<p>I went to Wellesley, and I loved it. It was academic paradise. The flip side: a fair number of my fellow students were neurotic overachievers with eating disorders. A student must be able to thrive under pressure to be happy there.</p>
<p>3togo: Mine did, too, 3togo, but was deferred and then accepted RD so she applied to three women’s colleges (Smith and MHC College as well.) She adored her years at Barnard and did so much NY community service that she will be attending CUNY law in Sept. with a tuition of <$11K a year. I am really proud of her!</p>
<p>PS – I’m sure we could have had equal results at any of the other schools with the exception of having a NY resume to impress CUNY.</p>
<p>@ carriebythe bay
One of my close friend’s D is at Haverford. She was very disappointed in the Art classes, saying that there was a lot of work but not much feedback from profs on how to do better. Also apparently it was difficult to get into some of the courses. She wanted to minor in Art and her first year experience caused her to change her mind.
Warning: this is based on one student’s opinion, so it certainly shouldn’t be taken as a sweeping statement, all the more so as this girl absolutely detests Bryn Mawr where she has also taken one class, saying that the students are aggressive and *****y.</p>
<p>Geezermom, our tour guide at MH was actually old school preppy to the manner born, straight out of the preppy handbook (and a legacy no less). She was a darling girl and was clearly a leader and loved MH. She was a great guide and warm and friendly. I don’t consider presence of old school prep a negative.</p>
<p>Thanks so much SmithieandProud and Lost in Trans. We have heard that it is difficult to get into some classes for certain subjects (particularly art) at the different colleges. Also that due to budget cutbacks, changes have had to be made at the different colleges in different areas.</p>
<p>In a post a few years ago, I referred to the pro-Smith group on CC as Smith “Zealots”…meant in an affectionate way! They have some wonderful anecdotal information – and the parents in that group have daughters who were very much postively influenced by their Smith experience. While I have sometimes felt that their negative opinions about the other women’s colleges, especially MHC, have needed responses – these parents are overall women’s college champions.</p>
<p>I also think that the point made in post #112 about another poster on this thread is important. “If it seems like she’s cheerleading it’s becasue she’s proud and excited and has every right to be about her new college.” </p>
<p>There is so much negative and misinformation floating around about women’s schools that, although I may post both opinions and facts to dispute a cheerleader or “zealot” – it’s great that there are newly admitted students, current students and parents that have such a positive view of these schools.</p>
<p>I would direct the OP to mini’s posts. His D majored in opera or something like that and found the consortium really helpful. I might did some of those up.</p>
<p>Since Smith is the largest of the schools under consideration and has the consortium at its disposal it’s logical to think the course offerings could be greatest there of the schools under consideration.</p>
<p>@Carriebythebay - Just a couple more points, I was thinking of, but you might want to move this over to a PM or over to the Smith boards for more Smith specific info. </p>
<p>I don’t know how hard it is to get into art classes at Smith never having tried to register for them (I did register for Art History, but that was a lecture class so there was no cap for entrance). I think the trickiest thing would probably be that she probably couldn’t take all of her “ones” (Photo 1, Drawing 1, Painting 1) at once, though that’s all for the best really. Art is one of the hardest concentrations at Smith, with probably just as much if not more outside of class work as a science lab class. They keep the art facilities building open 24 hours because art students are up until all hours of the night doing projects. So it’s not a great idea to have 3 of your 4 classes be art classes with that big of a load right away, but better to stagger them out over your 4 years. </p>
<p>I realize I didn’t answer about your IB credit question either. Smith doesn’t give advanced credit for classes taken. So even if you have 10 or 12 credits of IB or AP, they won’t be counted towards your Smith degree right away. If you have a credit shortage during your senior year however (let’s say you dropped a class, or your study abroad credits didn’t all transfer) THEN you will be allowed to count those AP/IB credits from high school in order to make up the shortage. </p>
<p>Sometimes you can go to a professor and say “I’ve taken x, y, or z” IB/AP course as a justification for why you should be able to take an upper level class, it depends on the rules of each major and to some extent the discretion of the prof.</p>
