Haverford College

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Counseling & Psychology at Haverford College

Haverford College appears in our ranking of the 50 Great Small Colleges for a Bachelor’s in Psychology.

Students have two options to study counseling and psychology at Haverford College with a major in psychology or a minor in psychology. Offered by the Department of Psychology, the major in psychology has three defined learning goals that students are meant to accomplish by the conclusion of their studies. Goals include gaining a broad understanding of human behavior, mastering the skills needed for research and meaningful contributions in the field, and learning how to treat behavior with an empirical approach.

There are several requirements within the major that include general research, discipline-specific research, a breadth requirement, and a senior project. One of the interesting facets of the programs at Haverford College is that students will complete a senior thesis project in their undergraduate program even though thesis projects are generally regarded as graduate school material.

Classes in psychology that students will take in the program include Foundations of Psychology, Experimental Methods and Statistics, and six additional courses in the areas of social & personality psychology, cognition, and biological psychology. For the thesis project, students may choose to enroll in two semesters of empirical senior research or complete a one-semester senior thesis project along with an additional semester of an advanced psychology course.

The program offers students the option of concentrating in a specific area or adding an interdisciplinary minor to their studies. Students may choose a minor in neuroscience, a multidisciplinary health studies minor, or a concentration in education. The concentration in education is part of the Bryn Mawr-Haverford Education Program and allows students to participate in classroom and teaching experiences.

Additionally, students may study abroad in the fall or spring of their junior year. The college recommends that students complete their psychology major classes while studying domestically and take classes in other disciplines during the study abroad session. Students who want to take psychology classes while studying abroad must obtain approval from the department to enroll in those classes.

Students who major in another area and choose a minor in psychology at Haverford College will need to complete six credits in psychology that include Foundations of Psychology and five additional courses from the areas of biological psychology, cognition, and social & personality psychology.

Some of the available courses for majors and minors in psychology include Personality Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Cognitive Neuroscience. Students may also take The Psychology of Stereotyping and Prejudice, First Language Acquisition, Health Psychology, Narrative Identity, Laboratory in the Psychology of Time, or Asian American Psychology.

About Haverford College

Haverford College is a private college in Pennsylvania that was founded in 1833 by a group of Quakers in Philadelphia. The institution was originally all-male and wouldn’t start admitting females until the 1970s. The school would become officially coeducational in 1980. Today, all students are enrolled in undergraduate programs and almost all who attend live on campus. The college is no longer formally affiliated with the Quakers, but the religious denomination’s influence remains at the institution.

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Around 1,300 students attend the college, which sits on a campus of 216 acres. Through the Tri-College Consortium, students may take classes at Swarthmore College or Bryn Mawr College while enrolled at Haverford College. The college’s official colors are black and scarlet, and its students are nicknamed the Fords when they participate in team events.

Haverford College Accreditation Details

Haverford College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which accredits institutions of higher learning in Pennsylvania and states along the Atlantic Seaboard. The accrediting agency is recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and is also accepted by the Council for Higher Education. The college underwent reaffirmation of its accreditation in 2010 and completes its self-study for another accreditation cycle in 2020.

The college is also authorized to award its degrees by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The college is affiliated with the Annapolis Group, which is an organization of independent liberal arts colleges and the Oberlin Group, which is a non-profit organization of liberal arts colleges. Additionally, the college is part of the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges, which is another non-profit organization that was founded in 1984.

Haverford College Application Requirements

Haverford College is known as a very competitive college and has a very selective acceptance rate. Less than 17 percent of applicants are accepted for admission. Virtually all applicants are in the top ten percent of their graduating high school class, and the median SAT score for the average student is 1490. To apply to Haverford College, students will first submit the Common Application, as well as a personal statement. The college also requires a Common Application Supplement form and an Honor Code essay.

Applicants will also send standardized test results, a school report with the most recent transcript information available, and two teacher evaluations. Evaluations must come from teachers of English, math, social studies, science, or a foreign language. The process also requires a $65 application fee. Some students may need to submit supplementary materials for their intended program.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Tuition for all students at Haverford College is $56,200 for the year. Students are also charged a student activity fee of $498. A room on campus is $9,790 per year, and a meal plan is $6,980 per year. The total expected cost of attending Haverford College is $73,468. First-year students will also pay an orientation fee of $254, which is charged in the fall term.

The average student at Haverford College is offered grant aid of more than $50,000 per year, and 47 percent of students attending the college receive some type of college grant. Around 50 percent of students receive some type of financial aid. The Office of Financial Aid operates under a program that guarantees all students that demonstrate financial need receive financial aid. Transfer students, waiting list students, and international students are also eligible for aid packages.

Students who have a family income of less than $60,000 will not have loans included in their financial aid award, and families with higher incomes will usually only have to apply for loans between $1,500 to $3,000 per year. Haverford College has an interesting program known as the Haverford Student Loan Debt Relief Fund, which helps students during the transition from college to full-time work and is a $2 million endowment fund.

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