Bryn Mawr College

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From the College

Bryn Mawr women are leaders in the classroom, in the studio, in the laboratory, and on the field. They are women who share an intense intellectual commitment, a purposeful vision of their lives, and a common desire to make a meaningful contribution to the world.

Bryn Mawr women empower each other to engage with the world beyond the campus, too, by testing the boundaries of knowledge in a number of ways. Through advanced research projects, summer internships, and collaborative research with faculty members, students are involved in the local, national, and global communities. Bryn Mawr’s Centers for 21st Century Inquiry, the Katherine Houghton Hepburn Center for Women in Public Life, and the Praxis Program, which integrates fieldwork with theoretical study, provide students with extensive opportunities for internships in Philadelphia, where they may apply knowledge far beyond the classroom. Many students pursue independent and interdepartmental majors with faculty permission. Joint academic programs also exist with Haverford, Swarthmore, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Bryn Mawr alumnae are physicians, economists, entrepreneurs, scholars, filmmakers, journalists, jurists, writers, and scientists whose achievements are marked by originality of thought and direction. Bryn Mawr’s prestigious alumnae include the first woman to be president of Harvard University, one of the first women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, the first woman neurosurgeon, and the first and only woman to receive four Academy Awards. Bryn Mawr women have also been recipients of the MacArthur (“genius grant”) Fellowships and Pulitzer Prizes and are continually awarded Fulbright and Watson Fellowships. A recent alumna won an international competition to design the September 11 Memorial at the Pentagon.

Bryn Mawr prides itself on diversity; students who are members of minority groups and international students make up more than a third of the undergraduate enrollment. Bryn Mawr’s student body is composed of women from forty-seven states and fifty-eight other countries. Above all else, Bryn Mawr women share a tremendous respect for individual differences, not merely a passive tolerance of other lifestyles and points of view. The result is a community that resounds with the energy, healthy friction, and range of perspectives that can only come from true cultural and ideological diversity. These women share a commitment to a community that is based on inclusion and support, reinforced by Bryn Mawr’s Honor Code, a set of principles stressing personal integrity and mutual respect. In the words of one graduating senior, “This is a place where being yourself makes you feel part of something larger than yourself. A strong sense of self is what we all have in common.”

Bryn Mawr is a charter member of the Centennial Conference and is home to twelve NCAA varsity athletic teams. Students may compete in badminton, basketball, crew, cross-country, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, and volleyball. Students participate in more than 100 active student organizations at Bryn Mawr. The tricollege community of Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr Colleges also sponsors many student groups and activities.

Cambrian Row, a group of homes built in the late 1900s, has recently been renovated and restored to support student life on campus. The houses include the Multicultural Center, the Office of Civic Engagement, and offices to house religious advisers and the Student Government Association. Dalton Hall was restored and reopened in 2007 and offers state-of-the-art classrooms, meeting spaces, and laboratory spaces for all of the social sciences. Renovation and improvement of the Goodhart Theatre will be completed by fall 2009. Its interior spaces will be upgraded to accommodate students' growing interest in performing arts.

Bryn Mawr College is located on a 135-acre suburban campus, 11 miles west of Philadelphia. Bryn Mawr’s campus is graceful and serene and has a deep engagement with the wider world. Bryn Mawr women enjoy a rich academic and social life on their own campus and at neighboring tricollege partners Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges as well as the University of Pennsylvania. This network allows Bryn Mawr students to experience the benefits of attending a small liberal arts college while also having access to nearly 5,000 courses. Bryn Mawr’s relationship with Haverford College is particularly close. A 20-minute walk or a 5-minute ride on the bicollege “Blue Bus” brings students from one campus to the other. There are nearly 3,000 course exchanges between the institutions each year, selected from a jointly published course list. Students are encouraged to participate in many bicollege extracurricular activities, including the orchestra, the chorus, the drama program, and one of the major newspapers.

Almost all students live on campus in one of thirteen main residence halls. These buildings, which include a multicultural residence for students interested in foreign languages and culture, range from university Gothic to postmodern in style. Two of the buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and one is also a National Historic Landmark.

Bryn Mawr College grants the Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree with majors, minors, and concentrations in more than forty areas: Africana studies, anthropology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, classical and Near Eastern archaeology, classical languages, classical studies, comparative literature, computational methods, computer science, creative writing, dance, East Asian studies, economics, education, English, environmental studies, film studies, fine arts, French and French studies, gender and sexuality, geology, German and German studies, Greek, growth and structure of cities, Hebrew and Judaic studies, Hispanic and Hispanic-American studies, history, history of art, international studies, Italian, Latin, linguistics, mathematics, music, neural and behavioral sciences, peace and conflict studies, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, religion, Romance languages, Russian, sociology, Spanish, and theater and theater studies.

Through an unusually broad cooperative arrangement with Haverford College, Bryn Mawr students may major in any of Haverford’s coordinate departments or in astronomy, classics, music, or religion while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bryn Mawr. A new major in linguistics offered through Swarthmore College is also available. Finally, Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr have joined together to form the Middle East Studies Initiative.

