Bryn Mawr is at or near the top of D’s list (she’s a rising junior so it’s still early days).
My question: How important is it that she visit and also like Haverford too? It seems like the schools are so linked that your experience of BMC would necessarily be affected by your experience of and reaction to Haverford vibe/culture. Or can you pass a perfectly pleasant and productive 4 years at Bryn Mawr without ever going over to Haverford, taking classes there, interacting with students and faculty? (FWIW, she’s thinking of majoring in psychology but also does a lot of visual art which I know is all over at Haverford.)
Basically trying to decide how much to insist on a Haverford visit at this point as part of determining interest in BMC.
Did she visit Bryn Mawr yet? Because it would be super quick to hop over and at least walk around Haverford. If she isn’t applying ED, then she could go both if she is accepted and goes to accepted student days. Applying isn’t choosing, unless it is ED.
I’m with @intparent She should visit since they are so close together. But no, she is under no obligation to “like” Haverford. So she may opt not to apply, but certainly no harm to visit.
Are you asking about Haverford because of Bryn Mawr’s academic partnership with them? I believe you can register for classes at Haverford … Swarthmore and Penn, as well. Pretty sure Bryn Mawr provides a shuttle to Haverford and Swarthmore, but students would take train to Penn.
Agree with others - check it out. They are just a short drive from one another.
No obligation for her to take classes anywhere but Bryn Mawr if she is happy with Bryn Mawr’s course catalog!
Some Haverford students may show up in her classes, dining halls, parties and activities, and probably there is a bit of dating between the schools. So if someone has a problem with men being in some of their classes and around their campus, it would be better to go to a more isolated all-women’s college. (Not implying this is true of the OP.)
Otherwise, you are picking Bryn Mawr as your college, not Haverford. You do not have to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the consortium.* But you need to be okay with the fact that other people will.
*Edit: sorry, I missed that you mentioned she might want to study visual arts at Haverford. So she might end up taking advantage of the consortium. I don’t think she needs to become a Haverford expert beforehand, but maybe try to learn a little about their visual arts programs if this will be an important part of her college experience.
It’s easy to see both of you are visiting one. If only to make sure that after enrolling at BMC, she doesn’t regret that she’s not a student at Haverford.
Many women apply to both BMC and Haverford. If you like what the Bi-College Consortium has to offer, why not take two shots at admissions and financial aid, instead of just one? Men don’t have this option, but women do.
Well you all have convinced me to encourage her to visit Haverford (it’s easy, we’re nearby). I’m frankly more worried about her having a lukewarm response to Haverford that will spill over to her impression of BMC (which she’s already visited) than I am about her ending up at BMC and having any regrets that she’s not at Haverford!
I would not worry about that. It’s like worrying about having a negative reaction to Penn because one listed Drexel or a negative reaction to Harvard because one listed MIT. If she doesn’t like Haverford (and let’s not go in assuming that will be the case), I’m sure she’s old enough to decide to dislike Haverford on its own merits. 
I personally think just a drive though / walk around Haverford’s campus would be sufficient. And look up their visual arts offerings online or while you are there. It’s a lovely campus.
It’s a little different, @skieurope, as the 2 schools run as a bi-college and all fine/visual arts are on the Haverford campus which isn’t the same relationship for Penn/Drexel and Harvard/MIT.
Concur with doschicos; I’d say the BMC-HAV relationship is closer to that of the Claremont schools in California.
For the OP, one key bit of info is missing: what your daughter’s academic interests are. I would assume that if she’s looking at BMC, she takes school seriously. Take a look at the offerings HAV and BMC offer separately and what they offer jointly. My son is a STEM major at HAV and has had BMC students for lab partners. He knows male HAV students who are in majors offered only at BMC and knows BMC students who cross-major at HAV. Not sure how/whether HAV’s thesis requirement impacts BMC students taking a major at HAV.
Meal plans at one are accepted at the other. Everyone generally gets along fine.
Don’t know what your finances are, but be aware that while BMC offers merit aid, HAV does not.
My D went to BMC. She took a few classes at Haverford, many of her classmates studied only at BMC, one took classes at Penn. One was very involved in theater and was so involved at H, you’d barely have known she was a Bryn Mawr student. Some of this depends on major and if your D is interested in a major that is housed at Haverford, it is worth looking at that department and the classes offered. Even if she stays on her home campus, there are classes that draw Haverford kids in-the Cities program, for example, is housed only at BMC and draws students from both campuses.
My D’s social life was BMC-centered. This varies from student to student but it’s very much a personal choice.
ECs may be bi-co activities and housed at one or the other campus. My D played in the bi-co orchestra which met at Haverford. She worked with a professor over the summer and the research was also based at Haverford. She participated in committees that were BMC-specific and played on BMC teams.
It’s worth visiting both schools. They are literally down the road from each other. I wouldn’t worry about not liking H. Even if she doesn’t love it the same way as BMC, and ends up taking classes there, her home would still be at Bryn Mawr and she would have the ability to structure her world the way she chooses.
I think there is strong cultural overlap between the schools, with some obvious differences arising from single sex at BMC and Quaker tradition at Hford. Broadly, both schools attract serious, engaged students who value community and collaboration and are turned off by the kind of environment where there is a lot of competition among students or “grade grubbing” attitudes. Neither school is “rah-rah” sporty – Haverford hasn’t had a football team in 35+ years – though students will cheer on their friends. The overlap in campus culture is one reason why the BiCo community works – there is so much similarity across the two campuses, that the students come together, in class, dining halls, and ECs, comfortably.
To answer your question more specifically (as a BiCo alum) – I don’t think it is important to visit Haverford early in the process, if her primary focus will be BMC. Of course, it is easy to do if you are planning a visit to BMC, but I think it is appropriate to focus on BMC in the beginning of the visit process. However, if it were a question about deciding whether to apply ED to BMC, then certainly in 11th grade she should visit the Visual Arts department at Haverford.
My kid is a BMC alum and is now getting an MFA at Brown. She had an independent major and took classes at both BMC and Haverford. Depending on one’s major and preference there are many opportunities for BMC students to take courses at some or all of the tri-co schools (BMC, Haverford, and Swarthmore). It’s easiest logistically to go between Haverford and Bryn Mawr. They’re probably a mile apart–my D often walked to her courses at Haverford.
One’s major also plays a part in this whole mix–my D took lots of theater classes (which were all at BMC–it was a beautiful new theater). Her roommate was a music major and took most of her music classes at Haverford. Another example–D had a friend from high school who was a student at Swarthmore. Her friend majored in geology and all of the upper level geology courses for the Tri-co were at Bryn Mawr.
If BMC is at the top of your D’s list then she should start there–visit, explore options for her major and get the feel of the campus culture. If she wants to check out Haverford, it would be easy, but not necessary. The ability to take courses from three great LACs was something that proved attractive for my kid.
My daughter visited both schools but Bryn Mawr was a clear winner from the day during a snowstorm that she visit
ed, She’s a senior this year and has taken classes at both as well as Swarthmore and UPenn.