<p>^^^ And the above advice comes to you courtesy of a teenager who’s probably never even heard of Bryn Mawr . . . and couldn’t get in even if he wanted to!</p>
<p>@TransferGopher, when you contacted these schools about getting off the waitlist, did you also tell them you could afford to attend without any FA? Because I have the distinct impression that a lot of the waitlisting we’re seeing this week has to do with the student’s need for aid. Even for schools that practice need-blind admissions, FA is not typically offered to waitlisted students. Often a student will be asked to pay full price the first year–the suggestion being that after that year they will be eligible for need-based aid.</p>
<p>OP, I must concur with the others urging you to reconsider Bryn Mawr more carefully. GREAT school with tremendous opportunities for study at all these other top-tier schools in the area. They have tremendous arts opportunties too. The reason their admission rate is so high is because it’s self-selecting in the sense that ONLY women can apply. Believe me, I wish my son could apply there. ;-)</p>
<p>One of the “kids” in my neighborhood went to Bryn Mawr. After her first year, she lived at Haverford. She loved her experience and married a classmate from Haverford. </p>
<p>Bryn Mawr is a great school. It has higher admission ratio because the applicants are self selected. OP needs to do more research to see how wonderful this school is.</p>
<p>There is a huge difference between Carlton and Kenyon compared to BU… but I can tell you from personal experience that if you want off the waitlist - BE PROACTIVE. I know students who were either denied or waitlisted at both and were able to convince the school that their applications were not “ghost applications” but that they indeed really want to go there. One girl flew out immediately to Kenyon to visit, and met with the admissions team to convince them her interest was real. You don’t have to fly out there, but get on the phone now; have your guidance counselor call – don’t ask WHY you were waitlisted – ask WHAT YOU CAN DO to get off the waitlist!!! </p>
<p>To borrow from Yogi Berra, “No one goes to Bryn Mawr any more - they let too many people in.”</p>
<p>Ok, biased, as a Bryn Mawr alum, but academics at BMC, Oberlin and Kenyon are all similar, plus similar LAC benefits. Throw in the mix that Bryn Mawr students have full access to the course offerings and everything else at Haverford which is – literally – a mile away (we always walked it as long as it wasn’t winter). Classes at Swat and UPenn also doable but a little trickier logistically. Students can major at either BMC or H’ford, take any and all classes on each other’s campus, and even live on each other’s campus (though I have been told those numbers are smaller than when I was there). I think the only class you “have” to take at BMC is your freshman English seminar, though of course, check the catalogue. </p>
<p>If you loved Carleton, Oberlin and Kenyon – smart, interesting, engaged students – you would almost certainly love Bryn Mawr. The campus is lovely – we used to joke that the Princeton architect practiced on Bryn Mawr first. A 20 minute train ride into the museums, restaurants and everything else in Philly. And not a twice a day train to the city, but a frequent commuter train to the city – beats Oberlin and Gambier Ohio (both of which I have been to) hands down. </p>
<p>Bryn Mawr attracts smart, independent students. My entire experience there, apart from my freshman English seminar, was entirely coed, so please don’t let the “seven sisters” thing throw you off. </p>
<p>Take a trip and see. What’s not to love about a place that commemorates Katherine Hepburn’s skinny dipping in the small pool in a courtyard, and where the senior student who wins the May Day hoop race, superstition has it, will be the first one to get their Ph.D? </p>
<p>Although BMC was not my first choice – I could not afford my first choice – I had an incredible experience there and treasure all of it. I encourage you, and your parents, to take another look. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Okay, now I want to go to Bryn Mawr!</p>
<p>In your BMC acceptance letter, they probably told you that this was a record year for applications. I went in the late 1980s when acceptance rate was 50% (it’s 40% ish now) and was rather full of myself with my NMF and my 780 verbal (which was a big deal back then). At least until I met three other frosh on my hall with equivalent scores. The students are very, very bright. I don’t recall anyone ever complaining about too easy once they got there. @midwestmom, how awesome that you walked! I thinked I walked it like twice. I majored at Haverford and our bi-co baby was fortunate enough to be admitted to both, so I told DH we’re going to have to wrestle for it :)</p>
<p>May day hoop race correction – when I was there, it was actually the first senior to cross the line is the first one to marry, and the second one is the first Ph.D. So the challenge was to come in second rather than first, made for some interesting races (if it weren’t interesting enough trying to race a hoop, after a breakfast of champagne and strawberries). </p>
<p>Demeron2 – how wonderful for your student – I love that, bi-co baby! Can’t go wrong with those choices! </p>
<p>Oh, the strawberries! The towers and towers of strawberries! Sigh!</p>
<p>which school would better prepare me for the job market?</p>
<p>You’re mistaken in your thinking that among 3 excellent schools ( Boston U, Bryn Mawr, and Wake Forest) that one will quantitatively “prepare you for the job market” more than the next. It’s what you do with it. It’s not as if you’re choosing btn BU and a beauty school. Good luck on your decision.</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d drop BU from the list, not because it isn’t good (I have a master’s degree from there), but because it is so different from the other two. BU is a big, spread out urban campus. If that’s not what you want, don’t go there. But as others have said, any of the three will give you a good education and a future.</p>
<p>I’m not super interested in BU but they did offer me $20,000 so that’s hard to ignore.</p>
<p>Also I’m thinking about pursuing a career in journalism- majoring in it is only possible at BU. I have hear though that it’s better to learn how to write and study something like international relations. At BMC my major would be Peace, Conflict and Social Justice studies, maybe doubled with Cities or Romance Languages and then for my minor I have a lot of interests- anything from religion to middle eastern studies to environmental studies. </p>
<p>Yes the best preparation for journalism is international relations/political science, foreign language&culture, etc… or anything with a lot of writing really. :)</p>
<p>You are getting some good advice here. Bryn Mawr is an excellent school. As txhandan mentioned, the acceptance rate is deceiving at women’s colleges because the applicant group is self-selecting. In general, it is mainly the really driven, highly-qualified women who are applying… as opposed to at other LACs where the applicant pool is much, much broader. If you look at BMC’s SAT score range, it’s very similar to Kenyon and Oberlin (in fact their math SAT range is higher…)</p>
<p>Regarding a waitlist strategy, I disagree with the poster who said not to have your GC contact the school(s). I think your GC SHOULD call them, and re-iterate that you are a great student who really wants to attend their school. He/she should mention any new academic news, honors, special projects, etc. </p>
<p>If OP does not want to go to an all-female college, I cannot understand why strangers here are pressuring the OP to do so. I am not sure that is appropriate. If the OP had really wanted to go to an all-female college, but had been waitlisted at Bryn Mawr while accepted at Carleton, would people here think it appropriate to pressure OP to attend Carleton?</p>
<p>I think the OP said she was a “little worried about the lack of men and the high acceptance rate” at BMC – not that she didn’t want to go to a women’s college at all. </p>
<p>Classes at BMC are generally not all women, because of cross registration at Hford and the complementary focus of the Bi-Co departments – departments can focus on different strengths on each campus because there is another program a mile away that can offer what one lacks. And the higher acceptance rate is not a sign that it is a “lesser” school but rather that there is a self-selecting group of students applying to a women’s college. </p>