<p>This is one of my top choices, so I’m trying to liven up the board…</p>
<p>Is it easy to manage activities and school work? I heard that the college is known for giving students a large workload.</p>
<p>How is race/class interaction? Do people tend to group with people of their race and socioeconomic class?</p>
<p>What are the best traditions at Bryn Mawr? That’s one of the things that attracted me to the school and I was wondering what some of the favorites were.</p>
<p>Eh…I know I had some more, but they slipped my mind. Thanks to anyone who answers!</p>
<p>Managing- I've balanced everything really well so far and that's something I usually can't do. :D As long as you take the right classes, it's easy to be involved and do well.</p>
<p>(Different types of classes include small seminars with a lot of work and writing, bigger intro lecture classes that are probably more memorization based, sciences/math with labs, language classes and intensive languages, PE classes.... don't take all seminars or all sciences with labs, that kind of idea.)</p>
<p>Last semester I had over 20 hours of class (intensive languages paired with lab sciences can rack up the hours) and I still did things around campus and had a LOT of fun in addition to doing well in school. There are also billions of people (deans, customs people, PMS people, HAs, upperclassmen) that can help you balance your classes and make sure you won't be overwhelmed.</p>
<p>Race/Class interaction- Class interaction was weird for me at first because I'm in the minority on that front, but at this point I have a lot of friends across the spectrum and it's been a legit learning experience. My friends are probably less racially diverse than they were in high school, but I'm pretty sure that was a coincidence- it probably varies more from person to person, but my friends are all very different people.</p>
<p>Traditions... gah!</p>
<p>We've done lantern night, and parade night, plus step sings, so far. Parade night is probably going to be my least favorite of the four, but it was also the first, so it has a special place in my heart. It wasn't bad, but the other ones are just so AWESOME. Lantern night was beautiful. Eerily beautiful. And the step sings are looong but adorable (at least go the whole time for your first). And it's fun to explain to your friends: "Yeah.... my whole school gets together and sings..."</p>
<p>And hell week is just around the bend- so excited!</p>
<p>What language are you studying? I'm hoping to do Romance Languages at BMC with an emphasis on French (beginners) and Spanish, but I wanted to know how intensive these programs are, and whether it's possible to become fluent. I'm applying as a transfer.</p>
<p>I'm taking Spanish (and probably majoring in it). With the incorporation of studying abroad (which is required for majors and recommended for minors), I think it's very possible to become fluent. My speaking has improved considerably in the past semester and a half- I've taken Intensive Intermediate Spanish and now I'm taking Introduccion al analisis literario with Prof Quintero. I love my literature class- we read short stories at home and spend the class discussing symbolism, etc. Sometimes I can't believe how well some of my classmates can speak. </p>
<p>Fluency is definitely my goal- I might not be there yet, but I'm much closer. I just wrote my first 3-4 page essay in Spanish- I'm glad I've finally gotten to do that. It just seems like a nice milestone to have.</p>
<p>To do intensive intermediate Spanish in the sophmore year, do you necessarily have to do intensive elementary spanish?
Currently I'm doing intensive beginners Spanish, but the Spanish department at my school only offers 4 hours per week while I know at BMC you can do nine hours of spanish per week. I definitely want to become fluent at Spanish but write now my speaking is appalling, so I'm worried that even if I do get to go to BMC I'll be considerably behind.