<p>We visited Smith and MHC in March 2009 (spring break) with my Junior D. She (and we) loved both. At MHC, we spoke with two internationals (one from India and one from Africa). They were incredibly well spoken, intelligent and bright. The student who gave us the Smith tour was from New York City, and was likewise extremely bright and articulate. My wife, D and I were all impressed by these students. Although one should not pick a school for its buildings, at both, the buildings were impressive and substantive, telling me that they were serious colleges. Looking at the Sisters’ video, I am reminded that we attended such a meeting in September 2009 in NYC. It was packed. All 5 schools were represented by reps, and by graduates. The grads all introduced themselves to the throng, telling what they majored in and what they were doing now. They were ALL a very impressive and accomplished lot. I get the impression and I have heard that the alumnae network of all of the Sisters is very strong, and even that alums of the Sisters look out for others of the Sisters. Impressive to me. They may battle each other in sports, but where it counts, they try to help one another break that glass ceiling. Academically, Smith has no distribution requirements while MHC has quite a few. My D wanted such requirements, but some kids do not. (Personally, I think such requirements are good, forcing the students to learn a little about things that they would normally know nothing about – Merryl Streep went to Vassar (pre-coed) and learned Italian. She was interviewing for the Fay Wray part in the 1985(?) King Kong remake and the Italian director (DiLaurentis?) spoke disparagingly about her to his assistant in Italian. She reponded in perfect Italian, to his embarrassment. A LAC education is good for some things)</p>
<p>As to a Smith mafia. That’s silly. I think that here on CC there are more Smithies that participate. Ever since I found this site and my D got interested in MHC, I have been a bit sad that there seemed to be so few MHCers waiving the MHC flag, especially on the MHC page. As a future MHC parent, I have recently tried to flag waive MHC a bit on the MHC CC page. I wish other MHCers would too. There are a number of girls treading water over there looking for advice and information.</p>
<p>To waive the MHC flag a bit, MHC just recently received a $5 million donation from an alum for environmental education and awareness. Impressive, as is the school. My D could have gone almost anywhere (she’s a NYC preppy (though she dresses and acts normally, i.e., not like a Gossip Girl) with just the type of “hooks” that colleges want). She ED1’d MHC and can’t wait to get there. Her girl friends at HS school admire her for having the “courage” to go to a girl’s school (women’s college - why are they “girls” in June but “women” by September?). Not sure that it is “courage” but it seems that HS girls are a bit scared not to go to a coed college. My college was practically all boys (MIT) and I lived in a frat house. But we spent lots of time at Wellesley, and they at my frat house. I survived and thrived, as did they, and so will the sisters at the Sisters, which are all great schools.</p>
<p>Don’t feel bad, ConcernedDad. Barnard women don’t post either. Too busy! See winky face – not a diss to those students who do.</p>
<p>My D has never been on CC in her life, and to be honest, I only discovered it after both of mine were in college to fill some of those empty nest hours.</p>
<p>
Just so. I have no problems with squabbling and throwing an elbow inside the family, but woe be unto the outsider who tries it. </p>
<p>
NJS, I don’t think my D is neurotic but this is what she meant…I didn’t want to be unkind…when she said that W would have reinforced some of her not-so-good traits. She is a high-achiever and feels that Smith made her a little more rounded and well-balanced than W would have…not that she didn’t graduate summa cum laude anyway. Fwiw, her roommate is from W and a co-worker is from Bryn Mawr…the intra-Sisters connections and affinities do work.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated from Wellesley in 2008. Her experiences at Wellesley were so varied, but all shared one common denominator - she was expected to succeed and she was supported in her efforts by her professors and her fellow students. She has had a myriad of experiences which her dad and I believe are consequences of the opportunities presented to her at Wellesley. After her sophomore year she did a summer internship at the U.S. Department of State. She was able to accept this unpaid position thanks to a $3000 stipend she received from Wellesley which was used to meet the expenses of daily living in our nation’s capital. Without this stipend this internship would not have been something she could accept.</p>
<p>Her junior year was spent at the London School of Economics, a choice that was made through the guidance of Wellesley professors and staff members who advised her.<br>
During her senior year she once again received help and support in writing her essays and completing her application for her Fulbright Fellowship.</p>
<p>Following graduation she was a Fulbright Fellowship recipient and taught in Vietnam. This year she is a first year grad student at Johns Hopkins SAIS in Bologna Italy.<br>
Each of these opportunities became possible in large part due to the support and encouragement she received from the Wellesley professors and staff. </p>
<p>As parents we all believe are children are exceptional, but my daughter doesn’t view her acomplishments as special. As she has often explained to me, “Mom, this is what we do at Wellesley.”</p>
<p>^ hahahahaha! I love your daughter’s reaction! I think that’s pretty common with seven sisters grads (definitely true of Smithies). I think one of the things about going to a special environment like a women’s college is that there is a real emphasis on the fact that your’e getting this special experience not just to enrich yourself, but to also go out and do something good with it, and enrich others.</p>
<p>I agree with you SmithieandProud. I am familiar only with Wellesley, but I know from my own attendance at a women’s college that is now coed that the all women environment is so beneficial and conducive in developing one’s abilities and values. Wellesley’s motto displayed on banners throughout campus is “Women Who Will Make a Difference in the World.” I am sure that is also the intention of the other “sisters”.</p>
