<p>butterfly_kisses, selectivity is not determined by acceptance rate, but by quality of the applicant pool. Is it accurate to say that because, say, Allen College (IA) has a lower acceptance rate, that it is a better school than MHC? Acceptance rate means nothing. Women’s college are already a self-selected applicant pool. Mount Holyoke has excellent graduate school placement and does give you the connections that you would need to get good recommendations, etcetera. Mount Holyoke is a member of the Five College Consortium and has access to several top institutions: Smith, Amherst, UMass, Hampshire. Furthermore, Mount Holyoke is <em>actually</em> a member of the Seven Sisters. Public ivy is a term coined for promotional purposes; the seven sisters arose (initially) as “the female equivalent to the all male ivy league.” There is a lot of history at Mount Holyoke and in the greater Five Colleges, given the age of all of the institutions, and the reasons for which both MHC and Smith were built.</p>