Guide
How the women's-college flag is applied
A school is on this page when the College Scorecard flags it as a women's college. The flag is the rule. A campus that people still describe as a women's college stays off once that flag is gone.
The table sorts by state. Barnard, Smith, Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, and Spelman are among the names readers expect, and they are here because the flag is set. The figures below describe the whole flagged set, not only the famous five.
- Schools
- 30
- States
- 14
- Median admit rate
- 70%
- All schools report a rate
- Median earnings
- $55,829
- 10 years after entry
The flag is the whole test
This site does not keep a private list of women's colleges and then argue about who still belongs. The Scorecard publishes the flag. The page lists the campuses that have it, including colleges that also carry another flag.
Spelman is the clearest double example. It is a women's college and an HBCU, so both pages include it. A second flag does not push a school off this one.
Coeducation and coordinate colleges
A college that became coeducational and no longer reports the flag is not on this page. History in a brochure is not the field. If you remember a name that is missing, check the school profile before you assume the file is wrong.
A coordinate college relationship is not automatically a women's-college flag. This page does not guess. A large university that enrolls women, which is nearly all of them, is not a women's college under this rule.
How to read the set
The set mixes small liberal arts colleges with other campuses that still report the flag. Look at predominant degree and enrollment below before you assume every row is a small residential college.
Admission, price, and earnings still vary. A women's college is not one price and not one admission rate. Open a row when you want net price and debt for that campus.
What the page is not arguing
The page does not rank these colleges against coeducational ones, and it does not claim a social outcome. It identifies a reported institutional type. Outcomes in the Scorecard can be compared. A moral ranking cannot be read out of the flag.
Men's colleges are the parallel flag, and the two lists are not mirrors. Seminaries and yeshivas make the men's list a different mix. Use each page for the flag it actually follows.
Where the schools are
These schools sit in 14 states. The largest groups are Massachusetts (5), Georgia (4), North Carolina (3), Pennsylvania (3), and California (2). The rest of the roll is spread across the other states in the table.
Who runs them
Every school with a reported control is a private nonprofit college. Control is the Scorecard field. It is not a judgment about quality.
Predominant degree is the credential the campus awards most often. On this list it is a bachelor's degree at 30 schools. A campus can still award other credentials.
How large they are
The largest undergraduate enrollments on this list are Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, with 3,414 undergraduates, Barnard College in New York, New York, with 3,264 undergraduates, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, with 2,544 undergraduates, St Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with 2,473 undergraduates, and Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with 2,300 undergraduates. Enrollment is the undergraduate figure. It is not a ranking, and it leaves out graduate students.
Admission
30 of 30 schools report an admission rate. The median of those rates is 70%. Schools with no reported rate stay out of the median. A missing rate is not an open door, and it is not a closed one.
The lowest reported admission rates on this list are Barnard College in New York, New York, at 9%, Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, at 14%, and Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, at 21%. A lower rate is harder entry. It is not a score for the school.
The highest reported admission rates on this list are Trinity Washington University in Washington, District of Columbia, at 100%, St Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, at 92%, and College of Saint Benedict in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, at 92%.
What they charge
Among 30 private colleges that report a sticker price, the median is $44,595.
Sticker price is not net price. Grants, waivers, and a service commitment can move the bill by a wide margin. Open a school for the net-price figures.
Earnings and graduation
Among 30 schools that report earnings, the median of those school-level medians is $55,829. The clock starts at entry, not at graduation. The highest reported medians on this list are Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, at $84,803, Barnard College in New York, New York, at $80,516, and Scripps College in Claremont, California, at $77,539.
Among 30 schools that report a graduation rate, the median rate is 60%. A blank rate is left out. It is not treated as zero.
Also on other lists
Some of these schools also meet the rule for another list on this site. The overlap is a second flag or a second classification. It is not a second ranking.
15 are also on liberal arts colleges. 2 are also on HBCU colleges. 5 are also on Hispanic-serving institutions.
How these figures work
Admission rate, enrollment, sticker price, earnings, and graduation rate all come from the College Scorecard. Earnings are the median 10 years after a student entered the school. Tuition for a public college is the in-state sticker price. Tuition for a private college is the published sticker price. None of these is net price after aid.
A blank field stays blank. This page does not turn a blank admission rate into an open door, a blank fee into a free application, or a blank earnings figure into zero. The table above is membership under the rule in this guide. Sort order is not a quality ranking.