Independent, nonprofit women's colleges, such as Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr, were created to be equal to the liberal arts colleges that existed for men. These were located primarily in the Northeast. Others, such as Wesleyan College in Georgia, were affiliated with Protestant churches. These schools were mainly in the South and most were open only to white women. Black women had other options in the South however, with the founding of several historically black women's colleges. Only two of these, Spelman College in Georgia and Bennett College in North Carolina, still exist today.

In addition, many small, private, Catholic, women's colleges, such as Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana, emerged to meet the needs of the growing number of Catholics in the U.S. Some states also began to establish public institutions of higher education for the female residents.

The Seven Sisters
The small group of women's colleges—soon to be called the Seven Sisters—came together in 1927 to better promote the cause of all-women's education. The colleges are: Barnard College; Bryn Mawr College; Mount Holyoke College; Radcliffe College; Smith College; Vassar College; and Wellesley College. Of these seven schools, only five of them remain single-sex institutions today, but the Seven Sisters affiliation remains. Vassar College became coeducational in 1969, whereas Radcliffe College merged with Harvard University in the 1970s. The Seven Sisters label is linked in many minds with the eight schools of the Ivy League and indeed, many relationships between the two groups of schools exist, most notably between Harvard and Radcliffe (now one institution) and Columbia and Barnard. (Columbia went coed without Barnard in 1983, but the two schools remain close in many respects.)

A Period of Change
The Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s began to change the shape of women's education. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, many traditionally male colleges began to admit women. As a result, many women's colleges began to admit men or merged with previously all-male colleges and universities. By the early 1970s, coeducation had become the universal norm. In 1960, there were 200 women's colleges in existence. This number had fallen to 83 by 1993.

The State of Women's Colleges Today
While their numbers may not be as great as they once were, women's colleges have experienced a new popularity over the last several years. Competition is fierce at the most selective women's colleges, with many women choosing single-sex education not because it is the only option available to them, but because of the opportunities an all-women's college offers them.

Advantages of Women's Colleges
According to the Women's College Coalition (WCC), students at women's colleges "report greater satisfaction than their coed counterparts with their college experience in almost all measures—academically, developmentally, and personally." In addition, the WCC states that women's college students "continue toward doctorates in math, science, and engineering in disproportionately large numbers." These are just two of the benefits of attending a women's college.

According to The Princeton Review's Best 366 College Rankings, women's colleges have some pretty nice side benefits, too. Women's colleges make up three of the top five colleges on the Dorms Like Palaces list. In addition, they represent four of the top 10 and six of the top 20. None of the 20 colleges listed on the Dorms Like Dungeons are women's colleges. Six of the top 20 schools ranked on the Beautiful Campus list are also women's colleges.

Don't be fooled, though; women's colleges offer much more than just a nice lifestyle. In fact, women's colleges confer a larger proportion of bachelor's degrees in traditionally male-dominated fields (mathematics, science, and engineering) than coeducational, private colleges do. Women's colleges also have a larger percentage of female faculty and administrators. In fact, currently approximately 90 percent of the presidents at women's colleges are female.

While many factors go into making a college choice, women's colleges are definitely worth considering. Assuming you are, of course, a woman!