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Haverford College Profile

Lower Merion County, Pennsylvania

Haverford College Profile

Founded in 1833, Haverford College is a small private liberal arts institution located in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion County/ Main Line. The school itself is actually situated geographically within the residential community of Haverford Pennsylvania. The footprint of the site is split into 4 large facilities including a park like landscape off College Lane called Merion Field, a sports facility on the western edge called Walton Field, an apartment complex for upper classman on the southern edge called Haverford Apartments, and finally the main campus in the middle which links the campus together with a several large grassy areas around Founders, and Lloyd Halls. Haverford is unique because it has a large suburban school feel to it, while still being small in regard to student population. The campus also has several buildings with Gothic architecture that are beautiful to look at. These historic buildings make the campus look very big, but it feels smaller than the observed geographical footprint.

The college has a large footprint of approximately 200 acres of park like property within the Main Line suburb of Philadelphia. The physical layout observes numerous historic buildings shared by students, and local residents. The campus itself has approximately 72 buildings including lecture, residential, research, and dining facilities that were originally designed by William Carvill, a famous English landscape architect of his time. The overall physical layout of the campus is typical of a college setting with wide sidewalks; grass field meeting places, and park like benches but the campus building architecture is far from typical.

The pedestrian flow of traffic within the facility was centered mainly between the Quads outside of Leeds Hall, Magill Library, and the grassy areas around the residence halls and Founders Hall. The Whitehead Campus Center in the southeast corner of the campus also had heavy pedestrian traffic during my visit. My student tour guide also told me that the campus center stays busy at all hours of the day when school is in session. The campus buildings and open spaces were also very clean and well maintained during my observations. These open spaces allow students the ability to interact with each other in a non-educational manner due to the high number of observed meeting places on campus.

Haverford students, faculty, and employees enjoy a community, within a community lifestyle in regard to on, and off campus activities and resources. The college also provides several critical student resources including student housing on campus for all 4 years, which helps students connect with each other throughout the year. Haverford is a beautiful campus that has maintained it’s local roots despite it’s growth, and national appeal.

The published demographic information for the college describes a culturally diverse student population with students from all across the world. Haverford College has developed a large campus community to offer students an excellent Liberal Arts and Science educational format to enhance it’s commitment to different types of career endeavors. Haverford College: The College is home to relatively small campus population of approximately 546 male, and 622 female full time students. The average age of a freshman is 18 years old. 15% of students are from Pennsylvania. Others are from 48 states, and 38 foreign countries. Students on campus provide a diverse multi-cultural makeup including 69% of students are white, 12% Asian Americans, 7% are Black, 8% are Hispanic, and 4% are the race is unknown.

Published Academic Standards for Admission Programs

Haverford College has a large educational system for a small private school, which offers Liberal Arts, and Sciences programs. Below is a specific list of under graduate admission requirements.

Freshman Class: 3,492 applied, 877 accepted, 315 enrolled. SAT Verbal 690, SAT Math 690. Application Deadline Regular Decision: January 15.

Student Housing

The purpose of student housing is to provide safe and reasonable accommodations for students living away from home. The issue of housing and dormitory life is a critical element of overall campus life because students spend a large amount of time in their rooms. Student housing units historically come in 3 different styles including traditional corridor, suite, and apartment style units.

Haverford College guarantees on campus housing for all four years through a lottery system. The college also has a unique way of providing housing for students. The college doesn’t have freshman dorms, it has upper classmen living on the floors so new students can learn, what they need to learn about the school in a more relaxed fashion. Information about housing can be found on the quick links page of this document.

Off Campus Housing

Haverford has been described as a small private college within an affluent residential community. The reason I have mentioned the overall community is to re-assert the point that school’s network of facilities, along with several other private K-12 schools has encapsulated the real estate holdings in the area. The campus footprint allows every student to have housing within walking distance to college facilities. The issue of off campus housing has a different feel to it compared to other university housing demands. The college itself has 98% of it’s student population living on campus which reduces the need, or demand for off campus housing. Students who want off campus housing can find information about available resources on the quick links page.

Campus Life

Haverford College is a multi-cultural campus environment that provides students with an outstanding social, and educational atmosphere. The admissions demographics paint a picture of a very diverse community with students from all over the world. The local suburban community of Main Line only adds to the universities international status because the community has multi-cultural roots as well. Haverford College addresses the issue of ecology in a positive way with the campus being registered as a national historical site. And finally, the campus was clean and well maintained and the economic conditions are favorable to students and local residents due to the available services in walking distance to the school.

The emotional climate of the entire community is positive because students are involved with local community, and campus groups through the college’s Civic Engagement program. An observation of this very positive emotional climate can be found by looking at the endless student flyers posted throughout the campus on walls, doors, windows, and light poles. These flyers describe upcoming activities and they invite all students to enjoy the clubs, performing arts, and public discussions on world events. Haverford’s students also enjoying displaying personal items in their residence doorways, which highlights the school’s, honor code.

Social networking beyond the campus walls is also a very important issue to be observed at Haverford. Students at the college are encouraged to participate in externships with alumni to gain real world experience in each student’s major. These programs, along with internships, and global learning centers offer valuable information for students studying abroad, which helps round out their individual educational activities on campus.

This issue of school culture and emotional attachment is also a very important part of campus life because everyone wants to have a connection and emotional fit to their new school and community. The college has done a great job developing positive social systems with it’s students by providing a series of coordinated programs including workshops and seminars for freshman students. This type of process provides a foundation for learning and personal growth providing over 75 academic, and athletic clubs, and student organizations. Haverford also has 6 intramural activities for men, and women. Finally, Haverford has 10 NCAA Division III team sports for men, and 12 for women to watch, and participate in. Haverford has no “Greek Organizations on campus.

