" haverford is about ten miles outside of philadelphia, so it’s most certainly reachable. have you looked to see if the college offers shuttles into the city?"
You can walk to the commuter train station from campus and get to Philly easily.
@collegemom3717 I’m not sure I would necessarily call Haverford and Occidental peers. Haverford doesn’t list Occidental as a peer school and and Occidental lists Haverford as an “aspirational peer.” Occidental is still a great school though. To answer OP’s question regarding the consortium, the average student doesn’t take classes at Swarthmore and Penn because they are farther away than Bryn Mawr, but it is 100% feasible if you want to do it, especially Swarthmore since there is a shuttle. For Penn you take the train which Haverford reimburses you for.
For an International student I would choose BC for its size, access to the airport, other colleges and the city of Boston. You may find Haverford too small and Colgate too remote. Though I will say, I visited Colgate recently and saw more diversity on that campus than I would have expected. Saw more AA kids there than any other school toured, though I know the stats for the school would not suggest that.
my daughter is a sophomore at Haverford and loves it. She speaks fluent Mandarin too and has taken advanced Mandarin there (we lived in China for a while). Bryn Mawr is easy to take classes at–Swat and Penn are harder.
The reason why I ruled out Colgate is not because of the graffiti incident alone, but because of the Facebook post of that Chinese student who says alienation and discrimination are happening everyday.
Right now I am swinging between Haverford and BC. The reason why I mentioned about liberal arts education is because I wonder if there is a difference between the educational quality of BC, as a university, and Haverford, as a liberal arts college.
There won’t be a decision-making difference in educational quality between BC and Haverford.
BC is a liberal arts university, Haverford is a liberal arts college. The main distinction in the US is whether they give graduate degrees (universities) or not (colleges). Colleges have a rep for being more teaching-focused (on average)- you are more likely to have Teaching Assistants (TAs) instead of professors at a university than a college, (especially in the first year or two), in part b/c of size and in part b/c they have grad students to be the TAs. BC is more teaching focused than some universities, b/c of it’s Jesuit ethos.
Depending on your subject area and the particular university, you can sometimes get more advanced coursework at a university, but with the consortium that won’t be a limitation at Haverford.
The challenge is that they are both good options from an academic perspective, but they are very different experiences- have you spent some time looking at their YouTube videos? does either pull or push you particularly?
BC and Haverford both have solid majors. What are you interested in studying? Haverford is smaller than BC but considered a very strong academic and intellectual school. They have very different “vibes” and tend to attract different kinds of students. Also, neither is going to give you the warm weather that Oxy can offer, but winter in Boston is generally colder than Philadelphia (which is still cold in my opinion).
Haverford is more diverse by many measures - racially, religious,
12% International
56% White, non-hispanic
You’ll find a mix of students compared to BC.
Boston College
7% international
69% White, non-hispanic
As much as 70% of students identify as Catholic.
BC is much more preppy, more homogeneous.
My D is a sophomore at Haverford and loves it for many reasons.
" Haverford attracts intellectually curious, independent learners who value honesty, collaboration, and above all, new ways of seeing and improving the world." Trust. Concern. Respect.
Small, diverse and inclusive with no Greek life.
Beautiful campus and surrounding community.
Across the street from the train station. Direct access to Philly and can catch the Amtrak to NYC at the next train station in Ardmore.
Is currently taking three of her four courses at Bryn Mawr. A shuttle runs between the two campuses regularly throughout the day and they are less than ten minutes apart.
Haverford has Quaker roots. BC is a Catholic school.
Challenging, engaging courses.
It feels like home to her and she has made wonderful friends and connections there.
*Haverford offers smaller classes and easier access to professors
Haverford's campus features more natural beauty, while BC has a much more city-like setting.
*Haverford is more intellectual, while BC is more pre-professional.
BC has Division 1 sports programs -- the highest level. Haverford's varsity teams operate at the D3 level. You can have fun watching both, but BC's games will have much higher attendance, at least in football and basketball.
At Haverford, you do have access to classes at Penn, Swat and BMC. Scheduling classes at Swat and Penn is more difficult than at BMC, but it can be done.
Haverford's admits enter with higher stats, on average.
BC's student body is preppier overall, while Fords tend to be more artsy and/or nerdy as a group.
These are common differences between universities and LACs and are not meant to cast shade or show preference.
Bryn Mawr College is 5 minutes away from Haverford, which is why we called it a “bi-college community” when I was at HC. You get the faculty, class offerings and facilities of both. But Swarthmore and Penn are both 25+ minutes away -assuming you drive directly there- and as a practical matter, it takes much longer. So while it sounds good, when you add the round-trip commute, few people I knew actually did it. If you suspect you will want something significant that HC doesn’t offer, like engineering or football, then don’t choose HC. But I loved it there!