It’s down to these 3 women’s colleges for my DD22. She’s accepted to all of them. No merit from Wellesley, as they never offer it. Surprised by no merit at MHO (but I haven’t heard of many admitted students getting merit this year— wonder why!) and Presidential Scholarship (30K/each year for 4 years) at Bryn Mawr. My Dd is an International Relations/law major —likely bound for law school— and definitely wants to have a study year abroad. She loves Model UN, debate and writing. She is quirky (Aspergers) but is very outgoing. Not a shy girl. She’s been described more than once as a “Force of Nature” and “Exceedingly driven”. Anyone have any guidance?
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Congratulations on three incredible options! Literally three of my favorite schools and I would have happily sent my D21 to any of them.
I will share why we love Wellesley and I am biased with my D21 there but I think all three schools would be great for your D.
Wellesley doesn’t give merit because every dime they can spend is on financial aid for students of need. Their academics and resources are so strong that they do not need merit to compete for top students. It is really difficult for people who don’t qualify for aid there and find the full pay to be too expensive but in generaly Wellesley is extremely generous with their aid for those in need.
They do this because they have a deep and primary priority of diversity and inclusion that they are heavily financially invested in. They were the most diverse school on our list by a long shot. This incoming class I believe has 48% of the class with a primary language spoken at home that is not english. For us, we found this to be incredible and important and it was exactly a priority for my D. (We are white, American, Jewish and very committed to educational equity.) For an international relations major, this peer group would be wonderful.
My D21 loves every class she has had - loves the profs, the small classes, the stimulating and interesting classmates. She is drawn to peers who are Forces of Nature and there are many of those there. I think the class size is an advantage over BMC - easy to find people who share all her different interests. And I think the location is an advantage over MoHo - she goes to Boston all the time and finds it easy to get back and forth, but at the same time loves the remote nature feel of the arboretum campus. The other advantage over the other two schools is the outstanding and committed alumni base. All three have great alumni but Wellesley’s network is remarkable. They truly help and the network is lifelong, which may really serve a law career.
I am assuming you posed this because you aren’t going to make the decision soley on money. Clearly if you choose the least expensive option, you still can’t go wrong!!
Congrats again!
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Thank you for your thorough and well considered response! I am so glad to hear that your daughter is experiencing all the things that I have heard are so wonderful at Wellesley! To me, if you get accepted to Wellesley, you just go. But I’m trying not to be overbearing about that, as it is truly my daughter’s decision. But yes, the lifelong “Wellesley grad” label is a pretty awesome one!
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If you can comfortably afford (no loans, no hardship etc.) all three schools plus three years of law school then let your D choose. However, if the $120,000 would help your D graduate from undergrad/law school debt free then Bryn Mawr should strongly be considered. All are excellent options so congratulations to your D.
I would try to revisit Wellesley and Bryn Mawr during accepted student days.
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Haha, I had my daughter go to an HWC presentation when she was a freshman in high school - I was gung ho Wellesley from the get go because I just thought it would be the perfect fit. But then I had to keep my mouth shut for her next two years so she could do her own research and learn more about herself. That was hard for me! I am so glad she ended up where she did - not sure how much I would have tried to intervene if I thought she was choosing somewhere that might not fit her. I would have tried just due to the sheer expense of the education. Glad I wasn’t in that position.
You are doing great by helping her gather information. The more current students she can talk to the better. All three of these schools have changed and evolved in exciting ways over the past five years so current students are a great “primary” source.
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From an IR/Law pov none of them are unequivocally ‘better’ than the other…unless debt is part of the equation! Both IR & Law require expensive grad school, and a good period of time until you are making very much $$
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To the best of my knowledge, Holyoke was among the earlier colleges to develop an undergraduate international relations program. Partly for this reason, its current IR program may be the strongest from these three schools. For substantiating information, only MHC from your daughter’s choices appears in this site:
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Wellesley has the Albright Institute: About | Albright Institute
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I am a graduate of Mount Holyoke who pursued the career path to which LollyLolly’s daughter aspires. I chose Mount Holyoke over Wellesley at the time (actually, I applied early decision to Mount Holyoke after interviewing at Wellesley and being encouraged to apply early decision) because of the superiority of the political science department. Within the department, there were extraordinary professors teaching American Government and International Relations as well as comparative international politics and political theory. I pursued a summer internship in the US Senate and took a lot of history and international politics courses. I loved every minute at Mount Holyoke. I then attended Michigan Law School and eventually became a federal prosecutor and joined the Office of International Affairs at the Dept. of Justice where I represented foreign governments in federal court. I still have friends who are retired diplomats with whom I worked while at DOJ.
I went into private practice and represented CIA employees and federal contractors in security clearance cases. I eventually joined the Cosmos Club in Washington DC as “distinguished in law and public service” and am a member of the Nancy Forbes National Security Seminars. The seminar group includes journalists, former covert operators, ambassadors, economists and a few lawyers. Almost of the Nancy Forbes seminar members are Cosmos Club members. Of the minority of women in the seminar group, we Mount Holyoke graduates are the most numerous and women’s college graduates are heavily represented. One of my Mount Holyoke classmates recently addressed the group on the topic of her recent book on Nazi Klaus Fuchs and she will rejoin the Cosmos Club (and the seminar group) soon bringing the Mount Holyoke membership in the seminar to 3. There is one Smith graduate who worked as an executive with a major defense contractor. There is one Barnard graduate who also is an international lawyer. There are no Wellesley or Bryn Mawr graduates in the group (although there are Wellesley and Bryn Mawr graduates in the Cosmos Club).
Today Mount Holyoke sends interns to Washington year round who are closely supervised by Mount Holyoke professors. It has a very active model UN program. It has an International Relations department separate from the Politics department. Over 20% of the student body is from outside the US. There is a bus stop on College Street from which one may travel to Boston or New York. Bradley Airport near Hartford is about 40 minutes from campus. Free buses take Mount Holyoke students throughout the Pioneer Valley to Smith, Amherst, Hampshire and U Mass. Mount Holyoke’s cherished tradition of Mountain Day (held every year since 1838) is celebrated worldwide.
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Thank you!
She can get a very fine education and go on to top law schools from any of these three schools. With that in mind, I would say that there are 120 thousand reasons to choose Bryn Mawr over the other two, so unless there were some very compelling reason for her to choose one of the other two, I’d say Bryn Mawr.
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I like the way you think!
Your daughter can receive a great education at all three colleges. Given that she is getting financial support from BMC and has plans for law school—saving the $$ to help her with law school suggests that BMC would be a good choice.
Has she visited all three? They are very different environments. BMC and Wellesley are in suburban areas near larger urban centers while MHC is not. Also, the BMC consortium (with Haverford and Swarthmore) is very easy to negotiate—mostly because the schools are near one another. You can walk to Haverford from BMC. BMC students can also take courses at Penn. My D is a BMC grad and loved it.
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