Tell me about Bryn Mawr

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Bryn Mawr isn't ranked that high? When I applied to colleges in the 1990s, it was ranked the #5 liberal arts school. I see it is now #31.

Just curious what happened.

Because all-women’s colleges aren’t popular anymore.

Wellesley and Barnard do fine

Bryn mawr never attracted either the polish or the latter or the hyper elite of the former hence it’s issue

I don't think that's true. When women's options were limited, Bryn Mawr was a famously intellectual place. It's just that women's colleges lost their original mandate, and their new one fixated on transgressive gender and sexuality is not equally good.

then why do Wellesley and Barnard manage the “opening up of women’s options” much better than bm?

It’s literally because of what I said:

Wellesley is so elite it doesn’t matter if women can go to hypsm now, they will always have a market

And Barnard has always taken prettier/more socially polished girls than bM because there’s always a market for going to a top school in the city

Well I know several smart Gen Z girls from NWDC who went to Wellesley and Barnard, but as it happens, they're all queer. Barnard has a reputation, deserved or not, for making Columbia available to girls who couldn't get into Columbia. Wellesley girls would likely have had other options, but the fact that they chose a women's college probably has something to do with a lack of interest in dating men on campus.

There are two things about the women's college of yesteryear that you seem to be confusing: they used to take "pretty/socially polished girls" and they used to be intellectual powerhouses for the brightest women with nowhere else to go. Bryn Mawr may have also included the former, but it used to be famous for the latter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Bryn Mawr isn't ranked that high? When I applied to colleges in the 1990s, it was ranked the #5 liberal arts school. I see it is now #31.

Just curious what happened.

Because all-women’s colleges aren’t popular anymore.

Wellesley and Barnard do fine

Bryn mawr never attracted either the polish or the latter or the hyper elite of the former hence it’s issue

I don't think that's true. When women's options were limited, Bryn Mawr was a famously intellectual place. It's just that women's colleges lost their original mandate, and their new one fixated on transgressive gender and sexuality is not equally good.

then why do Wellesley and Barnard manage the “opening up of women’s options” much better than bm?

It’s literally because of what I said:

Wellesley is so elite it doesn’t matter if women can go to hypsm now, they will always have a market

And Barnard has always taken prettier/more socially polished girls than bM because there’s always a market for going to a top school in the city

Huh? Then why did the guys all call it "Barnyard?" I don't think you're really familiar with what these schools were like back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Bryn Mawr isn't ranked that high? When I applied to colleges in the 1990s, it was ranked the #5 liberal arts school. I see it is now #31.

Just curious what happened.

Because all-women’s colleges aren’t popular anymore.

Wellesley and Barnard do fine

Bryn mawr never attracted either the polish or the latter or the hyper elite of the former hence it’s issue

I don't think that's true. When women's options were limited, Bryn Mawr was a famously intellectual place. It's just that women's colleges lost their original mandate, and their new one fixated on transgressive gender and sexuality is not equally good.

then why do Wellesley and Barnard manage the “opening up of women’s options” much better than bm?

It’s literally because of what I said:

Wellesley is so elite it doesn’t matter if women can go to hypsm now, they will always have a market

And Barnard has always taken prettier/more socially polished girls than bM because there’s always a market for going to a top school in the city

Well I know several smart Gen Z girls from NWDC who went to Wellesley and Barnard, but as it happens, they're all queer. Barnard has a reputation, deserved or not, for making Columbia available to girls who couldn't get into Columbia. Wellesley girls would likely have had other options, but the fact that they chose a women's college probably has something to do with a lack of interest in dating men on campus.

There are two things about the women's college of yesteryear that you seem to be confusing: they used to take "pretty/socially polished girls" and they used to be intellectual powerhouses for the brightest women with nowhere else to go. Bryn Mawr may have also included the former, but it used to be famous for the latter.

+1 You nailed it once again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Midge Maisel went to Bryn Mawr. No way she’d have gone there today.

In Midge Maisel's day, Bryn Mawr - like many other "elite" institutions - was pretty antisemitic and probably had cap on the number of Jewish students. They also had a special Jewish dorm to which likely Jewish students were assigned. If Midge Maisel was real, she probably would have gone to Hunter or a Big 10 school, not BMC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midge Maisel went to Bryn Mawr. No way she’d have gone there today.

In Midge Maisel's day, Bryn Mawr - like many other "elite" institutions - was pretty antisemitic and probably had cap on the number of Jewish students. They also had a special Jewish dorm to which likely Jewish students were assigned. If Midge Maisel was real, she probably would have gone to Hunter or a Big 10 school, not BMC.

True. There is nothing authentic about Midge Maisel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It does not seem very appealing to me. Everyone keeps talking up the consortium as that is the main selling point. Why not just go to a bigger school where you don’t have to rely on a consortium to fulfill your intellectual curiosity

Because there's value in having the best of both worlds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know why Bryn Mawr isn't ranked that high? When I applied to colleges in the 1990s, it was ranked the #5 liberal arts school. I see it is now #31.

Just curious what happened.

All-women’s colleges aren’t mainstream anymore, or attractive to a critical massive of apolitical heterosexual girls, as they were pre-1970s. No debutantes, no weekend trips to meet Yale boys.

Except for maybe Wellesley, they attract and/or target a niche market. And that niche is a combination of upper middle class white lesbian (or lesbian-adjacent) girls; minorities seeking substantial financial aid, and international students.

Not every American girl wants a “Bama Rush” type of college experience, but they don’t want to join the “Social Justice Movie Club,” either.

The Result, achieved by slow drip over the last several decades: a complete replacement of one type of student body by another; relatively fewer applicants (vs mainstream colleges like NESCACs), higher admission rates, lower status and rankings, etc etc.

Farewell Nancy Davis Reagan. Au revoir, Barbara Pierce Bush.

+1 This is funny.

If you are a white stooge maybe. Kill your heroes. Bomb the country club.

[Anonymous]

If you are not gay, bi, or LUG (lesbian until graduation) you will find it socially limiting and may feel an outcast. The couple girls I know that happened to be straight (legacy) that attended both ended up transferring

[Anonymous]

D is prefers straight men and attends BMC and loves it and there are plenty of students who are the same. More importantly, she could care less how her friends or roommates identify (nor do I). I would say that if you don’t feel that way than many schools might not be a good fit. It is a wonderful school with many opportunities. She is an artist who wanted a broader education for undergrad surrounded by students who love to learn in a tight knit community without the pressures of Greek life. If that is what you are looking for then BMC is worth a look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does not seem very appealing to me. Everyone keeps talking up the consortium as that is the main selling point. Why not just go to a bigger school where you don’t have to rely on a consortium to fulfill your intellectual curiosity

Because there's value in having the best of both worlds.

And not everyone wants the HUGE school every day for 4 years.