What Are the Seven Sisters Colleges? #vassar #harvard #sevensisters #college

What are the Seven Sisters, and which colleges are considered part of that group?

The Seven Sisters are a group of historically women’s colleges in the Northeast that became some of the most important colleges for women in the United States.

The seven schools in that group are Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Wellesley, and Vassar.

These schools were grouped together because they were academically rigorous and gave women access to a high-level college education at a time when many elite schools were still focused on men. That is a big part of why the group became so important in higher education history.

Over time, some of those schools changed. Radcliffe later became part of Harvard, and Vassar became coeducational. But the term Seven Sisters is still used when people talk about the history and legacy of these colleges.

What makes them stand out is that these schools were created to give women access to a serious academic education at a time when many elite colleges were still built for men. They became known for rigorous academics, strong liberal arts education, smaller class settings, and a long history of influential graduates in public life, education, literature, and science.

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