The Seven Sisters Women’s Colleges
College
|
Location
|
Year Founded
|
Enrollment (approx.)
|
| Barnard College |
New York, NY |
1889 |
2,350 |
| Bryn Mawr College |
Bryn Mawr, PA |
1885 |
1,400 |
| Mount Holyoke College |
South Hadley, MA |
1837 |
2,100 |
| Radcliffe College |
Cambridge, MA |
1887 |
gradual merger with Harvard University beginning in the 1960's |
| Smith College |
Northampton, MA |
1871 |
2,600 |
| Vassar College |
Poughkeepsie, NY |
1861 |
2,475 (co-ed since 1969) |
| Wellesley College |
Wellesley, MA |
1870 |
2,300 |
The Seven Sisters Colleges refer to seven private, liberal-arts women’s colleges, although Vassar has been co-educational since 1969 and Radcliffe has essentially been a part of Harvard since the early 1970’s. All of these colleges are located in the Northeastern United States.
How It's Used
"Wellesley is a town used to making headlines of a certain variety - as a desirable bedroom community retreat and home to a Seven Sisters college responsible for educating some of the nation's most prominent women.
"It is a town known for affluence and safety. So the case of a well- known allergist accused of killing his wife at a local pond has been profoundly troubling to a community that had not experienced a murder in nearly 30 years." —Erica Noonan, "Town Unused to Notoriety," The Boston Globe, June 7, 2001. After being asked to throw a spelling bee in return for a full scholarship to the Seven Sisters college of her choice, Lisa Simpson has a dream in which students from the Seven Sisters beckon to her:
“Come to Barnard and be Columbia's sister school;
“Go to Radcliffe and see Harvard men;
“Go to Wellesley and marry them;
“Come party with us! [Mt. Holyoke];
“Come play lacrosse with us [Smith];
“Come explore with us [Bryn Mawr while making out with the Smithie];
“Come non-conform with us [Vassar].” —“I’m Spelling as Fast as I Can,” The Simpsons, Season 14, Episode 12, Originally Broadcast on February 16, 2003. "Even when I was attending Barnard at a time more amenable to feminism, 'Mona Lisa Smile' would have felt dated.
"This Julia Roberts movie about a progressive art teacher who shakes things up at a Seven Sisters college during the stodgy '50s is about as forward-thinking as girdles." —Jami Bernard, "Not Much Behind 'Mona Lisa Smile,'" The New York Daily News, December 19, 2003, p. 64 "Seventy-five years after she passed an entrance exam to Barnard College, Dorothy I. Height Thursday became an alumna.
"That status, bestowed at an Alumnae of Color dinner, was honorary. Height, now 92, never attended Barnard. In 1929, she rushed to the prestigious Seven Sisters college clutching an acceptance letter but was denied entrance because of her color. The school's quota for black students -- two -- was full." —Darryl Fears, "After 75 Years, Barnard Makes Activist an Alumna; Honorary Status Is Given Woman Who Was Turned Away," The Washington Post, June 4, 2004, p. A03. "The entry of ordained women into real-life parish ministry has placed lots of women clerics in mysteries as well. Michelle Blake introduced Boston-area priest Lily Connor in 1990's 'The Tentmaker,' and in 'Overnight Float,' Seven Sisters college presidents Jill Ker Conway [Smith College's president from 1975 to 1985] and Elizabeth Kennan [Mount Holyoke's president from 1978 to 1995] writing as Clare Munnings, created a college-chaplain sleuth named Rosemary Stubbs." —Lauren F. Winner, "Houses of Worship: Divine Mysteries," The Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2006.
Also Known As (AKA)
The Seven Sisters Colleges Links Related on eAlmanac
Five Colleges, Inc.
The Pleiades Star Cluster
The Seven Sisters Oil Companies
The Seven Sisters Women's Magazines
Beyond eAlmanac
The Seven Sisters Colleges
Mount Holyoke College's brief article on the Seven Sisters
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