@b@r!um would be one relatively recent BMC grad to ask about taking upper-level classes at Penn. She was a math major. This also is something you could ask the admissions office at BMC to help you find more about. Back in the last century, I knew a BMC student who commuted into Penn every day for Japanese, and a number of BMC and HC students who went there two or three times each week for various obscure dead languages. The travel time can be a challenge, which means you would have to plan your schedule carefully. But you would face that at the MHC/Smith/etc. consortium as well.
@happymomof1 ooh, thank you! I’ll message her! And wow, commuting to Penn every day–that must’ve been crazy for that student
Hey, I’m deciding between those schools (and Wellesley) and I’m a homeschooled Indiana dancer too! lol well I guess it’s not that surprising though–it’s hard not to be homeschooled and be trained professionally, but I hadn’t seen any other fellow Hoosiers! Let me know where you end up!
I haven’t either! Nice to “meet” you haha. Are you on any of the Facebook pages?
No, I don’t have facebook, which is probably why I don’t know of any other homeschoolers lol. Besides, I’m 99% sure I want to go to IU now–the other schools are great but they’re not right for me. I want to study journalism, and IU’s great for that, plus I think I’d like to try Kurdish.
Good luck on your decision!
Edit: homeschoolers at the women’s colleges haha. Obviously I know other homeschoolers
Every women’s college at some point gets a reputation of being super-liberal, militantly feminist, full of aggressive feminists, etc. As far as I can tell, Smith is very liberal and does have a lot of feminists there, but I think intolerance is inaccurately stretching it to extremes. The Facebook page of any college is not a good indication of what it will be like to be a student there, since only a small fraction of the students would participate in that anyway.
As a Bryn Mawr student you could also take classes at Haverford and Swarthmore - BMC and Haverford seem pretty tightly interconnected class-wise, and Swarthmore is part of that consortium as well. So there are classes from two other colleges that will be available to you. (I admit that that sentence also made me think of the stereotypical Bryn Mawr student, lol. Actually, if you replace cats with dogs it sounds like me, and I’m a women’s college alumna myself.)
Bryn Mawr’s proximity to Philadelphia and suburban location means that there are probably dance studios around that you can continue your studies at. South Hadley/Northampton are also pretty suburban in nature, and ballet is a popular subject. Remember that all the faculty and staff and their kids also have to live in the area, so they’re likely to offer those kinds of amenities nearby.
@juillet thank you so much for your insight! Oh yes, I believe I’ve seen you post that you went to Spelman, right? I very nearly applied there and loved the school, but I cannot stand hot weather 
I have looked into studios in the Philly area, but I haven’t thought of checking in Northampton area for some reason. I’ll be visiting in a couple weeks, so maybe I shouldn’t be trying to make a firm decision before I really get the “feel” of the campus…
@literallyleslie - Ha, you would’ve liked Spelman even less since most of their residence halls don’t have air conditioning 
It’s not so bad October through March, but those first two and last two months of the year can get HOT. Otherwise, it’s a great place, but so are the places you’re considering!
Good luck - I hope you enjoy your visits!
We figured out how much each college would cost for four years, factoring in approximate study abroad costs, specific housing, fees, transportation costs (differs for each college), etc. The second number is just tuition and room and board. So over four years, we would expect to pay the following for each college:
IU: ~70k (48k)
Holyoke: ~90k (81k)
Smith: ~75k (63k)
Bryn Mawr: ~82k (74k)
My parents paid 75k total over three years for my older brother’s education. They said that they wouldn’t make me go to a college that costs less than my brother’s did, but I know they thought that 75 thousand for three years was an exorbitant amount. I also know that they want me to go to the best college for me and will pay for these (though Holyoke will be a stretch), but they still think I should choose IU. And whenever I talk about something I don’t like about IU they’ll immediately come to its defense, or when I discuss the other schools they’ll ask “so IU is out of the equation now?” 
In my dad’s words: “Is an education at these other schools worth that much more than IU?” And I guess I don’t really know. I know almost everyone in this thread said that the Sisters schools were a better choice than IU, but would they be worth it looking at these numbers?
Well, yes, an education at all these schools IS worth more, and if your parents said you could go up to 75k, then they’re almost all within budget. If MHC didn’t come back with a reassessment in light of Smith’s offer, then it’s off the table. And between IU and Smith, (and potentially Bryn Mawr,) all within budget, I’d choose between Smith and Bryn Mawr. The quality of teaching/learning, the experience and its intensity, the opportunities, being in a single-sex college (which you obviously value a lot considering your current choices) are all not comparable at IU.
I don’t think it’s fair for parents to have a set budget, which the child is mindful of, and then change the parameters when a better offer comes along or guilt trip the kid into changing their choice. If MHC doesn’t mach Smith, considering that Smith’s total is only 5K above IU and that the general academics, resources, environment and opportunities are better, I’d take Smith - if need be, plan to earn the 5k difference so that it’ll alleviate your guilt and show your parents you’re serious about your choice and responsible about it.
^ I agree.
@MYOS1634 Well, they said that they wouldn’t make me go to a school for less than 75k. So I could still go to Holyoke if I really wanted to, and if it would be a better option for me than the other schools. It’s just that they think that IU is the best option. I think a big part of their reasoning is, they think that job opportunities would be better from a large state school with occupational degrees rather than a liberal arts degree. It’s not that they’re against liberal arts schools exactly, but they are kind of the whole “what are you going to do with a history degree? ah yes, a comp lit degree will be perfect preparation for a job at Starbucks” kind of thing. But my dad also told me tonight that he supposes that really over the long run, the differences in cost aren’t that significant…
For what it’s worth, I have been impressed by how MHC is now integrating their strong commitment to a traditional liberal arts education with some well-thought out career preparation. For example, by providing funding for every student to do an unpaid internship after their sophomore year. I also think their alumni network is quite good. In addition they are part of a common recruiting database with Amherst College and Smith College, which I suspect is going to attract high-quality employers.
