<p>I've never really considered going to an all women's college before, but after some research i think I've started to consider it. One question I have is, how is the social life at these colleges? Academics and everything is a plus for me, but you don't hang out with girls all the time do you? This sounds immature, but I'm actually quite curious. </p>
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<li>If anyone from Barnard, Wellesley, or other all women colleges could give me a background of their school and why they loved it, that would be great! Just exploring some options! Thanks.</li>
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<p>I’m a Smithie and here is my experience and my opinion. It’s not gospel, just what i’ve seen/done.</p>
<p>If seeing boys is a priority for you, there are plenty of opportunities to make that happen. You can easily take classes at UMass and Hampshire, and feasibly at Amherst. You can also choose to go there for parties,organizations, etc. Also, there tends to be the odd boy here or there in a class at Smith or someone’s boyfriend, blah blah blah
While this is the truth of what is possible, the reality is that for most Smithies, seeing boys simply isn’t that much of a priority. We like our Smith classes, and a good number of students never go off campus (while a good number do…it really depends). Going to the 5 Colleges to party requires a commitment, that, other than for a really big party like Hampshire Halloween, Amherst Luau, etc, really isn’t worth it. And sure, one can argue that there are boys at Smith house parties, but a)they tend to be weird townies or someone’s boyfriends and b) they comprise maybe 10% of the attendees. </p>
<p>This is what the social life IS like in my experience. Smith creates the best friendships you could ever ask for, and you truly will experience a closeness unlike anywhere else. We love to hang out. we make cookies or watch TV or go to town to get food. We talk and chill and it’s fun. Smithies do work together because there’s always something to do and you hang out with people in your house/org/etc. When we party, we party in our rooms with friends, normally with all girls. We take goofy pictures, cuddle, dance, act immature, the normal stuff. There’s drinking if you’re into that, pot as well, but no pressure to do so. Smithies also hook up with each other. Even for the straight Smithie, it’s not unheard of to go home with a friend after a night of partying. </p>
<p>In short, Smith is different from co-ed schools, but in a way that’s pretty great</p>
<p>I graduated from MHC and this is what I tell prospective students…</p>
<p>YES, it is possible to meet boys if you want to but you have to be the one that puts yourself out there as they do not necessarily come to you (though some come to events and take classes on campus). </p>
<p>Like rocket6louise, I spent most of my time on my studies, cocurricular activities, and hanging out with friends. BUT, I did know some girls who wanted boys to be part of their college social lives and put in the extra effort of going off campus to meet guys.</p>
<p>I applied to several women’s colleges but found Bryn Mawr to offer the best of all worlds. I love having a distinct, classically collegiate campus that fosters a strong and active community, but I also LOVE being an easy 20 minutes from center city Philadelphia! Other women’s colleges I looked at seemed too isolated or so immersed in a city that they lost their unique sense of identity. Bryn Mawr melds these two worlds wonderfully. BMC also has a very strong and active consortium which not only offers more courses, but we share many activities with Haverford and Swarthmore. With Haverford a mere 5-10 minutes by bus, it offers just the right amount of isolation while still being very connected. </p>
<p>An average weekend for me varies between social gatherings on campus (ranging from pizza and a movie to kegs and parties) and weekend excursions in Philly. There are SO many colleges in the city that even though we aren’t in a consortium with them all, there are plenty of shows, events, parties, etc. to attend. Between the city itself and the Quaker consortium, getting my fill of guy friends has never been an issue, but I still love coming home to Bryn Mawr and the fantastic, close-knit community I adore.</p>
<p>My d’s life at Barnard was very different than the one that rocket6louise describes at Smith. My d.'s closest friends her first year were males – her first semester she spent a good deal of time with a Columbia freshman, and during the spring she was hanging out all the time with an older GS student - probably a guy in his mid-20’s. These were friendships, not dating relationships, as my d. had a boyfriend in another city and was not interested in dating. She also made some good female friends over time, but there were always males in the mix. For example, her sophomore year she was active as an officer in a student organization – she was treasurer, the president & vice-president were male. </p>