Having the freedom to shape one’s education is a central part of the Bryn Mawr experience–and excellent preparation for creating a purposeful life after graduation. The College’s divisional requirements are designed to encourage students to explore extensively while allowing a good deal of flexibility in shaping their course work. A total of 32 units of work is required for graduation, including one course to meet the quantitative skills requirement, work to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language, 2 units in the humanities, 2 units in natural or physical sciences, 2 units in the social sciences, a major subject sequence, and elective units. Each student chooses and plans her major in consultation with her Dean and faculty adviser. Some students take advantage of this freedom to design an independent major, while others fashion their own intellectual perspectives by enrolling in courses that span academic fields (such as The Growth and Structure of Cities) or assisting with a faculty member’s research project.

Bryn Mawr is only 20 minutes by car or train from the vast cultural and professional resources of Philadelphia, the nation’s fifth-largest city. Philadelphia is an incredible resource for Bryn Mawr–a truly accessible city rich with cultural and professional resources, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Ballet, numerous theaters, professional and collegiate athletics, and some of the nation’s most important historic sites, as well as internship opportunities in Center City law firms, art galleries, government agencies, hospitals, TV studios, banks, and schools. When Philadelphia seems too small, 1 in 3 Bryn Mawr students participate in one of more than seventy study-abroad programs from Stockholm to South Africa.

Bryn Mawr students have unlimited access to libraries and laboratories equal to those of many graduate programs, allowing students to pursue independent research at a level unimaginable at most undergraduate institutions. These resources include more than 1 million volumes in a network of open-stack libraries at Bryn Mawr as well as access to the libraries of both Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges via the Tripod Library System. In addition, the College recently renovated and enhanced a 1913 Colonial Revival home on campus into a new Psychology Center. The facility houses offices, labs, classrooms, student offices and lounges, and state-of-the-art computer facilities. Four former faculty residences have also been renovated to house the student activities village, Cambrian Row. The Rhys Carpenter Library for Art, Archaeology, and Cities opened in 1997 and houses seminar rooms, research facilities, and a state-of-the-art Visual Resources Center. Special departmental research collections include American and European anthropological and archaeological artifacts; recordings of the music of native peoples from all parts of the world; an extensive and important geologic collection of minerals and maps; a collection of Greek and Roman minor arts, especially vases and coins; medieval manuscripts and late medieval printed books (the third-largest collection of incunabula in the nation); and distinguished library holdings of American, Asian, and African books. Other resources include a language laboratory; high-speed Internet connections in its residence halls, computing labs, and networked classrooms; and wireless access in its libraries, campus center, and public labs across the campus.

In 2008–09, Bryn Mawr tuition, room and board, and fees totaled $48,060.

To apply for financial aid, students must submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the College Scholarship Service (CSS) PROFILE form, and if applicable, the CSS Noncustodial Parent PROFILE. The College also requires a signed copy of the custodial and noncustodial parents’ and student’s most recent federal income tax returns, including W-2 forms, and all schedules and attachments. Tax returns must be submitted to The College Board's Institutional Documentation Service (IDOC). Applicants who are not citizens of the U.S. must instead file the Foreign Student Financial Aid Application. Prospective freshmen are notified of the admission and financial aid decisions at the same time.

The Bryn Mawr faculty has 158 full-time members, of whom 49 percent are women and 15 percent are professors of color. The College’s student-faculty ratio is 8:1. Few colleges or universities can genuinely claim the intellectual curiosity, intensity, and passion found at Bryn Mawr. Classes are small (many have fewer than 15 students), and faculty members come to know their students as individuals. That means more than just being on a first-name basis. In fact, Bryn Mawr faculty members, world-renowned leaders in their fields, regard their students as junior colleagues, fully capable of working at a high level, developing their own ideas, and making important contributions. It is in this way that, perhaps more than at any other school, Bryn Mawr feels like a graduate school on an undergraduate level.

Bryn Mawr’s culture of innovative leadership dates back to 1892. That year, the Self-Government Association, the oldest undergraduate governing body in the country, was founded, giving Bryn Mawr students the responsibility of running many campus organizations and activities and participating in discussion and resolution of important issues, such as curriculum and faculty appointments.

Bryn Mawr’s freshman class of about 350 is selected from applicants from all parts of the United States and the world. The Admissions Committee, composed of admissions officers, professors, and current students, looks for an excellent school and test record and asks the applicant’s counselor and teachers for an estimate of her character and readiness for college. Such qualities as integrity, vitality, a sense of humor, independence, and sensitivity to others are important, as are any special talents or interests. Early decision, early admission, deferred entrance, and advanced placement options are available to qualified students.

Basic high school academic requirements include 4 years of English, 3 years of mathematics, at least 1 year each of a laboratory science and history, and a solid foundation in at least one foreign language. However, most applicants are well prepared for the academic rigor of Bryn Mawr and have taken at least three lab science courses as well as mathematics courses that include trigonometry. The SAT and SAT Subject Tests in two other areas must be taken by November of the senior year for early decision applicants and January for regular decision applicants. The ACT may be substituted. The writing option is highly recommended. An interview, either at the College or with a local alumnae representative, is also strongly recommended. Application forms should be submitted by November 15 for fall early decision applicants, by January 1 for winter early decision applicants, and by January 15 for regular decision applicants.

Transfer students must complete a minimum of two years of work at Bryn Mawr to qualify for the A.B. degree.

The Admissions Office is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and, during the fall, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Bryn Mawr accepts the Common Application, which can be found online (http://www.commonapplication.org). For further information, an application form, or the name of a local alumnae representative, prospective students should contact: