Bryn Mawr College

Private · Selective · PA

Photo: Montgomery County Planning Commission (CC BY-SA 2.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationPA · Northeast

SettingSuburban

Undergrads1,359

Student:faculty8:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate70.5%

6-yr grad rate81.8%

Drop-out rate7.8%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$66k

Out-of-state tuition$66k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity49.2%

Gender diversity100%

International13.1%

Identity—

Overview

Bryn Mawr College is a private women's liberal arts college on Philadelphia's Main Line, one of the Seven Sisters and the first U.S. institution to grant PhDs to women. Its collegiate Gothic campus, shaped under the influence of early dean and president M. Carey Thomas, set a style later copied across American higher education, giving Bryn Mawr a distinctive historic presence that many later campuses were consciously modeled after rather than the other way around.

Academics

The college is known for particular rigor in mathematics, classics, and the sciences, along with a long-standing strength in archaeology tied to its graduate programs in classical and Near Eastern archaeology. Small classes and close faculty mentorship are typical of the strongest liberal arts colleges, and the close Bi-College partnership with Haverford, plus cross-registration with Swarthmore and Penn, lets students take courses, join clubs, and access resources well beyond what a single small campus could offer on its own.

Campus & student life

The Main Line setting is quiet and residential, with a regional rail line providing easy access into Philadelphia for students who want a city on demand without living in one. Traditions run deep and are genuinely distinctive: Lantern Night welcomes first-years into the college's academic traditions, and May Day, with its maypole dancing, is a century-old spring tradition central to campus identity. Student self-governance runs through the Self-Government Association, one of the oldest continuously operating student self-governance bodies in the country.

Getting in

Admissions is holistic and values intellectual seriousness and independence; as a women's college, the applicant pool and campus culture are shaped by that identity in ways worth understanding and genuinely engaging with in an application, rather than treating the single-sex identity as incidental to why a student is applying.

After graduation

Graduates go on in strong numbers to doctoral programs, particularly in the sciences, classics, and archaeology, reflecting the school's rigorous academic reputation and its historic role in opening graduate education to women in the first place. Alumnae networks lean heavily into academia, medicine, and research careers.

Worth knowing

The Bi-Co and Tri-Co consortium arrangements with Haverford, Swarthmore, and Penn mean a Bryn Mawr student has access to a much larger academic community than the small campus alone suggests, while traditions like May Day and the Self-Government Association give the college a distinctive, tradition-heavy culture that's worth understanding before enrolling.

brynmawr.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate29.4%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1280–1510 · ACT 29–33

Test policyoptional

Rec letters3

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Early decisionNov 15

Regular decisionJan 15

Verified from the school’s admissions page ↗

Applying (2026-27 cycle)

Apply through Common App.

Early decision IIJan 1

Early Decision is binding: if admitted, the student must enroll and is required to withdraw applications from other colleges. A student may not apply Early Decision to more than one school but may apply Regular Decision or non-binding Early Action elsewhere while an Early Decision application is pending.

Interviews: Interviews are optional, offered between June and December of senior year, with a limited number of slots, so applicants are strongly encouraged to interview well ahead of the application deadline.

Verified from the school’s admissions pages ↗