Robins School of Business (Richmond) vs Haverford

Richmond is 10% international. Amazing food. In fact, an alum who was visiting campus wasn’t happy with his dessert a few years back, so funded an enormous gourmet dessert selection. Richmond has over a 2 billion dollar endowment! Huge for such a small LAC. (Haverford’s is about 500 mill). That’s why Richmond is so generous with funds to travel, research, study abroad, etc.

As for being a token intellectual, my S, not a richmond Scholar, had a 34ACT/1520 Sat, mostly As (until slacking senior yr) in rigorous curriculum (finished AP calc BC in 11th grade and took a discrete math topic 12th, Phys C, all told 8-10 APs (depending on how you count them)), so there are plenty of “smart” kids there. And, the curriculum is rigorous. Our somewhat immature son thought he could get by with the approach he took in senior year high school and learned the hard way (bad 1st sem grades), he needs to really study.

As for law school, have you looked at Richmond’s Philosophy, Politics, Economics and Law major? It’s what drew our S to Richmond. Kids LOVE that major. If you’re a Richmond Scholar, get a 3.8 or above GPA (which might be easier to get at Richmond than Haverford, idk) and take advantage of everything the school offers, you’ll be well set for the LSATs and a top law school.

Look into the first year Endeavors and sophomore scholars in residence programs. They are excellent. And with Endeavors, you’ll be coming to school a little early and living with like-minded individuals.

I have heard that haverford has an exchange program to london school of economics which would be really hepful for my econ degree. Also, I found out that Richmond has a pretty strict: there is only a handful of natural science courses you could take while haverford lets you have a choice from more than 160 courses. I don’t really enjoy science.

Dear havenoidea,I was wondering if you could ask your son for some information about typical Richmond students. Are they friendly? Left-leaning? I am a feminist and also support gay rights. Just wonder how Richmond students would perceive my ideas.

Based on your goals it seems that Richmond will give you more opportunities.

The thing is, I want to study finance, but I don’t want to give up crrative writing/ english/ history side. I have heard that it would be hard to double-major at Robins

Dear MYOS1634,
Could you please clarify your comment?

@MYOS1634 Could you please clarify your comment?

@havenoidea I was wondering if you could ask your son for some information about typical Richmond students. Are they friendly? Left-leaning? I am a feminist and also support gay rights. Just wonder how Richmond students would perceive my ideas. I have heard that haverford has an exchange program to london school of economics which would be really hepful for my econ degree. Also, I found out that Richmond has a pretty strict: there is only a handful of natural science courses you could take while haverford lets you have a choice from more than 160 courses. I don’t really enjoy science.

Only very very religious/conservative college students would have a problem with gay rights or actually LGBTQ rights. It would not be the case at Richmond.
As for science, they have Pollutants in the environment, Chemistry detectives, biochemistry in the real world, chemistry of cooking, chemistry in art, marine biology in the bay, astronomy… Lots to choose from (in addition to the traditional first year courses and the more advanced classes).
Finally, they offer a corporate finance track AND a very strong creative writing minor.

@MYOS1634 FSNC Natural Science, ChemistryCHEM 110 Pollutants in the EnvironmentCHEM 111 Chemistry Detectives: Solving Real-World PuzzlesCHEM 112 Biochemistry in the Real WorldCHEM 113 Catching Criminals with ChemistryCHEM 114 The Chemistry of Cooking and Modernist CuisineCHEM 115 Chemistry in ArtCHEM 141 Introductory Chemistry: Structure/Dynamics/SynthesisCHEM 191 Integrated Science/Math/Computer Science 3 with LaboratoryCHEM 192 Science, Math and Research Training IIENVR 110 Pollutants in the EnvironmentFSNP Natural Science, PhysicsPHYS 121 Astronomy with LabPHYS 125 Elements of Physics with LabPHYS 127 Algebra-Based General Physics 1 with LabPHYS 128 Algebra-Based General Physics 2 with LabPHYS 131 Calculus-Based General Physics 1 with LabPHYS 132 Calculus-Based General Physics 2 with LabPHYS 191 Integrated Science/Math/Computer Science 4 with Laboratory

I seem to have less choice at Richmond to choose from Natural Science courses.

