My daughter (class of 2025) was admitted to the several women’s colleges (see below) and we’re wondering what sets each of them apart. She has not been able to visit in person due to Covid, so wants to find out about the intangibles like vibe as we most likely can’t visit before responses are due (we are in CA).
In particular, she is looking for serious academics with an academically inclined student body and culture, strong theater opportunities, she’s interested in studying linguistics/English/history/anthropology. She’s looking for a tight-knit community that supports each other and that is not cut-throat. She would like an engaged, energetic group of people and a place with strong student-professor relationships. Also, can anyone speak to the health and wellness centers at each school and how they handle mental health issues.
Thanks so much for your input.
Bryn Mawr - Presidential scholarship
Smith - unknown merit aid
Mount Holyoke - 21st Century Scholarship
Scripps - no merit aid
Wellesley - waitlisted
Barnard - still waiting
My D is a Bryn Mawr grad and she’d say that BMC meets all of your daughter’s requirements–not cutthroat, strong academics, strong student-professor relationships, supportive community, theater opportunities, etc. Also, there’s a beautiful new theater and BMC offers theater courses; there are lots of opportunities for students to be involved in Haverford/BMC productions as well as productions at Swarthmore. My D took a number of theater courses and also did a theater program in Moscow while at BMC. She felt that BMC prepared her to continued her theater studies and she finished an MFA in acting from Brown in 2019.
Good luck to your daughter. If she can visit, it should give her some idea of the differences at the various colleges. Personally, i think all of the women’s colleges provide a great education.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. I too agree that it seems like all of the women’s colleges offer so much for young women who want a stellar education and collegial college experience. Can she speak to the alumni network post college? As BMC is the smallest of the remaining sister colleges does she feel that it is sufficiently helpful? Also, as an alum of a sister college, is there a wider alum network as well? Finally, how was her experience with the health center? Does she know how they’ve handled mental health issues in the past? Thanks again! Such a difficult decision with so many great options, just trying to get as much info as possible!
I am new at all of this, too. My D21 is attending Wellesley in the fall and I have fallen in love with women’s colleges already. While researching, we definitely heard that the HWC (historical women’s colleges) network is strong. And since she was accepted in ED1, my D has loved getting to know people both on the Wellesley discord and the HWC discord. She hasn’t even started yet and she is meeting and connecting with students attending the various women’s colleges in the fall. I really love that.
My daughter is a first year at Mount Holyoke; she looked at Bryn Mawr, Smith and MHC, along with some other LACs and a few larger schools. She immediately fell in love with both MHC and Bryn Mawr; there are some distinctive differences between the two, but I think she would have been very happy at either. She is thrilled with her first year experience at MHC, by the way, even during a COVID year. Smith has a slightly more “serious” feel to it, in her opinion, although I think all of the HWCs will have a very academically inclined student body by nature. Both Bryn Mawr and MHC seemed to have a particularly supportive student body - this was big on my Ds list as well; I’m sure all of your D’s options will have excellent student-professor relationships. I can tell you that I’ve been very impressed with my D’s account of her interactions with professors at MHC. She has really enjoyed all of her classes this year, even in an online setting. Other factors for her decision: she loved the MHC and Bryn Mawr campuses…they really are beautiful. And from what she read (not first hand experience, I should note), the food at Smith was not as highly regarded (important to her)! She did love that all three schools were part of a consortium, and I agree that it is nice to have an option to take classes at a different campus setting.
I cannot speak to the departments at MHC just yet, nor can I speak to the health and wellness centers. She is just now on campus for the first time this spring.
Good luck in your decision, she already has some amazing options! I hope the online resources and, if you’re lucky, some campus visits, will help highlight the best fit for her.
Net price at each, and are you as the parent able and willing to pay the net price without parent loans or making it hard to save for your retirement or (if any) younger kids’ college costs?
I am an alumna of Mount Holyoke and loved my experience there. I was in the class ahead of Wendy Wasserstein '71 who won the Pulitzer Prize for drama for her play “The Heidi Chronicles.” She was known to have put a Mount Holyoke reference in each of her plays that only we alumnae would recognize. Her first play, “Uncommon Women and Others” was about her friends from Mount Holyoke. Meryl Streep was in the movie version which may be viewed online and, even though dated, gives a good idea of what some of the traditions are at Mount Holyoke. Another alumna, Suzan Lori-Parks '94, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama for “Top Dog - Underdog” in 2002 --the first African-American woman to win the award. She was inspired by Wendy Wasserstein and also one of her professors, James Baldwin, who was a Five College professor at Hampshire with whom she studied short story writing while Ms. Parks was attending Mount Holyoke. The theater program at Mount Holyoke is very much a collaborative endeavor with the other area colleges (Amherst, Smith, U Mass, and Hampshire). The faculty-student ratio at Mount Holyoke is 9 to 1 and so students have plenty of opportunities to cultivate relationships with faculty members. When I was there (many years ago) it was great fun to invite faculty for dinner and faculty often had students over for social gatherings in their homes. I do not know about the mental health offerings at the College but imagine that they have been enhanced during this year of the pandemic. I am sure that you may learn about that by asking during the numerous virtual events offered to newly admitted students. Congratulations on being awarded a 21st Century scholarship. That is a very high honor!
My daughter had pretty much the same list of women’s colleges to choose from I am sure she would have had a great experience at any of them, but she chose Scripps and she raves about it. It is an easily walkable consortium, which is a huge advantage and greatly expands the opportunities. There’s a collaborative environment and the teaching and mentoring has been fabulous.
Since it’s in a five college consortium, it feels like a midsize college in many ways, but each college has its own culture, traditions, and core curriculum.
I am sure she would have had a great experience at any of them, but she chose Scripps and she raves about it. It is an easily walkable consortium, which is a huge advantage and greatly expands the opportunities. There’s a collaborative environment and the teaching and mentoring has been fabulous.