By Vicky Chu
There will always be the maniacal students obsessed with Bryn Mawr – those who own more collegiate wear than the bookstore, zealously attend every tradition and pouncing on prospective students for fun. There will also always be the students who roll their eyes at the sight of swinging lanterns, cringe when their Haverford professors mention they are Bryn Mawr students and say their prayers while sending out transfer applications. And for some of these students, no matter what the reasons are or how difficult the process is, they end up transferring out.
Both current and transfer students still have at least one thing in common: they understand Bryn Mawr is not the “normal college experience.”
“I feel like I’m getting a ‘real college experience,’ whatever that may mean," said Arielle Parris ‘11, who transferred to the University of Pittsburgh. After two years at Bryn Mawr, she is now getting acquainted with the typical scene of most large universities: fraternities and sororities, house parties and outings to bars.
Though it may seem as if quite a number of students have transferred, Bryn Mawr’s transfer rate is no different from other similar schools. According to Director of Institutional Research Mark Freeman of Institutional Research at Bryn Mawr, the retention rate of freshmen returning as sophomores for the fall semester of 2009 is at its highest peak – over nine-in-ten.
“Bryn Mawr’s retention and graduation rates are comparable to those of her closest single-sex peers, [such as] Mount Holyoke and Smith, and roughly five percentage points less than those of Wellesley and her co-ed peer institutions,” Freeman said .
However, students who did transfer out give a wide variety of reasons for doing so.
Julia Benivegna ’12 transferred specifically for social reasons. Besides wanting to experience a larger school and meeting more people, she missed the most noticeable people Bryn Mawr lacks.
“I feel like at Bryn Mawr I was so boy crazy, and now that I am in the real world I am normal again and not so crazy about meeting boys all the time," Benivegna said.
She is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania, where she gets the best of both worlds. She experiences a diverse university in a city while still being able to stay close to her friends at Bryn Mawr and Haverford, many of whom take classes at UPenn.
Emily Falk ‘11, who transferred to the University of Virgina, feels similarly.
“I worked really hard to find a normal college social scene at Bryn Mawr,” Falk said. To Falk, neither hopping on the Blue Bus every weekend nor taking the train into Philadelphia are as convenient as UVA’s easily accessible social scene and night life. Although Falk was initially overwhelmed by the Greek Life, she has grown to love UVA and says she couldn’t imagine life if she hadn’t transferred.
Falk first tried to make the best of her situation at Bryn Mawr. In the end, however, she felt she had the wrong mindset.
“If you have to work hard to make yourself happy, you need a new environment,” she said.
Of course, not all students transferred because they were unhappy with the social scene or lack thereof. Parris transferred for financial reasons. As did Callie Jensen ’11, since the University of Mary Washington’s tuition was half the cost of Bryn Mawr’s. In addition, she wanted to pursue education and study abroad, which she could not do at Bryn Mawr simultaneously.
Some students just couldn’t explain their reasons.
“It just wasn’t the right place," Sydney Kase ‘11 said. "It was a gut feeling."
She left Bryn Mawr for the College of the Atlantic in part because she felt like students took traditions too seriously. It was too much for her.
On the other hand, Parris and Jensen both would have liked to stay at Bryn Mawr, especially because of the traditions.
“I still consider Bryn Mawr my home in many ways and hope that I will always be connected with it,” Jensen said.
Besides the lack of traditions, other differences between Bryn Mawr and other colleges are palpable.
Parris misses the thriving gay community at Bryn Mawr.
"I want to scream, ‘Where are my lesbians?’ every other second,” she said. Parris said she feels the pressures of being in male-dominated classroom settings. She also had some difficulty coming out at her current school.
“But to be honest, this campus has a way hotter student body than Bryn Mawr or Haverford.”
Parris enjoyed being able to come to a new campus and have a "clean slate." Still like many transfer students, she is grateful for the experiences she had at Bryn Mawr. Parris said that the people at Bryn Mawr supported her while she came to terms with her sexuality. Jensen felt that she became more confident due to her position as co-class president last year.
Jensen, whose parents both attended bi-co institutions, was lucky that they supported her decision. But sometimes it’s not always that easy. Kase had a falling out with some of her close Bryn Mawr friends after she transferred.
“It’s hard to keep friends in different worlds," she said. "I’m never going to be in touch with what’s happening in Bryn Mawr."
Leigh Raphael ‘12, who transferred to the UPenn School of Nursing, also had a hard time speaking to her friends about leaving. Her friends found it difficult to understand why she transferred. But she said she is happier now because she can study what really interests her.
“Just understand that you are doing what is right for you, even if others don’t understand,” she said.
This article is © 2008 The Bi-College News. The material on this page is free for personal or educational use, but may not be reproduced, reprinted, republished, redistributed, or otherwise transmitted to a third party without the express written permission of The Bi-College News, 370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041.
Editor's note: Articles that appear in the Last Word section are works of satire.
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