I am a Canadian student and I have been accepted to both Mount Holyoke and Agnes Scott College, and waitlisted at Wellesley and Davidson (I will refuse Davidson because I really want to go to a women’s college), rejected from Scripps and Smith. I have been much more passionate about what Agnes Scott has to offer (new Summit program, college-town but with the city of Atlanta nearby, warm weather, tight-knit academic community) but I know that Mount Holyoke is recognized by employers and often leads to great graduate work.
Does Agnes Scott have this reputation as well? Is it just as recognizable?
Mount Holyoke didn’t give me very good financial aid (they’re asking about a third of my parent’s salary - I am from a single parent household and I also have a younger brother) and Agnes Scott was extremely generous. I have requested reconsideration of financial aid from Mount Holyoke because I won’t be able to attend otherwise.
What are the pros and cons to each school? I am really needing help deciding. I also want to still be able to be close to men… haha, I don’t want to be isolated!
It sounds to me as if you want to go to Agnes Scott, and they offered you more money, so perhaps your decision is already made?
In my opinion (granted I live in New England) Mount Holyoke is a better school, academically. If you look at the SAT score range, you can see that MHC is much higher (600s-700s as opposed to 500s-600s.) Admittedly, I am biased as my D attends MHC and I’ve been very impressed with the school. It is a very intellectual, very welcoming and supportive environment.
I do not know what the men situation is like at Agnes Scott, but at MHC there is a free bus to the surrounding 5-college consortium, and my D’s friend group has had no trouble meeting guys.
Have you been able to visit? I believe you will find a very different vibe at each school. The southern vibe is a whole lot different than the intellectual/social justice/New England vibe. If it turns out that you can really afford both schools, I think the decision will come down to your personality, and at which school you think you will thrive for the next four years.
@staceyneil thanks so much for your awesome response! it really gives me some more to consider.
@dyiu13 I’d like to major in psychology with a minor in German studies or international relations because I would like to be a forensic psychologist working in criminal courts.
No problem! For what its worth, my daughter wants to be a forensic entomologist: she was thrilled that one of the options for her Freshman Seminar course was Forensics
Agnes Scott is well respected by employers in the Atlanta area, with strong connections to Coca-Cola, CDC, and Turner Broadcasting to name a few.
Agnes Scott is a very diverse student body compared to Mount Holyoke, and given that most minority groups statistically do worse on standardized tests, this may explain some of the test score difference. In terms of incoming GPA the students are much closer, 3.59 vs. 3.66 average GPA. Agnes Scott weights academic rigor and grades much more than standardized test scores.
Agnes Scott has a good relationship and connection with Decatur, but Decatur is not really a “college town” in the usual sense. It’s a modest-sized city.
Unfortunately, I can’t visit the schools due to cost (I am in Western Canada), so I am really depending on the internet to help make my decision.
I think I am leaning towards Agnes Scott, due to cost, but also the atmosphere. Although I am into social justice as is so prominent at MHC, I think I might prefer a laid-back, hospitable, and traditional environment which is in the South.
@BobWallace thanks so much! it was really great to hear these things about Agnes and you have a very good point about the minority groups and standardized testing. I attend an international school so diversity is very important to me at post-secondary.
@lavvie13 It does sound like Agnes Scott may be the place for you. But I wanted to follow up on @BobWallace’s comment about diversity just in case other folks are reading this. In fact, MHC is known for it’s extremely diverse student population. I believe something like 26% of the students are international, and they are known as one of the few colleges that offers good FA to international students with high financial need. They are a 100% meets-need school with a pretty big endowment, so there are a LOT of low income students on financial aid there. My D is lower income, and her roommate is from Uzbekistan on a scholarship. It is most definitely not a privileged, sweater-and-pearls type of student body
Edited to add: I guess he does something of a point - I looked up the ethnicity enrollment data for both schools and MHC does have a higher percentage of “white” to other ethnicities and non-resident international students than Agnes Scott does. Still- it’s a diverse campus compared to many…
Our D is a first year at MHC and very happy but she was also accepted to Agnes Scott and considered attending. ASC is a lovely school but it is much smaller than MHC both in terms of student body (900 versus 2200) and campus space (100 acres versus 800.) This affected my daughter’s decision. While some have pondered ASC’s future in light of Sweet Briar’s closing, ASC has a much larger and healthier endowment and its proximity to Atlanta helps keep it relevant. Also it’s only 10 minutes from Emory and near other coed colleges so meeting men is not a problem.
From your description, it sounds like you really like Agnes Scott but are mostly worried about name recognition and post-graduate work. As for graduate work, you can get into graduate school from either one of them. Here’s what ASC has to say about its psychology majors:
Sixty percent of our psychology majors and minors apply to graduate programs and most of them apply within two years of graduation. They have a 94% acceptance rate into these programs. The ones that do not get in often reapply and get in the second time. The following list includes the programs that our students have attended in the past 10 years.
As for jobs, MHC does have a stronger reputation especially among Northeastern employers, but ASC has a great reputation as well - especially if you wanted to stay in the Atlanta area or in the Southeast. It’s not like you’ll get all the jobs coming from MHC and none of the jobs coming from ASC, lol. ASC has also done some great work in making connections with Atlanta-area businesses and employers to send their alumnae. Also, Decatur is a really bomb town. I’m from Atlanta and I went to high school in Decatur - it’s funky and fun. Atlanta is such a great city to be a college student in (I went to Spelman, which is around the corner from ASC). It has a really beautiful campus, great food, a really good library and relatively large dorm rooms! I think you’ll like it a lot.
Hello!
Same situation as you but I enrolled into Agnes Scott. I’m going to address the comments here since we were in the same situation this year and I’m not a parent so I have no ties. I fell in love with pictures of MHC and was heartbroken when they proved to be not so generous. I pray that you get what you need if you’re interested in MHC. Visiting MHC I found out I did not like it one bit. Which is upsetting that you can’t visit because you won’t even know if your perceptions of MHC will change. Most of my friends visiting did not like MHC as well mostly the surrounding town is ugh. So really taking the consortium bus would be best for you. About international student aid being better friends from Vietnam and the UK were not so lucky. They will have to take out huge loans to attend. From what my friend (she likes MHC a lot so will enroll) her quote was “either you got awesome aid or less than what you need, not average.” I think she was completely right with that. I’ve actually experienced first hand and from friends who went through the journey that they either got lucky with the appeals or not. Friend’s mom was not in the picture but MHC policy is that both parents are responsible so waiver was denied and now her mom is taking out 20k in student loans. I have more if you want to PM me. But even though you’re leaning towards ASC go do the appeal if you believe MHC is best for you. MHC is known in the northeast and ASC is known in the south and has a lot of connections to large international businesses and hospitals. It has connections with other amazing GA schools as well. But honestly they’re both very good schools. What matter is what you do at the school and take advantage of the support and amenities you have. Alumnae from both schools have gotten into awesome graduate schools.
@lavvie13 It’s been a year and I’m wondering where you ended up. My daughter is also interested in ASC or MHC (as well as Smith) so I’m curious to hear your experiences.
