Honest thoughts on all women’s colleges?

[Anonymous]

My daughter is at an all girls HS now and considered Wellesley, Smith, etc. but she found that a co-ed SLAC would be a better fit for her. I do think she benefitted greatly from the single sex HS experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is at an all girls HS now and considered Wellesley, Smith, etc. but she found that a co-ed SLAC would be a better fit for her. I do think she benefitted greatly from the single sex HS experience.

How so? I find this so annoying. Why make a statement if you're not going to explain why?

[Anonymous]

How does your daughter feel about it?

A lot of young women self-select out of applying to all-women's colleges because they strongly prefer attending a coed college. If she is open to it, that's step 1.

Another consideration, imo women's colleges attract a somewhat niche group of women (in terms of values and ideologies) that could be limiting in terms of peer group and personal growth. Take some tours and see how she feels about the community

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Scripps and Barnard are fine because you are part of a larger co-ed population of college students, but I don't really want my girls to go to a women's college (and they don't either). I work in a male-dominated field and I think being able to work with men on projects and even compete with them is going to be important for most women in the working world. I also think that alumni networks are important and unfortunately a lot of the people who are in a position of power and can open doors for you will be men and not women. Finally, a lot of people who live in my affluent community met their significant others in college (even if they did not date until some time after college) and I think meeting the right person is hard and don't see why one would want to limit that.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Scripps and Barnard are fine because you are part of a larger co-ed population of college students, but I don't really want my girls to go to a women's college (and they don't either). I work in a male-dominated field and I think being able to work with men on projects and even compete with them is going to be important for most women in the working world. I also think that alumni networks are important and unfortunately a lot of the people who are in a position of power and can open doors for you will be men and not women. Finally, a lot of people who live in my affluent community met their significant others in college (even if they did not date until some time after college) and I think meeting the right person is hard and don't see why one would want to limit that.

All of this.

Other than the false sense of some kind of wholesome, safer environment for women, there is really no reason to send your girls to an all girls school.

Op here. Would you all say that the alumni networks are weak across given the women who attend from a social promotion perspective as in they are stagnant after graduation or did not tend to do better than their parents? Or are women in these networks less able to reach the ladder top overall due to just being female in the USA?

I am the PP who provided the comment about alumni networks, among the three reasons why I am not a fan of women's colleges. I did not say that all of the alumni networks of the women's colleges are weak. To the contrary, as another poster who went to Wellesley pointed out, Wellesley has a famously strong alumni network and I do know several Wellesley graduates who are spectacularly successful in their careers.

For me though, being in a male dominated industry means that my mentors have all been men and the people who have promoted me to where I am today (highest I can go) have been men because a fair amount of women opt out after getting married or having kids (I know it's difficult - I have three teenagers myself). Most are not alums from my college, but I was able to get my first job through a male alum of my college (who had no other connection to me) and if I needed a job today, I would certainly reach out to my college alumni network to see if people want to have coffee with me, etc.

Also, the women's colleges are all small LACs, so they're just going to be smaller networks overall. I am biased, because I would rather send my kid to a large state school than to a LAC for the alumni network and opportunities, but obviously people will disagree with me.

[Anonymous]

NP: OP, you should ask your DD if she would consider even consider a women’s college. I graduated from Mount Holyoke and was a transfer from a Co-Ed. I transfer there specifically because it was an all women’s college. I am not a lesbian, nor was I “questioning”. But previous posts are correct that there is probably a higher percentage of lesbian or bisexual students at all women’s colleges. That was never a problem and people’s preferences were considered to be their own prerogative. The biggest benefit for me was that I found my “voice” at a women’s college. I often wanted leadership positions in HS and early in college, but always let others (particularly boys/men) kind of talk over me or take over. I gained a lot of confidence while there. With that said, many of the students at MHC were already confident and well accomplished before college and continued with that. But they were more than willing to help bring me up rather than push me down. This was my own experience and I enjoyed every second I spent at MHC… I wish I had spent all 4 years there. Good luck in the college search.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wellesley the only one I would consider (considering my grandmother and spouse are both alums), historically the most elite.

However, these institutions have changed quite a bit in recent years and are now increasingly dominated by foreign students, FGLI cases, and crazed liberal LGBTQ+ or race grievance types. They simply don't draw from the same social strata they used to.

The traditional rule for Harvard men was "Lesley to bed, Wellesley to wed, and Radcliffe to talk to." Wellesley and the other 7 sisters used to educate the most intelligent, accomplished and desirable women in America. After many decades of the ravages of co-education and liberalism, that is no longer the case.

