I’m surprised to see that the majority of attention going towards women’s colleges are those in the East Coast. There’s a few on the west coast too! Like Mills College in Oakland, CA and one of the consortium schools of Claremont Mckenna/Pomona. I think people should consider the historic ivy-esque looking campuses, the academics, and the social life. As far as information that I can offer - Mills is an amazing opportunity that many students in the Bay Area overlook in hopes of attending a UC or out of state school. However, I have met many students from areas such as Seattle, Maryland, Portland, Southern California and more. In regards to academics, the class sizes are small and the professors are caring. One of my professors frequently sends me and a handful of other top students opportunities for internships and summer programs, and because of small class sizes, professors are able to know you well enough to provide flawless letters of rec. In regards to social life, it’s just about as good as it gets. As the SF tech bubble expands, more companies and startups are expanding to Berk and Oakland. Most students spend time in beautiful downtown Lakeshore, Lake Merritt, Rockridge, or attending games/concerts at the Oakland Coliseum and Oracle Arena - both within 10 minutes of the campus. There is a free AC transit (bus) pass you can use anywhere in the Bay and a free shuttle that runs every hour to the BART (transport to get to anywhere in the Bay Area), downtown, and the UC Berkeley campus. Mills girl frequent UC Berkeley (where students can cross register - similar to Wellesley/MIT) to meet people, try new restaurants, and some attend frat parties. Otherwise, many students take a quick bart down to San Francisco, where the possibilities for a night out are endless. Honestly, your time at mills will depend on the friends you make and the kind of person you are. Same for any other West Coast college. Thought I should just put it out there for you east coast folk trying to find a Women’s College!
Scripps is recommended all the time out here. Mills less often, though, good to remind people about it.
Mills is great! I’m glad that you mentioned the cross registration with Berkeley and the ease of transportation around the area.
My D16 was accepted to Mills and Simmons, so she had her choice of either coast and of those two wonderful women’s colleges. However, she decided to stay local, in The Middle. I wish she could clone herself and attend Mills too. 
Mills brought in an “outsider” president (drug company executive) to “shake things up” (cut programs and faculty) and wound up alienating a lot of the campus community in the process. This resulted in some very bad publicity. [1] The result has been a drop in student recruitment and retention that has hurt student life. [2] They are bringing in a more traditional president with university experience [3], but I would look carefully before committing to this school.
[1] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/12/mills-college-struggles-financial-difficulty-faculty-unrest-president-calls-it-quits
[2] http://www.thecampanil.com/asmc-funding-discontinued-for-clubs-and-orgs/
[3] http://www.mills.edu/news/2016/pressrelease-03022016-HillmanNamedFourteenthPresidentMillsCollege.php
Wow good to know. Thank you
I’m so impressed with Mills College, one of my twin daughters is planning to attend next year and she has only favorable things to say about the college after spending an overnight there. Two out of the three articles above on post #4 are from last year. Rather than warning students not to commit, I think it would be great to give information in a positive light and know that the college is doing everything it can to remain strong and steadfast. I think it has such a wonderful social justice aspect and is a very supportive women’s college, and it’s such a perfect fit for my daughter. She was so impressed with the accessibility of teachers, the very interesting classes, and the president who talked to all of the students at the overnight for admitted students. She felt the kids really loved the school and in the morning when my husband picked her up, she was completed enamored and committed.
I didn’t say “Don’t go there.” I said, “The school is currently working on turning around from some issues, look carefully.”
My own daughter was building her college list while all the bad news was coming out, but before the new president was named, and she had a hard time getting questions answered from the admissions office (about transcript and application issues, not college politics), so we scratched this one off the list.
Best wishes to your daughter.