@3SailAway we are right behind you! We leave tomorrow for our trip.
@thingamajig I like college tours too–much more than when I was a HS student!
@doschicos Glad I’m not the only one a bit flummoxed by the honors program at Swat–there are even three levels.
@Bromfield2 We should have looked at the theater! Something to put on the list if D wants a second visit (I think she will). We did get to hear about many theater groups, improv and performance, and they sounded great. Our Bryn Mawr tour guide is directing Antigone.
@lucky18 -
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/carrie-wofford/2013/10/24/why-you-should-consider-a-womens-college
I think what caught my daughter’s eye was students at womens colleges are far more likely to stick with math and/or hard science, and also more likely to earn a PhD.
@toomanykiddos Bon voyage!
^^^@3SailAway Google Top 50 schools that produce science and engineering PhDs, Bryn Mawr comes up #12 right before Haverford. If you look at other info on undergrad schools of doctoral students, Bryn Mawr is usually one of the top feeder schools.
My D (BMC grad) had a friend group of 5 while at BMC. All the women in that group (including my D) have gone on to get a graduate/professional degrees at places like Yale, Brown, MIT, UPenn, Pace (design), and George Washington University.
@3SailAway , how did you manage all those schools in 3 days with younger sibs! Please share…might have to take younger sib along this summer, and over spring break we did 4 schools in 5 days and it was hard! (8 hour drive from home took up 2 of the days).
@TS0104, my younger kids are not that young–15 and 12, which helped a lot. We drove to F&M and D19 went on the tour while I explored with the kids and got them good food. Then, we drove to Bryn Mawr where I had found a VRBO house. That way, the kids could stay “home” while D19 and I did info sessions and tours at Bryn Mawr and Haverford (both 5 min from the house). The kids walked to a grocery store, made themselves lunches, read books, went to a comic book store–they liked it.
We did take them with us to Swarthmore and Villanova, but they had their music/audiobooks/shows etc. and D21 preferred to hang out in the car because it was pouring rain and cold. We were lucky to be able to turn in the rental car and take the train home. My kids love train travel and it’s faster/easier than dealing with traffic.
Despite how smoothly it went, both younger sibs have made it clear that they would rather not go on any more college “vacations”, unless DH comes too, and there can be a amusement park day or a hiking day!
Hope that helps and best wishes!
Hershey is in the area of visiting all the PA LACs. Maybe a day of reward for tagalong siblings for any others planning college trips in the area.
Interesting about the reaction to Swat’s honors program. I know a few Swatties from the old days. I think the idea of an honors program within such a selective and intellectually sophisticated college is strange. And it was that factor above all that led to my son not applying there. Instead he applied to Williams, and was accepted there. But he ended up attending the University of Chicago, after satisfying himself that people there weren’t snooty and self-important.
My own bias about the honors program comes in part from my being a graduate of Reed. The curriculum at Reed is every bit as demanding as Swarthmore’s. All students have to pass qualifying exams in their junior year (“junior quals”), and all must write a senior thesis – not an “honors” thesis. The underlying idea is that we’re all on a big exploration into our own values and tastes, and into the whole of world intellectual history and culture. We are mortals, and not an elite. Some were smarter or more talented than others, but we were on equal ground trying to tackle the big questions about science, life, and society.
My family had the same reaction, @mackinaw. We found it odd to have different tiers at such an small college.
My wife and our D toured the Swat/Haverford/BMC triumvirate on one of those snowy weeks this spring. Their sense from the Swathmore discussion was that there wasn’t necessarily a lot “there” to the honors program. But I agree that the very idea seems off.
D preferred Haverford. I think she liked BMC too but had far less time there and isn’t interested in women’s colleges generally. Swarthmore just didn’t click for her. On the other hand, she visited Reed later this spring, and responded very positively, so there must have been something besides the intellectual rigor that she liked about Reed and not about Swarthmore.
All good schools, all with their own particular quirks and fans.
megan12 captured it; except I suggest scratching Lehigh and Lafayette … to athletic and too many fratty given your criteria.
One of my daughters went to Haverford, the other to Bryn Mawr. They’re both terrific schools, quite different in some ways but very much compatible, and the way their BiCo (bi-college) consortium works you really can get the best of both schools while attending either. They’re only a mile apart with a regular shuttle between them, an integrated curriculum and course registration system that lets you sign up for unlimited classes at either school, and a class meeting schedule that allows for travel time between the two campuses. Many ECs are also BiCo, with participation by students from both schools.
Haverford and Bryn Mawr are also part of a larger Quaker Consortium with Swarthmore and Penn, but due to longer travel times and some restrictions on the courses you can take, HC and BMC students take far fewer classes outside the BiCo—though it certainly does happen, especially if Swat or Penn offers a course that’s not available in the BiCo.
Both of my daughters got outstanding educations and found their experiences intellectually challenging and rewarding. I would say the daughter who went to Bryn Mawr had a happier total experience—intellectually, academically, socially, and in terms of personal growth it was a perfect match for her. The one who went to Haverford is overall very happy with her college experience as well, and I think any differences on the happiness register may have more to do with their respective personalities than with the schools themselves.
I’d be a little wary of Swarthmore. It’s unquestionably a great school, but everyone I’ve ever known who went there describes it as a real meatgrinder in intellectual intensity and workload—and for the most part they wear it as a merit badge. Haverford is a notch less intense, and Bryn Mawr another notch below that but nonetheless replete with intellectual riches.