Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Spotlight on Women's Colleges

There are Many Advantages to Attending A Women's College That are Sometimes Overlooked

I came across an insightful blog post on IvyWise’s blog. In a nutshell, the post reviews the advantages that are overlooked when considering a women’s college.

Blog Post Highlights


“While a coeducational setting may seem more intriguing, there are many benefits to attending a single-sex college. Studies show that alumnae of women’s colleges are more confident in expressing their ideas both in and out of class, earn better salaries and hold higher leadership positions in their careers. They are also more likely to major in and graduate with degrees in traditionally male disciplines such as economics, science, or mathematics, and are generally happier with their college experiences than students who attend coeducational schools.


“….Although women’s colleges may seem a relic from bygone days, the sense of community and support that characterizes these institutions has produced confident, well-prepared graduates.  . . . So if you're looking for a close-knit environment with a history of empowered and successful women, look into some women's colleges; you just might find your best-fit!”

Posted on January 11, 2013, click here to read the entire post.

IvyWise guides students and families seeking admission to Pre-K, K-12, college and graduate schools and programs.

Monday, April 29, 2013

The Women's College Advantage


I hope you enjoyed these videos and that they inspire you to investigate attending a women's college.The colleges mentioned include, Agnes Scott College, located in Decatur, GA and Bryn Mawr College, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. To learn more about these colleges, simply click on the college name.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Women’s Colleges and the International Student

If you are an international student thinking about attending college in the United States, I encourage you to read Sarah Tulimat’s article, “Why Women’s Colleges?

From Sarah's article:

"After over three years in the United States, the most common question I get from people: How did you learn about Mount Holyoke College? Did you know it was a women’s college and how did you feel about that?

I almost always answer with a big laugh. I learned about Mount Holyoke College by coincidence through reading a blog post of an MIT admission officer. The admission officer was talking about a conference he attended regarding colleges that support international students well, both financially and educationally. Matt, the MIT admission officer, suggested that many international students overlook small good liberal arts schools. Most likely because they only hear of big names such as Harvard, MIT, Yale, etc. However, there are many other schools that provide similar educational quality but are not known to the international students’ community.

In that post, Matt provided a list of great liberal arts schools that offer financial aid for international students, especially since he knows that financial aid is a determining factor for choosing schools for us. Mount Holyoke, a small research liberal arts school was on top of Matt’s list. From his post, I visited Mount Holyoke’s webpage, browsed through its pages researching admission requirements and students life on campus. The beautiful campus pictures caught my attention, and I quickly started thinking to myself: I like this college; I think I want to apply. Mount Holyoke, however, was much more unique than many other schools I have looked at. It is a women’s college.

In the beginning, I was slightly uncomfortable with the idea. Why would a college in the United States accept only women? I mean, I grow up in Syria... and even in Syria we did not have universities for women only. Most of us who attend the public school system have to attend girl’s schools or boy’s schools. However, our expectation for college completely differs. From that perspective, I disliked the idea that this school I have just discovered and liked is for women only. The only connection I made with single sex education was a conservative and a protective environment. And I did not want anything like that for my college education. I wanted to go to the United States to experience a diverse set of views and ideas, in a much more open atmosphere than that available at home. Well, it turned out, Mount Holyoke, and other famous women’s colleges had nothing to do with conservative and closed minded ideals."


To read the rest of Miss Tulimat’s article, click here.
 

Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, MA, click here to learn more about the college.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

The Advantages of Women Attending Single-Sex Universities

I enjoyed reading Riley McEvoy’s article “The advantages of women attending single-sex universities” and wanted to share it with you.

From the article:

"Some women might be horrified by the prospect of attending a single-sex university, but there are actually quite a few benefits that come from doing so. A pro/con list would show that the benefits of studying at a single-sex university far outweigh potential "cons" like a slightly increased difficulty in finding a heterosexual partner as a student or a lost opportunity to interact with men on an adult intellectual level prior to entering the workplace.

One such benefit? Women at single-sex universities get far more leadership opportunities than women at co-ed universities do. They don't have to compete with men in any of their extracurricular activities. They will be given executive positions in student-led clubs and societies and in student governments without having to deal with sexist assumptions that men are inherently better leaders."


Riely’s article was published on August 20, 2012. To read the entire article, click here.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Myths and Facts About an All Women's College

I enjoyed Keri’s article, “Why Choose a Women's College” and hope you do as well.

From the article:

"Oddly enough, many of the benefits that women gain by being in a single-sex school also seem to be gained by men when they are educated alone--especially in their younger years. There is a new trend, even among public schools, to separate boys and girls in classes, and the initial findings are that both do better academically. But because both are kept in the same school building, and they have the same teachers (albeit at different times of the day or week), neither sex gets slighted or short-changed, as might happen in two different schools, where one gets better teachers or better funding and the other is left to languish."

