<p>Well, there are only five now, but I was wondering how Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Wellesley compare to each other. I know they all have excellent academics, so I was wondering about other things like school spirit, administration, location, etc. I already visited Barnard and Bryn Mawr and plan on visiting the rest of the MA colleges over the summer. :)</p>
<p>Oh, and the general population of each school; are the girls friendly, artsy, dorky, materialistic, anything!</p>
<p>Well Barnard and Bryn Mawr have the closest relationships to a city (Wellesley has a bus system but it’s loooong and doesn’t run late, I’ve taken it before). Each school has some sort of consortium, but I think Barnard and Bryn Mawr’s might be more fluid/seamless with Columbia just across the street and Haverford 1 mile from Bryn Mawr. The 5-college consortium is great, but because it’s rural the schools are farther apart/takes longer to travel.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr’s traditions are VERY active and really pull the campus together. We’re also the smallest of the sisters, which I didn’t think made a difference until I got here. It’s really close-knit without being suffocating since we have so many colleges nearby, including ones not in our consortium, and Philadelphia. I also think Mount Holyoke and Smith are pretty school spirited. Barnard is more of a wash since they’re so integrated into the city and most upperclassmen don’t live in the dorms. I’ve been to Wellesley several times and had a friend from there stay with me a couple nights at Bryn Mawr. She was shocked to hear students chanting our college chant on a Saturday night to congratulate someone (she said that would NEVER happen at Wellesley). </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, Barnard and Wellesley are great, but I’ve found from my personal experiences and speaking to current students, that the community is a little more independent and less close-knit.</p>
<p>One of the things I loved about Bryn Mawr, and noticed right away, was that there wasn’t anyway emphasis on wealth or materialism. Yes, there are wealthy students at Bryn Mawr, but there aren’t hoards of students throwing thousand-dollar purses in your face. Money isn’t a dividing factor in the community-- which I love. It also is pretty subtle. I had several friends I thought were middle class like me until they referenced their parents owning a chain of successful grocery stores or something random like that. That said, what sold me to Bryn Mawr was how down-to-earth and friendly people were. Students were clearly intelligent and articulate, but also well-versed in just being social, engaging, and friendly. </p>
<p>My best advice to you, which it sounds like you’re doing, is to visit each school. I applied to Bryn Mawr on a whim and didn’t visit until I was accepted. It completely sold me.</p>
<p>Wow, thank you for your long response, it was very helpful! I visited Bryn Mawr over my spring break on a snow day, so the tour was cut short and I wasn’t able to see much student interaction or any signs of close-knit ness. And for my Barnard tour, I was supposed to meet my dad in NYC, but my mom refused to drive me to the train station at the last minute, so my dad came from NYC to pick me up and take me to the city to see the school because Barnard was my favorite at the time - and I literally did nothing but homework the entire spring break so I could finish it in time to visit. I missed the tour but was able to walk around the campus. So I’m probably visiting both again during the summer. </p>
<p>I am less familiar with the MA colleges because I haven’t researched them as much as Bryn Mawr and Barnard (my current favorites), so does anyone else know of any info on Smith, MoHo, or Wellesley?</p>
<p>My daughter visited all 5 (and liked them), applied to and was accepted at BMC, Smith, and Wellesley, and is attending Smith. They all have different vibes, so it’s good that you’re visiting them all (the best time to visit is when school is in session because you can see the students and sit in on classes, but I realize that can be difficult logistically).</p>
<p>Smith students have a lot of school spirit and are very friendly. My daughter likes the fact that there are a variety of students at Smith: arty, nerdy, sporty (often 2 or 3 at the same time). Students tend to be social-minded, nonmaterialistic, and often irreverent. Dress is arty/eclectic/casual rather than preppy. Smith is the largest of the 5 and has the broadest curriculum, but also has a very personal feel due to the fact that the students live in more than 40 houses. </p>
<p>My daughter preferred the location of Smith due to its beautiful campus and its proximity to Northampton, which has an amazing variety of restaurants, cool shops, and street performers (in a span of a few hours this weekend we saw a guy playing a flute, a guy playing a harp, a guy playing a guitar, a woman playing a banjo, and two women playing guitars and a ukulele).</p>
<p>I currently go to Wellesley, so I could tell you a bit about it. I’ll spare you the stats, which you could easily look up online :)</p>
<p>The first thing that comes to mind when I think of my experience so far at Wellesley is the competitive environment. At it is at all great colleges across the country, everyone has a lot of work to do right? However, it has become a sort of stigma at Wellesley to almost boast about how much work you have. If you have the most work, you “win” amongst your friends in a sense. It’s hard to put into words. We have a term here, called Wendy Wellesley, which is a description of the perfect student - straight A’s, lots of extracurriculars, goes to all the office hours… overachievers. Now, there are so many stressed out Wendy’s here, and the environment gets so competitive because everyone gets this Wendyness rubbed off on them. It proves to be a pretty stressful place. </p>
<p>Now, on the other hand, everyone I’ve met is super friendly. You’ll find all sorts of people here, and usually everyone is willing to listen to your opinion - there are always exceptions. People are open to all sorts of new ideas, as well as provide great feedback and/or critique. The only thing major I’ve learned about engaging with the Wellesley community as a whole is to watch what you say. If you go here, you learn to become politically correct, which is a great thing. I’ve become much more mindful of the many different types of people at the college, and as a result, learned a lot more about the world than I would have at a co-ed institution, probably. </p>
