<p>My daughter was looking into a small women’s college in the south. She really liked it - small, preppy, girls were a lot like her, etc. However, her father and I are from the Philadelphia area and we told her about Bryn Mawr when she first began. She wouldn’t go, she insisted they were all lesbians, etc. We’ve finally gotten her to schedule a tour, and she’s excited. She’s even said that she’s willing to look into it. </p>
<p>Again, my daughter is preppier than preppy. She does fit the Main Line stereotype (loves Lilly Pulitzer, went to private school, sporty) but she’s just a nice girl. I mean preppy in the true sense of the word: She is polite, funny, and accepting of everybody. She’s afraid that the girls at Bryn Mawr won’t like her. </p>
<p>So I have two questions:
Is there any room at Bryn Mawr for preppy girls? Will my daughter be able to find girls like herself to hang out with? She’s accepting of everyone, but she usually is closest to girls who are like her.
She wants to be in a sorority. It’s not the end all be all of college, and she knows this (she’s looking at several schools without greek life very seriously) but she was wondering: If she goes to Bryn Mawr, can she join a sorority at say, Penn?</p>
Yes and no. Penn has a few “city-wide” sororities that may recruit students from other colleges in the area. However, non-Penn students are not eligible to live in sorority housing. It can also be tricky to divide one’s time between several campuses. </p>
<p>Which part of sorority life appeals to your daughter? She can most definitely find a close community in other groups on campus. Bryn Mawr does not have sororities because they are officially prohibited by township law, but we do have a few groups with sorority-like functions. There are two co-ops on campus, the rugby team is the center of much social activity, and Hell Week provides a few days of (optional) campus-wide hazing for freshmen.</p>
<p>If she is looking for an active party scene, she might be disappointed by the social life on campus though.</p>
<p>a few of the dorms seem sorority-ish (based on my limited understanding of sororities). radnor and pem east and west appear to be close knit groups. there are definitely some party loving, extroverted, enthusiastic peppy types on campus, even if the campus as a whole is more subdued.
even if she’s not in one of the “party” dorms, she can meet people with similar interests. for example, i’m in rhoads, which is considered one of the quieter dorms, and there are a couple girls here who party every chance they get. they go to haverford when they can, or just invite people over to their room. they really love bryn mawr, even though they party more than the average mawrter.</p>
<p>Wellesley seemed super duper preppy to me. That’s right next to Boston, so your daughter would have the option to go partying in Boston, even though they don’t have “real” sororities.</p>