Campus life at Haverford can be considered intellectual, and social due to several notable student venues including the Whitehead campus, and the Gardner athletic centers which are the main student recreational centers on campus. The college also has a performing arts venue that provides entertainment, and educational programs within the MacCrate Recital Hall. These on campus facilities allows students to enjoy more than academic excellence, it gives them the opportunity to develop social relationships by experiencing school sports, performing arts, history, cultural events, restaurants, and local museums together.

Haverford has also developed a “Tri-College Consortium” with Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr Colleges that allows students from each of these institutions to share educational, and social resources throughout the year. These schools are located within a short drive of the college within the suburban Philadelphia community of Main Line. Students receive daily shuttle services to all three schools to maintain these newly acquired relationships. Haverford also provides it’s students with cross-registration educational resources with the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Students at Haverford also have the ability to enjoy suburban sports activities within the Delaware Valley including it’s consortium schools and big institutions like Villanova and Saint Joseph’s. These schools participate on the big stage in regard to Division I NCAA sports including the Big East Conference. Students can enjoy these big campus sports events within several local colleges throughout the year. Students can also enjoy cultural, and social events on these campuses, or take the train to Philadelphia to enjoy big city life.

Public Transportation

Campus transportation resources for students are available through the college’s shuttle system, which provides van service for daily classes, student activities, and links to local shopping and restaurants. This service is crucial to students who don’t have cars because it provides transportation services to the entire community. Haverford’s students also have a high-speed (SEPTA) station on Lancaster Avenue, which runs along the Norristown Line. This service usually takes 20 minutes to arrive in the city according to school officials.

The school’s van service provides reliable transportation to students who don’t, or can’t have vehicles on campus. The college also has a very large number of out of state students who don’t know the streets and highways very well. Knowing the area is key because students who come from local states may know the area better and may be able to walk or drive to local destinations. Foreign, and out of state students might opt to take a bus or train to their destination because they don’t want to risk getting lost on local roads.

Community Profile

The Township of Haverford has been described as an affluent suburban town within commuter distance to a major city. The town itself has grown around it’s local college with students, and local residents enjoying the Main Line community’s economical, and cultural landscape. The township has also been described as a student friendly community with several private colleges, and k-12 schools situated along Lancaster Avenue. Haverford also has an intellectual side due to its historical neighborhood architecture and close physical relationship to the above-mentioned schools. The township is favorable to students and local residents because it offers a local pedestrian walkway on Lancaster Avenue, which links students, visitors, and local residents to a large number of restaurants and local shops within the walking distance to the campus.

The community has a small city feel to it when you are walking to neighborhood parks and eateries on the southern edge of town. Residents and students also enjoy several social destinations on Lancaster Avenue including nightclubs, movie theatres, and food stores which are in walking distance to the campus. The walk from Haverford’s eastern edge to the above-mentioned meeting places is approximately 10 minutes. Students can also walk off the campus to the town train station to find the Norristown Line for (SEPTA), which provides public transportation to the City of Philadelphia.

The Township of Haverford is located within the northeastern area of the state, which makes it convenient to several suburban communities and highway networks. SEPTA provides high-speed rail service in the area with the Norristown Line. This rail corridor links to the 30th Street Station which is a main link to several different commuter trains and the northeast corridor. The 30th Street Station also links to Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, and the Philadelphia International Airport via the R-1 line. Haverford also has several main roadways that connect the community to major state highways including Routes 1, 76 and 476 that links to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and Interstate 95. Shopping, restaurants, and hotel chains can be found within these major transportation networks after a short drive from the campus. Appendix #1 on the back page of this profile lists several of observed resources in close proximity to the school.

The following demographics for Haverford Township describe a multi-cultural community within a total population of 48,044 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Haverford College has strong relationships with the township because they share community services including public safety, and cultural resources. An example of this commitment can be observed through the college’s community services handbook that describes educational programs, health care programs and services, legal programs and services to local residents who may require community help.

A Census Bureau community survey highlights several characteristics to describe the population including: 47.5% residents are male, 52.5 are female. 94% of residents are white, 2% are African American, 1 % is Hispanic or Latino, and 3% are Asian. The median age of population is 39 years old. 75% of residents are 18 years old or over, 72 % are over 21, and 17% of township residents is over the age of 65. The issue of housing in Haverford is also interesting. 98% of all housing units within the township are occupied. 15% of housing units are renter-occupied, while 85% of units are owner-occupied. Only 2% of total available housing was vacant.

Local weather

Weather is also an issue to consider for students preparing for a college experience. Haverford enjoys all four seasons of weather including rain and snow. Northeast weather patterns sometimes allow for temperatures to drop below 32 degrees for a considerable amount of time during the winter. Pennsylvania also gets it’s share of rain during the spring and summer months as well. A strong indicator of pedestrian traffic around the university can be identified by the northeast weather patterns. Student parking within close proximity to university buildings and student shuttle services help reduce the exposure literally and figuratively.

Haverford College Quick Links Page

Restaurants on the Main Line (Lancaster Avenue) in Suburban Philadelphia

Below is a sample list of local restaurants on the main line (Lancaster Avenue) in Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Rosemont, Wynnewood, and Ardmore Pennsylvania. These restaurants are in close proximity to several suburban Philadelphia schools including, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Villanova, and St. Joe’s. National restaurant chains & shopping resources can be found on Route 78, 476, and 22. Complete information about hotels, restaurants, shopping, museums, and general tourism activities can be found in the document “ Everything Philadelphia” on the Your College Profile web site.

Bryn Mawr/ Haverford Restaurants

Ardmore Restaurants

Wynnewood Restaurants

Rosemont Restaurants

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