<p>I am planning to apply to small LACs with strong science programs next year. Several LACs that I have come across seem great but are all girls. I currently go to a high school that is mainly girls, yet I end up mainly hanging out with boys. I know it seems silly, but at least at my school the girls are often shallow and talk about clothing/boys way too much. Can anybody speak to their experiences at all girls LACs?</p>
<p>hey, I’m wondering this too. I’m kinda the same. I really like Smith (heard it’s like an all-girls version of MIT)</p>
<p>Hey ArtsyGirl, </p>
<p>I heard this question a lot when I volunteered in the admissions office at Scripps. There’s a big difference between girls’ school and women’s college, and that difference has a lot to do with how much you mature at the end of high school and the beginning of college. Everyone grows up a lot as they embark on a new part of their lives and get to shed the restrictions and inhibitions of their old identities and start fresh with a new group of potential friends. (I’d like to add, in defense of the girls you now know as shallow, that the most obnoxious/shallow/popular/even hateful girls that I knew in high school have grown into good, even awesome people. So there’s hope yet for your peers! [or maybe I had judged them too harshly and it’s me who’s grown])</p>
<p>As for any small LACs, you’re not only looking at academic options, but a cohesive community. What I loved about Scripps was that it brought together all these ambitious, talented, motivated young women who had such a great variety of interests that I felt I always had something interesting to talk about with anyone. The community also resisted the hostility cliques take on in high school-- I could go to breakfast or lunch alone and find people to eat with because people were open. And whether they were passionate about new pastry recipes or opera or South African politics, they were always open to sharing that passion with me (even when I had no clue what they were talking about). I found so much to admire in my peers, it far outweighed any instances that caused me to roll my eyes.</p>
<p>As much as you can, with any LAC you apply to, try to get a sense of the campus ethos. What drives people there? What do people care about?
A good question for tour guides/student ambassadors is to ask them to reflect on the best and worst things about the student community (not just the school generally). That should give you a sense if people are competitive, cliquey, boy-crazy, or just apathetic. </p>
<p>Sidenote, quidditchcat, Scripps has a 5C quidditch team called the Dirigible Plums full of happy, awesome people.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Those who choose women’s colleges are not likely to be shallow or boy-crazy or they would not go there. Honestly, women at any good college (co-ed or not) will have a variety of interests that extend beyond clothes and boys.</p>
<p>Women’s colleges do have different characters; they are not all the same. You may like some and not others. Some colleges sound similar on paper but have very different vibes. Try to visit if you can.</p>
<p>Co-ed social life will probably require some conscious effort and prior planning but it’s not impossible to achieve.</p>
<p>Mt Holyoke and Smith are part of the Five College consortium in the Pioneer valley of Massachusetts. They have cross-enrollment with Amherst, Hampshire, and UMass. The latter 3 are all coed, and UMass has 25K students, so MHC and Smith students see males both in classes, and at social events. Free buses connect the five campuses.</p>
<p>I always put it this way: if you have a campus containing several thousand coeds, males will somehow find them!</p>
<p>I’m a MHC alum (from ancient times, before it was called MoHo), but I have been thinking a lot about what I got from attending a women’s college this year as my D has applied to three women’s colleges as well as several coed ones. At the moment, women’s colleges are her #1 and #2 choices. I agree with NJSue that the individual schools have different vibes, and their locations also make a big difference. But I think what all of them have in common (sappy as it may sound) is a sense of sisterhood. Shallowness and boy-craziness are the opposite of what I found/find on these campuses. And the most lasting effect on me has been a kind of comfort level with and openness to other women. I think women feel empowered by attending women’s colleges in the same way that some African-Americans do from attending HBCUs. It’s an opportunity to immerse yourself in an environment in which females are living, learning and supporting each other, as well as getting strong leadership experience.</p>
<p>I am a first-year at Smith College, and I just want to warn everyone now that if you are not completely sure that you will love a women’s college environment, then its probably not for you. This was the only women’s college I applied to, and for some reason I thought it would be “empowering,” “nurturing,” and “homy” because of the all-women thing. I guess it was empowering in about the first week or so, but the social justice stuff at Smith is over the top. Girls here are just as cliquey as they are in high school, mostly because they are stuck up and aren’t willing to step outside of their little bubbles in make new friends.</p>
