Which Colleges Are Great for Women?

Pennsylvania based Bryn Mawr is College Magazine's sixth-best college for aspiring women leaders. Similarly, it places at fifth on Niche.com's best women colleges list. Lastly, it places at sixth on the Women's Choice Award's list. Bryn Mawr is one of several colleges that have an exclusively female undergraduate population and a mixed postgraduate population. And this college was the first ever to offer women the opportunity to get Ph.Ds. It is currently renovating its science center and adding new buildings, such as a wellness center. It has raised over $212 million for this. This means that within a few years, the college will be one of the most modern in the world.

Women's Choice Award and The Street both place the University of Chicago at fourth place on their best female college lists. Additionally, Forbes states that it's the 10^th most important college for women in STEM fields. And Huffington Post places it at 26^th for top coed colleges for women. And this is one of several colleges whose focus on women is mostly geared towards business and alumni connections. It has the Chicago Women in Business student organization, which advances professional opportunities for women; The University of Chicago Women's Business Group college run organization, which hosts many career centered events and the Chicago Women's alliance, which is part of the college's alumni association.

This Ivy League college performs strongly across many methodology lists. Huffington Post names it the seventh best college for women. Forbes names it the sixth most important STEM college for women. College Xpress considers it to be the ninth best college for female athletes. And Women's Choice Award names it the 27^th best women's college in America. While it took a lot longer to admit women than some other colleges on this list, with the first enrolling in the 1960s, it has made great strides ever since. For instance, in 2001, the college appointed its first female president.

Forbes names this college as the fourth most important for women in STEM fields. Huffington Post names it the 25^th best coed college for women. Lastly, Women's Choice Award names it the 15th best female-friendly college in America. The college's women's society has been an incredible base for women's empowerment for over 50 years. To date, it has awarded 51 full-tuition scholarships, presented 32 leadership awards to graduating students and provided over $500,000 to women-centered student projects in the last 30 years.

Forbes considers the University of California, Davis to be the most important college for Women's STEM. Huffington Post names it the 43^rd best coed college for women in America. College Xpress names it the best division 2 school for female athletes. Women's Choice Awards places it at 274^th. University of California, Davis has had a women's center on campus ever since 1971. From 1972, it has hosted conferences such as the Ain't I a Woman Empowerment Conference every year. And for the last 13 years, the college has hosted a feminist film festival that celebrates both student and professional female filmmakers.

The women who attend Barnard College are the most satisfied with their institution in America. This is because Barnard tops Niche.com's student review ledlist of the best women's colleges in America. It also places at seventh on College Magazine, third on College Xpress (in its section for women only colleges)but 235^th on Women's Choice Award. Barnard College has been offering education to women since 1889, and it's the best option for women looking to study in New York City. Barnard has a range of firsts to its name. For instance, it earned the right to hire its own faculty in 1900, took part in protests in 1960 and began admitting transgender women in 2016.

Smith College is ranked fourth on Niche.com, fifth on College Magazine, ninth on The Street and 68^th on Women's Choice Awards. Historically, Smith has been a women-only college, but it now admits men as graduate students. Still, that means the vast majority of students are female. The female students are given an education that allows them to quickly get ahead in the world of work. For instance, 70% of graduating students go straight into career specific jobs, while 25% go to graduate school.

University of California, Berkeley is Fortune's third-best college for female entrepreneurs. It's also Huffington Post's sixth best coed college for women. Lastly, it ranks at 67^th on the Women's Choice Award's list. The college is incredibly inclusive when it comes to admitting women into STEM-based degrees. In 2014, women outnumbered men in its computer science course. And the college also runs some very progressive clubs for women. For instance, it has the Women's Faculty Club, which is 99 years old and has been a pioneer of women's equality since its founding. Additionally, it has Berkeley Women in Business, which is open to all genders, as long as they are interested in supporting women in the workplace.

This college places at ninth on Forbes's most important stem colleges for women list. It also places at eighth on Fortune's female entrepreneur list, 32^nd on Women's Choice Award's top national colleges for women list and 37^th on Huffington Post's coed college list. And the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor's Center for Educating Women has existed since 1964 and established a scholarship program for returning women in 1969. In recent years, this center has received over $300,000 from the Ford Foundation to advance the economic security of low-income Michigan women, and it has also established another scholarship for students whose careers have been interrupted and for women who have minor dependents.

Yale ranks at third place on Women's Choice Award. It's also Fortune's ninth-best college for women entrepreneurs. Lastly, it is considered by Huffington Post to be the 24^th best coed college. Yale celebrates the strong role that women have played in college's history in a unique way. It has a tour that runs through the college campus, which details 49 points and the significance that women have played in that area. You can download an audio guide and take the tour in your own time, or look at a version of the tour presented in PDF form.

