On certain college campuses across the nation, women rule the school playground. They fill the quad. They dominate the classroom. They’re oozing out of the residence halls, making it every bachelor’s paradise – except no man could enroll even if he tried.

The inhabitants of women’s colleges come from all walks of life and corners of the country, each with different academic ambitions, but a common credo of isolation from their male counterparts.

Not to be mistaken for convents, feminist enclaves or Girl Scout retreats, these Ms. Universities are separate entities providing exposure to a wide variety of the female sex.

‘From the Ralph Lauren preppy type, to the stone bitch type, to the cool eclectic hippie and shy awkward types, you get to see all different sides of the female,’ said Jessica Halliburton, a junior theater major at Smith College.

Originally created as a parallel for male-dominated Ivy League colleges, women’s colleges come from a rich history of providing equal educational opportunities. The oldest and most familiar of these schools are the tribunal ‘Seven Sisters,’ which include Mt. Holyoke College, Smith College, Wellesley College, Bryn Mawr College, Barnard College and two schools turned co-educational – Vassar College and Radcliffe College.

Set up as a collection of small liberal arts colleges spread across the country, women’s schools are slowly becoming a thing of the past. All-female schools like Chestnut Hill College, Hood College and Elms College have been forced into coed mergers in recent years, while schools like Trinity College in Vermont have closed. Shrinking enrollment has hastened the trend, reducing already small numbers and forcing schools to mix, said David Borus, dean of admissions and financial aid at Vassar.

Yet, as the decline in women’s schools steadily increases, the students of these colleges remain willing to defend the explorative, fostering qualities that have made the schools distinctive since their creation.

A New Brand of Sisterhood

When it comes to describing the dynamics of their environments, female residents aren’t afraid to highlight a common ‘girl power’ element.

‘What attracted me to Barnard was the sisterhood aspect of it. It’s like a giant sorority,’ said Julie Malyn, an undecided freshman at Barnard College. ‘I kind of entered it as a social experiment. I went to a coed high school, and sure, I’ll be surrounded by guys for the rest of my life, so why not go to Barnard and see what I find?’

Interactions with a high percentage of girls, day in and day out, play a role in students’ social development and relationships in general. In some cases, students use the constricted environment as an opportunity to forge close friendships with other women.

Jessica Halliburton, a junior theater major at Smith, has been exposed to an all-women’s academic setting since high school, and said she is still ‘incredibly close’ to her high school cohorts in addition to the new friends she has made at college.

‘It’s very hard to describe, but there are really, really good friendships you form when in that kind of environment,’ Halliburton said.

While one would expect these students to feel physically deprived or marooned from the male species, many say they would not trade their situation. And more often than not, coed institutions are only a stone’s throw away.

‘There’s a real human aspect to everyone, since no one’s being fake or trying to impress guys,’ Malyn said.

Another reason Malyn was attracted to Barnard was its proximity to Columbia University, where Barnard students are allowed to take courses and vice-versa.

‘I’m proud of the fact that we’re part of Columbia University and part of Barnard College – it’s a unique thing,’ Malyn said.

At Smith College, students have access to a five-college exchange system, including the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke and Smith. Halliburton transferred to Smith after one year at Sarah Lawrence University, a coed school, but says she never experienced anything resembling a culture shock.

‘You can probably go through the whole four years never talking to a guy, but in my opinion, that would require a lot of work,’ Halliburton said. ‘The only place predominantly women is your house … I never felt like I was depriving myself of interactions with men.’

Rocking the Boat

In addition to finding deep connections with other women, students at women’s colleges may benefit from a variety of academic factors not afforded to those at coed institutions.

Graduates of colleges like Smith and Barnard are three times as likely to earn bachelor’s degrees in economics. They earn doctorates in male-dominated fields, as well as have higher self-esteem, according to Women in Higher Education, a monthly journal designed to inform women on how gender affects their being successful in the male-dominated education world.

‘At Smith, women are the focus of all the attention and all the opportunities,’ said Kristen Cole, media relations director at Smith. ‘Having a wide variety of female role models tends to boost the aspirations and career achievements of female college students.’

Women in these schools experience the effects of a strong alumnae support system firsthand, Malyn said.

‘Really successful alumnae have come out of this school,’ she said. ‘They tell us, ‘Here’s a woman who made great strides. You go to Barnard, so you’re going to be one of them.”

Sarah Karpinski, a freshman history major at Bryn Mawr, said her transition from a coed high school to an all-female one did not require any major adjustments, since she followed in the footsteps of her older sister. Karpinski also has a boyfriend at Villanova University, where Bryn Mawr students can take courses. Female isolation does not accurately describe her experiences thus far.