“In my dad’s words: “Is an education at these other schools worth that much more than IU?””
Five grand over five years?? For someone with your interests and tastes? Heck yes, it’s worth that much more – you can easily earn the difference with 3-5 hours of work per week.
@literallyleslie, do you know what you want to do with it? Grad/Law school? MBA? Teach? Just work somewhere, anywhere?
As much as I’m pro-liberal arts education, your dad asks an important question. There are so many unemployed or underemployed liberal arts majors where I am (greater Boston). Even my friend with a Ph.D. in Art History is having a hard time finding a job. It’s been 2 years since she graduated, she’s looking on three continents (CONTINENTS!) and still no bites… and my niece who graduated last year is working at … Aeropostale. Where she worked in high school. So his question, although not fun in any way to think about, is something to think about.
That said, MoHo is an excellent base once you figure out what to do with it.
@redpoodles: right now, there aren’t many/any positions in academia. Sometimes, it looks like ^professors are being slowly replaced by adjuncts. :s It’s more a PHD problem than a Liberal Arts College problem though.
In addition, jobs don’t come from degrees, they come from internships - you know that, but did your niece know it and act on this information, developping internships sophomore and junior summers, knowing the career center very well early freshman year, working on campus, looking for research opportunities, etc?
@literallyleslie: First, would your Dad say “Harvard is small, what kind of networking opportunities will you get?” Well, in the past, powerful families’ boys went to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Williams, Amherst… and their sisters went to the Seven Sisters Colleges. Today, powerful families still send their children there, and they’ve opened up to kids from all over the country to give them a leg up the social ladder. It’s not just a matter of numbers… it’s also a matter of who goes there. The list of powerful alumnae at MHC, Smith, or BMC is long. Women’s Colleges’ networks are very tight and strong, and better than those of Iowa’s bexause of the specific ethos these colleges develop - women’s colleges exist to help smart, ambitious women achieve their goals, and all graduates are part of a chain in the process. The alumnae want to help you. You’ll have a “circle” regardless of where you go. (Of course, MHC, BMC, Smith are smaller than Harvard, but I don’t know whether Williams is well-known in Iowa. Williams is a “powerful” place though.)
These colleges don’t suffer funding cuts the way public colleges do, and their resources are abundant. You have all these resources at your fingertips - the best of everything, all the time - and you’ve been selected to attend because your application shows you’ve got the aptitude and drive to take advantage of them in the best possible manner for you. There’s no dilution, as can happen at a large university. All these resources, this intensity, these opportunities, these top-flight teachers, are concentrated on YOU the undergraduate. Not shared by kids who are in college because it’s nearby and everyone goes, with graduate students who will necessarily have priority over anything you the undergrad would need or want. Not restricted because there was a budget cut. So you can “do more” if you’re able to do more, and that leads to ways of proving your worth
other than by just getting a degree. Employers care about your skillset. Sure, they’ll know you attended a prestigious college, but they’ll want to see what you did. And if you used the resources wisely, there should be plenty of things on your resume, things that lead to a job. The career centers will have all the resources you need.
Those employers go to a fair to recruit MHC, Smith, and NESCAC students:
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/consortia/larc/participants.html
Not a shabby list, right?
Those recruit specifically Smith and MHC students:
http://www.smith.edu/lazaruscenter/fairs_fall_participants.php
This is the career center
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/cdc
http://www.smith.edu/lazaruscenter/
Interested in a funded internship?
https://www.smith.edu/acad_specialpraxis.php
In short, in my opinion, elite LACs such as MHC or Smith or BMC actually have an edge for career preparation, resources, and networking, in my opinion.
MHC also provides a funded internship to every single student: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/cdc/universal-application-funding
Oh, that was more responses than I was expecting, I should check more often–but I’ve just finished Mount Holyoke’s accepted student day! Two more to go…
@Hanna well, over 4 years it’ll be approx. 15k more because of transportation, fees, and some other things I currently forget…if it was only 5k I would definitely agree, but I’m not sure about 15 thousand more
@redpoodles honestly, I’m not entirely sure yet. I have a couple fields of interest in mind, such as publishing or editing (hahaha I know, in my dreams) in which case I’d get a masters degree, but I’m also interested in non-profit work, public policy, reform of various kinds, and other things which would likely result in my pursuing a law degree. I’m planning on interning in several places so I can really get a good feel for the field, and make connections of course.
@MYOS1634 oh wow, that was super helpful! I actually paraphrased what you said to my dad, and he seems to actually be warming up to the whole liberal arts thing, provided that I don’t major in Medieval Studies or something. I couldn’t help but notice that your links and everything about the recruiting and careers didn’t include Bryn Mawr–in your opinion, do you think that Bryn Mawr doesn’t have quite the outreach or opportunities as the larger sisters do? Obviously they do have successful graduates and a lot of it depends on what you do and take advantage of, but if smith would be a better investment, well…
For information about recruiting at Bryn Mawr, start here: http://www.brynmawr.edu/cpd/
It really, truly, is OK to drop them a line and ask about things that you’d like to know.
“his question, although not fun in any way to think about, is something to think about.”
Sure, but it’s not like people coming out of IU are guaranteed jobs.