<p>DISCLAIMER: A belated reply to rocket is below. It relates to that previous thread of conversation, but it’s not my intention to bring back the “ugly” (i.e. argumentative) tone.</p>
<p>rocket: No, Smith and Wellesley do not “catch all the personalities.” Plenty of people, given a choice among Smith, Wellesley, and BMC/MHC with equal financial aid, will pick BMC/MHC. Others at BMC/MHC don’t even apply to Smith or Wellesley.</p>
<p>Just as an example–I’d say that a laid-back student would fit best at Mt. Holyoke, and an academic-intellectual student at Bryn Mawr. Does that mean that these “types” wouldn’t be happy at Smith or Wellesley? Of course not. But the schools are essentially equal in academic “respect,” so other than picking and choosing specific departmental offerings, it comes down to social preference.</p>
<p>@retiredteacher: Smith’s actual motto is in Greek (something about virtue), but our real motto I’ve always felt is the phrase from Sophia Smith’s will. She said she wanted to Smith College to be an instution whose graduates were “a perennial blessing to the country and the world”. That’s what’s engraved on the steps of our library. </p>
<p>I think it has something to do with the fact that women’s colleges were started at a time when few women entered professions, and they helped change that of course, but they also supplied highly educated women of means to be social workers, volunteers, teachers, and reformers and mothers who were supposed to raise socially conscious offspring and do so on a more even footing with their husbands. So they were rarely “just” about the education, but also about what you were expected to do with this exciting new privilege, how it equipped you to be an engine of social change even if you never held a salaried job in your life. </p>
<p>Of course, times have waaaay changed now, but something of that ethos, that push to use your skills not just to your own benefit but to the benefit of others really remains. I’ve found that at Smith the “world changer” types always adjusted better and had richer experiences than the girls that were just in it for the degree.</p>
<p>Smithie: I concur. One Barnard woman was interviewed on a morning show as part of a panel of women from women’s colleges. She was asked which book she’d read at Barnard would she take on a desert island. She said, “Barnard doesn’t education women for desert islands. It educates them to be in the world and contribute to the world.” I’m sure this holds equally true for any of the colleges on this thread.</p>
<p>Mythmom – I liked the quote from the Barnard woman on the panel.</p>
<p>Some great anecdotal, “real life”, examples of alums/courses at Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke in the April 18 Education Life section of the NYTimes. One is about a fairly recent Bryn Mawr alum (Heather LaVine, “So you want to be a Player”) . The other is about the kind of courses and learning experiences available at these schools — specifically MHC (“the Examined Life, Age 8” … about MHC Prof Thomas Wartenberg and field work being done by undergrads in his class.)</p>
<p>(Those of us in the NYC area get a bunch of sections of the Sun NYTimes on Sat.)</p>
<p>I like that answer too. For example, that’s not the ethos of UChicago. Not to say their grads don’t do neat things, but it’s a different ethos.</p>
<p>I did not attend any of these colleges but have a passing familiarity with Wellesley, Smith and Bryn Mawr. Have visited all three recently and know a little more about W and BMC from my student days in Boston and Philadelphia. My daughter now attends BMC. She did not have any intention of going to a woman’s college before our pre college east coast tour. I will going to comment on BMC as a possible college choice since my daughter attends and a good friend of mine has a daughter at Haverford.
MY daughter choose BMC because of the collegiality of the students, easy access to the city of Philadelphia (20 minutes away by train), nice dorms, good food,and the ability to take classes easily at Haverford, as well as Swarthmore and the University of Pennsylvania. The relationship with Haverford is especially close as registration for classes at either school is equally open to students from both colleges and one can eat with the meal plan at either school or live at either college. The Departments at Bryn Mawr and Haverford are structured so there is little overlap of strengths and one can major at either college depending on one’s interest. Taking classes at Swarthmore requires a 20 minute bus ride and thus a little more effort. BMC and Haverford majors in Linguistics are done through Swarthmore. The meal plan also works at Swarthmore. Taking classes at Penn requires a 40 minute commute each way. Mostly sophmore - senior students seem to take courses at Penn. BMC does pay for the commute.
Social life appears to revolve mostly around Haverford and Swarthmore and to a lesser extent Penn. Interestingly there appears to be little contact with other colleges that are close by which include Villanova and St Joe’s.
Daughter did not apply to Smith and MHC as they were in the “sticks”.
I do think all of these Colleges are very demanding and are of equal stature. They all share many traits. I do however think they all have a different “feel”. Each college also has certain department strengths which may be of interest to investigate. If you are considering BMC you will have to also look at the academics at Haverford. If you have a city vs country preference you can eliminate 2 of the colleges than do a sleep over at the remaining two to help yourself make a decision.</p>