Haverford College - Campus Housing

The dorms are awesome; almost...

The dorms are awesome; almost everyone gets a single, and they're beautiful. Avoid the apartments as a freshman because they're very detached from the rest of campus. Choose Barclay or Gummere--they're both beautiful and very central.

The freshman have three options...

The freshman have three options for housing at Haverford: Barclay, Gummere, or HCA. Barclay was one of the first buildings on campus, and has sets of triples, doubles, and singles. The triples are really a suite of three individual rooms, the middle (and largest) of which opens onto the hallway. The doubles are standard but very large doubles, and there are three or four singles on each hallway. Barclay has nice wide hallways with carpeted rooms, and the windows are large and let in lots of light. The ceilings in Barclay are also high, making the rooms seem larger. Gummere is made up entirely of singles, but the rooms and hallways are smaller, and the bathrooms are windowless. Gummere was built to be "riot proof," which explains its very confusing layout and winding hall/stair combinations. But having a single is a great thing, anyway. The third freshman option is HCA, or the Haverford College Apartments. These are also available for upperclassmen, and are really nice if you want to simulate "real life." The apartments each have a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, and one or two bedrooms, with anywhere from 2 to 4 people living in the apartment together. The upperclassmen dorms are nice options: the North dorms are usually peopled with sophomores and juniors, and are suites of 4 or 5 singles with a common room. Leeds is usually occupied by juniors or seniors (also suites of 5 with a common room), and Lloyd is reserved for seniors. There are also a few pseudo-off-campus residents.

Two-thirds of Haverford live in...

Two-thirds of Haverford live in dorms. Only Barclay (a primarily freshman dorm) has doubles or triples. Everywhere else, you have a (somewhat small) room to yourself. A third of the campus lives in the Haverford College Apartments (HCA). They’re a couple extra minutes walk to the rest of the campus, but the Apartments are nice because you can cook for yourself in them, and you have more room. The only downside is that you will almost definitely have a roommate. Haverford is good at pairing people up, though.

Dorms are great—mostly singles....

Dorms are great—mostly singles. Gummere, Barclay, and the Apartments are where freshmen live. Apartments have the most room, but they are a little farther from campus. Gummere is close to everything, and there are good parties in the basement. Barclay has nicer rooms than Gummere and is located closer to everything, but there isn’t as much going on during the weekends there.

Freshmen get Gummere, Barclay, or...

Freshmen get Gummere, Barclay, or the Apartments. Gummere has a nice sense of camaraderie, while Barclay has the nicer facilities. The Apartments have their own vibe—laid-back, a little bit set off from campus. In general, the dorms are nice mainly because it’s easy to get a single if you want one, and room sizes are quite good.