Keri Peardon, a 2001 graduate of Hollins University, located in Roanoke, VA received her B.A. in History. Hollins University is a women’s college with a 475-acre campus. See what others are saying about Hollins University by clicking here.

To read the entire article, click here.

To learn more about Keri Peardon, click here or here.

Monday, April 22, 2013

A Transformative Educational Experience - Wellesley College

Spotlight: Wellesley College

A Transformative Educational Experience




For this Spotlight Post, I wanted to incorporate more videos than text when describing the college  . . . I hope you have enjoyed these videos about Wellesley College.

Wellesley College, located west of Boston, is a private women's liberal-arts college located in Wellesley, MA. With a student-body of approximately 2,300 students, the college has 56 departmental and interdepartmental majors (including STEM programs) with the average class size of 17 to 20 students.  In an earlier post, I wrote about Wellesley ‘s exceptional Astronomy Program, click here to read the post. 


Wellesley's motto, "Not to be ministered unto but to minister," (To provide an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world) is what Wellesley College is all about. As you can see in the above videos, Wellesley women enjoy both serious studies and serious fun!

From the Wellesley’s Web site:


"We are committed to being a scholarly beacon of light for women around the world who want to make a difference. Wellesley’s devotion to academic distinction pervades the campus.


You can see it in the caliber of our faculty. Wellesley professors are outstanding scholars whose love of teaching illuminates a classroom. Faculty members respect students for their intellect, their attention to scholarship, and what they can bring to the classroom experience.


You can see it in the breadth and depth of academic programs, research opportunities, international study, and internship experiences—where an interdisciplinary emphasis encourages broader learning and more creative insight into problems, allowing a student to deepen her understanding of the world and of herself.


You can see it visible on our campus. Look around.... You'll find state-of-the-art labs, studios, instructional technology, athletic facilities, and a nationally-known museum. The campus embodies the hopes and aspirations of generations of pioneering women scholars who built and maintained a physical space that would instruct and inspire them in their work. Its varied landscapes reflect the diversity of thought and approach that is central to the Wellesley experience.


For more than 135 years, women have come here to teach, to learn, to discover, and to grow. If you join us, you become part of our shared enterprise that extends far beyond the campus and the times in which we live."

 
The Wellesley College Campus (From the Wellesley College's Web site)

"Wellesley College, outside of Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the most beautiful campuses in North America.

Wellesley's 500 acres include a private lake, a golf club, groves of conifers and hardwoods, and winding paths through open meadows. Stunning brick and stone buildings rise from wooded hills. From almost every window on campus, the view opens out to an inviting vista—through pine trees to the shores of Lake Waban, down sweeping lawns to century-old oaks with magnificent gnarled branches.

The landscape has always been central to the identity of Wellesley College and to the experience of its students. Henry Fowle Durant, who founded the college in 1870 (it opened in 1875), believed that young women should be educated in the midst of beauty. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. described Wellesley's landscape in 1902 as "not merely beautiful, but with a marked individual character not represented so far as I know on the ground of any other college in the country." Glacial topography, he believed, gave the campus "its peculiar kind of intricate beauty.""


Click here to learn more about Wellesley College.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Is Astronomy in Your Stars?


If so you will enjoy watching this short video of Laurence Toal '14 at Wellesley College. Laurence is a night and day assistant at the Whitin Observatory. In this video she discusses her job as a student assistant in the Astronomy Department, what she enjoys about Whitin Observatory, as well as her favorite telescope: the Fitz/Clark 12-in Refractor built in 1852.


*********  Watch Laurence Toal's video by clicking here.  


Is Wellesley a competitive college, YES!!!!, but along with the serious studies come serious FUN as you will see on this video.



Wellesley College, located west of Boston, is a private women's liberal-arts college located in Wellesley, MA.

From the Wellesley’s Web site:

"We are committed to being a scholarly beacon of light for women around the world who want to make a difference. Wellesley’s devotion to academic distinction pervades the campus.

You can see it in the caliber of our faculty. Wellesley professors are outstanding scholars whose love of teaching illuminates a classroom. Faculty members respect students for their intellect, their attention to scholarship, and what they can bring to the classroom experience.


You can see it in the breadth and depth of academic programs, research opportunities, international study, and internship experiences—where an interdisciplinary emphasis encourages broader learning and more creative insight into problems, allowing a student to deepen her understanding of the world and of herself.


You can see it visible on our campus. Look around.... You'll find state-of-the-art labs, studios, instructional technology, athletic facilities, and a nationally-known museum. The campus embodies the hopes and aspirations of generations of pioneering women scholars who built and maintained a physical space that would instruct and inspire them in their work. Its varied landscapes reflect the diversity of thought and approach that is central to the Wellesley experience.


