I just wanted to know what the pros and cons were verses attending a co-ed college? What does the future of all women’s colleges look like?
The future looks pretty good for most of the remaining women’s colleges. Sweet Briar weathered a serious financial situation a couple of years ago, and was rescued by the alumnae. Whether that lasts remains to be seen. The women’s colleges that had weaker finances and lower academic reputations have closed their doors or gone co-ed.
One advantage of a women’s college is that it is easier for a student interested in a traditionally “male” field to complete a degree in that field.
Wellesley and Mount Holyoke have well-regarded CS programs: https://www.ivyachievement.com/computer-science-rankings
I graduated from a women’s college that was in a consortium program.
For me, the value of a women’s college is the way commitment to women’s education translates into a community which supports women’s achievements and goals. The community – from administration to faculty to staff – shares and supports the idea that women can and should pursue their goals, whatever those may be. As a student, every day, you are reminded that women are leaders, researchers, performers – whatever their interests take them to explore in college – because your fellow women students are the ones leading organizations, doing research, competing for fellowships etc. Being surrounded by that kind of “messaging” is powerful. My first fully co-ed educational experience was law school where my faith in my own abilities – fostered through my girls’ school/women’s college – helped me thrive in a very competitive environment.
To add to @Midwestmomofboys posted, women’s colleges not only develop confidence in their students, they attract confident, determined, goal-oriented students because these days, choosing a women’s college is not the typical path. Enrolling in a women’s college means a young woman is already extraordinary because she is willing to take a risk and is not completely preoccupied with what her HS friends are going to think about her choice . Studying in the company of other high-achieving women was a tremendous experience for me, and I made lifelong friendships (just spent time with two of my Hollins classmates when I was traveling halfway across the country).
I should add – I attended my women’s college because of finances – it was my safety school for admissions and finances. I had an incredible education, had amazing opportunities to grow, and formed life long friendships.
I cannot agree with above comments more.
At women’s colleges, wherever you look, the leaders are all women — clubs, associations, researches, committees, school government, etc. etc.
Traditionally, these roles have been assigned to male students (although it’s changing).
At women’s colleges, students are reminded that they can take on these leadership roles without male presence and that is a huge confidence boost whereas at co-ed schools, female students might fall into secondary/assisting roles and might take it for granted or not even question about it.
I graduated from a women’s college two decades ago. On the night I moved into my dorm, I had almost a dozen guys in my dorm room from Washington and Lee University. First one on the floor to have a party. Boys will be around!
I appreciate that I had a chance to build strong lifelong friends with some very smart women. And it was nice that guys weren’t in the way of my education. I could focus fully on what I wanted Monday thru Friday at noon and then focus on fun on the weekends. Less drama. Less complications. I still had boyfriends at nearby schools but they weren’t the central focus of my life. Best yet, I found my own voice and grew in confidence because I was surrounded by strong women and leaders.
It’s not just that women are the leaders, it’s that men aren’t usurping the leader roles, based on some inexplicable tendency to confer authority to males. When Vassar went coed, I remember reports on how quickly the balance in leadership shifted to males.
And it’s not all about boys being around, on weekends or whever. Sure they are. But it’s a different mindset, imo. And that can carry through life.
I think it depends on what you are looking for. Some of the benefits of Women’s colleges are obviously that there is the freedom to express yourself without having to censor what you say, for fear of retaliation from male students. As a Mills college graduate, I found that there was immense women empowerment, building of sisterhood and a solid focus on the academics.
There are few pros and many cons. Gender segregation is no more useful than racial or economic segregation on individual or communal level. If it was, Saudi Arabia would be ahead of all others. It’s just not a healthy set up, only an artificial bubble.
@Midwestmomofboys and @lookingforward are spot on. I was at Vassar just after it went coed, and yes, even though it was still, at that time, 75% women, the men did come in and take many leadership roles.
Womens’ colleges encourage a focus on women as leaders, as successful critical thinkers and problem-solvers, offer a superb collaborative and commonly less competitive environment where they can thrive in high levels of academic challenge in majors where they might in the past have been underrepresented, where women are encouraged to find and share their collective voice and encouraged to question, to challenge with lessened social pressures and a clear focus on the promotion of womens’ education and success personally, psychologically and vocationally.
@Riversider the post above and the one about psychiatrists/psychologists personal relationships are disappointingly off the mark tonight. That’s not like you.
@jym626 I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. We have a difference of opinion on these issues. I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.
I believe the women’s colleges are becoming more popular these days. Selectivity is up as are the stats of the students. There was s time when they were losing their luster, but because of their strong infrastructures, curriculums, traditions and faculty, were very good admissions bargains those years.
I did not care to go to a women’s college but my close friend from high school did—Vassar actually. I dare say she had a much smoother academic journey than I did. I will say, that I preferred an all women’s dorm on a coed a campus, and still would.
And at Harvard women can’t even form their own clubs or organization.
Many women’s campuses as noted earlier are far from segregated. Several are parts of consortia. Men will be taking part in classes on the home campus and at the consortia campuses. At least one of the colleges also has grad programs, which men attend. Young men can stay over night in dorms at many of the schools.
In addition the women who graduate from women’s colleges, far from being “unhealthy,” tend to go on disproportionately to hold leadership roles in their fields: business, politics, academia, the arts, etc.
Exactly, @Dustyfeathers. Well said. Anyone who thinks single sex colleges are unhealthy has a very misunderstood view of the academic environment.
@Riversider Implying that overall perceived negativity of one society must apply to all other societies that share a single characteristic but in fact the societies have vast differences? False equivalence.
I sincerely hope that prospective students consider the true benefits and downsides of attending an all women’s college and don’t apply such reductionist logic.
The perks, I suppose, are the community of women - feeling supported, tight-knit after graduation, opening doors especially for names schools like the Seven Sisters.
That said, I went to a well-renowned all-girls’ high school, and believe that single-sex education is overrated. Colleges are very different, I’m sure, but I was grateful to go to a large co-ed Ivy, living in a coed dorm, having normal relationships that were a part of my everyday (working on campus, classes, dorms, etc.). There’s also the not-so-small-matter of the true “college experience” - football/hockey/soccer games, frat parties, dorm wars that clearly were organized by the boys on our floor. We even had a coed bathroom. Having men around felt healthy and balanced - and there were single-sex dorms for those who wanted that experienced. I was in a sorority, and I liked that support on a big campus.
My only regret? Agreeing to attend that all-girls’ high school. My sister went to Smith and loved it. Northampton is gorgeous and fun, but dating was a bit awkward and forced, according to her. It’s a great fit for some people - I liked the college town, big campus experience while having my close group of sorority sisters, dorm friends, and classmates.
That’s because Harvard was one of the last Ivies to go coed. Now Cornell, for example, was coed since its founding in 1865 