<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I just received my acceptance letter from smith and im still waiting on Bryn Mawr, and I was wondering if anyone could give me some pros and cons between the two schools. So far I've loved everything I've heard about smith, but I haven't been able to find much on Bryn Mawr. </p>
<p>thanks :)</p>
<p>(oh, and Im applying as a transfer student)</p>
<p>Britta, have you checked out the Bryn Mawr forum on CC? I just looked and there are lots of postings about a number of issues. What do you want to know specifically? Will you transfer as a sophomore or as a junior?</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr (along with Wellesley and Davidson) are famous for ‘grade deflation’. I found this off putting, as much as the well known ‘grade inflation’ at Harvard. Other than that, I liked everything I saw at Bryn Mawr: it is really close to Haverford so cross registration is pretty convenient. Less convenient to take classes at Swarthmore and UPenn, although they are theoretically possible. There is nothing much to do in the town around Bryn Mawr whereas Noho is a more happening place. Good luck with making your choice!</p>
<p>I only went to visit Bryn Mawr once, but I could kind of tell right away it wasn’t the place for me. My tour guide gave the impression that people pretty much leave campus and go to Haverford or Swarthmore every weekend, and they don’t spend much time on the campus itself. I’ve since heard this debunked by other Bryn Mawr students, so I think taking one tour guide’s opinion is not a great sample size, but she was convincing enough to make me think that I wasn’t going to be a “Mawrter”. I really wanted a school that had plenty to offer as a self contained unit, and my guide made it seem like that wasn’t BMC. Again though, that was one guide on one visit.</p>
<p>Upbeat, I’m curious; how do you know about all this grade deflation and inflation? What are your sources?</p>
<p>Britta, my daughter was accepted at Bryn Mawr as well and wound up choosing Smith. One person’s pros are another person’s cons, so I won’t list them that way. Bryn Mawr (~1400 undergrad students) is about half the size of Smith (~2700 undergrad) so that impacts the number of majors, professors, and courses. Yes, you can easily take courses at Haverford (1250 students) and even major in a subject that is only offered at Haverford, so in some ways you could interpret that as kind of coming out even. You can also takes classes at Swarthmore and UPenn but I understand the transportation to be a bit problematic. </p>
<p>With the ratio of women to men at Bryn Mawr and Haverford, if you put the two schools together, you approximately get a 1:3 ratio, so it’s a more coed experience, albeit a very lopsided one. At Smith, if you want a women’s college, that’s what you get, with all the sisterhood identity, bonding and networking. Yes, there are men on campus from the other Five-College Consortium schools but I don’t think they’re an out-sized presence that changes the social dynamic at the college, as I imagine is somewhat the case with Byrn Mawr and Haverford, although I know that Bryn Mawr prides itself on its traditions. (I understand that all the men come over to Bryn Mawr for dinner because the food’s better! 
)</p>
<p>The Bryn Mawr campus is gorgeous, more spread out and very unified architecturally; it resides in a charming little town that’s not a whole lot bigger than one street, if I remember correctly. Smith’s campus is handsome, more condensed, and the buildings reflect the time and architectural style in which they were built. I love Northampton! It’s a vibrant large town/small city with lots of activities, attractions and shops that draws on the energy of much of the Pioneer Valley. I have yet to experience a restaurant I didn’t love! Of course, with Bryn Mawr there’s all of Philly if you want to take a train into the city, if that’s the size of metropolis you want. To me, Northampton is the perfect college town and you can spontaneously take about a five-minute walk into town–no train schedule limitations.</p>
<p>At the time, as a potential English major, my daughter choose Smith over Bryn Mawr because the course offerings were much, much better. Granted, she didn’t look at Haverford’s English Department offerings but she was unimpressed with what she saw.</p>
<p>What major are you considering? That may make a difference in your choice. Look at the catalogs. And if you haven’t done so already, visit the schools, if you can. You need to get a sense what each offers. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’m curious. Why have you applied as a transfer to a school you don’t know much about?</p>
<p>Wellesley and Bryn Mawr students themselves told us about ‘grade deflation’ when we visited…they view it as a badge of honor. Apparently it is really hard to get an A in most courses. I mentored a Bryn Mawr student a couple of years ago and she complained of the same thing…so I specifically mentioned this in her recommendation letter for grad school and it seemed to help. I recall reading the same about Davidson on their forum. The Harvard grade inflation is a joke that comes up regularly when we review grad student applications (they are all “perfect”!) Regardless, the reputation of all these schools is high and that’s what counts.</p>
<p>“Upbeat, I’m curious; how do you know about all this grade deflation and inflation? What are your sources?”
Out of curiosity, I searched for the phrase “grade deflation” in the Wellesley and Davidson forums. It comes up frequently…I was astonished that Wellesley actually has an official policy on this which they explain when they send out transcripts.</p>
<p>Lost in trans- I know about the academics, the courses, the clubs, and the housing, but that is all from the website. I’m looking for insight from people who have actually gone there, or visited it (since I probably won’t be able to visit before I have to decide)</p>
<p>CarolynB- Im actually considering an English major as well, with an art minor (or double major). The one thing I was afraid about, academic wise, with bryn mawr was that the art program is only at haverford and i’ve heard some people having trouble with getting all the classes they need. </p>
<p>Thank you so much for your insight though, it really helped a lot :)</p>
<p>Britta, my daughter narrowed down her choices to Bryn Mawr and Smith as well (waitlisted at Haverford.) She went to both prospective students weekends. Although she loved both and was ready to attend Bryn Mawr after its weekend, she loved Smith more. From her perspective, she thought that the classes were more rigorous and lively at Smith. She liked Northampton a lot more than the Main Line shops/restaurants along Lancaster Ave. And she liked the larger campus at Smith.</p>
<p>Things she liked about Bryn Mawr: 1. she would have taken about half her classes at Haverford for a slightly more co-ed environment 2. the dorms were more uniformly nice than the Smith houses 3. the traditions were more unique. 4. easy to take the train in and out of Philadelphia. </p>
<p>Things she liked about Smith: 1. the courses she wanted to take were actually offered every year while many of the Bryn Mawr/Haverford courses in the catalogue hadn’t been offered for more than a year 2. Northampton 3. house system 4. the students seemed less concerned with the trappings of wealth (Bryn Mawr is located in one of the most expensive areas outside Philadelphia) 5. the courses she sat in on seemed more challenging (luck of the draw, in part) 6. larger campus</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong with either college.</p>