Is it really easy to travel to Philadelphia, and is Bryn Mawr a good place to live if your on a tight study budget? Thanks!!!</p>
<p>I just read this whole post, the answers are definetly helpful! I'm a little fluent in Spanish, but I speak French, and Haitian Creole, which is like it's own fully-functional language. I'd love to minor in German! I wanted to know if the courses for German are very intensive? Also, I'm a Biology major would I be able to minor in German if I wanted to or double major? </p>
<p>Intensive Intermediate is a direct continuation of Intensive Elementary Spanish, but you do not necessarily have to take Intensive Elementary in order to take Intensive Intermediate. I know that some freshmen are placed into Intermediate Spanish because they are too advanced for Regular Intermediate but not quite ready yet for the upper-level language and literature classes. </p>
<p>The best way to figure out which class is right for you is to take the placement exam. I would like to mention though that even the non-intensive introductory Spanish class meets 5 days a week. By pure math it would seem that regular intermediate Spanish might be the better option for you, but your Spanish class might have been very intensive without a lot of contact time. Even if you do have to take the regular intermediate class, so what? It might be better to take the one additional class now than to take literature classes with a weak foundation.</p>
<p>Many beginning language students have a hard time with conversation. The best way to overcome the difficulties is to meet and practice with peers until it feels more natural to speak in Spanish. You can also request a tutor through the Dean's office (free of charge!) who will meet with you for a limited amount of time to work on specific weaknesses. The Language Learning Center is another great resource, but it may not be quite as helpful for speaking problems because it's just you, a computer and tons of listening/video/reading material.</p>
<p>Since most of our daily needs are paid for by tuition, room and board, it is possible to live very frugally. The only things you absolutely have to spend money on are toiletries and textbooks, and you may even be able to borrow the textbooks from the library for a semester. How much money you need beyond those basic items depends mostly on your living style. </p>
<p>Philly is very accessible through the R-5 and the R-100 train stations. Most students prefer the R-5: it's $9.50 for an off-peak round-trip, 5 walking-minutes from the college and gets you directly into Center City. The R-100 is only $4.40 but 15 minutes from Bryn Mawr; it's the most direct connection to the University of Pennsylvania if you want to go there for classes or parties. Both trains run all day except between about 1am and 5am.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your advice. I wasn't even aware that you could get a free tutor to help with your language skills. I just hope I get in, I can't wait until April 15th!!</p>
<p>Can you tell me if they have different religious masses for the students? My D is Catholic and likes to go to mass (most of the time) or have a place to just sit and think. I know a lot of students aren't that religious, but is there a Catholic Miinistry and other functions for students who do want to keep some practices?</p>
<p>There isn't one on campus but there are several churches nearby- one must be Catholic because I saw a lot of students with ashes on Wednesday (so it must be easy to get to too). I was surprised- there are a lot more Catholics on campus than I thought. The community is definitely here.</p>
<p>Speaking of religion, is there a rift between the religious and non-religious students? I'm asking because I heard not many of the students are religious.</p>
<p>Also, what is the social life like? Is it pretty much what you make of it?</p>
<p>Thank you so much to the people answering questions!</p>
<p>Actually, the reason I mentioned I was surprised there were so many Catholic students is that it really hasn't been something I've noticed in my interactions with people. A few of my close friends are religious and I'm not, and it hasn't been something that has mattered. </p>
<p>Exactly. It's what you want. People are usually placed in dorms with others that have a similar social needs/wants, which is really nice. Haffner is one of the least social, the Pems are some of the most, just be honest on your housing questionaire and res life will do its best. Past that, if you want parties, most of the time you'll have to go off campus, but there are plenty of other social activities and smaller parties here. Finding events and finding things you like to do might take a semester or so, but my friends find plenty to do (from movie nights to dancing in Philly).</p>
<p>My D had a friend ask her about this question when she received mail from Bryn Mawr. She is a little more conservative than my D, who is liberal with conservative leanings in some areas. She had been interested at first but when she looked into it more (no visits) she heard the women's colleges were usually very liberal and not accepting of anyone who they feel is less so.
I suggested her friend visit, stay overnight or for the day and get a feel of the particular college she likes. She went to an all girl Catholic school and loved it,is a bright young woman but they had a nice mix of students and she liked the tolerance they had for each other. My daughter will visit but I can tell when I told her there weren't services on campus, she seemed a little taken back....she wants to know she can go if she wants too. I guess it will depend how far the church is.</p>
<p>I think it would be a great idea for her to visit- when she's setting up her overnight, she can say some of her interests or preferences in a hostess and she can probably have a Catholic hostess who could give her an idea of where services are and the general campus atmosphere when it comes to religion. One of my friends is a member of the interdenominational Christian groups on campus and if your daughter was on campus during a meeting, someone would be glad to take her- <a href="http://www.brynmawr.edu/orgs/bmccf/%5B/url%5D">http://www.brynmawr.edu/orgs/bmccf/</a> (there's the link to the club).</p>
<p>Honestly, there are students on campus that weren't as tolerant of other political views this past year (with the election), but it's much more quiet on that front now. And even with that atmosphere, I'd say that the majority of people would respect any opinion that can be explained logically/ backed up. They say it's very liberal, and there are very liberal people on campus who can be very loud about certain issues (rights for LGBTQI) but most are moderate with liberal leanings or slightly liberal at best. And, of course, the campus isn't completely barren of conservatives either (I'm not sure I could give a good estimate of the amount...).</p>
<p>And you're welcome for the responses- feel free to ask more (I'm putting off doing my midterm work, haha).</p>