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Camille Palmer developed her technical skills from the first day of basic sewing class at Stephens. A six-week summer internship at Jerell, a Dallas-based manufacturer of apparel, opened her eyes to the possibility of making technical design her chosen profession.. |
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It is all about you.
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The Women’s College Coalition has released its newest poster to more than 14,000 high school guidance counselors and others who influence the college selection process. The target audience for the poster is prospective students. It is all about you. Your education and success matter. What matters in college matters after college – and it matters in your college selection process. Finding the right fit in a college – the college at which you will thrive and reach your academic and personal potential, the college that will best prepare you for success – is one of the most important decisions you will make. Finding the right fit is all about you. It’s about who you are and what matters to you. It’s about your dreams and expectations – of yourself and your college experience, both in and out of the classroom. Every picture tells a thousand words. The pictures on the poster tell the stories about many of the dimensions of finding the right fit and why a women’s college – which is all about the education and success of its students – might be the right fit for you. To learn more about the stories the pictures tell, Click here. Posters can be purchased ($1 each plus shipping and handling); Click here. |
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Make new friends, but keep the old,
Girl Scout Song When you begin college, you will become part of a new academic community as well as a new social community. You will become part of the distinctive environment that is created by the faculty and students who will play a central role in your life, both in and out of the classroom. The single most important environmental influence on your learning and development is your peer group, your classmates. Will I find people like me? Will I make friends? Will I have a community? These are some of the questions you might be thinking about during your college selection process. The relationships you will build and the friendships you will make in college will last a lifetime. Research shows that women’s college alumnae report that there was a sense of community among students and that their experience often included friendships that developed from classroom experiences. Alumnae report that their experience often included interaction with other students with similar values and that they benefited very much from interaction with other students who shared their interests. Alumnae report that they were involved in extracurricular activities, including academic clubs and activities, and volunteer or community service activities through which they gained leadership experience. Alumnae also report that they benefited very much from a good balance between academics, social, and personal development. (Source:http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/WCC-What_Matters_March08.pdf) Research also shows that not only do women’s college alumnae report that they benefited very much from a high quality, teaching-oriented faculty, but that they benefited very much from personal interaction with professors who were interested in students personally as well as academically, and who challenged them academically and helped them meet those challenges. Alumnae report that their experience often included conversations with professors outside of class. A professor is most likely to be cited as a mentor in college. Women’s college alumnae report that the quality of references by faculty and staff played a role in being accepted to graduate school or finding a first job. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/WCC-What_Matters_March08.pdf) There is a growing body of knowledge from research that explores educational practices associated with high levels of learning and development. These include active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences, and supportive campus environment. The research shows that students who are actively involved in both academic and out-of-class activities gain more from the college experience than those who are not so involved. Research shows that women at women’s colleges are more engaged than women at coed colleges. Students at women’s colleges report greater gains than women at coeducational institutions along a number of dimensions, including an understanding of self and others. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/Comparing-Coed-to-Womens_MarApr2007.pdf) net•work n. A system of people: a large and widely distributed group of people that communicate with one another and work together as a unit or system One more thing: When you graduate from a women’s college, you become part of the powerful network of women’s college alumnae, a network that will be with you for a lifetime and that you can connect with professionally, socially and personally.
