Sarah Lawrence College Admission
Sarah Lawrence College Undergraduate Program
Sarah Lawrence College Application

The Facts

Sarah Lawrence College (Sadie Lou for short) is a small private college located in the town of Bronxville, New York, that is primarily female, but does have a fair number of attending males. The school is home to approximately 1,138 undergraduate students and about 314 graduate and part-time students. The college is quite non-traditional in its academic structure; students aren’t actually required to declare a major, and students are encouraged to create their own majors and programs of study. Each class requires students to engage in a series of independent projects, from hefty research papers to creative endeavors. All students are assigned a “don” or a faculty advisor who helps them through their time at Sadie Lou, guiding their decisions and helping them to decide the best academic route to take. All students are, however, required to take classes in certain areas including humanities, creative and performing arts, social sciences, natural sciences, and mathematics.

Admission to Sadie Lou isn’t quite as competitive as one might initially imagine, however, the applicant pool tends to be quite academically accomplished. Last year, approximately 3,000 students applied for admission and about 1,100 of those were accepted.

Eventually however, only 322 of those admitted actually enrolled for the coming Fall semester. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1140 to 1340, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 24 to 29. Furthermore, over 77% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of 3.67.

Sarah Lawrence is perhaps best known for it miniscule classes; Sadie Lou has an incredible student to faculty ratio of just 6:1. It is rare to find a class at the school larger than 15 students, and the students love the laid-back classroom atmosphere. In fact, there isn’t really an emphasis on the importance of grades; they do exist, but students are much more concerned with the detailed written evaluations given to them by their professors at the end of a semester.

The Social Scene

The town of Bronxville doesn’t offer students much in the way of entertainment; there are a few bars within walking distance that cater to Sadie Lou students, but not much else. Fortunately, New York City is only a 30 minute train ride away, and most students head into the city on the weekends to absorb the huge amount of activities it has to offer.

The school is extremely diverse, and has a huge and active gay community, which throws some fantastic drag shows and fundraisers throughout the year. There are definitely no fraternities and sororities at Sadie Lou, but students could care less. Student organizations are always having social activities like poetry readings and art showings throughout the year, and students are pretty deft when it comes to throwing their own raucous dorm parties.

The dating scene is particularly good if you are a guy; hey, the majority of this school is women by a long shot, so you probably have a pretty good chance at getting lucky!

What's Good

“I love the small classes; they let you feel like you are just chatting with some intelligent friends rather than attending class.”

“The dorms are great and the administration takes great care to make sure you are placed in the dorm right for you.”

“The teachers are awesome and spend most of their time helping students along.”

What's Bad

“People are really pretentious here, and everyone thinks their opinion is the only way to go.”

“Bronxville sucks; it’s really wealthy and stuffy, so you have to go to NYC to get any ounce of relief.”

“There are literally no sports here. It’s annoying not to have any school spirit.”

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