Bryn Mawr: is a women's college, with about 1300 students, about 10 miles outside of Philadelphia. It is also part of the seven sisters, which make up seven Northeast, all-women institutions. There are no teaching or graduate assistants, so classes, which are 12-14 people, are all taught by Professors. They have over 500 research projects each year, and 73% of their student body studies abroad! Math, Biology, Psychology, Sociology, and English are their most popular majors, and they do have a fly-in program for students who are interested. The application opens up the Summer after your Junior year, and the program is held in October. In their admissions process, they do have 2 early decision (binding) deadlines of 11/15 or 1/1, and they also have regular decision as well. About 40% of their freshman class is admitted through their early decision applications. They do consider if you are a direct legacy (mom, grandmom) to Bryn Mawr as part of their application process, and they are committed to trying to make it as affordable as they can, with merit-based aid opportunities for students. One of the cool traditions the representative spoke about is each class gets a color; there are 4 (dark blue, light blue, red, and green) and they rotate. So, when speaking with a Bryn Mawr alum, they may identify by what color their class was, instead of the year they graduated.
Haverford: has about 1300 undergraduate co-ed students, with no graduate school, so the focus is experiential and interdisciplinary. The emphasis is on the student's voice, and how they take ownership of the community they are living within. They offer funded research opportunities, have 3 academic centers to help students in their success, and have an honor code that the students live by. They have over 145 clubs! Academically, their newest class was 357 students, with 97% of those graduating in the top 10% of their class, with a mid-50% range of a 32-35 ACT composite, and a 690-760 (reading) and 700-790 (math) SAT score. This class also is made up of 47% of students of color, which demonstrates their commitment to diversity. In their admissions process, they have two early decision (binding) deadlines of 11/15 and 1/1, as well as a regular decision deadline of 1/15. They are on both Common and Coalition application.
Swarthmore: is a private, co-ed college, with almost 1,650 students on 425 acres 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia. Students either receive a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelors of Science in Engineering, depending on their major. The first semester at Swarthmore is all pass/fail to give freshman time to acclimate to the college environment. They don't select an academic major until the end of their Sophomore year. They also approach their Honors program differently, with the option of opting into it after major is chosen. The Honors Track is depth vs. the course major track is the breadth of the major. If an Honors student, they are tested on the knowledge at the end of their Bachelor's degree. Students at Swarthmore have success at going to the next level of graduate and professional programs, with the top choice being Harvard, followed by UPenn, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT to name the top 6. Since the focus is on intellectual curiosity, Swarthmore students have many opportunities to explore, research, and study in a variety of ways. In their admissions process, Swarthmore has two early decision deadlines (11/15, 1/1) and one regular decision deadline (1/15). They admit 20% of their class from early decision applicant pools, and this newest class was 22% first generation! For need-based students, they provide 100% financial aid, and it's a cash-free campus for students, with all activities and sporting events included.
U Penn: is a mid-size research institution, with 10,000 undergraduates, and 10,000 graduate students. It has four colleges: Arts and Sciences, Business (The Wharton School), Engineering, and Nursing. There are 91 majors for undergraduates within those schools, which students are admitted to from the beginning, and the student to faculty ratio is 6:1. They have a new Perleman center for Political Science and Economics, and are committed to first generation and low-income students, creating a new FGLI center with special programming to assist those students adjust to college life. For their admissions process, they have an early decision deadline of 11/1 and a regular decision deadline of 1/5. They have 50% of their class from the early decision pile, and defer a very small number of students from that group as well. There is no merit-based financial aid, but have a need-blind process and have over $237 million dollars that is devoted this year to financial aid, so they try to find solutions for your needs. If you are interested in learning more about Penn, Explore Interests is a great website they have on learning from current students and seeing what life at Penn is like. Lastly, a few interesting things about Penn: one of their professors created a Coursera course titled How to Apply to College, and at football games, people throw toast onto the field to celebrate a win, and there's a toast zamboni machine (from the engineering school) that drives across the field to pick them all up!
