My daughter just received her ACT score. Her composite was 30. She would like to go to a women’s college with a relatively small population. Barnard is out because Columbia is too large. She does not like Smith. Her GPA is 3.6. She works after school so she does not have that many clubs. She is not an athlete. She also wants to major in Math or Physics. What is your opinion?
Mt Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, or Wellesley would all be good choices. She could apply to all of them and see where she gets in. If she is willing to look outside of the northeast, Scripps (in southern California) would be another academically comparable option. A few points about each:
Mt. Holyoke - most rural and isolated of the three. In very small town, not much within walking distance. However, there are free local buses to Northampton and Amherst, where there is much more going on. Opportunities for social and academic interchange with Smith, Amherst, UMass, and Hampshire, which form the “5-College Consortium”, with MHC. My impression is that male students from other schools don’t commonly make the bus trip out to MHC, so the on-campus atmosphere may be particularly female, even by women’s college standards.
Bryn Mawr - Suburban setting, but with easy access to Philadelphia by train. One big difference between BMC and the other two is the presence of a coed school, Haverford College, close by. BMC and Haverford function almost as a single institution; there is constant traffic between the two campuses, and it is possible to take classes, declare a major, eat meals, or find housing on either one. So there is a visible male minority on the BMC campus, noticeably more so than at the other two schools. Another difference is that BMC has a few small graduate programs, including programs in physics and math, so there could be better opportunities to take advanced classes or conduct research in these fields.
Wellesley - have not been there, don’t know too much. Probably the most selective of the three. Suburban setting, but with access to Boston via train. Probably opportunities for academic and social interchange with the many other schools in the Boston area. As at MHC, male students may be less likely to make the trip out to Wellesley, so the on-campus atmosphere may be particularly female.
I can’t talk about the individual campuses (though we’re interested in MHC and Bryn Mawr for our D19), but based on ACT score, admission may be challenging for your daughter based on current scores – MHC and Bryn Mawr have ACT composite ranges of 29-33 for the 25th through 75th percentile of accepted students’ scores, with Wellesley at 30-33. MHC is the only school of the three that posts GPA ranges – 55% have GPAs of 3.75 or higher; another 27% are between 3.5 and 3.74. MHC and Bryn have 91% who were in the top 25% of their high school class; Wellesley, 96%.
Obviously all 3 focus on holistic admissions, and I certainly don’t think that working in lieu of clubs will be a detriment, but the test score and GPA may make it harder to get in.
Your daughter may want to consider Agnes Scott in Atlanta – well-regarded school, but with a score profile slightly less daunting (a 30 is actually at the 75th percentile there).
Good luck to your daughter (and you) finding a school!
Good summaries above. Additional points:
- []Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr are test optional, so you would only submit your ACT scores if you thought it would be helpful to your application.
[]Acceptance rates vary greatly:
Mount Holyoke: 51%
Bryn Mawr: 38%
Scripps: 33%
Wellesley: 22%
[]While they are all small LACs, their size does vary quite a bit:
Scripps: 1000 (however is co-located with the other Claremont Consortium colleges so feels bigger)
Bryn Mawr: 1400
Mount Holyoke: 2200
Wellesley: 2400
[]Wellesley offers cross-registration with MIT, Olin, and Babson with bus service between the campuses. However, logistically it’s not as easy as Scripps or Bryn Mawr to get to the neighboring campuses
Good luck!
In terms of feel, Mt. H and BMC are the closest in terms of hominess and a purposefully established environment in which the students are not competitive among each other. The idea is to be supportive and to pursue excellence of your own accord. Physically BMC is smaller than MtH.
Barnard BTW is it’s own full-fledged college. If she doesn’t want to cross the street and go to Columbia, there’s no need for her to do so. The Barnard campus is quite compact and pleasant.
Mt Holyoke students can (and do) take courses at the other 4 schools in the area (Smith, UMass, Amherst, Hampshire).