<p>Barnard women do generally take a significant number of classes at Columbia – it’s not merely an option but something that is built into the course structure, so even many courses that are required to fill requirements are at Columbia rather than Barnard. For example, my d’s foreign language was taught at Columbia – she could not have taken those particular classes at Barnard even if she had wanted to. </p>
<p>It is also rather inconceivable that a Barnard student would spend all her time hanging out the Barnard campus, because the campus itself is tiny with not that much to do there, and necessary tasks, such as purchasing books, need to be done at locations in the city but physically off campus. So as soon as the Barnard student ventures beyond the front gate, she is on city streets and definitely not in a single-sex or age-segregated environment. </p>
<p>So I think that the point is that you can’t generalize, and the physical location is very much a part of the overall college ambiance. I do think the fact that Barnard is a woman’s college impacted the educational experience – many of my d’s classes were either all-female or disproportionately female – and of course my d. did spend 2.5 years living in female-only settings, rather than a co-ed dorm. But males were very much a part of her college life, without much in the way of extra effort needed.</p>
<p>I think at places like Barnard and Scripps, the experience will be different than Wellesley, Smith, Mount Holyoke or Bryn Mawr just because of proximity to other schools</p>
<p>@EnglishIvy: I’m curious, how often do you go into Philly, and how do you do it without bankrupting yourself? The only reason I’ve gotten away with going to Philly so much this past semester is because Bryn Mawr paid for 2 out of 3 trips. I’ve had no luck whatsoever with the ‘free trips to Philly thing’, which would have been really nice for all the times I wanted to see live music or fence.</p>
<p>I go into Philly just about every weekend. Each Sunday I request the free SEPTA regional rail passes and receive them mid-week. I also frequently take the R100 which is $3 and connects to the subway, taking me directly to my friends’ houses. I usually reserve my regional rail passes for rainy and cold weather but take the longer route to the R100 when it’s nice out.</p>
<p>I think the women’s college experience is a little different at Scripps, because it’s easy to just walk across the street to a Harvey Mudd party for 15 minutes to check it out, or head down to Pomona to see what’s going on there, BUT a lot of what Rocket6louise said about the closeness of the community holds true for Scripps as well. </p>
<p>Although the Claremont consortium allows for a larger network of students and myriad coed activities, almost every student’s core group of friends is at Scripps, in the dorms. Every student has different motivations, preferences, etc when it comes to nights and weekends, so while some students take full advantage of the Claremont consortium (and orientation week fully endorses this), some students find they are much happier having movie/baking nights in the dorm, than going out to 5-C parties. I’ve really appreciated having such varied events to choose from, but I love having the Scripps community to rely on as a source of such close, intellectual, lifelong friendships.</p>
<p>I just started at Wellesley this fall, and I can say that I’m sooooo happy I ended up going here. I’m from the West coast, and when I left home, I was really scared about going to school so far away, and I was very concerned about the all-women thing. But, by the end of orientation, I realized that choosing Wellesley was actually to be the best decision I’ve ever made. I used to think the all-women thing was Wellesley’s only flaw, but soon I realized that it’s the school’s greatest asset. I’ve never been in an environment as wonderful, friendly, and empowering as Wellesley. The women there are SO smart and dedicated and very few are the crazy, competitive types that many people wrongly assume go to the school. Unfortunately, people who have never visited women’s colleges often stereotype them as nunneries, and before attending I bought into these stereotypes. But almost none of the stereotypes turned out to be valid.
I see men all the time, and it’s not difficult at all. You hop on the bus, subway, or taxi, and within minutes you can go visit friends or party at any of the tons of surrounding schools. Many of my friends have boyfriends at MIT, Olin, Harvard, Babson, Boston College, Boston U., etc. and they find Wellesley’s all-women environment actually helpful because it allows them to focus during the week and keep from getting distracted. On the weekends, they can go spend as much time as they like with their SOs. There’s also many parties on Wellesley campus, and they typically attract tons of guys.</p>