When you graduate from high school, you might hear people talk about commencement being not an ending, but a beginning. It’s true. You will begin the next phase in your life at the college that is the right fit for you – the college at which you will thrive and reach your academic and personal potential, the college that will best prepare you for success. When you graduate from college, you might hear the same words of wisdom: Commencement is not an ending. It’s a beginning. It’s true. You will begin the next phase in your life, perhaps at a job, perhaps at graduate school. Research shows that a women’s college education does a better job of helping students develop critical skills for success in life and career. Studies about skills necessary for life success repeatedly underscore the need for critical thinking, global knowledge, intercultural competence, and real-world abilities. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/WCC-What_Matters_March08.pdf) These are the skills that employers expect of college graduates. Employers look at how college graduates applied these skills and knowledge to complex, real-world challenges and projects that integrated problem solving, writing, and analytical reasoning skills in such hands-on opportunities as internships, community service projects, study abroad experiences and senior projects. (Source:http://www.aacu.org/leap/documents/Re8097abcombined.pdf)
Research also shows that women’s colleges surpass public and private colleges in helping young women learn to: Research also shows that a women’s college education proves its value over a lifetime. Graduating from a women’s college, versus a co-ed public or private college or university, significantly increases a woman’s chances of earning a graduate degree. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/WCC-What_Matters_March08.pdf) Women’s college graduates succeed in entering a range of career fields and graduate programs, regardless of their undergraduate major. Women’s college alumnae report that the quality of references by faculty and staff played a role in being accepted to graduate school or finding a first job. They also report that they developed the ability to learn new skills, and that they were prepared not just for their first job, but also for career advancement or change. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/WCC-What_Matters_March08.pdf) More than 95% of women’s college alumnae believe the financial investment in their education was worthwhile and that the intellectual and personal capacities they gained are still extremely important to them. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/WCC-What_Matters_March08.pdf) net•work n. A system of people: a large and widely distributed group of people that communicate with one another and work together as a unit or system One more thing: When you graduate from a women’s college, you become part of the powerful network of women’s college alumnae, a network that will be with you for a lifetime and that you can connect with professionally, socially, and personally. “Each of you…has the potential to find a few (answers) as you inch along (*). You are already travelers, volunteers, athletes, scholars, scientists, musicians, artists and educators. You have presented your scholarship here on campus and in political arenas. You have joined struggles, built houses, made paper and danced with professional companies. You have transformed your local communities, even as you’ve joined the global community in various ventures. Hold onto all of that. Continue to be extraordinary, effect good and fight injustice. Changes will come in Washington, DC, in a science laboratory, in a fifth grade classroom and in a conversation at the grocery store. The simplest acts – teaching a child to swim, driving a meal to somebody who can’t get out, donating books, money and time to a library – the countless gestures can have profound effect.” Call to Action from the Commencement Address at the College of Saint Benedict, May 2011, delivered by alumna Laura McGrane ’91, who is Assistant Professor of American and British Literature at Haverford College. (To read other Calls to Action, go to http://womenscolleges.org/thoughts/index. See also http://womenscolleges.org/story/sherylsandberg.) (*) Reference to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
Recently, New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks wrote a piece titled, ‘The Question-Driven Life.’ He began: “We are born with what some psychologists call an ‘explanatory drive.’ You give a baby a strange object or something that doesn’t make sense and she will become instantly absorbed; using all her abilities – taste, smell, force – to figure out how it fits with the world.” (Source: Brooks, David [2011, August 18]. The question-driven life. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/opinion/brooks-the-question-driven-life.html?scp=1&sq=the%20question%20driven%20life&st=cse) Fast forward this baby to college. At a women’s college, you’ll find that students and their professors have that same intellectual curiosity about how people and things work, and the compassion and courage to make a difference. When Holly entered college, she thought she wanted to become a doctor and she began a pre-med academic track as a Biology major. She began to understand how the body works. Holly’s studies broadened to include Religion and Philosophy, and she began to understand what motivates and inspires people to live the way they do and do good work. Traveling and studying in Israel, Egypt and France, and encouraged, challenged and supported by her professors, Holly’s education intersected with Asian Studies. Holly changed her major to a double major, Religion and Philosophy and Asian Studies. At the intersection of these seemingly disparate fields of study, Holly experienced the diversity of humankind, populations and environments at risk, and the interplay of politics and human need. After graduating in 2003, Holly realized that she did not want to become a doctor. She did an internship in the U.S. studying primates. She tracked gorillas in Uganda. She worked with pubescent girls, adolescents, pregnant women and elderly women in a health clinic in Uganda. Recognizing that coffee is the livelihood of most Ugandans and that without sustainable economic development, coffee farmers would not have access to health care, Holly worked with a fair trade coffee company in the U.S. and a farmers’ cooperative of Christians, Muslims and Jews, peacefully living and working together in Uganda. With Holly’s passion about health care tugging at her, she returned to school and became a nurse. Research shows that a women’s college education does a better job of helping students develop critical skills for success in life and career. Studies about skills necessary for life success repeatedly underscore the need for critical thinking, global knowledge, intercultural competence and real-world abilities. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/WCC-What_Matters_March08.pdf)
Research shows that women’s colleges surpass public and private colleges in helping young women to: Research also shows that women’s colleges foster an environment that fuels women’s understanding of self and others. Students at women’s colleges report greater gains than women at coeducational institutions in self-understanding, including learning effectively on one’s own and working effectively with others. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/Comparing-Coed-to-Womens_MarApr2007.pdf) Brooks concluded his piece with an apt description of Holly: “There are…people…with a wandering curiosity, alighting on every interesting part of their environment. The late Richard Holbrooke used to give the essential piece of advice for a question-driven life: Know something about something. Don’t just present your wonderful self to the world. Constantly amass knowledge and offer it around.” At the intersection of Holly’s Venn diagram, the societies that she learned about in her college textbooks came to life. The global communities that once seemed foreign became her extended family. Populations are still at risk and women are yet to be fully represented. In spring 2012, Holly will complete her studies to become a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. What’s in your Venn diagram?