Not sure how Haverford is different - Haverford offers one or two “non major” classes per science Dept. Per semester (Perspectives in Biology, Astronomical ideas…) The offerings seem actually broader at Richmond.

(Haverford is a GREAT college but you should choose it for the right reasons).

It sounds like you want Haverford. Maybe you should go with your gut as they are both great schools.

@Anna20021988 You seem to be all over the place. It’s difficult to get a sense of what you want.

  1. You say you want to study finance. Haverford doesn't offer finance.
  2. You say you want to also study creative writing/English/history. Both colleges offer that and you can study both finance and creative writing at Richmond.
  3. You say you don't like science but seem concerned about the number of science courses offered by each college.
  4. Both schools offer a myriad of natural science electives.
  5. Both colleges offer a study abroad program at the London School of Economics.

I don’t have a horse in this race so I’m not trying to persuade you one way or the other. It took me just a few minutes to search for these answers on each college’s respective websites. My sense is that you are looking for reasons not to go to Richmond.

You’ve received some detailed responses from other posters so I hope that you can feel good about which college you ultimately decide to attend. Good luck!

Could you send me the link of where you got the information?

@Dancingmom518 you got me. My gut says Haverford but my mind says Richmond. I don’t really know what to do.

@scholardad Haha you got me. My gut tells me to choose Haverford. I also really like it because of the Honor Code. However, richmond seems to be the best for my goals. Would you mind sharing your opinion with me. If you were in my position, which school would you choose?

@MYOS1634 sorry for confusing you.I am leaning towards Haverford because I really like the location( located in PA), and also the opportunity to connect with Swarthmore, BMC, UPenn( a school which I got rejected during ED).

One possible negative about Haverford. Its is very dominated by women, because Bryn Mawr is a women’s college and Haverford is about 52% or a little more, women. Since students mix freely between the two adjacent LACs, there is a definite dominance of women and less men to date if that matters to you.

The gender imbalance at Haverford/Bryn Mawr and the very small size makes socializing a bit more confined than a larger school like Richmond.

Haverford student body is focused on a very strong honor code. This means tests are not proctored.
Here is some ongoing discussion of this honor code. The writers here look to be excellent !
http://haverfordclerk.com/an-examination-of-precedent-in-the-current-honor-code-and-how-to-restore-it/
http://haverfordclerk.com/why-tyranny-of-the-majority-at-haverford-is-not-silencing-free-speech/

Richmond would be a larger student body with more students who may be preprofessionally focused.

Haverford is the more intellectual/liberal tight knit liberal arts campus.

Haverford seems somewhat sporty to me, especially the girls.

@Anna20021988 S and all his friends are left-leaning, and yes, the people are nice and support gay rights! I’m not sure where you’re getting all your misinformation. But, remember, you can’t take the Wharton classes you wanted when you were rejected. Haverford seems like it will satisfy your need to associate yourself with Penn, even if you can’t take the classes you’d really want, so go there. Scholardad hit the nail on the head!

I’m not going to comment on URichmond, which I think is a great college. I’m just going to comment on Haverford because I know much more about it than Richmond. It’s not dominated by women. Yes classes are shared in the consortium, and yes, most social events are open to both Haverford and BMC students, but honestly most of the BMC students are not spending tons of time at Haverford. They chose BMC for a reason.

Second, yes you can take Penn classes, and many students do. It’s not hard to get to Penn from Haverford. But I don’t think going to Haverford just so you can take a few classes at Penn is a good reason to choose the college. Students at Haverford want to be at Haverford, not Penn. The culture is very different from the one at Penn, so perhaps if you love the Wharton vibe Haverford isn’t a match.

Haverford is filled with students who lean to the quirky/intellectual side. It’s does not have the pre-professional vibe that Penn does. It’s not very sporty, despite the fact that many students are on athletic teams. It’s just another thing they might do on the side, not close to the most important thing they do.

I think you are looking at 2 great colleges and you need to take some time to think about them. Visit if you can. And then just go with whichever one fits you best.

Good luck deciding.