The eternal question...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wellesley College
1

<p>Why a women's college?</p>

<p>I feel that this is a question that can't really be answered by inspirational language in a viewbook. </p>

<p>I had always thought, up until today, that most people were interested in women's colleges for one of the following reasons:
--The alumnae network! Connected women who want to connect women. What could be better?!
--Sexuality. Women who want women. What could be better?! (Pardon my rhetoric--what I really mean to say is that the environment of a college like Wellesley would probably appeal to a woman who was homosexual, questioning, or experimental and felt repressed whence she came)
--Coincidence (my main reason) In the search for a fabulous college, a women's college just so happened to stand out.</p>

<p>However, today in my history class, it came up that in certain southern US states, schools are segregating classes on basis of sex. I was quick to say that it was wrong or stupid, or something to that effect, to which my teacher replied, "You want to go to a women's college!" She explained that statistics show a relationship between women in all-female environments getting better scores on standardizes tests. I guess this would be an issue of focus, and taking out the distracting male element?</p>

<p>Anyway, I'm sure this thread is kind of redundant but I couldn't find another, and would love to know what you all think.</p>

2

<p>
[quote]
I guess this would be an issue of focus, and taking out the distracting male element?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Do you find that men distract you and prevent you from achieving your best work?</p>

<p>Personally, I went to Wellesley by coincidence but left as an ardent supporter of women's colleges (and women's choirs and women in leadership roles and ...). Some of my classmates could articulate their support much more effectively, but I found that being in a single-sex environment actually broke down gender stereotypes that I had held. At a women's college, women are everything: they're smart, they're dumb, they're leaders, they're followers, they're strong, they're weak, and everything in between! You have role models wherever you look, and you also have peers who will help you along the way.</p>

<p>It isn't necessarily about finding men distracting--it's about cognitive learning differences and tailoring an education with different teaching styles. It's about realizing that there is no "right" or "wrong" place for women. It's about seeing gender and embracing it. Moreover, your time at a women's college is probably the only time in your life you will be assured that all of your successes and failures had nothing to do with your gender.</p>

<p>Of course, these are just my own ruminations. Plenty of single-sex education advocates offer more eloquent and certainly deeper thoughts on the subject.</p>

3

<p>I personally like the idea of separating my education from my social life (aka boys/parties/etc). But I mainly would like to go to Wellesley not just because it's a women's college, but because it's a good school in general. The rest of the details just fall into place, like it'd be nice to not see an ex boyfriend on campus, to be able to be surrounded by classmates who are all willing to sacrifice continuous contact with the opposite sex in order to receive a good education, and so on.</p>

4

<p>In all honesty, the fact that I'm gay is a big part of it. I want to meet like-minded women, and a women's college is the place to do it! Also, I've never really been able to communicate with guys and I don't understand male culture at all. I have a few close male friends, but I'm not out to find more particularly. Guys just won't be something I miss from my life.</p>

<p>People ask my why I'm looking at women's schools all the time, and I'm always completely incapable of articulating it! I just like that community.</p>

5

<p>It's a really hard question for me to answer when people ask. It would probably be easier if I was gay because that is such a stereotype for women's colleges. People just don't understand why a straight (almost boy-crazy) female would want to go to a college lacking men, but it doesn't really bother me to have an academic setting comprised of all women. </p>

<p>Saturday night I had 8 other people at my house and 7 of them were boys. That was the first time I realized that besides my 3 best friends, I don't hang out with any other girls. I still think I would be fine at, and would even prefer, a women's college. I'm sure I could still see plenty of boys and have boyfriends and boys who are friends, I just won't be living around them and taking classes with them. I like the feelings of sisterhood and community that comes with being all-women, but this is an idea that is hard to explain to most people who have never considered women's colleges. Oh, well. If my parents decide to pay for Wellesley, probably everyone at my school will think I'm a lesbian, but whatever. That's not really something I'm too concerned with.</p>

6

<p>^^I agree with you, gub. :) If you need boys, I heard that MIT throws good parties. (Lol.)</p>

7

<p>This isn't just about Wellesley but about women's colleges in general. What do Wellesley alums think?</p>

<p>from InsideHigherEd.com<br>
New</a> Evidence Bolsters Women's Colleges :: Inside Higher Ed :: Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education</p>

<p>New Evidence Bolsters Women’s Colleges</p>

<p>Graduates of women’s colleges are significantly more likely than women who graduated from other liberal arts colleges or from public flagships to have graduate degrees, [ What</a> Matters in College After College ]according to data released Monday.</p>

<p>The data were part of a longitudinal survey of alumnae of women’s colleges, other liberal arts college and of public flagship universities. On a variety of factors, the survey found that the women’s college alumnae rated their institutions more highly than did the women who attended coeducational institutions. Several previous studied have found that women’s college students demonstrate higher levels of engagement than do students on average.</p>