When you become a member of a college community, you become part of the distinctive environment that is created by the faculty and students who will play a central role in your life as a student, both in and out of the classroom. The single most important environmental influence on your learning and development is your peer group, your classmates. There is a growing body of knowledge from research that explores educational practices associated with high levels of learning and development. These include level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences and supportive campus environment. Research shows that students who are actively involved in both academic and out-of-class activities gain more from the college experience than those who are not so involved. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/Comparing-Coed-to-Womens_MarApr2007.pdf) Research suggests that the high levels of academic challenge found at women’s colleges is a reflection of “taking women seriously.” Students experience high expectations for student performance and are deeply engaged in intellectual and creative activities. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/Comparing-Coed-to-Womens_MarApr2007.pdf) Research shows that a women’s college education enables students to engage with top faculty and resources. Women’s college graduates attribute their success to interaction with a high quality teaching-oriented faculty. Women’s college graduates report strong benefits from mentoring, small classes, and personal interaction with professors. At women’s colleges, all of the resources – from top faculty and sophisticated research equipment to athletic facilities, from leadership, internship, community service and study abroad opportunities to fellowship funding – are focused on and available to you. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/WCC-What_Matters_March08.pdf) Research shows that women at women’s colleges are more engaged than women at coed colleges. Students at women’s colleges report greater gains than women at coeducational institutions in general education, ability to analyze quantitative problems, desire to contribute to welfare of others and understanding of self and others, including learning effectively on one’s own and working effectively with others. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/Comparing-Coed-to-Womens_MarApr2007.pdf) Research also shows that a women’s college education creates leaders, communicators and persuaders. Speaking out and speaking up – key components of leadership and civic engagement – are capacities actively developed at women’s colleges. Women’s college alumnae report more in-class experience with making presentations than their peers at other institutions and are more likely to gain leadership experience in student government and campus media. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/WCC-What_Matters_March08.pdf) The environment of women’s colleges is characterized by innovative pedagogies, inclusive curricula, exposure to and interaction with role models and mentors among faculty, alumnae and fellow students, and a culture that that expects, encourages and supports you to succeed in and out of the classroom. Women’s colleges are all about you and your education and success.
Ret. Lt. Gen. Claudia J. Kennedy, the first female to reach the rank of three-star general in the U.S. Army, once said, “Women not only see things differently from men, but they see different things.” Your thinking is critical to seizing the opportunities of today’s ever-changing social, political, economic, environmental and technological spheres. Undergraduate research is critical to your education, regardless of the field in which you major. Undergraduate research is most often associated with STEM fields: Science, technology, engineering and math. However, undergraduate research, which is defined by the Council on Undergraduate Research as “an inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline,” is fundamental in many fields – arts and humanities, psychology and the social sciences, as well as STEM. Interdisciplinary research brings different disciplines together to discover and create new bodies of knowledge. Research shows that a women’s college education enables students to engage with top faculty and resources. Women’s college graduates attribute their success to interaction with a high quality teaching-oriented faculty. Women’s college graduates report strong benefits from mentoring, small classes, and personal interaction with professors. At women’s colleges, all of the resources, from sophisticated research equipment to internship opportunities and fellowship funding, are focused on and available to you. (Source: http://womenscolleges.org/files/pdfs/WCC-What_Matters_March08.pdf) Innovative pedagogies, inclusive curricula, exposure to and interaction with role models and mentors among faculty, alumnae and fellow students, and a culture that that expects, encourages and supports you to pursue and succeed in all fields, including those that are traditionally dominated by men, such as STEM, characterize and distinguish women’s colleges. In its recently released report, “Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation,” the U.S. Dept. of Commerce noted: “Our science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce is crucial to America’s innovative capacity and global competitiveness. Yet women are vastly underrepresented in STEM jobs and among STEM degree holders despite making up nearly half of the U.S. workforce and half of the college-educated workforce. That leaves an untapped opportunity to expand STEM employment in the United States.” They described “many possible factors contributing to the discrepancy of women and men in STEM jobs, including: a lack of female role models, gender stereotyping, and less family-friendly flexibility in the STEM fields.” (Source: U.S. Dept. of Commerce. “Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation.” August 2011. http://womenscolleges.org/files/news/2012deptofcommercewomeninstemagendergaptoinnovation.pdf") Jane McAuliffe, President of Bryn Mawr College and a graduate of Trinity Washington University, responded to the report: “As long as there is a gender gap in these (STEM) fields, there will be an innovation gap. And in today’s global economy, the countries that lead do so by fostering technological innovation. Creating an environment where women can reach their full potential in the STEM fields is possible and can have impressive results.” (Source: McAuliffe, Jane [2011, August 18]. Closing the gap. Inside Higher Ed. http://womenscolleges.org/story/closingthegap) By engaging in undergraduate research, you will experience the process of scholarly inquiry and an intellectual life. In addition to learning about and making contributions to a field in which you are interested, you will develop of portfolio of skills, including research methodology and data analysis and communication, and you will clarify your academic and career aspirations and path.
