<p>I am strongly considering enrolling at MHC this fall with the assistance of a Leadership Award. I visited the campus last summer and was blown away by its beauty. Everything about the school appeals to me. The other school I am weighing is UC Berkeley, which has offered me hardly any FA but is much nearer to home (I live near Sacramento). I am a very competetive person who wants to attend a prestigious college and then move on to graduate school. So I have been supposedly shooting myself in the foot by spending too much time looking at college rankings and statistics and fretting that MHC will not provide me with the "label of prestige" that will most benefit me in future life. I am aware that this is probably completely silly. However, in your opinions, does coming from a school with a mediocre acceptance rate (I believe the acceptance rate is in the 50s) affect the way other universities view your overall potetial? Should I forget this slight fetish with prestige? Will I still have a shot as a applicant for a top national university coming from MHC? Thanks! I value everyone's opinion!</p>
<p>I feel your pain, about the whole prestige thing. From what I’ve heard, while not #1(ehmm…Amherst,) it’s still highly respected. Plus it’s part of the Seven Sisters and Five College Consortium. So it’s not completely blah.</p>
<p>By the way, mediocre acceptance rate, how many girls do you know have even heard of MHC, let alone applied to MHC? Not many for me so the acceptance rate is fine.</p>
<p>I think MHC has enough prestige to settle the question. It was the first woman’s college and has its own cache.</p>
<p>The reason the acceptance rate is higher is because MHC only pulls from half of the applicant pool (i.e. only women). It indicates very little about prestige (the acceptance rate factors into our ranking, but we are tied in rank with Barnard which has a much lower acceptance rate). I understand that prestige is important to you (and I’m not disregarding that as a valid concern), but if that is truly one of the things you are focused on then you probably shouldn’t come to MHC. The students here are (while also focused on furthering themselves) primarily concerned with furthering the lives of others.</p>
<p>I would really urge you not to make your decision based on something like acceptance rate or perceived prestige. That’s not going to give you the best chance of ending up at the right school. And honestly, MHC is about so much more than a prestigious name (which it does have!). Good luck in making your decision!</p>
<p>PS: Loads of MHC students go on to amazing, and yes, extremely well-respected graduate schools.</p>
<p>If you want to make a difference in the lives of others, first focusing on furthering yourself (through prestige among other things) I believe really is the way to go. Prestige is not always important to people for selfish reasons. I know my reason for wanting to attend a prestigious university is not for the brag rights, but rather because I’m “primarily concerned with the lives of others” and in the future (however ridiculous I think it is) having a name behind me might help me to make a bigger difference than I otherwise could have. Anyway, I think since your considering going to grad school, kayah23, its the prestige of that school thats more important, and I think Mount Holyoke would help prepare you to not only be able to enter a well-respected institution, but also to do well there. </p>
<p>Im struggling with deciding whats best for me too though, I must admit. Im trying to keep ranking in perspective and not get lost in all the competitiveness of the college app process. I think I really like Mount Holyoke, and have also been given the Leadership Award, so Im leaning towards them for the fall. I have never visited though and will not be able to before I have to decide where to go, but I have heard only good things from students and alumni. Ive thought and asked about it a lot and I dont think grad schools will look down on the acceptance rate because its slightly screwed due to the self-selecting nature of the applicant pool, as Ive heard it referenced on here before. I think theyll consider you based on test scores, teacher recs, grades and positions youve held like they do for other applicants. The advantage Mount Holyoke might give would be supporting you (both personally and academically) to become a person who achieves their goals. The community seems like a really friendly, and confidence nurturing one to explore in. Academically, I think they’d support you to be a student that teachers will write wonderful recs for (and classes are small, so theyd know you) and give you the opportunity and guidance to build a great resume and such by leading and being involved. I think the alumni network would help as well for grad school and beyond. It seems pretty extensive but I guess that could be expected given MHCs age. Blah. Anyway, Im leaning towards MHC because of this support its reckoned to have. It seems like Id be supported from all facets of their community – from students, professors and the administration to its alumni and women all over who support womens colleges and their graduates. I want to get places and it seems like they, more than any other school Im looking at, want me to get places too!</p>
<p>mzpeck- all I was trying to get across is that people here don’t come because of the name. They (at least the people I know) come because they feel a personal connection with the school’s mission. And there is NOTHING wrong with coming for both reasons. I just think it’s a mistake to make a decision based solely on prestige…so I was hoping to dissuade the op from doing so.</p>
<p>You seem to have a great idea of the school and I hope you come next year!</p>
<p>As far as getting into grad school goes, you’d be MUCH better off at MHC, where your professors will actually know your name, than you would at Berkeley. Being competitive is one thing, but having to compete for seats in a lecture room is the kind of competition you’ll find at a school Berk’s size. Also, while MHC is not really a household name as far as your average household goes, people involved in the academic/scholarly community, and esp. grad school admissions officers, will most certainly know where you’re coming from if you’re a Holyoke grad.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies. Of course I am not going to make my decision based solely upon the school’s acceptance rate. I was just curious. Thank you mzpeck especially for your response! I definitely agree with you, and I’m sure you find the campus incredible! Best of luck to all those making decisions; you’ve helped make mine!</p>
<p>So what’s your decision?</p>
<p>Oh, forgot to say to all the prospective students on this thread I’d love to answer any questions about the school if you want (I’m finishing up my first year).</p>
<p>I’m also questioning MHC’s prestige… against Wellesley…</p>
<p>Stinkyrat, MHC it is to be, unless Kenyon decides to randomly offer me a pile of FA. Unlikely… In which case I’d have more painstaking decision-making to do. Kenyon was my sort-of first choice. I will be just as happy at MHC though! C=</p>
<p>Daughter is a senior at MHC. Her classmates have received some pretty high-prestige offers for graduate and professional schools. The academics are very competitive, and the faculty provides the kind of experiences that make post baccaulareate applicants desirable to graduate schools. Berkeley is also very competitive, but MHC students call their profs by their first names. I don’t think Berkeley can beat that.</p>
<p>Berkeley is ranked 21 on national universities, while MHC is 27th in liberal arts colleges. So MHC is pretty prestigious. At Berkeley, during the first two years, you will be a nameless, faceless person in classes of up to 500 people in which you have to watch the lecture from a room down the hall–and the classes are often taught by T.A.s on top of all that. At MHC, you will be in small classes with opportunity for discussion and personal acquaintance with the professor. Of course more of the general population will have heard of Berkeley–after all, it’s a school of 30,000+ students as opposed to 2,100 at MHC, so of course Berkeley it is more well-known. But those who know about good colleges–including any graduate program you may want to attend–know and respect MHC, and as someone else said, you will have better recommendation letters because your teachers really know you and you will have had more opportunities for hands-on involvement, such as being involved in research, etc. So, it all depends not on the prestige but on what you want to get out of your education.</p>
<p>mvogel,
The key is to visit and experience the atmosphere of each campus because, most certainly, MHC and Wellesley have a different “feel” to them. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks everybody! Your responses are very helpful and I’m learning a lot from you.</p>
<p>Just to make you feel better about the admissions rate thing…all women’s colleges have inflated admissions rates because they are self-selecting institutions, meaning 1) fewer students apply and 2) they tend to only apply if they’re genuinely interested in attending and meet the qualifications. That means that the Office of Admissions doesn’t have the piles and piles of students to weed out due to lack of qualification or interest that other colleges deal with.</p>
<p>When I was doing applications last spring, even Wellesley’s most recent data had them with a 40% admit rate, while Mount Holyoke and Smith were both around 50%. I honestly wouldn’t think twice about it.</p>