Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fine w/ all women's. Just wants to be around smart, curious, engaged students regardless of gender.

Williams seems to be much higher regarded by her classmates even though they aren't too far off in the rankings. So that's her concern about doing ED

You can't just be "fine" with an all-women's college. You have to really want that experience and be sure you won't miss having men as classmates and friends. Ask me how I know.

How do you know ?

I'm a Wellesley alumna. Wellesley offers excellent teaching and a great alum network, but if you enjoy having men as friends, you're out of luck. I love my Wellesley friends, but having had lots of guy friends in HS and later in law school, I missed that at Wellesley. It felt artificial and weird.

Thank you for your response.

I had an experience very much in line with your comment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fine w/ all women's. Just wants to be around smart, curious, engaged students regardless of gender.

Williams seems to be much higher regarded by her classmates even though they aren't too far off in the rankings. So that's her concern about doing ED

You can't just be "fine" with an all-women's college. You have to really want that experience and be sure you won't miss having men as classmates and friends. Ask me how I know.

How do you know ?

I'm a Wellesley alumna. Wellesley offers excellent teaching and a great alum network, but if you enjoy having men as friends, you're out of luck. I love my Wellesley friends, but having had lots of guy friends in HS and later in law school, I missed that at Wellesley. It felt artificial and weird.

Wellesley’s alumnae network is amazing.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't choose a women's college in the current environment. Now that smart women can go anywhere, women's colleges are left without a productive niche. They've been reborn as focused laboratories for the new world of gender and identitiy exploration. Wellesley is still the most serious educational institution of the bunch, but even Wellesley is entering the fray.

You have to be a man.

I have a DD at a women’s college who is happy and academically successful, mostly because of the supportive environment. Women’s colleges are not on the fray. They will be around for a long time to come.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't put them in the same league of selectivity. I would compare Williams to the Ivies (HYP alum here). Wellesley has an amazing history but now that women can attend all the colleges they were shut out of before, the # who are interested in a women's college is much lower. If your DD is competitive for Williams, I'd assume she could get into Wellesley RD.

I love how posters think that by identifying themselves as "HYP" that that somehow gives them added credibility and/or college admissions expertise. It doesn't. It just means you're still living off of what you think were your glory years. I don't know when you went to "HYP" but I bet that when you did it was easier to get in any of them than it is Wellesley today.

NP. Also a HYP alum and I'm going to say yes, I do have a perspective on getting into and attending an elite college. For example, I recall a college classmate telling me they didn't get into Williams. I don't recall hearing that about Wellesley or any of the women's colleges. But my first job, which was very snobby and only hired from certain schools, did hire from schools like both Williams and Wellesley.

I absolutely agree that rank is not everything and the women's colleges seem like they have a lot to offer.

Also, I freely admit that HYP would probably not let me in today. The stats are just nuts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't put them in the same league of selectivity. I would compare Williams to the Ivies (HYP alum here). Wellesley has an amazing history but now that women can attend all the colleges they were shut out of before, the # who are interested in a women's college is much lower. If your DD is competitive for Williams, I'd assume she could get into Wellesley RD.

I love how posters think that by identifying themselves as "HYP" that that somehow gives them added credibility and/or college admissions expertise. It doesn't. It just means you're still living off of what you think were your glory years. I don't know when you went to "HYP" but I bet that when you did it was easier to get in any of them than it is Wellesley today.

Yup, it was a comment overflowing with ignorance of the facts.

Anonymous wrote:NP, but my child has expressed interest in both schools (dc is only a junior). I’m pretty familiar with Wellesley, and we will likely visit both this spring break. But for those who noted the extreme isolation of Williams, is it kind of the same as Middlebury, or more so? We drove through Middlebury’s campus on a summer trip to VT and recollect it being the campus and then basically a one-stop sign town, but the college itself was only an hour-ish from Burlington so the “isolation” didn’t jump out (maybe also because it wasn’t bitterly cold and dark like it is from Nov - April in that region).

This is a little subjective but to me Williamstown feels smaller and more isolated than Middlebury.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't put them in the same league of selectivity. I would compare Williams to the Ivies (HYP alum here). Wellesley has an amazing history but now that women can attend all the colleges they were shut out of before, the # who are interested in a women's college is much lower. If your DD is competitive for Williams, I'd assume she could get into Wellesley RD.

I love how posters think that by identifying themselves as "HYP" that that somehow gives them added credibility and/or college admissions expertise. It doesn't. It just means you're still living off of what you think were your glory years. I don't know when you went to "HYP" but I bet that when you did it was easier to get in any of them than it is Wellesley today.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't put them in the same league of selectivity. I would compare Williams to the Ivies (HYP alum here). Wellesley has an amazing history but now that women can attend all the colleges they were shut out of before, the # who are interested in a women's college is much lower. If your DD is competitive for Williams, I'd assume she could get into Wellesley RD.

Do not just choose based on"league of selectivity". These are both very fine colleges with important differences but "league of selectivity" is not the most critical criteria.

I wouldn't put them in the same league of selectivity. I would compare Williams to the Ivies (HYP alum here). Wellesley has an amazing history but now that women can attend all the colleges they were shut out of before, the # who are interested in a women's college is much lower. If your DD is competitive for Williams, I'd assume she could get into Wellesley RD.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't choose a women's college in the current environment. Now that smart women can go anywhere, women's colleges are left without a productive niche. They've been reborn as focused laboratories for the new world of gender and identity exploration. Wellesley is still the most serious educational institution of the bunch, but even Wellesley is entering the fray.

Things really don't change that fast my friend....are you even paying attention? Samuel, "I don't want women at Princeton" Alito just helped set women's rights back 50 years in this country. Wellesley and other women's colleges still have an important place...I would have loved if one of my DDs had chosen Wellesley.

NP, but my child has expressed interest in both schools (dc is only a junior). I’m pretty familiar with Wellesley, and we will likely visit both this spring break. But for those who noted the extreme isolation of Williams, is it kind of the same as Middlebury, or more so? We drove through Middlebury’s campus on a summer trip to VT and recollect it being the campus and then basically a one-stop sign town, but the college itself was only an hour-ish from Burlington so the “isolation” didn’t jump out (maybe also because it wasn’t bitterly cold and dark like it is from Nov - April in that region).

I never found Wellesley students competitive with each other, but they tend to have high standards for themselves.

Anonymous wrote:Hard pass on both.

LOL. Like you’d ever be in a position to do so, dumbass.

Hard pass on both.