For more than 135 years, women have come here to teach, to learn, to discover, and to grow. If you join us, you become part of our shared enterprise that extends far beyond the campus and the times in which we live."

 
Click here to learn more about Wellesley College.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

A Day in the Life at a Women's College


Spend a day with Kendal, a student at Wesleyan College via this video.

Founded in 1836, Wesleyan College is located on a 200-acre wooded campus in Macon Georgia, and is the first women’s college in the world. To learn more about Wesleyan, click here.


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Advantages of a Women’s College

The following information is from the Web site of Columbia College.
  • Students attending women's colleges are generally more engaged and report higher levels of academic challenge than women at coed institutions.
  • Women's college students score higher on active and collaborative learning and student-faculty interaction.
  • Women's colleges create a climate where students are regularly encouraged to realize their potential.
  • Women's college advantages include more female mentors and role models and greater opportunities for leadership roles.
  • Students at women's colleges interact more frequently with faculty both in and outside the classroom.
  • Women at single-gender institutions assume leadership roles on campus and take charge in classroom discussions.
  • Single gender learning environments foster leadership skills that support greater career and personal success later in life.
  • Students at women's colleges report greater gains in self-understanding, including independent learning and collaboration skills.

Located in Columbia, South Carolina, Columbia College is a four-year liberal arts women’s college founded in 1854. The Columbia College experience is known for their women’s leadership development and includes: the 4C’s: Courage, Commitment, Confidence, and Competence.

To learn more about Columbia College, click here.

To learn more about their 4Cs of Leadership Development, click here.

For an overview of Columbia College's programs, click here.

Below is a video created by a Columbia College student.



Friday, April 12, 2013

STEM at Meredith College

STEM at Meredith College

Here's a video about the STEM programs available at Meredith College. I hope you find this video insightful.

Meredith College, located in Raleigh, NC was chartered in 1891. Today Meredith is one of the largest independent private women’s colleges in the United States. To learn more about Meredith College, click here.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Wellesley College Reports Most Selective Admission Rate in More Than 30 Years

Think women’s colleges are for young women who can’t get accepted into a coed college, think again!

Posted on Wellesley College’s Web site is the following announcement, “Wellesley College Reports Most Selective Admission Rate in More Than 30 Years.


Below are the announcement highlights:


Wellesley College received a record number of applications for the Class of 2017. The leading liberal arts institution received 4,794 applications and admitted just 28 percent, for the College’s most selective admittance rate in more than 30 years."

"In a year of record-setting numbers, Wellesley also saw the largest Early Decision pool to date. Approximately 22 percent of students expected to enroll in the Class of 2017 will have come through the Early Decision admission plan.”


About Wellesley College
"Since 1875, Wellesley College has been the preeminent liberal arts college for women. Known for its intellectual rigor and its remarkable track record for the cultivation of women leaders in every arena, Wellesley—only 12 miles from Boston—is home to some 2,300 undergraduates from every state and 75 countries.”


To read the entire announcement, click here.

To learn more about Wellesley College, click here.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The STEM of Any Flower: An Undergraduate Foundation

If you’re thinking about a STEM career, I encourage you to read Lauren Bertin’s article, “The STEM of Any Flower: An Undergraduate Foundation” published on September 12, 2012.

Article Highlights Include


"Recent literature suggests that attending a single-sex college offers distinct benefits for women when compared to attending a co-ed institution, especially for those interested in STEM. Women in single-sex institutions are not only more likely to earn STEM baccalaureate degrees, but also more likely to continue on to obtain doctorates, according to research by the Women’s College Coalition. 


Anastasia Hyrina graduated last May from Mount Holyoke, an all-women’s college, and is going on to pursue a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia. She explains that attending a single-sex school “felt like home - very friendly and very supportive. I had many great women, who were my role models.” 


In 2010, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) released a report addressing why the STEM education system after high school seems to be failing women. The document stressed that women’s underrepresentation in STEM is largely the result of gendered norms and the learning environment."


To read the entire article, click here.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Same Sex Education?- Bring It!

Mary Anne Tuggle Payne, a 1982 graduate of Salem College writes about her experience at a women’s college via her blog; Forever-51. To read Mary Ann’s blog post, click here.

Salem College, founded in 1772 is liberal arts women's college and is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Blog Post Highlights:


"Today, most high school girls will never know the intimacy a small college, especially a woman’s college, can bring to a college education and to competing in the working world.  No glass ceilings exist in these environments. What do you want to be? Let’s make that happen!  The pressure of men in the classroom is non-existent.  Raise your hand, ask a question, be SMART and don’t be judged.  Speak up and become a leader.  I loved the small discussions we had with our professors over coffee (and cigarettes-we were, of course, in Winston-Salem, home of RJ Reynolds…) Develop a unique outlook on life and an appreciation for the education that is being given to you.  Appreciate the history of the environment you are learning in.


