Women's colleges

[Anonymous]

Barnard can provide a unique experience among women's colleges because of it's size and relationship with Columbia. My daughter is heterosexual, in a sorority, in other pre-professional clubs...The Greek scene at Columbia/Barnard is very typical of similar universities. There is a large homosexual population at Barnard, but it doesn't take over the entire school culture. Everyone is able to find their lane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Barnard can provide a unique experience among women's colleges because of it's size and relationship with Columbia. My daughter is heterosexual, in a sorority, in other pre-professional clubs...The Greek scene at Columbia/Barnard is very typical of similar universities. There is a large homosexual population at Barnard, but it doesn't take over the entire school culture. Everyone is able to find their lane.

I'm PP ...and might I add, my daughter has friends of different sexualities. That's a good thing. No one is trying to turn her gay and she has no problems getting dates with boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is an enormous difference between being at a women's college and being at a college that is "mostly" (60%) women.

At a 60% women college with 25% lesbian/bi that is 45% straight women.
At a women’s college where 80% (conservative number; probably much higher) are lesbian/bi that is 20% straight women.
So the best way for a woman to be around other straight women, where they are not a small minority being subjected to the “female gaze,” is to avoid women’s colleges altogether.
Obviously that is the antithesis of why women’s colleges were established in the first place and what made them great. Their time has passed.

[Anonymous]

Anassa Kata!

One of the best reasons to attend a women's college is the space created for intelligent women. Sorry, but sexism and misogyny in education has not gone away. Young women still have to work extra hard to assert themselves in certain academic spaces, i.e. STEM, economics, finance, etc.

Having professors and everyone around you assume that you can be brilliant and excel in any field of endeavor is priceless. It creates life-long confidence and an understanding when you go out into the real work that it's not you, it's them. I went to work in a male-dominated sector and dealt with a sh*tload of gender bias, but Bryn Mawr gave me the confidence and faith in myself to calmly go about exceling in my profession.

The relationship between Bryn Mawr and Haverford is not mere proximity. It's called bi-college for a reason. Students can major or live at either school. I lived in a co-ed dorm at Bryn Mawr, had many male friends, and dated a post-bac. Yes, many of my friends were lesbians. Many others were straight. The previous posters' comments about sexual preference seem rather homophobic. So what if there are many lesbians on campus? If you're straight, being surrounded by people how have other preferences won't change your own.

Super grateful for the fantastic education and experience Bryn Mawr offered.

[Anonymous]

We've discussed this before and I previously posted about this. As a woman working in a male-dominated field, I am glad I went to a co-ed college because jobs are hard to get in my field and even the small touchpoint of having attended the same school makes a big difference. I know for a fact that some of these men only met me for coffee or an interview because we are both graduates of the same college and they want to talk and reminisce about the good ole days.

As someone who is a second gen immigrant kid with no connections, I needed all of the help I could get in order to get where I am today (partner at a real estate investment firm) and unfortunately every person who has helped me in my career has been a man.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've discussed this before and I previously posted about this. As a woman working in a male-dominated field, I am glad I went to a co-ed college because jobs are hard to get in my field and even the small touchpoint of having attended the same school makes a big difference. I know for a fact that some of these men only met me for coffee or an interview because we are both graduates of the same college and they want to talk and reminisce about the good ole days.

As someone who is a second gen immigrant kid with no connections, I needed all of the help I could get in order to get where I am today (partner at a real estate investment firm) and unfortunately every person who has helped me in my career has been a man.

If your goal is an alum network then go to Wellesley. No other school has anything even close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've discussed this before and I previously posted about this. As a woman working in a male-dominated field, I am glad I went to a co-ed college because jobs are hard to get in my field and even the small touchpoint of having attended the same school makes a big difference. I know for a fact that some of these men only met me for coffee or an interview because we are both graduates of the same college and they want to talk and reminisce about the good ole days.

As someone who is a second gen immigrant kid with no connections, I needed all of the help I could get in order to get where I am today (partner at a real estate investment firm) and unfortunately every person who has helped me in my career has been a man.

If your goal is an alum network then go to Wellesley. No other school has anything even close.

Beg to differ. Princeton's network is the best, and it's quite a bit larger and broader than Wellesley's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've discussed this before and I previously posted about this. As a woman working in a male-dominated field, I am glad I went to a co-ed college because jobs are hard to get in my field and even the small touchpoint of having attended the same school makes a big difference. I know for a fact that some of these men only met me for coffee or an interview because we are both graduates of the same college and they want to talk and reminisce about the good ole days.

As someone who is a second gen immigrant kid with no connections, I needed all of the help I could get in order to get where I am today (partner at a real estate investment firm) and unfortunately every person who has helped me in my career has been a man.

This is such a narrow minded approach but go forth. There will be no convincing you about the values of single sex education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scripps hardly feels like a women’s college. You have three courses with all-scripps girls and then after…your classes are coed and your dorms often have men/boyfriends in them, the dining hall is filled with men, and the culture is within the 5Cs. Not a very traditional experience.

