The Benefits of a Women's College

Women's colleges offer excellent academic programs and foster a positive environment for learning. Many students at women's colleges attest that they are taken more seriously in the classroom and feel more inclined to participate in class discussions.

In addition, graduates of women's colleges tend to be remarkable achievers. According to studies gathered by the Women's College Coalition, women attending such institutions:

• Score higher on standardized achievement tests.

• Participate more fully in and out of class.
• Report greater satisfaction than their coed counterparts with their college experience in almost all measures—academically, developmentally, and personally.
• Develop measurably higher levels of self-esteem than other achieving women in coeducational institutions. (After two years in coeducational institutions, women have been shown to have lower levels of self-esteem than when they entered college.)
• Tend to choose traditionally male disciplines, like the sciences, as their academic majors, in greater numbers, and continue toward doctorates in math, science and engineering in disproportionately large numbers.
• Have more opportunities to hold leadership positions at college and are able to observe women functioning in top jobs (90 percent of the presidents and 55 percent of the faculty are women).
• Are more likely to graduate.
• Are more successful in careers; that is, they tend to hold higher positions, are happier, and earn more money.
• Represent 33 percent of the women board members of Fortune 1000 companies and 30 percent of a recent Business Week list of rising women stars in Corporate America.
• Constitute more than 20 percent of the women in Congress (including four U.S. Representatives from Saint Mary’s College).
• Were 20 percent of women identified by Black Enterprise Magazine as the 20 most powerful African-American women in corporate America.
• Tend to be more involved in philanthropic activities after college.

Nearly three-quarters of women's college graduates are in the work force. Almost half of them hold traditionally male-dominated jobs at the higher end of the pay scale such as lawyer, physician or manager. Nearly half of the graduates have earned advanced degrees, and 81 percent have continued their education beyond college.

Student Satisfaction

By all accounts, there is a high rate of student satisfaction at women's colleges. Nine out of 10 women's college graduates give their colleges high marks for fostering self-confidence. More than three-quarters of women's college graduates continue their involvement with their alma mater as trustees, mentors, class agents, intern employers, recruiters, etc. It's difficult to say who is "right" for women's colleges and who isn't. Just about everyone can benefit from the supportive atmosphere they provide. In the end, it's largely a matter of personal preference.