<p>In terms of school spirit, I would say we have a lot of it, but not in the conventional way that you may think. We’re not very boisterous about school pride, nor are our athletic game turnouts very large… However, we have school pride via our traditions. We have lots of traditions, from the Boston Marathon cookout, to the Lil-Big Sister Ceremony, to the First-Year Lake jump, and the Senior hoop rolling. These are all very well-loved events that every student goes to and thinks of fondly. In this sense, we have school spirit. </p>
<p>Wellesley is said to be around a 30 minute drive from Boston… At least that’s what I believe is as advertised. I’d say, it’s more of a 45-60 minute drive. A lot of people come here, and then realize getting into Boston is not as convenient as the administration said it would be. There are a couple ways of getting in. First, we have the MIT exchange bus, which runs on the weekdays 7am to around midnight every hour. This is the bus for students taking classes at MIT, faculty and staff, and is free of charge. Then, there is the Senate bus, which is more geared towards the weekend Fri-Sun. On Friday, it runs twice an hour. On Saturday it runs every hour. And on Sunday, it runs once every two hours. Or, you could take the Commuter Rail train, which runs from Wellesley to South Station in Boston. </p>
<p>When I first came to Wellesley, I really disliked it. The people didn’t seem that friendly at all, and it was hard to assimilate into the all-female (for the most part) culture. You also have to work to meet guys. But, I learned that if you engaged people in thoughtful conversation, you’d always meet someone new you can become friends with.</p>
<p>Just an FYI on Barnard - other than a handful of classes that are for Barnard students only (all frosh I think), all Barnard classes are open to Columbia students and vice-versa.</p>
<p>After freshman year the same dorms are open to both too. </p>
<p>As a college within Columbia U and so integrated in terms of housing, classes and activities, Barnard probably feels less like a women’s college than the others.</p>
<p>(I went to Vassar but it was co-ed by then ::)</p>
<p>MHC is my first choice and I have a friend who goes there… she says the girls are artsier at MHC than Smith, and Smith tends to churn out the more high-powered leader type than art-teacher-in-Berlin type.</p>
<p>My D was accepted to Bryn, MoHo, and Smith as well as several of the non-7(ish) sister schools she applied to (she was not initially sold on going to a women’s school.) However, she thought the fit at Smith to be the best for her, and she’s loved it ever since! </p>
<p>All are great schools, and women’s schools excel at getting you used to women being in charge. But where YOU fit is best determined by your own visit with an open mind (over-night if possible). And sure, take the tours, but make sure you go OFF the tour, so you can find the best environment for you. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I graduated from MHC so long ago that I can’t really say what it feels like these days. When my D was visiting women’s colleges, we were very impressed by how diverse their student populations were. MHC is much, much more so than when I was there in the '70s. As to whether it’s students are “artsier” as thisOlivia suggests, I don’t know. But I second what her friend says about Smith emphasizing the “high-powered leader type.” When we were on campus, we continually heard Smithies described as “driven.” In the end, my D decided not to apply to either college, but that weekend visit in junior year convinced her that she would be fine going to a women’s college, and she did end up at one.</p>
<p>I am wondering about the prevalence of lesbians on campus? In the seventies it seemed that many women’s colleges were becoming almost uncomfortable for non-lesbian women.
Has that changed, since being Gay is more accepted so lesbian women are less likely to need to choose an all women’s college? Or has it increased?</p>
<p>I graduated from MHC in '78, so I was there for a lot of the seventies, and I have to object to avalon’s comment above. Yes, there were openly gay women there, and I’m happy to say that it probably influenced my current support of gay rights, but the notion that “women’s colleges were becoming almost uncomfortable” for straight women like me, who were certainly the majority of students, is not at all what I remember. My impression from visits in the past two years with my daughter is that most colleges are much more accepting of gay people, both women’s colleges and coed ones. And, happily, so is society in general.</p>
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<p>Well, I’m a married straight conservative who went to a women’s college in the mid 80s and I was not “uncomfortable” in the slightest. My D goes to the same college now and she sees no “prevalence,” but there is acceptance and variety of orientations.</p>
<p>I can personally vouch for how great Bryn Mawr is 
Everyone there is just so nice, down to earth, and passionate about what they do. It truly is a lovely community.</p>
<p>I have two friends who are Wellesley professors; one of them has a daughter (science major who plays violin) about to graduate from Smith. Both professors echo the “overachiever” type at Wellesley described earlier. One of them recently told me that it’s hard to get her students to leave the Wellesley campus (even with the shuttle system); the town itself is very sleepy, not much to do for students. This may be why they have so many enduring on-campus traditions and make good friends (strong alumni connections.) As for Smith, I know at least three students there who love Northhampton and with the 5 college consortium, you have good class options. One of them studies with the cello professor at UMass Amherst and chamber music at Smith.</p>
<p>An American born friend whose father is a math professor in France, is hoping for Bryn Mawr as her top choice for acceptance (over Harvard) for majoring in physics. </p>