My child is interested in applying to Haverford and may be interested in playing a sport. Can anyone advise a bit more fully about the campus culture related to sports?
@ballerdad64 this might be one place to start: http://haverfordclerk.com/the-athlete-non-athlete-relationship-at-haverford-college/
When my son (lacrosse) was home I asked him about an athlete/non athlete divide and his answer was âItâs there if you want it to be. Itâs not there if you donât want it to be.â His girlfriend is not an athlete.
A few things to consider regarding being an athlete at Haverford (my son is one):
- Athletes get no preferential treatment with admissions; you have to get in based on your own merits/accomplishments. Coaches will have recruited athletes submit grades and test scores after their junior year of high school to get a âpre-readâ from admissions. The pre-read merely lets the coach know whether the athlete is within the ballpark compared to other likely applicants; it is not a âlikely letterâ or an any way a guarantor of admission.
- Recruited athletes who commit are typically asked to apply early decision. There are recruited athletes each year who are denied admission.
- In light of #2 above, coaches sometimes have to make due with whomever is able to get in. There are kids on just about every team who were not recruited. Many, if not most, teams do not have cuts. That said, Haveford has produced many All-Americans over the years and a few national champions.
- Pay very close attention to the academic profile of recently admitted classes. How does your child stack up? It is very important to be realistic. If the school is a reach, they might struggle academically if they get in. Academics at Haverford are serious business and the student body is comprised of highly intelligent and typically highly motivated folks. Throw college-level athletic commitments (lifting sessions, film sessions, practices, games, travel) into the mix, and the degree of difficulty increases yet again. It should be noted that the academic support network at Haverford is terrific and professors are typically extremely accessible.
- Haverford does not have a ârah-rahâ culture like its neighbor Villanova, where the student body is highly enthusiastic in its support of the schoolâs teams. Haverford students like to support their friends in their endeavors, be it sports, musical/dance recitals, plays, etc.
- The Haverford athletics department does not have a huge budget. Depending on the sport, athletes might have to pay for their own equipment. The department typically pays for gameday uniforms, while practice gear might be paid for by the athletes.
- Most teams do not have permanent locker facilities and rotate out when their seasons are over. None of the locker rooms have shower facilities on their own; their are shower rooms nearby. No fancy lounges in the locker rooms, either.
- Haverford classes typically end by 4pm each day and the coaches are relatively flexible with conflicts.
- Athletes and non-athletes typically get along, but there are always exceptions. Last fall, a small group of students wanted the entire student body to participate in a day of service; a noble idea consistent with the schoolâs history. In order to achieve this, the students wanted classes and all other activities cancelled, including intercollegiate sports. Long story short, the administration denied the request (while praising the intent) due to myriad external commitments, including games with other schools. There are some students who feel that athletes are spoiled and get treated disproportionately well compared to other students; this is a very small but vocal minority.
- Teams at Haverford tend to by drivers in the on-campus social scene.
- For the 2017-2018 academic year, Haverford had the most student-athletes on the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll (sophomores, juniors, and seniors with cumulative GPAs of 3.4 or higher).
- My son enjoys being part of a team where everyone puts academics first yet also competes to win.
Best of luck with your decision!
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Hugely helpful. Thank you very much.
I will wholeheartedly second everything that @o2bdownsouth mentioned. My daughter is an athlete heading into her second year at Haverford. She definitely found her tribe and I love our fellow field hockey parents!
@o2bdownsouth your Comments on 1 and 2 seem diametrically opposed⊠Coaches offer zero support resulting in admissions weight with Adcom, yet expect a recruited athlete to apply Early with a level of confidence akin to the standard pool? Please do clarify. Iâm not talking about a 3.1 1280 / 29 ACT student-athlete but am A- AP student with very high 1400s/low 1500 SATs who âfitsâ otherwise. And who doesnât require FA and not from PA.
It isnât that coaches offer no support. A coach recommendation does carry some weight and most recruited athletes do get admitted. The difference between Haverford and other selective LAC (specifically NESCAC) is that the coaches cannot guarantee admission to any particular recruit. While there are some recruited athletes that are denied admission the vast majority of recruited athletes are accepted. In my sonâs recruiting class there was one athlete that did not get in. I know another player (older than my son) who did not get in. He was a good student as he was accepted at Washington & Lee where he was not recruited so we are still miffed about why he did not get in Haverford.
@proudpatriot NESCAC coaches can not guarantee admission to any recruit. What you describe for Haverford sounds exactly like how recruiting works at NESCAC schools, as well as many other schools including DIs and DIIs - âwhile there are some recruited athletes that are denied admission the vast majority of recruited athletes are acceptedâ
@Mwfan1921 - My experience with NESCAC coaches is that if you ask them what their success rate is with recent recruits they will all tell you 100% (at least for football and lacrosse). If a NESCAC coach wants a kid and they kid passes the initial pre read with admissions they are in nearly 100% of the time. While the coaches do not guarantee admissions they generally get 100% of the kids that get a positive pre read from admissions. That is not as reliably true at Haverford.
NESCAC coaches have âslotsâ, where if the athlete is within certain academic parameters, as determined by the positive â pre-readâ, the coach can tell admissions they want the student, and that student, if they apply ED, will be accepted. There are an agreed upon number of âslotsâ per sport, so no one NESCAC School has an advantage over the others. For example, for swimming, it was 4.
Haverford, from what I have heard, has no slots, but the coach can offer a âprereadâ and admissions can review the test scores and grades and offer a non-binding opinion.
The coaches seem to have some influence over admissions, but there isnât the luxury of a âslot.â
My DD was given a âhighly positiveâ pre-read. She decided not to apply ED, preferring Bowdoin where with coach support but no âslotâ she was rejected, and her RD application to Haverford was accepted. Coach stated â you will still be supported thru regular admissionsâ but we have no idea how much that was a factor.