Bryn Mawr vs. Simmons

<p>DD accepted at both with merit aid at both. Simmons offered more and the honors program and, with the smaller tuition, will mean that we don’t have to borrow for Simmons but will for Bryn Mawr. Not huge amounts but we have a son 3 yrs behind and probably won’t get much merit aid. She’s done overnight stays at both but is seriously being lured by city life. I’ve always taught my children that lots of learning takes place outside the classroom (Boston) and debt is hard for an English or bio major. </p>

<p>She is going to choose Simmons but I am asking for the pros and cons of Simmons v Bryn Mawr. What can I tell her to make sure to put in the pro BM column? For the last year I was sure the she would pick BM. </p>

<p>I don’t know for sure what Simmons offers, but to the proverbial man on the street, Bryn Mawr is the one with the serious academic reputation. Simmons was always famous for combining basic liberal education with career-based training.
You could confirm that by checking out things like PhD production rates, law/medical school admissions, etc., not to mention basic things like student SAT scores. Again, nothing against Simmons, but the schools are coming from very different places.</p>

<p>@camilli I hear what you are saying. My H and I graduated from a highly prestigious university and I am having a harder time with this than my D. I don’t believe that SAT scores are a measure of a woman or a school. So apparently D has listened to everything we have said and is chosing a school that will further her academic development. It’s just that up until recently it was Bryn Mawr. The change has caught us by surprise. </p>

<p>While I can see how being right on the Fenway has its advantages, Bryn Mawr is a mere 20 minutes from Philadelphia, the country’s 5th largest city. It’s also two hours to New York and DC for weekend trips. I love having a distinct, classically collegiate campus, while still being able to take advantage of urban life. I agree with camilli that both schools, though women’s colleges, are structured very differently and bringing two different perspectives to the table. Through Bryn Mawr, and in turn the Seven Sisters, students have immense alumni resources in terms of networking and getting jobs. As a current senior and humanities major at Bryn Mawr, I was just hired for a full-time position by a Barnard grad - which is to say, the connections really do work! Bryn Mawr also has a lot of summer internship and research funding so your daughter could pursue an internship in New York or Philadelphia and not have to worry about rent, etc. While I know financial aid is tricky, Bryn Mawr is really a lifetime investment rather than just a four-year degree.</p>

<p>Maybe this will help: ask your D to list the criteria important to her, maybe she will let you add any categories that might be missing and give each a score from 0 to 3 with 3 being everything you could wish for and 0 being…0. It should lead you to a logical decision. D just did this and selected Bryn Mawr over Smith and Mt. Holyoke. </p>

<p>Thanks mom4. I’ll let you know how the exercise goes</p>

<p>Another exercise you and your daughter could do would be to look at the course catalogs for each school and map out her courses for the next 4 years for the majors that she’s interested in. She may find that the programs at one school look a lot more appealing than the other, or she may find that the differences are minor to her. Keep in mind that if she’s interested in biology, BMC and Haverford have complementary programs. If she’s interested in organismal biology or ecology she should look at the BMC program and courses, and if she’s interested in molecular biology, she should look at the Haverford program and courses. When my daughter did this with BMC and Smith, she found the academic programs equivalent, but doing the mom4art exercise, she found that she preferred Smith in almost every category (though she still liked BMC a lot). In any case, doing the exercises gave her (and us) confidence that she was making the right choice.</p>

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<p>^^ don’t know what this is</p>

<p>Thank you CC. In the end DD chose Simmons. She wrote me a surprisingly self reflective, well articulated note explaining how Simmons fits her personality, educational and personal goals. Guess I’m not surprised at how smart she is. </p>