Why so few postings RE: Bryn Mawr?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Bryn Mawr College
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<p>I don’t get it. Both the Wellesley and the Smith forums are quite active. I know that Bryn Mawr is a very selective women’s college, so clearly prospective students (and parents) are interested in the school and kids apply. I understand that both Wellesley and Smith have a siginificantly larger student populations than Bryn Mawr, but to me that just doesn’t explain it. Why so few postings?</p>

<p>I have a D who could be interested in attending an excellent women’s college as far south as Philly (we live in MA).</p>

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<p>I applied RD to Bryn Mawr and it is definitely a school I could see myself at. I'm also not sure why there is not a lot going on here at the Bryn Mawr forum.</p>

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<p>Yes, even I think the same. I thought that Brym Mawr must have a lot of posts.
Disappointed.</p>

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<p>I am a current Bryn Mawr student and I would be happy to see the Bryn Mawr forum alive! </p>

<p>I'll throw a theory out there why the Bryn Mawr forum might be quieter than the Smith and Wellesley forums:
The Smith forum is special because it is the only college specific forum with active parent participation. If you were to ignore all the parents' posts the forum would be pretty dead, too.<br>
Wellesley is not just larger than Bryn Mawr but a lot more selective too. The higher level of selectivity might make applicants more anxious and thus more likely to want to talk to others in a similar situation. But that seems to be a general phenomenon here on CC: The more selective a college or university, the more students talk about it. (But the CC population is pretty self-selected: I would guess that our average SAT score is 2000+ and the most frequent class rank is the top 10%)</p>

<p>Anyway, feel free to speculate :)</p>

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<p>OK, in the spirit of getting some discussion going...What is the best thing about Bryn Mawr, in your opinion? </p>

<p>I'm interested in the school and I'd love some feedback. Thanks!</p>

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<p>i tried to revive the bryn mawr thread! it worked for a while, but sort of died down after a while. i have no explanation for the lack of posting, but i'm eager and willing to keep the thread alive!</p>

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<p>I am a sophomore at Bryn Mawr. The best thing about BMC is the overwhelming sense of a thirst for learning, which, for me at least, was a welcome departure from the atmosphere at my HS.</p>

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<p>bmc2010, it's good to hear that - that's one thing that really drew me to Bryn Mawr. My high school's not bad, but I definitely want to go somewhere where the people around me care a lot about learning. What classes have you enjoyed taking the most? I'm not quite sure what I want to study, but BMC has just about everything I'm interested in...</p>

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<p>I'll be going to Bryn Mawr 2012! Applied/accepted fall early decision. I am so glad I decided to go ED--the more I research the school the more I love it. </p>

<p>If you want some more info, I know the class of 2011 and class of 2012 facebook groups are fairly active.</p>

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<p>congrats sillypossum! I hope to see you there - I'm ED 2 so I'll find out at the end of this month. I'm so nervous! I keep finding out more amazing things about Bryn Mawr...</p>

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<p>Why so few postings? Because people at Bryn Mawr have terrible pride. Really, they have you believe that the entire school is absoluely in love with Bryn Mawr and the idea of going to an all womens college which is really not the case. I'd hate to rain on anyones parade but the school has no social life and nearby Haverford isn't too great either. Academically you'll be satisfied but not so much in any other way.</p>

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<p>^ ^ ^
Oh please….I’m sorry you’re unhappy and want to transfer.</p>

<p>But Hamilton, Mt. Holyoke and many other colleges have very few posting as well; however, the vast majority of the students love their respective college. All the Bryn Mawr alumnae I’ve known or employed loved the college—without exception. It's a wonderful school.</p>

<p>B@r1um had it correct. The reason the Smith board appears to be active is because most of the posts are by parents. Could be Bryn Mawr parents have better things to do. ;)</p>

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<p>I agree that there is no social life on campus but it is not the end of the world unless you want to party every night. Going into Philly several times a week is expensive but Penn is a fun place to party at occasionally!!! (A word of warning: there is no transportation between 1 and 4 AM)</p>

<p>I personally love the all-women's atmosphere at Bryn Mawr so much that at times I am annoyed to have Fords on our campus...</p>