“Although women are now entering the highest levels of leadership across the globe, women leaders have not yet achieved anything close to parity with men. With extraordinary challenges facing us – from global poverty, inadequate health care, gender-based violence and environmental degradation – there is no better time than now to ensure that women contribute their ideas, energies and leadership to make the world a better place.” Debora Spar, President of Barnard College Your education and success matter. What matters in college matters after college – and it matters in your college selection process. Finding the right fit in a college – the college at which you will thrive and reach your academic and personal potential, the college that will best prepare you for success – is one of the most important decisions you will make. Finding the right fit is all about you. It’s about who you are and what matters to you. It’s about your dreams and expectations – of yourself and your college experience, both in and out of the classroom.
Research shows that the “must have” or “very important” characteristics of a college for women include:
Research shows that skills that are extremely important to college-bound women include:
Research shows that women’s reasons for selecting a specific college include: Each women’s college has its own distinctive identity and culture. From the east coast to the west coast, from the Midwest to the South, women’s colleges are in the hearts of cities and deep in the country. Students come from all socioeconomic, ethnic, racial and religious groups, from across the country and around the world. Some students are the first in their family to attend college and some are transferring from a community college. What women’s college have in common is an unequivocal commitment to your education and success. Imagine your future possible self. It is all about you.
“The difference between the smart mice and those that floundered? Exercise. The brainy mice had running wheels in their cages, and the others didn’t. An expanding body of knowledge shows that exercise can improve the performance of the brain by boosting memory and cognitive processing speed. Exercise can, in fact, create a stronger, faster brain.” (Source: Reynolds, Gretchen [2007, August 19]. Lobes of steel. The New York Times>. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/sports/playmagazine/0819play-brain.html?scp=1&sq=lobes%20of%20steel&st=cse) Research conducted by the Women’s Sports Foundation affirms that engagement in moderate levels of physical activity and sports for girls and women is essential to good health and well-being. Many studies show that active engagement in sports and fitness programs provides physical and psychological benefits that support academic success. (Sources: Women’s Sports Foundation. “Her Life Depends On It: Sport, Physical Activity, and the Health and Well-Being of American Girls and Women.” December 2009. http://womenscolleges.org/files/news/herlifedependsonit.pdf; Women’s Sports Foundation. “Her Life Depends On It: Sport, Physical Activity, and the Health and Well-Being of American Girls and Women.” May 2004. http://womenscolleges.org/story/health-research; and Women’s Sports Foundation. “Who’s Playing College Sports? Trends in Participation.” June 2007. http://womenscolleges.org/story/title-ix-research) At women’s colleges, fitness – whether it’s through competitive sports and intramurals, or physical education and recreation – is a key component of your education and your emotional, social, physical and academic development. |
Community: A Sense of Belonging
com•mence•ment [ kə ménssmənt ] n. A beginning; a start
A Life Well-Lived In a Venn Diagram
en•gaged [ in gáyjd] adj. Involved in activity; greatly interested
Why Does Undergraduate Research Matter?
It is all about you.
Sports and Athletics: Why Do They Matter?