I would like to come back here and update anyone who finds and reads this thread. My daughter attended Bryn Mawr and graduated last May. In fact she often did feel a lot of stress while attending Bryn Mawr. She also took many classes at Haverford, a couple at Penn, and one at Swat and her report was that Swat seems more pressured but Haverford students seem a little (at least on the outside) more easy going, and the particular Penn classes she took were actually less rigorous and less stressful than those she took at Bryn Mawr. However, she absolutely loved Bryn Mawr despite the stress and throughout her years there I would periodically ask her if she wishes she had chosen a different college and she always (and to this day) immediately says no, that she could not imagine having gone anywhere else, it was the best place for her. She is now abroad on a fellowship after graduating and feels very lucky to have attended Bryn Mawr as well as to have the opportunity that attending Bryn Mawr currently has helped her to get. So, at least for similar students, yes, Go Bryn Mawr!!
Thank you for updating us, @splokey
I hope the moderator leaves this thread going for awhile, even though it was started some years back, as it’s important for a timeline measure, too. It may be that the pressure cooker mentality is dropping a little.
I would like to hear more updates from current parents of BMC students, Haverford students etc.
@splokey - Congratulations on your daughter’s graduation from Bryn Mawr! Did she end up majoring in math or physics (or another science field)? If so, I would like to hear more about her experience. My daughter is trying to decide between BMC, Scripps, Oberlin, Whitman, Haverford, and Carleton, but the first four are the more realistic choices because scholarships have brought down the costs. She wants to study science, possibly physics, so we are concerned about how these colleges compare in science teaching and research. I know that small colleges typically can’t offer the broad variety of classes or as many advanced upper division classes as a large, research university. But we’re interested in quality, not quantity.
@BobShaw In addition to being able to take classes within the Quaker Consortium and also choose to major at Haverford, are you aware that Bryn Mawr offers graduate level programs in math and physics? I doubt your daughter would have problems finding sufficient classes and sufficient rigor.
@doschicos - Hi, I know about the consortium, but I did not know about the graduate-level programs in math and physics. That’s great. And BMC grants stipends to students to conduct summer science research, right? At least that’s what it says on the website.
@BobShaw Yes, to the research stipends. It is competitive however. Actually, I do think many of the top, selective LACs offer something similar even paid grants for summer option in the social sciences and humanities so it’s not just a hard science/research thing. Haverford definitely offers as well.
@BobShaw, my eldest daughter who graduated from Bryn Mawr in May 2016 was a Psychology major and not a hard science person at all; she tended to take her non-psychology electives in subjects such as Philosophy. So we can’t speak from experience about the areas your daughter is interested in, other than Psychology. I have three daughters and my middle one, a high school senior now, is currently choosing among which college to attend next year, and contemplating Bryn Mawr…but she, also is not a science person…Bryn Mawr is my top choice for her out of the places she has been accepted at but she is currently a little confused and I believe the only thing keeping her from jumping on Bryn Mawr as the choice is that her sister went there so that there is a little bit of sibling rivalry related type of feeling that she should not go to the same place her sister went to (ha ha). But the elder one who is a graduate is absolutely thrilled that the middle one was accepted because the whole family feels it is a really solid, wonderful choice to have on the table.
@splokey - Wow, congratulations to your middle daughter!