<p>Also, don’t fall into the whole “there’s the 5 college consortium!” trap. Yes, there are 3 other colleges with men nearby, but unless you actually have friends at these schools, its highly unlikely that you will just hop on the bus and randomly stumble upon a party that you can get into or even find. Also, most of the guys at the big parties at, say, UMass, are only concerned with finding girls to hook up with for the night.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this was a convincing argument or not, but I really just don’t want people to make the same mistake I did by coming to a women’s college. Oh, and if you want to party at all in college or would like a work hard/play hard environment, LOOK ELSEWHERE. I can only speak for Smith, but the environment here is definitely work hard, and thats it. Our parties are monitored by campus police (lame) and really are not fun unless you are super drunk.</p>
<p>I am open to answering any questions anyone has about women’s colleges in general or Smith specifically.</p>
<p>Bluetruedreams–</p>
<p>Sorry Smith isn’t what you expected. D is a senior and had a different experience at MHC. The 4 schools on the east side of the river are all on the same bus line. Smith requires a change of bus, which means travel to Smith isn’t quite as easy. Smith may be slightly isolated from the other 4 schools. D took a class at UMass and at Hampshire, and had little trouble with transportation. She did find a tone of “sisterhood” , as it were, there. She has friends who are much wealther than we are, and it’s not a problem.</p>
<p>I don’t think women’s colleges (not all-girls’ schools) are more likely to be “cliquey” or “social justicey” than any other schools. I’ve heard people on CC describe other schools, co-ed ones, as places where people form social groups early and don’t let anyone in, and there are a lot of co-ed places that are very into social justice (Oberlin, Reed). People just use different words to describe them because they are co-ed schools instead of women’s colleges.</p>
<p>Don’t stereotype women’s colleges and expect them to be a certain way because there are only women there - empowering or nurturing or “homey.” Some are more so than others; every woman’s college has its own character. Some women’s colleges are so close to other schools in a consortium that it really does make a difference whereas others aren’t; it really depends on the atmosphere in a school. Some women’s colleges are more party spots and some are more nerdy. Just like you can’t stereotype all women, you can’t stereotype all women’s colleges.</p>
<p>I went to Spelman College, which is both a women’s college and an HBCU. I loved it and I would choose a women’s college again. Spelman’s campus ends where Morehouse’s (a men’s college) and Clark Atlanta’s (a co-ed university) campuses begin, and so after classes were over it often felt like one big co-ed university campus. We’d go to Morehouse’s campus on Wednesdays for their open-air market and to their cafe to hear jazz music and spoken word on Thursday nights; they’d come to our campus for our open-air market and spring hangout on Market Fridays. We held parties together and socials together; many of our social clubs could be joined by Morehouse and Clark Atlanta students whereas many of theirs could be joined by Spelman students. I feel like we got the best of both words - an all-women’s glee choir, student government, and other leadership boards but joint homecoming. I wrote for the Morehouse newspaper and some Morehouse students wrote for ours. A lot of Spelman students cheered for the Morehouse sports teams and danced on the Morehouse dance team and were in the Morehouse marching band. Morehouse’s homecoming queen is almost always a Spelman student. And so forth.</p>
<p>But at the same time, there’s such a sisterhood that permeates Spelman. My residence hall often felt like a slumber party with women and I loved being in all women classes. At least Spelman was a pretty welcoming space - I won’t say that all women’s colleges are, but women drove the discussions and the heart of the college there. You didn’t have to worry about finding classes that addressed issues of women or African Americans (in science, history, math, psychology, or whatever) because ALL of the classes did while covering a full curriculum. I personally found it a very empowering experience - it’s empowering to see all of the student AND professional leaders on campus, all deans and the president and provost and many of the professors be women. It’s what inspired me to want to be a professor and to dream bigger myself. But I wouldn’t call it a nurturing space. It was definitely not a place that would hold your hand and lead you to things. You had to find them yourself. But people were willing to help you if you asked.</p>
<p>So again, it really depends on the women’s college. My best HS friend went to another women’s college 20 minutes away (Agnes Scott) but because ASC is not really walking distance from another co-ed university, the experience is a lot different there. While most of our social events were co-ed with Morehouse and Clark Atlanta (and many black college students from predominantly white universities who came to party on campus, and Morris Brown when it had accreditation) most of ASC’s events were very women-centric/women only.</p>
<p>I’m a junior at Smith. I’m not discrediting other people’s experiences-some people really don’t like Smith. Some people really don’t like just about every school. It needs to be a good fit for you. I agree Smith can be a bit preachy on the social justice side, but I’ve found a group of friends that balance it well</p>
