Considering All Women’s Colleges

One uphill battle I have been fighting for a while (rather unsuccessfully, to be honest) is to convince high-achieving young women to apply to all women's colleges. Specifically, Wellesley, Smith, Scripps (among others). You would be surprised at just how few high school girls even consider these colleges. The reasons, as you expect, are due to the same-sex component; these students have been to coed schools their entire lives, and want (understandably) to go to a coed university. They also feel that they will have a rather strange existence as a college student without that coed component.

These are valid reasons, and an all women's college is not for everyone. But consider that these schools typically have acceptance rates exceeding 30% whereas were these schools coed I would guess the acceptance rate would be in the teens. They caliber of academics at Wellesley, for example, is on an Ivy League-level. Moreover, having known and worked with many Wellesely and Smith graduates, I have never heard one graduate regret the decision and they certainly didn't feel they had a bizarre experience compared to their friends who went to coed institutions.

Check these schools out and at least think of them with an open mind. You may be happy with what you find.