Women’s colleges

The thought of entering a school where nearly half the population is ineligible to attend might baffle a prospective college student. But it still won’t stop the thousands of women from heading off next fall to a college or university where not only their roommates will be females, but also all of their classmates and most of the faculty members.

In one way, it’s refreshing to see that many schools are keeping to their traditions of excellence in women’s education. But in another way, it might seem quite impractical and even detrimental for the women involved. After all, men will be employed in the same working environments as these women will eventually be. Won’t this single-sex school dynamic put graduates of women’s colleges and universities at a severe disadvantage?

Ask this question at any women’s school, and you’ll get a resounding NO. It is the very mission of these women’s schools to graduate strong, self-sufficient women who are armed with the knowledge and capability they need to chart their own courses in the world. It’s not about hiding from men or training for four years to compete with them as if the “real world” were some kind of Olympic event; it’s about providing a strong sense of community in which women can grow.

Smith College, a Northampton, Mass., school, was established at a time in American history when women had few choices in the world besides being a wife and mother. Times have changed regarding opportunities for women, yet Smith has remained steadfast in her quest for granting women a top-notch education.

Kathleen Peets, a Smith alumna who is now associate director of graduate admission at Emerson College in Boston, Mass., recalls that she made her first visit to the campus at the recommendation of a friend. She fell in love with the “warm feeling of acceptance and empowerment” that she felt seemed to envelop the buildings and grounds of Smith. The community of students and faculty are what got her to enroll after her acceptance, and they are what get her to return to Smith year after year for alumnae events.

Regarding the women-only community, Peets claims that women are “celebrated at Smith for all kinds of reasons,” referring not only to the academic and professional lives of the “Smithies,” but also their “personal stories and characteristics” that make a degree from a women’s college so cherished.

Comfort is a big draw for women to study at all-women’s colleges. Because of the narrower community focus, these schools virtually assure a high interest in learning and growing in preparation for the greater world.

Margaret Hoyt, a graduate of Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Penn., describes her classmates as “all interested in learning, exploring and making valuable contributions to the world around us.”

For those who might still be envisioning all women’s schools as some sort of exclusive sorority, think again. Of course, if it’s a small community that your student would like to get involved in, it’s true that you can look anywhere on campus and find someone with similar interests. But more often than not, there are other campuses not too far away that offer additional opportunities to be social and to expand her circle of friends. And yes, there are men on those campuses!

While stereotypes may exist regarding the idea of women’s educa-tion, there is nothing stereotypical about the graduates. Over the decades, women’s colleges and universities have helped produce some of the finest professional women this world has seen, from New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (Wellesley College) to the late Oscar-winning actress Katharine Hepburn (Bryn Mawr College). From politics to business to the arts, women’s colleges have made their mark in the world, and each year they invite bright young women who are eager to follow in the footsteps of the women who have come before them.

No matter what field your teen chooses to study, and whether or not she wishes to juggle that career with a family, a women’s college or university might be a good fit for her.

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