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[quote=Anonymous]A lot of folks are posting here with no experience with women's colleges, just assumptions, stereotypes, and vibes. So OP you should take a lot posted here with a grain of salt.

I attended Bryn Mawr in the late 90s. I chose it for the major, not because it was a women's college. I believe Bryn Mawr typically has one of the highest percentage of students who go on to pursue PhDs. As PP said, it's a self-selecting group that applies to women's colleges, so the selectivity cant be compared to other SLACs. Bryn Mawrters are very studious, serious, nose to the grindstone types. But we also had lots of traditions and other fun. It's a small community.

It depends what your daughter is looking for, and I say this as a professor at a large university. Different universities and colleges offer different environments. SLACs are better for kids who need an extra level of support, who might otherwise get lost in the large and more anonymous environment of a university. It's much easier to get to know fellow students and professors at a SLAC than at a university, so the community is usually much tighter knit.

While I didn't choose a women's college for the all women aspect, I definitely came to appreciate it. It made me a lot more confident and you learn to see behind the veil of male dominance in professions, and yes how to communicate better with colleagues to advance in one's career. So I definitely don't buy this idea that being at a women's college makes it harder to work with male colleagues later in life, quite the opposite.

Bryn Mawr has long had men on campus, it's next door to Haverford and many students at both colleges take classes at the other. Bryn Mawr also has a number of master's and doctoral programs, which enroll men. So it's not like students there are cloistered away from men! They were in our classes, and I had a bunch of friends at Haverford (male and female). We also went to Swat and Penn a lot.

All that being said, I'm not sure I would send my daughter there because of the campus climate the past few years for Jewish students, but they just brought on a new President so hope springs eternal that things will turn around for the college.[/quote]

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