Someone suggested I should post here, and I’m happy to be helpful. This is the original thread. I was asking about what it might be like for a trans woman at Bryn Mawr, but we also viewed Haverford and Swarthmore, and I talked about our impressions of the three schools. I don’t think you’d need to be trans to find something of interest in the subjective reviews.
In short–Bryn Mawr definitely won out due to the beauty of the campus, genuine friendliness of everyone we met, sense of community, interesting traditions, and quirkiness.
But it also feels like you get two to three schools in one since you are so close to Haverford and semi close to Swarthmore.
Other schools we have visited and liked are Brandeis (kind of similar vibe to Bryn Mawr but co-ed with Jewish history) and VCU arts (because suddenly my kid decided she might like art school). She also liked Tufts, but I really think that had to do a lot with a great tour guide and the story about Jumbo the elephant.
Schools we’re visited and she didn’t like–Northeastern and BU (both TOO in a big city), UVA (she spent part of a summer there…but we haven’t toured…just think it’s too big, sporty and Greek, and not CLOSE enough to a big city), and William and Mary. We really wanted to like it but didn’t.