Probably best to pass them up and look into SEC schools with a strong sorority scene.

I’d love for you to possibly draw the line between the “ruined” status of women’s colleges (which is dubious, at best) and liberalism.

[Anonymous]

with male college enrollment in decline, pretty much all universities will become all-women's college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worked at one for many years. I dont know why anyone would send their kid there other than the academic rigor, which is true for any coed school as well.

What aspects of it make it confusing to you?

Where did I say I was confused?

Einstein, what makes it so that you can’t understand why anyone would send their kids to one? It’s pretty obvious what I asked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Scripps and Barnard are fine because you are part of a larger co-ed population of college students, but I don't really want my girls to go to a women's college (and they don't either). I work in a male-dominated field and I think being able to work with men on projects and even compete with them is going to be important for most women in the working world. I also think that alumni networks are important and unfortunately a lot of the people who are in a position of power and can open doors for you will be men and not women. Finally, a lot of people who live in my affluent community met their significant others in college (even if they did not date until some time after college) and I think meeting the right person is hard and don't see why one would want to limit that.

All of this.

Other than the false sense of some kind of wholesome, safer environment for women, there is really no reason to send your girls to an all girls school.

Op here. Would you all say that the alumni networks are weak across given the women who attend from a social promotion perspective as in they are stagnant after graduation or did not tend to do better than their parents? Or are women in these networks less able to reach the ladder top overall due to just being female in the USA?

Gosh, yes, Madeleine Albright—what a failure!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worked at one for many years. I dont know why anyone would send their kid there other than the academic rigor, which is true for any coed school as well.

What aspects of it make it confusing to you?

Where did I say I was confused?

Einstein, what makes it so that you can’t understand why anyone would send their kids to one? It’s pretty obvious what I asked.

So typical. You totally miss the point, misread, etc., and then resort to name calling. I'm not confused in the slightest, but you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worked at one for many years. I dont know why anyone would send their kid there other than the academic rigor, which is true for any coed school as well.

What aspects of it make it confusing to you?

Where did I say I was confused?

Einstein, what makes it so that you can’t understand why anyone would send their kids to one? It’s pretty obvious what I asked.

So typical. You totally miss the point, misread, etc., and then resort to name calling. I'm not confused in the slightest, but you are.

You literally said you couldn’t understand why someone would and then followed up with…nothing. I’m literally just asking for basic elaboration and you’re acting like I bit you.

[Anonymous]

I have an acquaintance from Arkansas who went to Wellesley. She is very vocal and strident about feminism, but ironically almost all of her professional accomplishments are due to drafting behind her husband's career (he was a very senior government official). When he retired, her husband got her a job in Washington DC through friends in New York. Getting bored of that, she applied for a big promotion twice, but lost out twice, first to a guy who went Occidental (!) and then to a finance bro who went to Penn. She has always seemed to struggle with STEM topics, and has had some near career ending mishaps trying to understand how IT and email systems work. Her marriage hasn't really worked out, and she seems angry all the time. I feel like she might have been happier if she went to Ole Miss. (She's a hell of trader in cattle futures though- maybe Texas A&M would have been a better fit).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wellesley the only one I would consider (considering my grandmother and spouse are both alums), historically the most elite.

However, these institutions have changed quite a bit in recent years and are now increasingly dominated by foreign students, FGLI cases, and crazed liberal LGBTQ+ or race grievance types. They simply don't draw from the same social strata they used to.

The traditional rule for Harvard men was "Lesley to bed, Wellesley to wed, and Radcliffe to talk to." Wellesley and the other 7 sisters used to educate the most intelligent, accomplished and desirable women in America. After many decades of the ravages of co-education and liberalism, that is no longer the case.

Probably best to pass them up and look into SEC schools with a strong sorority scene.

Lesley?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worked at one for many years. I dont know why anyone would send their kid there other than the academic rigor, which is true for any coed school as well.

What aspects of it make it confusing to you?

Where did I say I was confused?

Einstein, what makes it so that you can’t understand why anyone would send their kids to one? It’s pretty obvious what I asked.

So typical. You totally miss the point, misread, etc., and then resort to name calling. I'm not confused in the slightest, but you are.

You literally said you couldn’t understand why someone would and then followed up with…nothing. I’m literally just asking for basic elaboration and you’re acting like I bit you.

You keep refusing to read the entire sentence and then keep coming back to blame me for your lack of comprehension. You also refuse to read your own words, apparently.