Ranking at eighth on Women's Choice Award, sixth on Fortune, and 42^nd on Huffington Post is New York University. The college admitted its first female students in 1873, and today 57% of students are female. The college's League of Women was also founded in 1921 to help women through their degrees. But nowadays, NYU is doing much more for female empowerment. It has the NYU Women's Initiative, which is for female alumni and hosts year-round events encouraging collaborative success. On the other side of the college process, women's groups help prospective female students with enrolling at and feeling confident in attending the college.

Ranking at 10^th on Fortune, 14^th on Huffington Post and 20^th on Women's Choice Award is this Rhode Island-based, Ivy League school. The first women to come to Brown University began their studies in 1891. Nowadays, more than half of the college's alumni are women. And many of these alumni assist current students and recent graduates through the women's leadership council. The women in this community mentor students, contribute money for facilities to help women students and do many more incredible things.

UCLA is College Xpress's fifth-best division 1 college for female athletes. It also ranks at 27^th on Huffington Post and 55^th on Women's Choice Award. And UCLA's women's center does much more than just serve the women at the college. It recently won a grant to investigate and help the health and environment of homeless women in Los Angeles. Similarly, the women's center also gives out awards to students who are using their study to help society. For instance, this year, one award winner is Elizabeth Backwell, who studies how caregivers cope and adjust to stressful circumstances and looks for ways to improve the lives of people going through these situations.

Case Western Reserve University is Forbes's 11^th most important STEM college for women. Additionally, it is placed at 28^th on Huffington Post's best coed female colleges list and 53^rd on Women's Choice Award's list. The college's WISER program is what has enabled it to become an incredible institution for educating STEM women. WISER stands for Women In Science & Engineering Roundtable. The program mentors women who are undertaking STEM degrees and gives them a range of assistance in ensuring that they get into the careers that they study for.

23. University of California, Los Angeles

Agnes Scott College makes two methodology lists' top 10s in rankings, but it isn't featured on any other list. Niche.com states that it is the seventh best women's college. The Street also names it the college with the eighth smartest women in America. This Atlanta based college is exclusively for women and has been in existence since 1889. Its distinguished alumni include Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Marsha Norma, Grammy Award-winning musician Jennifer Nettles and architect Ila Burdette.

Huffington Post goes as far as to place Harvey Mudd College at first place on its list of the best coeducational colleges for women. However, the only other list it features on is Women's Choice Award's, where it places at 216^th. The college has definitely made some key advances in educating women in STEM fields in recent years. Now, over half of its computer science students are female. And overall, 50% of Harvey Mudd's STEM graduates are women, which is much higher than the national average of 18%.

The Street states that the University of Virginia is the college with the 10^th smartest female student body. Huffington Post places it at 29^th for best coed women's colleges. Lastly, Women's Choice Award names it the 50^th best college for women. And the college has overcome historical sexism (the first ever female student passed her degree with distinction but was given a certificate instead of a diploma) to become a pillar of equality. It has had a women's center since 1987, which helps female students foster leadership skills. Also, this center was recently given a $3 million donation from a female alumnus, so that it can expand its activities.

Placing at fifth on The Street for smartest female students, 49^th on Huffington Post for best coed female colleges and 57^th on Women's Choice Award for best national female colleges is College of William and Mary. In 2018, the college celebrated 100 years of women attending the college. Back in 1918, only 24 women were enrolled. These initial female students went on to become doctors and teachers. Today, the college has over 55,000 female alumni and enrolls more female students than male students per year.

College Magazine considers Colgate University to be the ninth best college for aspiring women leaders. Huffington Post names it the 30^th best coed college for women in America. Lastly, Women's Choice Award places it at 127^th for best colleges for women. To ensure that women's voices are heard, the college's Center for Women's Studies hosts a lunchtime discussion every Tuesday, which includes feminist lectures and presentations on gender issues from guest speakers. Additionally, 55% of the college's student population are women.

College Xpress names the University of Texas at Austin the third best division 1 college for women athletes. Huffington Post places the college at 50^th for coed colleges that are great for women. Women's Choice Award places it at 148^th for best colleges for women nationally. The college has several programs that encourage women to enroll in degrees that historically have low female enrollment. One example is its engineering program. The engineering school's program for enrolling women began in 1992 and has boosted the enrollment of women in engineering degrees from 18.7% to 30.3% in the last 15 years (although 2017 saw a slight decline, to 29.2%.)