Differences between 7 sisters schools/tri college consortium

GoldPenn
Sat, 27 Mar 2021 19:52:10 +0000

You can’t go wrong with any of these choices! My daughter had the same list and here was her thought process as she narrowed it down:

Campus
SMITH She thought Smith had the best campus due to being in an eclectic college town, the houses for dorms, the compact campus, and the multiple cafeterias.

WELLESLEY She didn’t love the idea of a spread-out campus and she didn’t like that it was in an expensive suburb. She did like the dorms with full kitchens and the 5 dining halls.

BRYN MAWR She loved the Hogwarts vibe of the campus and the generous dorm rooms. She didn’t like the affluent suburb, the fact that none of the dorms have kitchens, and the single dining hall. She also didn’t like the proximity to Haverford as she felt it would take away from the all-women’s experience.

MOUNT HOLYOKE While more rural, she preferred the small town to the affluent suburbs of BMC and Wellesley. She liked the dorms with kitchens and pianos, and she did not like the single dining hall.

All of these colleges are known for having beautiful campuses, nice dorms, good food, and unique traditions. What really set them apart for my daughter was the programs and course selection. There are considerable differences, and if your D is trying to narrow down her choice, I highly recommend looking at the course catalog for each one, to peruse the offerings over the last two years in her intended majors. My daughter is pre-law and is interested in American Studies, Women’s Studies, Sociology, and Peace & Justice related studies.

Courses/Programs
SMITH Smith had the least appealing courses to my daughter. She really wanted to love Smith because of the campus and location but the courses were so underwhelming that she was unable to muster enthusiasm. Truth be told, she actually started to cry after looking through the catalog.

WELLESLEY Wellesley had among the best course selection which was much, much better than Smith and offered plenty of social justice related options.

BRYN MAWR The course selection was not nearly as appealing as Wellesley and over half of the courses she was interested in would have to be taken at the Haverford campus.

MOUNT HOLYOKE Their offerings were the best of the four, with the most courses having a social justice focus.

VASSAR She didn’t explore the Vassar campus like the others because she found the course selection to be similar to that of Smith.

Finances
Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr and Smith all offer merit aid. Wellesley does not. Bryn Mawr is the most rigid in their financial aid policies. If your D doesn’t apply for aid the first year, she is ineligible to apply for aid for the remaining three years. The other colleges have requirements but none are as stringent as Bryn Mawr. Given the uncertain times we live in, I was not comfortable with that policy even though we are a full-pay family.

My D21 had been rejected at her ED1 reach and she was trying to decide which of the above four to apply to ED2. The only campus she was able to physically visit was Bryn Mawr. Due to course selection, it came down to Wellesley and Mount Holyoke. Although Wellesley is probably less competitive than it used to be now that there is no grade-deflation, when reviewing their handling of COVID and reading recent articles on the student news site, we felt there still exists a certain rigidity about the college. Although my D21 has high stats and great ECs and recs, she is not a classic overachiever. She is a student who often asks for extensions, gets bogged down with perfectionism, and is prone to anxiety. Therefore, we determined that Mount Holyoke, with its reputation for having a more chill vibe, would be the best fit. She applied ED2 and was admitted with a 20K a year merit award. She has no regrets about withdrawing her other applications and she’s thrilled to be joining the class of 2025 this fall.

Another great way to get a sense of the vibe of each school is to visit the student newspaper pages along with Instagram or Facebook accounts for the previous year’s class. I wish your D the best of luck!