<p>I'm interested in knowing everyone's reason for attending an all-female college and why you think that is the best environment for you. Personally, I find that the close community and the empowerment of women at these colleges is what attracts me to them.</p>
<p>I’ve been watching and waiting to see if anyone was going to respond to this question. I think it is rather telling that no one has. </p>
<p>As you can see from some of my other posts, I am a second year student at Wellesley who is is disillusioned with my school and the concept of women’s colleges. As a high school senior, I fell for the rhetoric that women’s colleges promote empowerment and sisterhood, produce strong female leaders, offer more leadership opportunities for women, etc. If you want to get a sense of how that is not happening at Wellesley, read the recent New York Times article about the school’s reaction to the less-than-1% of students who are transmen. The transmen are are already assuming leadership positions and making demands that threaten the beloved concept of sisterhood. Many of the female (cisgendered) students quoted in the article did not want to be identified because they feared speaking out against the transmen. Strong, empowered women? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>And while you’re at it, google the campus’ reaction to the “Sleepwalker” statue. Although most students were not afraid of the realistic, briefs-only-clad male statue, the number of students claiming that it was a “trigger” was astounding. </p>
<p>In this year’s convocation, Wellesley President Kim Bottomly said, “Our surveys show that 14% – just 14% – of entering students chose Wellesley specifically because it is a women’s college.” She tried to turn that into a positive, but I just couldn’t get over that number. But, I shouldn’t have been surprised because from conversations I’ve had, most students say they chose Wellesley because: “it was the most prestigious school I got into,” “it gave the most financial aid,” “I can play sports here,” “it seems like a safe environment” (LGBTQA students), or “my parents wanted me to go here” (international and Asian students).</p>
<p>Wellesley is constantly boasting that Hillary Rodham Clinton and Madeline Albright attended. Of course, when they chose to attend Wellesley, it was one of the best schools a bright, young woman could attend. But when it came time for Chelsea Clinton and the three Albright girls to attend college, all four chose highly-ranked co-ed schools. That too is telling.</p>
<p>@UnhappyWendy, I would actually attribute the lack of responses to the fact that this question has been answered hundreds of times on this forum.</p>
<p>To be succinct, I mostly applied to women’s colleges because I wanted to go to one. I appreciated the supportive, inclusive community I found at Bryn Mawr. I frequently participated in coed events at Haverford, and while I have good friends from the BiCo, I would never in a million years have applied to Haverford. </p>
<p>It’s important to note that each women’s college has a slightly different vibe that you can’t really understand until you’ve visited the campus/spent time with students. A good friend of mine visited me at Bryn Mawr from Wellesley and she was <em>shocked</em> to hear students on a Friday night chanting our college cheer (it’s frequently used to congratulate someone). She felt that school spirit/pride was very different at Wellesley. She also chose to study abroad for a full year to take a break from campus, whereas I couldn’t bear to leave Bryn Mawr and opted out of study abroad to pursue graduate coursework. This is of course just my friend’s perspective, but these types of anecdotes are things to consider when comparing their differences.</p>
<p>Good point, @ englishivy. This general topic has been discussed before, and there are plenty of links to articles on the subject, such as the one you posted earlier this year (sorry, I don’t know how to link it).</p>
<p>However, I believe @ Ghfdw17 was asking for personal responses from individuals who chose to attend women’s colleges. Unfortunately, not too many current students or recent alum are on these boards. I’m sure she appreciated your personal thoughts on the matter.</p>
<p>@ Ghfdw17, you might get a slightly better response if you post this on the boards of the individual colleges that you are considering – there just isn’t much action on the “Women’s Colleges” board.</p>
<p>@unhappywendy Yes I was actually awaiting personal responses from people. And thank you for your comment. So, basically you are saying that Wellesley women are unhappy? This is important to know because I’m considering it at the moment. </p>
<p>@englishivy Thank you for your response. So would you say I should choose Bryn Mawr over Wellesley?</p>
<p>I think you should choose wherever you think is the right fit for you! I was only sharing my experience. I encourage you to visit the schools you’re interested in.</p>
<p>@englishivy I’d love to visit but I’m an international student so it’s impossible to do so. I’ve heard nothing but positive things about Bryn Mawr, and I’m still trying to know Wellesley but the negative comments surrounding it worry me despite it being a great school. </p>
<p>I’m sorry that you won’t be able to visit schools before making a decision. That’s got to be really hard.</p>
<p>Just because I am not enjoying my time at Wellesley doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t. I know that I shouldn’t lump all international students together, but those that I know seem quite comfortable here. If you are already in an intensely academic environment (and if socializing is not too important to you) this might be a good school for you.</p>
<p>If there are any students from your school who are attending Wellesley (or recently graduated), they might be able to give you a better perspective. Best of luck!</p>
<p>I’ll jump in here too. I did not answer earlier because, as englishivy said, the question has been discussed so many times on College Confidential. Also because I don’t attend, but my daughter does. She attends Mount Holyoke and she loves it SO much. Her experience there has been pretty amazing. She connected with a professor in her field right away and he is basically mentoring her. Compared to my own experience at Colgate U. and UCSB, I find it amazing that she’s made that kind of close, deep connection with a professor (one of the “best profs in the USA”, by the way, according to Princeton Review) so soon. </p>
<p>My D was one of the 14%. Not only did she not choose Wellesley because it is a women’s college, but when she first applied to colleges she was strongly opposed to women’s colleges. She liked their application essay so she applied. Then the more she researched about what they offer, the more she liked it. In the end, other than not having male students, it fit exactly what she was looking for in so many ways. She was thrilled to be accepted and is happy with her choice. I loved what was said at convocation about the benefits of Wellesley as a women’s college. I’m not at all surprised that Chelsea chose a different college from her mother. I don’t think it had anything to do with Wellesley and more to do with finding her own path. Keep in mind that students who aren’t happy are more likely to post here as Wellesley students are usually very busy and not involved in these forums. The amount of activities and opportunities are incredible. No college is right for everyone but I’m so glad D applied. When the acceptances came in she still had many options.</p>