<p>I'm someone who has gone to coed school all my life, and I'm curious about the differences. Is it a nicer environment? Does it get boring only having girls in class? Is there more, less or the same amount of drama? (I hate drama)
Thank you (:</p>
<p>In my experience, there is less drama. Women’s colleges tend to foster mutual respect amongst women, not rivalry. The kind of girl who “doesn’t like” other girls and sees them mostly as rivals for male attention doesn’t go to a women’s college.</p>
<p>I don’t think it gets boring having females in class: most women’s colleges are highly selective, and being in classes full of other smart people is never boring. In addition, the style of teaching at elite LACs usually stresses active classroom discussion, which makes classes more interesting.</p>
<p>That’s good to know thank you</p>
<p>My D is starting her second year at Mount Holyoke College after attending a co-ed high school. She was the ONLY senior in her class of 150 to go to an all women’s college. In her college search, she was initially not too interested in a non-coed college, but visiting MHC and Smith got her interested – she liked both. Eventually, she ED’ed MHC and got in. She has found that after a short time she did not notice that boys were not in class, and she certainly likes not having to use a lot of make-up and nicer clothes that girls tend to use in a co-ed setting. Her classes are small (except for some of the very popular intro courses) and there is very active class participation. No drama in terms of competing for boys, certainly. But many of her friends have boy friends, and those who don’t have that on the list of things to do, well down the list and below academic and extracurricular pursuits – they have seen from their friends’ experiences that having a boy friend is a huge time suck. As far as competition, students at different schools have different competitive-ness. As to MHC, it seems that everyone seems to root for everyone else to do well – it’s not like, “If you do well, I won’t”. But from what I hear, not all women’s colleges have the same attitude with respect to academic competitiveness. But I suppose, it all depends upon your major and intended career path. Pre-meds seem to always be very competitive academically, and the required courses they take are academically rigorous. My college (35+ years ago) was co-ed, but I lived in a frat house, and then there were not too many women in the college. I too enjoyed not feeling the need to dress up for class due to the presence of the opposite sex, relegating such relationships to weekend parties, etc. Last year, my D was extremely busy at MHC, no time to get bored. Most of the MoHos are extremely busy with all of the things they are involved with. The only boring thing last year that my D complained about was the snow that came and wouldn’t leave.</p>