D often had boys in her classes at MHC. MHC, Hampshire, Amherst, and UMass are all along Rt. 116, 20 min from end to end–free buses. Smith, being across the river, is less attractive for cross-registration due to a longer bus ride.
Bryn Mawr only has about 1400 undergraduates, but (like Scripps) feels bigger. This is because the Bi-College community also includes some 300 Bryn Mawr graduate students, plus about 1300 undergrads at Haverford. So around 3000 students total.
Most of the BMC grad students are enrolled in a graduate school of social work. There are also grad students in certain college departments, including physics and math, but the numbers are small. All of the BMC undergrads, most of the BMC grad students, and at least half the Haverford undergrads are female. So even with Haverford included, female students predominate in the Bi-College environment, by at least 3 to 1.
I don’t think she is likely to get into Wellesley with a 30 ACT. I’ve visited all 3, and both my kids applied to and got into MHC. I really like MHC a lot. Beautiful campus, serious about academics, punches above its weight in the rankings. It is the least “angsty” of the 3 in my opinion.
Agree with Agnes Scott as a slightly less selective women’s college. Other comparable options could include Hollins (in Roanoke, Virginia) or Simmons (in Boston).
Dup
@Dustyfeathers – I really don’t think it would be possible for a Barnard student to major in math or physics without crossing the street to attend classes at Columbia. For someone majoring in English or dance or psychology – sure, it would be possible – but both math and physics have course requirements that include a significant number of courses that are going to be given at Columbia.
Obviously a net positive for many students who don’t object to the notion of studying math and physics at an Ivy League university – but not for the OP’s daughter who prefers a smaller woman’s college.
In any case, I don’t know why a student would want to restrict herself in that way. Wouldn’t most students want to avail themselves of the full opportunities that their college offers?
Barnard & Smith (which the OP’s daugher also doesn’t want) are also the largest of the colleges being discussed, and there is definitely a feeling of urban density in the Barnard environment, because all of those students are compacted in a very small campus, live in urban high rise buildings, and pretty much spend a lot of their time outside of class in a huge city. The OP said her daughter was looking for a school with a “small population”, not necessarily one with a teensy campus.
My daughter loved Barnard but it doesn’t sound like a fit for the OP’s daughter.
Barnard also is the most selective and with a 3.6 GPA and few EC’s it doesn’t sound like the OP’s daughter would have strong prospects for admission – so I think the other options mentioned make a lot more sense for her. I’m not saying that she wouldn’t get it – just that Barnard accepts only about 16% of applicants and the stats the OP provided don’t suggest any sort of tip factor or hook. I think average high school GPA of accepted students at Barnard is around 3.9 and Barnard places more weight on GPA than tests score.
Hello! I am a current student and tour guide at Bryn Mawr College and I would be happy to answer your question. In regards to her test score, I can happily direct you to the admissions officer for your region. They would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Here is a link to the Admissions Officers at Bryn Mawr College. You can search by your region: https://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions/regional/officers
I am personally not a math or physics major, but you can definitely look up the information on our website! Here are links for the Math and Physics department:
Math - https://www.brynmawr.edu/math/
Physics - https://www.brynmawr.edu/physics/
When I was looking at colleges, I was looking for a small college population and I thought Bryn Mawr worked best for me. I love how Bryn Mawr has 1300 undergraduates, and it is nice to not feel like a number at the school, rather than at a school with a large undergraduate population.
Hope this helps!
Another vote for Agnes Scott College. They offer cross-registration with Emory University, UGA and Georgia Tech. This year they launched their Elizabeth Kiss Trailblazer Scholarship. Accepted students who have a 3.75 GPA, a 1250 SAT or a 26 ACT, are eligible for a $25,000 merit-based scholarship, renewable for up to four years.
I think she might be a good match for MoHo, but I’d take Wellesley off the list. FWIW, my D was accepted at MoHo and it was definately a contender in the end, great school, campus and academics in my opinion. Has she looked at Simmons College in Boston? I think she’d be a good match there too especially if she’s interested in the location vs the much less urban area of MoHo.
