“Get Thee to a Nunnery . . .”: My Experience at a Women’s College

On the College Goals blog is a blog post written by Sydney Penny, Mount Holyoke ’12, and I encourage you to read it in its entirety.

Highlights from Sydney’s blog post include:

“My college search, no doubt, resembled that of many of you reading this. A couple “safeties”, a “reach”, and the ones where I had a fighting chance. Good schools, with attractive campuses, dependable financial aid, etc.

Fast-forward a few months, and I’d been waitlisted at Georgetown, Dartmouth and Brown and accepted to three of my eight schools . . . all of them women’s colleges. All of them wonderful places, but I had applied in spite of the gender specifications. Going past the obvious problems it could pose for dating, I had always enjoyed close friendships with boys and my brother, so four years in such a decidedly female environment was not something I was very excited about. Thankfully, the past few years have changed my mind.”

. . . “As far as I’ve been able to make out, the goal of every women’s college is to give you the self confidence and spine to succeed, and if they can provide a rugby team or lab facilities or an excellent library along the way, that’s even better.”

Read more here.

First Semester College Reflections

Here's a link to my most recent HuffPost blog post, First Semester College Reflections  and this is how the blog post begins: For this blog post, I thought it would be fun to re-visit with first-year students to see how their first semester at college went. Last fall I asked several high school girls why they decided to attend a women's college and shared their reasons in my blog post "Why I Chose a Women's College." During the holiday break I contacted the same students, Jenni Miller, Allison Chi-Tsen Wu, Jocelyn Mosman, and Briana McCall. What follows are their first-semester reflections as well as accompanying college videos.

I think you'll really love their first-semester stories as well as the videos I included, so check out the entire blog post here. 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

YEA!! You're In! Getting Accepted to a Women's College

Here's cute, short video about being accepted into a women's college, Bryn Mawr College.

College Motto Quiz:“Educating women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times.”

Who knows which women's college has this motto?

“Educating women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times.”

Wordless Weekends

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Women's College Tradition: Rally Day—A Tradition Since 1876

Rally Day—A Tradition Since 1876

Video: Barnard College: The Early Years (1889-1929)

"Historical montage of photographs and film footage taken during the first 40 years of Barnard College."-  By Rebecca Kennison

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Women's College Student, Julia Leitermann '15, Gives Us a Tour of Her Dorm Room

Honoring Martin Luther King Jr

To honor Martin Luther King Jr. this women's college, Ursuline College, is hosting Dr. Julianne Malveaux.

Blog Post Highlights:

"Malveaux is an African-American economist, author, social and political commentator and businesswoman. She earned a Ph.D. in economics from MIT and is recognized for her progressive and insightful public dialogue on issues of race, culture, and gender. Malveaux was the fifteenth president of Bennett College, Greensboro, NC, the oldest historically black college for women in the Unites States. She served in that position for five years before stepping down May 6, 2012.Malveaux’s scholarship includes numerous editor, co-editor, author and co-author credits.” -- Continue reading here.

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Future Entrepreneurs Attend Women’s Colleges . . . Meet One, Charlene Wang

Learn about Charlene Wang from the Web site of her Alma Mater, Wellesley College in the blog post, "Charlene Wang '03 Started Tranquil Tuesdays to Showcase China's Finest Teas and Empower Women."

Blog Post Highlights:
 
"When she first came to Wellesley from Fountain Valley, Calif., Wang became interested in global women’s issues, and took classes on the subject across disciplines from anthropology to economics. In an economics course on women, class, and gender, “Julie Matthei also opened up a whole new perspective of thinking in terms of defining and redefining value and work within the business context,” said Wang, and “I think about the concepts from Professor Roxanne Euben's Feminist Political Theory regularly in my work now.” As a student, she also maintained her childhood passion for good tea: Wang describes on the Tranquil Tuesday website how she procrastinated on final exams by shopping for loose-leaf tea samples online.

Wang joined the U.S. Foreign Service after graduation and worked in the American embassies in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Beijing, China, and served for a time with the United Nations Security Council. Her work brought her into regular contact with women’s rights activists, an experience Wang cherished after her time at Wellesley. Wang was particularly inspired by the dynamic, efficient nature of the social enterprise movement. “Instead of the nonprofit or NGO model of applying for funding,” she explained, “a social enterprise generates its own funds to address social issues through the products and services sold commercially, which we then use to reinvest in the women we are working with.”"

Read more here.

Learn more about Wellesley College.

A Top Player in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Attends a Women’s College

Meet LaShay Holt '17 from St. Catherine University!

LaShay Holt  is the college’s Wildcat Athlete of the week. “In her first week as a starter, LaShay had a career performance that has put her among the top players in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). Great work LaShay! Go Wildcats!”

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

GPA, SAT, and ACT Data for Top Women's Colleges

"GPA, SAT and ACT Data for Top Women's Colleges" is written by Allen Grove from About.com and posted on January 9, 2014. Allen provides information about which students were accepted, rejected, and waitlisted for these women's colleges: Agnes Scott College, Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Mills College, Mount Holyoke College, Scripps College, Simmons College, Smith College, Spelman College, Stephens College, Sweet Briar College, and Wellesley College.

Gangnam Style for Her

Fun college student video to get your week started plus it's the BEST Gangnam Style video I have ever seen (so NOT surprised it was created by a group of students from a women's college: Smith College).   . . . “Korean American Students at Smith (KASS) presents... KASS Style: KASS Style - Smith College Gangnam Style Parody.”

Wordless Weekends

 

Wordless Weekends (About)
(Simply an Amazing story about a women's college graduate, read all about her life by clicking "About." And "sorry" for so many words!)

Wordless Weekends

Wordless Weekends

Benefits of Women's Colleges

In this blog post, Benefits of Women's Colleges, Dr. Aleathea Wiggins identifies the following benefits of attending a women's college:
•    Greater Success
•    Higher Self-Esteem
•    Expanded Career Fields
•    Leadership Skills

Free College Guide for Her

Here’s a great resource for college-bound high school girls when researching colleges to attend, “Why a Women's College?” This 28-page free guide is written by two College Counselors from Collegewise, Casey Near and Sara Kratzok. They both graduated from women’s colleges;Casey is a graduate of Scripps College while Sarah is a graduate of Wellesley College.

Feel free to download it here and enjoy! I'm sure you'll find the guide helpful and insightful.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday (Sort of)

Happy Birthday to one of the pre-eminent writers of twentieth-century African-American literature: Zora Neale Hurston

Happy Birthday Zora Neale Hurston Class of 1928 – Barnard College.

“Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance” as referenced on Wikipedia.

To learn more about this remarkable women watch the Video or visit her Web site.

What Can I Do With This Major?

While researching online this weekend, I came across an excellent resource from the Career Planning Department at Agnes Scott College. It answers the question, "What can I do with this major?" 

The College’s Motto is: “Educating women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times.” as referenced on Wikipedia.

To learn more about Agnes Scott College watch the video or visit the college's Web site.

Wordless Weekends

Wordless Weekends

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19th Century Christmas Traditions in Women’s Colleges

Even though Christmas has passed, here's a blog post I really enjoyed and know you will as well: "19th century Christmas traditions in women’s colleges" written by K.B. Owen.

Quote: More Than a College Diploma

“The opportunity to attend a women’s college is a gift and graduates receive much more than a diploma.  They graduate with a decoder ring and a cape (sorry, Double Star, the superhero kind).  They graduate with a secret reserve of Wonder Woman-like strength and the uncanny ability to solve problems.” - Rebekah Schulz, Bryn Mawr College Class of 2006

Happy New Year!