<p>I was accepted to both and I am trying to pick between the two. Any insights anyone can give me would be appreciated. As far as financial aid, they both gave about the same, with Mt. Holyoke about $2000 less per year. Obviously, the settings are very different, but other than that I'm not sure of how different they are.
If it helps, this is what I am looking for/interested in:
-rigorous academics - I want to be challenged, but I do want some time to pursue my interests outside the classroom without being run ragged
-I am interested in pursuing infectious disease/public health/epidemiology as a career; I may major in the sciences or in sociology</p>
<p>Little things that would be nice:
-many campus traditions
-cooperative atmosphere
-kitchens that students can use
-study abroad options that don't involve endless red tape</p>
<p>Here’s a post I wrote while my daughter was a student at Mount Holyoke. She can’t wait to get back to campus for her two year reunion! She loved her experience at Mount Holyoke!</p>
<p>You have two outstanding choices! My daughter had the same choice several years ago! She visited both campuses. In the classrooms, she found the academic environment she was looking for: challenging, intellectual classes…bright and engaged students. Where she found the difference was in the “feel” of the campus. Given her personal academic intensity, she was attracted to the bucolic Mount Holyoke campus and the ability of MHC students’ to “have an intensly intellectual discussion” one minute and “a lively discussion about shoes” the next! She chose Mount Holyoke and never looked back!</p>
<p>Neither school is a “party school”, though, if you look for it, I’m sure you can find a party group at any school.</p>
<p>As for the five college consortium…it really works! My daughter has taken courses at U Mass (and it had an Argentina experience over spring break) and Amherst. She is registered for a course at Amherst for the upcoming semester. Many of her friends have taken advantage of the consortium, both for classes and activities…very successfully. </p>
<p>At Bryn Mawr, she got the impression that the Haverford consortium was seamless, but that it is not as easy to register for courses at UPenn and Swat.</p>
<p>Traditions are deep at both schools and both school have a history of giving back to the community. My daughter loves the traditions at Mount Holyoke. I think Mountain Day is her favorite! I remember that during orientation, there was a day of volunteering and that there are opportunities to maintain a community connection.</p>
<p>In short, you have two wonderful schools to choose from. Best of luck!
<p>MHC is the strongest sister in the sciences. Bryn Mawr and MHC both have awesome campus traditions (very cute according to my friend who’s heading to either in the fall after she decides.) </p>
<p>As you are majoring in the sciences MHC would academically be the better choice.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your responses. If anyone wants to elaborate on the different ‘feel’ of the campuses, I would appreciate it. I personally take my studies very seriously, but I do want a little bit of free time in college (not to party, but just to take part in ECs, read a book, etc.)…Does either school seem to promote that type of balance between school and a personal life?</p>
<p>It’s not true that MHC is the strongest in science. These urban myths just get circulated. Each has strong sciences. MHC is a good choice but so are the other four.</p>
<p>The reason I said that MHC is the strongest sister in the sciences is due to the fact that it produces the highest number of women with Ph.Ds in the sciences compared to ALL colleges and universities – Bryn Mawr is also strong, but the difference is statistically based . </p>
<p>As to the OP’s question, both schools provide the same amount of free time and balance – That aspect is non-differentiable – What else do you want from college to help with deciding between BMC and MHC?</p>
<p>The Princeton Review recently named the 300 best professors in the nation. Mount Holyoke had the most professors on the list – 14 in total. 5 were from the biology department. Mount Holyoke historically has had one of the top chemistry departments as well. I’m sad to say that I got the highest grade in my high school (a very competitive high school on Long Island) on the New York State Regents chemistry exam and then achieved only a C plus in the first year chemistry class at Mount Holyoke. Be prepared to be challenged! Incidentally, one of my high school classmates whom I beat on the chemistry exam later got the Nobel prize in physics . . . .</p>
<p>Little things that would be nice:
-many campus traditions: Mount Holyoke has a lot of these! So many. Traditions between classes (sophomore “elves” that bring freshmen presents, juniors that act as “big sisters”), Pangyneskeia “Pangy” day, Mountain day, so on, so forth. I love learning about these and I think there’s a lot of them.<br>
-kitchens that students can use: There are seven fully-stocked Golden Pear kitchens in the MHC res halls. There’s definitely one in Creighton.<br>
-study abroad options that don’t involve endless red tape: It sounds to me like it’s relatively easy to study abroad. There’s an office specifically for their programs in the library and, if you don’t like any of theirs, you can petition to go on a different program. </p>
<p>The rest I can’t really answer well to as a prospie. I also don’t know much about Bryn Mawr. Good luck!</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr has a post-bac medical program for students who have completed their undergraduate degrees but want to go back and complete med school requirements. These are the same courses undergrad students take. The post-bac program is considered one of the best nationally and has VERY close relationships with top-tier med schools. As an undergrad, you would benefit from the same pre-med advisors and programs. More on the program here: <a href=“http://www.brynmawr.edu/postbac/linkages.shtml”>http://www.brynmawr.edu/postbac/linkages.shtml</a></p>
<p>I can’t speak for MoHo but D and I did visit Bryn Mawr and were truly impressed. We spent a good deal of time looking at the research students have done and it was really high quality stuff. the first response most likely summed up the best advice… Two great choices !</p>
<p>MHC has the highest proportion of women going on to graduate programs in science of any school in the country, coed or single-gender. Impressive record in that regard.</p>