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<p>1) I’m sorry you’re not happy at BMC but I wonder what it is you’ve done to improve the situation? Pointing out problems is the beginning… the next step is to then evaluate the problem and take steps with the resources given to make a difference. That’s one of the great things about going to a small LAC… the resources are there to use if you search them out. Also, a relatively small change can make a big impact in a small community. The lessons and empowerment you learn by stepping up and addressing your problems in college can be valuable experience for when you graduate afterwards. Now is your time to learn how to think creatively to solve your issues. Now is the time to learn to deal with frustration in a constructive manner. As a minority person who went to HC when its minority % was an abysmal 17%, and who actually applied and was accepted to transfer to Brown and Columbia, I’m writing from experience. If your college experience was ideal and things were handed/fed to you, do you really think it can prepare you to handle the frustrations that will be present in everyday life?</p>

<p>Is there a student activities office/ small party fund/ student-run guest speaker initiative/ ect… ect… at BMC like at HC? </p>

<p>2) You may have real issues with BMC and it may not have been your 1st choice but I think your tone is undeserved. The college actually spends about $60,000/year for your education even though it “only” asks for $46,00. If you have financial aid (and BMC is more generous with this that its peers like HC, Swat, ect…) you’re really getting an opportunity here. </p>

<p>3) More comments aren’t necessarily better. If you notice, many are self-indulgent “chances” posts (just read the other chances postings to extrapolate your own), redundant questions on topics that have been addressed before (“Williams and athletics”, "Swat and work", ect...) or are easily answered by the college website. Many threads have to do with “ranking the most prestigious of the elite schools” and other “important” topics for suburbanites with too much time on their hands. Finally, many posts are made that are hostile and disrespectful and are written (IMO) just to stir up controversy. </p>

<p>4) HC’s social life is sort of low key. Some large parties are fun (this was posted by a student before)…</p>

<p>Flickr:</a> Search</p>

<p>some are pretty lame. Most parties and social events are informal, sometimes spontaneous, and usually unadvertised… getting a group of 50 friends together in a suite and just rocking out. These are usually the most fun but BMC students don’t know about them unless they know someone already at the party. A “kegger” at Drinker is usually one (and the worst) of many social events during the weekend. HC can be a lot of fun but you have to know where to look. Also, I know some BMC students feel that HC kids are unapproachable/ awkward but seriously, if 188 varsity athletes got up at 630AM on a Saturday to volunteer at Villanova for Special Olympics, how unfriendly can they really be?</p>

<p>8th</a> Dimension: Special Olympics at Villanova!</p>

<p>5) B@r!um, I think using “Fords” to imply men marginalizes the >50% HC students who are women, no?</p>

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<p>Yeah, and isn't it weird that I only mind male Haverford but not male Swarthmore students ;)</p>

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<p>I don’t think it’s “weird” at all… simple daytime talk show psychology. </p>

<p>BMC and HC are 5 minutes away. Swat is 30 minutes. </p>

<p>1st, BMC and HC students are more likely to interact on a regular basis so students see not only the best but also the worst aspects of each others communities. By contrast, when a BMC student ventures over to Swat, it's more self-selected… an especially good class, an especially good party, an especially good event worth the half hour hike. BMC students are more likely to see selected aspects of Swat but may not be familiar with its cons (as a person with a sister and brother at BMC and Swat when I was a freshman, I know the schools intimately). Swat kids who venture over to BMC are also self-selected.</p>

<p>2nd, “the grass is greener…” is a clich</p>

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<p>Sencha--I've most enjoyed my Psych courses (Psych 102 and Developmental) and the Intensive Intermediate French class.</p>

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<p>Thanks - I'm interested in psychology, although I haven't really studied it... Are the language classes good in general? I'd like to take Chinese and probably other languages as well.</p>

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<p>I'm not really sure about Chinese, although I took a linguistics class at Haverford with one of the Chinese professors and she seemed like a good professor in general. I know that the Russian program is good, and we have an excellent French program.</p>

<p>One of my friends was planning to major in German, and found the program lacking. She transferred. </p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

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<p>Thanks! I'm not interested in German so that shouldn't be a problem... But I was thinking about trying some Russian classes, so I'm glad to hear that they're good.</p>