Reflecting on her current observations of college life, Karpinski admitted Bryn Mawr students dedicate more of their efforts to studying textbooks than the faces of male pursuits.

‘It’s a running joke that we’re more concerned about academics than getting a date on Friday,’ Karpinski said. ‘There’s a certain mentality that you come to get an education, not to get drunk all the time … we like to have fun and socialize, but there’s a strong emphasis that you do your work and then have fun.’

In addition to the ‘work hard, play hard’ atmosphere of Bryn Mawr, the school’s characteristic traditions peaked her interest during her high school college hunt, Karpinski said. Every woman receives a lantern her freshman year for ceremonial use, and students participate in a ‘hoops race’ during which the first-place winner is told she will earn a doctorate degree. The second-place winner is told she is next in line to be married.

Bryn Mawr rituals often leave parents and friends in a shroud of confusion, Karpinski said, adding to her fondness for an alma mater rooted in odd traditions.

Like Karpinski, Jessica Deshayes, a junior comparative literature major at Wellesley, considers her college a reverse situation of what regular coed students deal with every day. For Deshayes, the ‘college experience’ is more hectic academically than socially; rather than gossiping about promiscuous happenings, they complain about the ‘It Girl’ phenomenon. Despite a low-key setting, the ‘It Girl’ refers to overachievers who make the other students look bad, Deshayes said.

At Barnard, residence halls are so low-key women sometimes answer the door in their undergarments, Malyn said, leaving male visitors with a lasting impression of their personal encounters.

‘Anyone with a Barnard or Columbia ID can get in, and it just so happens that guys from AEPi usually go around knocking on doors about some party over the weekend,’ Malyn said. ‘Here we are wearing underwear around the room, and when I say, ‘Come on in,’ in walks someone from AEPi.’

The most startling experiences stem from male visitors trafficking their halls – especially in the single-sex bathrooms – though outsiders are usually boyfriends or relatives recognized by everyone, Malyn said.

Odd Man Out

In some cases, women assume the ‘outsider’ identity as the minority group at their respective college. Trade schools such as Michigan Technical College and the University of Missouri-Rolla tote ratios of one woman for every three men, and even less female representation within specific concentrations.

Both colleges are known for their rigorous engineering programs, a field statistically more popular with male undergraduates. On the fringes of a male-dominated setting, women at these schools described a mixture of reactions in relation to their college-zone comfort level.

As a junior scientific and technical communications major at Michigan Tech, Elizabeth Breining said the scariest part about attending a predominantly male school is simply running into large hordes of men on her way to class.

‘Sometimes a huge group of men is coming my way and I think, ‘Oh my gosh I’m going to get trampled on!” Breining said. She also revealed a frightening stalking incident involving someone from her orientation group freshman year. At the same time, she explained that it is common for girls to have more male than female friends, and professors often encourage her to speak up in class.

‘I was the only girl in my English revision class, including the professor,’ Breining said. ‘The teacher was really good about it. He said, ‘If you ever feel uncomfortable, intimidated or singled out, come talk to me … we want you to be comfortable and have a classic experience.”

Bryan Shannon, a junior electrical engineering student at Missouri-Rolla, said he felt sorry for the one woman in a course with 43 engineering majors, but remembers the student making an effort to speak up on several occasions.

‘Usually the girls are the ones asking the questions, and the majority of the class just sits there,’ he said. ‘Most of the engineering classes are pretty male dominated … walking around to class, you see way more guys than girls and think, ‘Jeez, where’s the girls?”

Shannon, who is currently in a long-distance relationship, also described the majority of females at Missouri-Rolla as ‘ridiculous,’ because they can be very selective when it comes to choosing a suitable partner.

As a female representative of the Michigan Tech class of 2005, Amanda McKenna cited one particular reason for why her male inventory processes were far from overly stringent.

‘A lot of them aren’t very attractive, because it’s an engineering kind of school; a lot of guys are computer geeks,’ McKenna said. ‘I was (a resident adviser) for a year, and a lot of guys would stay in their dorm rooms, play computer games and not go outside or shower … certain rooms would smell so bad.’

McKenna described the female friendships at Michigan Tech in ways similar to the relationships on women’s college campuses. Women tend to form alliances, making sororities and religious groups very popular outlets for those in need of female companionship, she said. McKenna also added that as a woman, she never considered herself overshadowed by the dense male population at the school.

‘It’s kind of the opposite (intimidation),’ she said. ‘There’s a stigma that girls in the field are few and far between, but I’ve never felt intimidated or anything … it’s fun when you say something smarter and they say, ‘Oh, you got beat by a girl

Published on February 2, 2006 at 12:00 pm