Wellesley vs Bryn Mawr
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Anonymous
| I think Bryn Mawr’s location is lovely—nice upscale town with lots of nearby shops, movie theater, and restaurants, proximity to other colleges (Haverford, Villanova),easy train ride to Philly. Pretty campus. Everyone I know who went there loved it. I think of it as a place for shy, bookish, tradition-minded girls...poets, romantics, editors. Though this just may just be a function of who I know as I work in the arts. |
Anonymous
That’s interesting. I (OP) didn’t get that vibe when we visited. I was hoping for something a little closer to that vibe, but it felt more like what the PP had described about Wellesley. |
Anonymous
Op here. I wanted to clarify aside from the tradition minded. Definitely was not looking for that vibe. |
Anonymous
| I think Wellesley benefits enormously from its Boston locale and its relationship with MIT. |
Anonymous
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MHC alum here...it’s been too long for me to comment on feel etc, especially since I hear it’s changed a lot (it’s been 20 years!). For me, it was an academically challenging, but nurturing place. I’m still friends with many of my classmates. It was hard to be somewhere so rural at times but I also
Loved the proximity to the other schools (and the ability to take classes there). |
Anonymous
| I have Nieces currently at each of these. Wellesley is definitely more pre-professional, ambitious. Bryn Mawr is more crunchy, liberal, save the world. Each of my nieces loves where she is, though the Wellesley student definitely misses having classes (and other casual interactions) with boys while my BM neice takes a class at Haverford and belongs to a club at Haverford as well so it feels much less “all women” than Wellesley. |
Anonymous
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Wellesley is classier, more academically rigorous, more serious, a better platform. Wellesley is an excellent college, and an excellent women's college. Bryn Mawr is basically an anachronism.
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Anonymous
Meh. How silly can you be? |
Anonymous
Which school? |
Anonymous
| My kid is planning to apply to both so it has been very depressing to read this thread. She really wants a close knit and nurturing community and thought Bryn Mawr in particular would be ideal in this respect- it is her first choice ? Any suggestions for alternatives? She would actually prefer a coed so doesn’t have to be a women’s college. Would prefer a NE or Mid Atlantic college in or near a city. Also wants a liberal arts college that is strong in the life sciences TIA |
Anonymous
What is nurturing and close-knit for one student is awful for another. Don't let this thread or any other dissuade her. I'd encourage her to apply to Bryn Mawr and look for other similar LACs, including Haverford and Swarthmore if her stats are in range. Have her do an overnight visit to her top 1-2 choices before applying or after admitted to confirm the choice. Other LACs that are good in life sciences are Juniata and Wooster (not near a city though). Macalester is near a city, but obviously not in Mid-Atlantic or NE. |
Anonymous
This thread would turn me off Wellesley, not Bryn Mawr. So many pretentious posters who seem to think its reputation is far greater than it is IRL. |
Anonymous
Wellesley |
Anonymous
| My DD got a full scholarship to Wellesley. I think it is ranked higher than Bryn Mawr. Wellesley has the strong academics powerful elite women location in Ma and so on. But it’s located in Western MA somewhat isolated and very strong SJW very liberal vibe. It didn’t seem like a good fit and she chose another school. Also very strong gay presence— not what she wanted. |
Anonymous
| OP this is not the best place to look for this information. We found niche to be more accurate |