Bryn Mawr College Admission
Bryn Mawr College Undergraduate Program
Bryn Mawr College Application

The Facts

Bryn Mawr College is a rather small, private, all-female college located in the lovely town of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The college is home to approximately 1,282 undergraduate students and about 450 graduate students, and its prestige has been steadily growing since its founding in 1885. Bryn Mawr is perhaps best known for its amazing placement rates in grad schools; it is ranked #1 in the nation for students going on to earn Ph.D.s in the humanities. The school is extremely academically focused, and students tend to be very intellectual and curious. There are many excellent academic programs, most notably in the sciences and mathematics, and the college offers a large range of majors. However, some of the most popular with students include majors in the areas of English, political science, biology, mathematics, anthropology, and economics.

Admission to Bryn Mawr is not terrifically competitive number wise, however, the applicant pool tends to be quite accomplished and academically successful in the past. Last year, over 2,000 students applied for admission and about 900 were accepted; of those, about 350 students enrolled for the coming Fall semester. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1200 to an impressive 1400, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 28 to 33. Additionally, over 92% of those admitted were ranked in the top 10% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.78.

Bryn Mawr has a terrific student to faculty ratio of about 8:1, and the college is perhaps best known for the teacher's unyielding commitment to their students. Many professors are at the college full-time, and are often retired from their respective fields, so all their attention is focused on teaching. It is not uncommon for teachers to hand out their home phone numbers so they are reachable at all times to assist their students with any concerns or questions.

The Social Scene

The town of Bryn Mawr is quite wealthy, and isn't particularly friendly toward college students, however, the vibrant and diverse city of Philadelphia is only a short train ride away for those students who crave a bit of urban excitement on the weekends. Students aren't allowed to have cars at the college, but bicycles and walking are the favored mode of transportation anyway. The campus is beautiful, dotted with trees and green spaces, and has the classic gothic architecture characteristic of many east coast schools.

Bryn Mawr is definitely not known as a party school, as students are usually too focused on their studies to let loose on the weekends too much. There are, however, many student clubs and organizations in which the majority of students are active. There are no Greek organizations at the school, but students aren't really into that sort of thing anyway.

The dating scene is fantastic, if you're a girl into other girls...

What’s Good

“There is a great hunger for knowledge here. It makes it quite easy to be passionate about what you're doing.”

“People here are really friendly, and the students are really really diverse, even though we're all girls. It's quite easy to make friends here.”

“The professors are amazingly easy to get in contact with. It makes difficult classes quite a bit more manageable.”

What’s Bad

“Being around girls 24-7 can get pretty old after awhile. Cat fights tend to be frequent.”

“There are no athletics here, really, and it's definitely not your typical college experience.”

“People are always too busy to have any fun. I haven't been to a single party here.”

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