Most of today’s teenage girls turn up their noses at the thought of attending a same-sex college. Mainly because they are being educated in huge factory-like public schools where the only way you can break out of the crowd early and achieve popularity is to have a boyfriend, exist in a clique, color your hair, wear designer clothing…or draw unwanted negative attention to yourself–piercings, tattoos, partying…
"


To learn more about Salem College, click here.

Friday, April 5, 2013

What is it Like To Go To a Women's College?

Cassie Kosarek, a 2012 graduate of Bryn Mawr College, writes about what it’s like to attend a women’s college. This article was published on March 07, 2013.

From the article:

I never found the social environment at my women’s college to be stunted in any way. Instead, I happily found myself surrounded by other motivated women who were unwilling to compromise their goals because of detrimental social stereotypes or expectations. I’ve found graduates of women’s colleges to be part of a unique, empowered club dedicated to social change and equality, forever striving to improve upon the academic, professional, and social advancements of past graduates. I credit the attitude instilled by my women’s college, which champions ability over self-doubt, with my postgraduate willingness to take risks, to point out injustices, and to view the world through a thoughtful, critical lens. Attending Bryn Mawr was my choice, and being a women’s college alumna is a privilege.

To read the entire article, click here.
To learn more about Bryn Mawr College, click here.
To read Cassie’s comments about her experience at Bryn Mawr College, click here.


Thursday, April 4, 2013

Facts About Single-Sex Education

Today, I’m sharing information with you from Cottey College’s Web site. Located in Nevada, Missouri Cottey College is an independent, liberal arts and sciences college for women with two-year and selected four-year programs. To learn more about Cottey College, click here.
 

The Power of an All Women's Education
 
If you want to be in an environment where you feel:


•    more powerful,
•    confident in yourself,
•    inspired to get involved,
•    part of a close community
 

then a women's college, like Cottey College, is a great choice. Consider the following facts and your decision should be obvious:

•    Graduates of women's colleges are more than twice as likely as graduates of coeducation colleges to receive doctorate degrees.


•    Nearly half the graduates of women's colleges have earned advanced degrees and 81% have continued their education beyond college.


•    Graduates of women's colleges are more successful in careers; they tend to hold higher positions, are happier and earn more money.

 

Below is additional information about Cottey College from their Web site. To learn more about Cottey College, click here

Education a Woman's Way
 
Cottey College is an independent, liberal arts and sciences women's college in Nevada, Missouri. For more than 126 years, the college has offered young women the opportunity to learn and grow into leaders, role models, and confident individuals.


Today, Cottey's unique combination of women's-only education, high academic standards, focus on leadership development, commitment to an international experience for every student, and a motivated, high-energy community is at the heart of its success. The proof is in the numbers. More than 95 percent of our associate degree graduates go directly to four-year institutions, many among the best in the country. With the addition of selected four-year degree programs, Cottey women can now take advantage of the unique benefits of this institution for their entire undergraduate program. Our alumnae go on to dynamic careers in business, entertainment, marketing, education, sports, communications, and many others. Most importantly, they continue their special connection with the College and each other throughout the course of their lives and careers.


To learn more about Cottey College, click here.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Notre Dame of Maryland University Continues to Grow

In this question and answer article, “President wants NDMU mission to grow,” written by By Paul McMullen, Dr. James F. Conneely, the new President at Notre Dame of Maryland University answers various questions. Article highlights include the following:

Q. This is a pivotal moment in the global push for women’s rights. How important is it that the School Sisters have a track record there?
A. It reaffirms that a women’s college is still relevant. The experiences our students have are empowering. They realize they can make a difference, not just here on campus, but by being a leader, an advocate, for those issues globally.

Q. What is it like to be at a college where students are known by their name, and not their student ID number?
A. That is the reason I came here. One of the reasons I went back to a small private institution, you are able to make an impact in a larger way. I think the students appreciate that. I think they like the fact that they can get to know me. I see them, maybe sometimes when they don’t want me to.

Q. How do you adjust to being leader of all-female college?
A. It would have been very easy for the senior class to blow me off. They were here with Dr. (Mary Pat) Seurkamp and had a lot of love for her, but the senior class has embraced me. They’ve invited me to their functions, it’s like we were together since their freshman year. Growing up with sisters and having two teenaged daughters, I think I had a fairly good understanding of the female psyche.


To read the entire article, click here.
To learn more about Notre Dame of Maryland University, click here.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Think You Could Never Go to a Women's College? Think Again.

Advantages of a women's college by Salem College. Click here to read the many advantages.

Salem College is a women's college located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.Click here to learn more about Salem College.