Why I Chose a Women's College

I'm now blogging over at The Huffington Post and wanted to share with you my first blog post, "Why I Chose a Women's College." In this blog post, I connected with several first-year students to understand why they decided to attend a women's college.

Highlights:

"Even though women's colleges provide an amazing environment where young women thrive, these colleges are often overlooked for one of two reasons. Sometimes, college-bound high school girls don't realize that a single-sex college option exists; and when they do, many buy into the various myths about women's colleges that ensure these colleges remain on their "do-not-consider list."

Although a women's college is not for everyone, I simply can't accept the myth that women's colleges are no longer relevant or that young girls are not interested in attending one. Having graduated from a women's college many years ago, I thought I might be out of touch with today's high school girls, so I decided to contact incoming college students to see why they decided to attend one. Their response was overwhelming. And my hunch is correct. Teenage girls are passionate, excited, and thrilled about choosing a women's college for their higher education."

 Consider Jenni Miller. She selected Stephens College, and here is why she chose a women's college:

    "I learned about my college, Stephens, before I really looked into women's colleges. I knew they existed but never thought about going to one. When I began considering them, I was more worried what my classmates would say about me choosing an "all girls school" than I was actually attending one. It was when I started looking into what Stephens offered that I realized I wouldn't be attending an all girls school but a women's college. Where I'm going, women are strong and opinionated, and that's okay."

    "On the first visit I could already feel the support being given. The students at a women's college don't care about what you're wearing or what state you're from; they care about who you are as a person and intellectual. I've never felt judged while walking around campus, and I've never had to worry that I won't fit in. My friends like to joke that I'll never see boys and that I'll become a crazy feminist, but I'm not worried about any of that. Education is something I value, and I know that by choosing a women's college I won't be pushed to the back burner for leadership opportunities and that when I graduate I will be standing alongside some of the strongest and most driven women in the country. The bottom line is that I wanted an institution that would give me the chance to focus on my education and future career, and Stephens does just that."

Read the entire blog post to see why additional first-year students are attending women's colleges.