I’m a recent admit who is starting to get really excited over the prospect of going to MoHo. So, I was just curious, what schools did you say no to when you said yes to Mount Holyoke? Feel free to add a why 
I’ll play!
Davidson: Loved it - it took me an agonizing two weeks to decide. Its much higher price tag (for me) and its grade deflation issues finally settled the question.
Bates: Loved the school - terrible FA for my family.
St. Louis University: this was a big one -five generations of my family have gone there. It’s harder to list the people who haven’t spent time there than the people who have, and the merit scholarship they gave me made it a few K a year less than MHC. But ultimately, I didn’t want to go to a school where I would run in to cousins at every turn (students and faculty!) The weather is also some of the worst anywhere - freezing cold winters and boiling and disgusting summers.
William and Mary: Reputation for cutthroat pre-med and OOS tuition, despite its great history (the archives there were so fantastic)
University of Richmond: applied because of family connection and because I thought it might give me merit; it didn’t, so it was off the list.
I got into Wellesley and Kenyon. Neither gave enough financial aid despite my pleas. The good news is looking back, Wellesley’s environment is frankly cutthroat and semi-hostile I hear (a friend of mine at moho is a transfer from there, she had to leave due to mental health concerns arising from the environment) and Kenyon is in literally nowhere. The town is 1000 people in the middle of Ohio and I’m pretty sure they don’t even have a Target which would be a big struggle for me.
@phoria , One of the complaints that I hear about Mount Holyoke it is “isolated,” but have you not found it to be so? How has your experience been so far–both socially and academically? My D is weighing her options (and going to MHC campus next week for a visit), but I’d love to hear about your experience. Thanks!
@smcirish The town of South Hadley is super small. There’s one major street and on it is the movie theater/restaurant/corner store etc. and that’s it. HOWEVER, hop on the 38/39 PVTA or take an uber and you can go to Amherst, which is an awesome town, or go to the Holyoke/Hampshire Malls. The vibe of Western MA feels like how my older sister, who went to William & Mary, describes rural Virginia–very gorgeous, but there’s society there unlike my vibes I got from Kenyon, even when i was in love with Kenyon, which is literally a 45 minute drive to get to a target, an hour from any city or airport.
The other thing about the east coast is that it’s all connected. My experience as part of Model UN has been greatly aided by our location in the middle of the East Coast. MUN has given me opportunities to go to Harvard, Columbia, Yale, etc. and soon, NYU. Other examples are weekend trips to Boston (College Dems of MA often meets there/has conferences, also i know people going there for activism) or New York (the school runs “Board the Bus to NYC” every month or so where for $20 you get a ride to and from central NYC for a fun weekend trip). You are not limited by your location in the slightest if you go to MHC and honestly, the relative quiet of South Hadley makes MHC the perfect place to come home to when you want to feel safe.
Finally, if you’d like me to show your daughter around/take her to my dorm or a class of mine or take her to lunch, let me know! I’d be more than happy to make the visit as special and informative as possible.
@phoria This is SO helpful! Thank you! She was fortunate to get an amazing scholarship offer to Mount Holyoke and we did visit last summer, but it was very quiet since none of the students were there. I’ll send you a private message!
Frankly, can’t even remember where else D was accepted—once MHC acceptance came in, and the financial aid package was acceptable, it was easily MHC, all others a distant second!
Or Northampton, where Smith is. Fewer college students around than Amherst but a very cool downtown area. Arguably more going on there than any other nearby town.
@OHMomof2 I LOVE Northampton, but it’s 20 minutes away by uber, 40 or more by bus vs Amherst which is 10 min away by Uber/20-25 by bus. I go to Northampton once a month/once every two months as a treat, get a meal and go shopping, but I can’t do it as an every weekend thing like I do with Amherst.
Hi! I got into more schools, but at the very end I passed on Wellesley and University of California - Santa Barbara. W was far too expensive and UCSB’s party beach vibe really did not seem appealing to me. I visited Wellesley and MHC the same weekend and I had a far better experience at Mount Holyoke! Visiting made the decision easy. I also got a very generous merit award from MHC which made the decision even easier. I hope to see you on campus this fall!
Late to the game but I ended up saying no to Barnard, Smith, Scripps, and others.
Barnard- Way to expensive for me. Honestly looking back I am so glad I am in a more rural school. It feels like I can be fully immersed in the college environment!
Smith - Felt that it was a bit too much of an intense vibe for me. Students talked a lot about how much work they do each night. Mount Holyoke students still did about 4-5 hours of work per night but also had extracurriculars, outside passions, and time to grow with their friends.
Scripps- I decided I wanted to go to more of a “stand alone” school. Mount Holyoke does not need the other 5 colleges to survive, but Scripps felt too reliant on the consortium.
Hope this helps!
My daughter graduated in 2017. I cant remember all the schools she pass on. She applied to ton of schools and got in to most of them. I remember where she didn’t get in: U Washington (would have been out of the question financially anyway) and Cal (whatever). MHC gave her the second best aid package (she had a full ride at a “lesser” school), In her mind MHC was the “best/hardest” school she applied to. When the offer of admission arrived (the last to arrive BTW) she asked me to call to make sure they hadn’t made a mistake. LOL.