<p>Smith has been a great option for me. I absolutely love the social scene and that derives from the fact it is a women’s college. Friendships are closer, the houses are amazing, and there is a common bond between us all that I just don’t think you’d get at a coed school. I disagree with others. Our parties are baller and people definitely play hard too. Sure, if you go to the school sanctioned events, there are police, but most partying is in rooms with friends. It’s music, drinking (or not, it’s cool either way), and a lot of fun. Especially once you are 21, there a bunch of fun trivia nights at bars in town (some you can go to underage as well) and lots of hanging out with wine with friends. It’s different in the play hard than other schools, but it exists. Lots of people tout the academic rigor, that “boys won’t distract you” and blah blah blah, but I really think the heart of what makes it great is the social system. It’s unlike anything in the whole world.</p>
<p>That being said, if you don’t like the social system, Smith would get really lonely really quickly and wouldn’t be a good fit. </p>
<p>The 5C’s is complicated as well. If you make the effort, you can easily meet people off campus and go out all the time. I know people who do it. But most people like just hanging out with Smithies, so it’s a small group that goes off campus often. But I disagree that you have to know someone to do it. I’ve gone to UMass for a night and met people no problem. But the impetus is on you</p>
<p>I teach at a small, relatively unknown women’s college (Columbia College, in Columbia, SC). Many of our students choose us because we’re small, friendly, supportive, etc., and only secondarily because we’re a women’s college. Of course once they’re here for a while they begin to see the advantages of attending a women’s college, and our graduates tend to claim that doing so was the best decision they ever made.</p>
<p>So, perhaps atmosphere is a combination of institutional philosophy, region, size, reputation (and therefore the types of students who find a particular college appealing), etc.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>PLEASE do not call female students “coeds.” It is an insult from the dark ages, implying that they are an add-on, and that the primary mission is educating men. </p>
<p>At Wellesley, the male exchange students were known, with deliberate irony, as “coeds.”</p>
<p>To answer the original question, in most cases girls who are largely interested in talking about clothes and boys go to schools where it is easier for them to spend their time chasing boys. Not women’s colleges.</p>
<p>Consolation–</p>
<p>No offense intended!! Those of us who are of a certain age aren’t always up on what is “politically/socially correct”. That post was made six months ago–it could have been edited if something was said sooner!</p>
<p>I’m 60, MADad, and we took a dim view of “coed” when <em>I</em> was at Wellesley. :)</p>
<p>I just read your post yesterday. </p>
<p>Don’t worry, neither I nor any other rational person is mortally offended. Just don’t do it again, now that you have been enlightened! 
(The single most annoying use of the term I recall was when two AF Academy cadets froze to death in a blizzard on a highway, and the newpaper article I read referred to the female cadet not as a cadet, but as a “coed.” Grrrr!)</p>
<p>Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!!!</p>
<p>(for the older Catholics out there!!)</p>
<p>I hope my question is at least vaguely related to this thread…younger D is crazy about BMC, and would love to apply; but after three years at an all girls high school, she is concerned she will never meet anyone of the opposite gender. Or, she will be required to be much more adept at striking friendships, at very brief moments, where an inexperienced person would be discouraged. Do many BMC girls feel this way? Are many of the students from all girls HS backgrounds?
Forgive me if this question is rife with malaprop isms.</p>
<p>Thanks for this thread - I was looking at Wellesley and then realised it was a women’s college!</p>
<p>Hi cecilturtle,</p>
<p>A facet of Bryn Mawr that I really love is the college’s location and relationship with other colleges. As a prospective I had looked at other colleges with consortium relationships but was always weary of how practical it was in reality. I was shocked my first week at Bryn Mawr to find so many of my fellow first years enrolling in multiple classes across the Tri-Co (Tri-College Consortium: Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore). Especially with Haverford, which is just a mile down the road, the free bus system really enhances a fluidity of academic and social mixing. Students can even opt to live on any of the three campuses (although most prefer Bryn Mawr - I mean, who doesn’t want to live in a castle?!). Students also take advantage of our cross-registration privileges with UPenn, not to mention their social events. Philly in general is home to numerous colleges (UArts, Temple, Drexel, PAFA, Villanova, etc) so you don’t just have to be in an academic consortium to meet people. One distinguishing feature of Bryn Mawr students is that every experience is different - it is absolutely what you make of it, allowing each student to carve a totally independent path for themselves. Most students will spend some weekends at events in the Tri-Co, some off campus in Philly, and then some just sitting in with your hallmates watching movies.</p>