+1. The dorms are single-sex and the few Scripps core classes are, but otherwise everything is shared with the other CCs.

Thus making Scripps such a unique and valuable experience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I think the issue is that women's colleges have become become a bit obsolete for heterosexual women. We initially considered Women's colleges for dd. But after touring learned that womens colleges today admit a lot of nonbinary/lesbian students and even biological males that identify as female. Language in the women's colleges seem to avoid any gendered language due to this complexity. For me, it's odd. When I was in college, my friends at women's schools talked about strong sisterhood and female empowerment. Its not like that anymore. I think schools like barnard still appeal because of proximity to nyc, male students across the street, broader university course offerings, and easier to get into vs Columbia college.

Well, thank you for your uninformed opinion based on, what, a tour? My DD is heterosexual and is very happy at Smith. All her closest friends at Smith appear (as best I can tell, not really asking about ppl's sexuality) to be heterosexual as well. Of course, it is a very welcoming place for LGBTQ+ students, but those are hardly the only students there. DD and her friends sometimes go to the other colleges in the area to socialize. For a while she was dating a boy at Amherst, then decided she didn't like him enough. lol.

There are many advantages to women's college, now that our family has firsthand knowledge. DD's confidence has grown so much, she is double majoring in STEM (not sure that would have happened otherwise), classes are small, she knows her profs, academics are top notch, and the community is so supportive. There are also the little things. The student activities are more geared towards things women would like, such as craft nights. Even the dining hall food seems more geared to a woman's palette. The alum network is incredibly strong, not just for Smith, but the wider Seven Sisters network too.

It is a tremendous experience, if this is what your daughter wants.

Women always claim there would be fewer wars if they ran the world. But every discussion of women’s colleges devolves into a nasty catfight by page 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Wellesley in the 90's. I received a top-tier education, and was surrounded by incredibly smart, driven women. It was a very serious place. People were serious about themselves and their work. Incredibly strong and loyal alumni base. Women supporting women all the way. But very, very serious! If that's not your vibe, probably not the place for you. Lots of interaction with MIT - a bus every hour back and forth between the campuses, and you could take classes pretty easily there (and vice versa for MIT students at Wellesley)

But what about dating guys from MIT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I think the issue is that women's colleges have become become a bit obsolete for heterosexual women. We initially considered Women's colleges for dd. But after touring learned that womens colleges today admit a lot of nonbinary/lesbian students and even biological males that identify as female. Language in the women's colleges seem to avoid any gendered language due to this complexity. For me, it's odd. When I was in college, my friends at women's schools talked about strong sisterhood and female empowerment. Its not like that anymore. I think schools like barnard still appeal because of proximity to nyc, male students across the street, broader university course offerings, and easier to get into vs Columbia college.

This is my experience as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've discussed this before and I previously posted about this. As a woman working in a male-dominated field, I am glad I went to a co-ed college because jobs are hard to get in my field and even the small touchpoint of having attended the same school makes a big difference. I know for a fact that some of these men only met me for coffee or an interview because we are both graduates of the same college and they want to talk and reminisce about the good ole days.

As someone who is a second gen immigrant kid with no connections, I needed all of the help I could get in order to get where I am today (partner at a real estate investment firm) and unfortunately every person who has helped me in my career has been a man.

If your goal is an alum network then go to Wellesley. No other school has anything even close.

I think it depends on what field you want to go into. I worked at 2 different banks on wall st where recruiting at your Alma Mater is a really fun thing to do. Wellesley was the only school where we never had alums to recruit. Wellesley generally our foreign associates or associates who had gone to schools we didn’t recruit at on Wellesley bc we never had any alums. Lots of girls applied but never did well in the interviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Wellesley in the 90's. I received a top-tier education, and was surrounded by incredibly smart, driven women. It was a very serious place. People were serious about themselves and their work. Incredibly strong and loyal alumni base. Women supporting women all the way. But very, very serious! If that's not your vibe, probably not the place for you. Lots of interaction with MIT - a bus every hour back and forth between the campuses, and you could take classes pretty easily there (and vice versa for MIT students at Wellesley)

But what about dating guys from MIT?

What about it? I went to Wellesley and I dated guys from MIT and Harvard while I was there. Many of my friends dated (and eventually married) men from MIT or Harvard. Proximity and all that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Wellesley in the 90's. I received a top-tier education, and was surrounded by incredibly smart, driven women. It was a very serious place. People were serious about themselves and their work. Incredibly strong and loyal alumni base. Women supporting women all the way. But very, very serious! If that's not your vibe, probably not the place for you. Lots of interaction with MIT - a bus every hour back and forth between the campuses, and you could take classes pretty easily there (and vice versa for MIT students at Wellesley)

But what about dating guys from MIT?

What about it? I went to Wellesley and I dated guys from MIT and Harvard while I was there. Many of my friends dated (and eventually married) men from MIT or Harvard. Proximity and all that.

Times have changed. Now the men are too occupied with video games and porn and the girls are dating each other.