<p>But supporters of women’s colleges see the new data as significant because it provides separate comparisons of women’s colleges to other liberal arts colleges. Because most women’s colleges are liberal arts colleges, some have previously questioned whether the benefits attributed to women’s colleges may in part be a reflection of the more personal attention students receive at liberal arts colleges.</p>

<p>In the data released by the Women’s College Coalition, liberal arts colleges generally fared better than public flagships on many qualities, but in key areas the women’s colleges fared better than the other liberal arts institutions, too. The study was based on a survey of alumnae (women from all kinds of colleges) from 1970 through 1997, with notations where additional polling of more recent alumnae indicated significant differences from the earlier patterns.</p>

<p>On the question of earning a graduate degree, women’s college alumnae were significantly more likely than other to have done so.</p>

<p>Graduate Education by Female Graduates of Different Types of Institutions</p>

<p>Earned graduate degree
Women’s colleges 53%
Other liberal arts colleges 38%
Public flagships 28%</p>

<p>Some graduate education
Women’s colleges 7%
Other liberal arts colleges7%
Public flagships 9%</p>

<p>No graduate education
Women's colleges 39%
Other liberal arts colleges 55%
Public flagships 63%</p>

<p>On a range of other factors, some of which are more subjective than earning a graduate degree, the alumnae from women’s colleges had significantly different responses. This was especially the case in questions related to leadership, where the normal gap between all liberal arts colleges and public flagships was further differentiated.</p>

<p>Qualities Recalled by Alumnae of Various Kinds of Colleges</p>

<p>College experience frequently included student presentations
Women’s colleges 55%
Other liberal arts colleges 43%
Public flagships 40%</p>

<p>Involved in campus publications or student government
Women’s colleges 43%
Other liberal arts colleges 31%
Public flagships 13%</p>

<p>Learned to solve problems
Women’s colleges 54%
Other liberal arts colleges 38%
Public flagships27%</p>

<p>Learned to relate to people from different backgrounds
Women’s colleges 52%
Other liberal arts colleges 40%
Public flagships 30%</p>

<p>Learned to think analytically
Women’s colleges 54%
Other liberal arts colleges 48%
Public flagships 26%</p>

<p>Learned to work as part of a team
Women’s colleges 47%
Other liberal arts colleges36%
Public flagships 28%</p>

<p>Received help to learn to write effectively
Women’s colleges 59%
Other liberal arts colleges44%
Public flagships 29%</p>

<p>Elisabeth Muhlenfeld, chair of the Women’s College Coalition and president of Sweet Briar College, said that she found the results encouraging, and that member institutions would find them useful. Too much information about women’s colleges, she said, “was comparing apples and oranges, or was anecdotal, or was based on the ’70s.”</p>

<p>She also said that this study focused “on outcomes,” demonstrating what actually happened from a student’s perspective, not just which courses were taken. “A piece we had been missing was outcomes — what does it look like, looking back.”</p>

<p>There are obvious short-term uses for the data in promotional materials, Muhlenfeld said. “Our students are always being asked by their friends why in the world they went to a women’s college and it’s very heartening to be able to point to something like this.”</p>

<p>However, Muhlenfeld said that there is a large set of unanswered questions as well about the differing perceptions: Why? She said she hoped that researchers would now take some of these differences and look at why alumnae have such different perceptions and which qualities in undergraduate education mattered. It’s not enough to know that some set of qualities are working, when knowing which qualities they are might help the colleges improve. “Ultimately we hope this could have an impact on how we are teaching,” Muhlenfeld said.</p>

8

<p>I don't have a good answer to this question either, but if it helps, the single-sex part of it was an afterthought when I made the decision. I chose Wellesley for its size and resources and because I was so impressed with the women I met there during my visit. I wanted to come out of college as confident and as intelligent and well put-together as they seemed. Since my friends were mostly female anyway in high school, I figured it wouldn't make a difference.</p>

<p>It depends on the person, but I think that for me it has been really easy to adjust. A lot of the time I don't even notice that there are no guys -- not to say that there aren't times that I wish there were. Academically, though, I've cross-registered and taken courses at Babson (a small business school nearby) and MIT and to some degree I think that it's really nice not to have guys talking and disrupting class.</p>

9

<p>In response to the study, it makes me wonder whether the fact that women who come from a same sex college get a graduate degree not because of the college, but because of who they are as an individual? I believe that the type of women who would want to go to a womens' college in the first place are the ones who are willing to make sacrifices, and so it seems more likely that those women would go on to get graduate degrees. Therefore, there cannot be a definite link between going to a womens' college and getting graduate degrees.</p>