Have her study and retake the ACT. Work only on the areas she can easily improve. 15 min a day. Borrow books from library. She can maybe sell her job as her EC. Maybe that can be her essay. I also agree that Wellesley is a big reach. Throw a hail mary app in if she wants, you never know. Gorgeous campus. The joke at Wellesley is when you want to take a gut class you cross register at MIT. My D HS class of '18 is going to Scripps in Sept. She looked at all of the colleges mentioned here, but absolutely fell in love with Scripps/Claremont Consortium. My D ihas attended a rigorous all girl school for 7 years. The things she loved about Scripps, was the community she would come back to at night, the option to cross register at the other 5C schools or just stay on campus if she wanted. Good luck. WOrk on that ACT score.
I think that’s an interesting post from @mamom. Her post shows one of the key differences in women’s colleges. They offer excellent academics, and they have different personalities. I might be reading too much into the tone of her post, but that urgency and competitiveness surrounding Wellesley was exactly what we were trying to avoid.
Our search was for mutually supportive community of learners who were also seeking top education and leadership mentorship. We felt that we found that atmosphere at Mt. H and at Bryn Mawr, especially. Those schools felt homey and yet offered highly intellectual, challenging educations. In contrast, we felt that Smith and Wellesley were more (for lack of a better word) competitive for competition’s sake. Best-best-best-best. That works for some people, but for us it felt unnecessarily angsty. Smith had the added edge of overt politics. Again, that’s fine for many, but for us it felt distracting.
Mt. H and BMC were our Goldilocks schools. Beautiful architecture, great academics, parts of consortia – meaning that the student can tailor her academics, small but not too small, homey feeling, non-competitive but rather supportive student body, and somewhat contemplative in atmosphere.
@Dustyfeathers is right. My D , who goes to a very rigorous school now, felt Wellesley was her current school 2.0. While she wanted rigor, she did not want another 4 years of grind.
I don’t think a retake of the ACT is necessary or that it would help with admissions. My daughter had an ACT of 27 – that didn’t stop Barnard from admitting her – but DD also had a higher GPA and ranked at the top of her high school class. All of the women’s colleges have holistic admissions practices. It’s good when the ACT is consistent with GPA – but if there is too much of an imbalance it can create the impression that the student doesn’t work up to her potential.
A higher ACT probably would have opened doors for my daughter, given her high GPA – though obviously things worked out for Barnard just fine. But it can’t change the GPA. So while it could help at schools where admissions is stats based, I think it would be a waste of time for the OP’s daughter I think it is more important for the daughter to focus on earning the best grades possible this semester and fall of her senior year, especially in STEM classes as that is her college goal, and perhaps also getting more involved in an EC related to her goals. I think all the women’s colleges do value prospective STEM majors so admission prospect would be high. I think the only reason an ACT retake would be appropriate would be if the score breakdown was lopsided and significantly weaker in the math and science sections. College ad coms do expect to see consistency between a student’s stated objectives and her academic profile. If the student says she wants to major in math or physics, then colleges are going to want to see demonstrated aptitude or proficiency in those areas.
One key differentiating factor to keep in mind when comparing these women’s colleges is the predominant building material.
Bryn Mawr: gray stone
Mt Holyoke: brown stone
Wellesley: brick
Bryn Mawr: gray stone that looks like an actual castle – it has crenelations. It’s stately and beautiful. Because cars and buses stay outside of the main campus area, it’s hushed in a pleasant, park-like way. Landscaping done by the same people who designed Central Park in NYC.
Mt. H – Reddish “brownstone” like the elegant brownstones that line the most desirable blocks in NYC. The architecture is Gothic and stately. Set in a woodsy area. Also has lakes with a goose called Jorge, greenhouse, and lots of horse stables. Very lovely school