Sweet
Briar in academically challenging. There are other women's school in
their area, but Sweet Briar is the most prestigious of
them all. It's not racially diverse, though there is a
good handful of international students, especially asian and students from
India. The thing is, you get the feeling Sweet Briar
wants to continue to diversify (even though in the will
that brought the school into being, it didn't allow black
women to attend, but the will was made illegal and
now there's black women) so if you are a black
woman, don't be afraid of going to this majority white
school because they will make you feel wanted and embraced.
Sweet Briar also won't let anyone not qualified get into
their doors either, so your scores and leadership abilities have
to be great. There is ample..ample and HUGE opportunities to
get involved in the non academic activities. They make a
point to have great on campus activities, clubs and things
because the funnest thing to do off campus on a
tuesday night is go to the Super Walmart. Don't fret,
if you're a minority and want to see some color,
UVA is an easy 45 minute drive and they love
Sweet Briar women. Our brother school is Hampton Syndney and
they're 45 minutes the other way and they love us
too. Those other women schools I mentioned in the area
travel to UVA and Hampton Syndney also, so you'll run
into them and they're nice people. They say they are
rival schools, but not really. A lot of people who
apply to Sweet Briar also apply to the other women's
schools in the area, but if you get into them
all, they usually go to Sweet Briar because it's much
more prestigious. You're going to want a car here, to
have one if you can. If you want to grow
your leadership skills and have confidence in the real world
or preparation for ivy lead graduate schools, come to Sweet
Briar. A lot of the students graduate and go to
Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and Yale for grad school. There
are a lot of vegetarians and animal and earth loving
ladies at Sweet Briar so they have pretty good Vegetarian
meals every day and there's a lot of animal rights
and environmental awareness on campus. Despite being in what we
called “the pink bubble”, you're much more wordly when you
leave. We have an extensive travel abroad and exhange opportunies.
At Sweet Briar, if they don't have an official program
with a school you want to study abroad to, internationally
or domestically, you can still do it here because its
they have 700 students and cater very much to each
student and their individual wants and needs.
One of
the women schools nearby is Randolph Macon Womens and the
guys say, “Sweet briar to wed, Randolph to bed.” There's
also another saying that's telling about the college, “Sweet Briar
women don't drink, we just sip a lot”. There a
few wild ladies, but it seems to always be in
good fun. Not a lot of drugs at all, but
there is a bit of drinking on occasion, especially on
the weekends when the men come down from the other
schools.
Security is TIGHT at Sweet Briar. It's probably
one of the safest campuses in the US. Being all
women, if there's a guy roaming around by himself with
an escort, he's going to be questioned and not let
to roam about. Other girls will even call security of
some guy they haven't seen there before, so ladies stay
close to you man or he can be taken away
and questioned. But the ladies get to know the faces
of the regular guys and the other girls BFs, but
if they don't recognize them, the guy will be gone.
I've seen it myself and heard lots of stories. They
even offer a rape agression defence class for gym.
There's hardly any grade inflation and you have to work
hard for what you get. There are NO TA's and
professors are so available, you almost can't avoid them if
you wanted to, they're everywhere. Classes are small and if
you don't do your HW everyone will know, so you
better do it or feel awful as if you're letting
your professor and class mates down. Not really competitive...maybe a
little, but it's more competitive on an individual level. No
sororities, but there are these “tap clubs' that are really
corny, but if you ask those who are in them
they will absolutely say they love them...so opinions on the
tap clubs are varied. They can make a lot of
noise during the year too...singing all over the place etc.
People who know about Sweet Briar will say great
things about it, but because its a small school, not
many know about it. The surrounding city is bare with
roaming cows, but there is a mall and dollar theater
20 minutes away that's a great way to spend your
free time. Come to Sweet Briar for the flawlessly beautiful
3,300 acre campus, strong academics, and extensive leadership preparation,
not for partying day and night. People dress very lay
back and casual. Some of the girls have parents with
money...most of them. But there are a few on complete
scholarship, but since everyone is casual it's hard to tell
unless you take note on if they've combed their hair
or not or have a car. If you leave something
and go back to get it...it'll still be there or
when you open your door someone would have left it
outside of your door for you. The only thing I
ever heard of being stolen was when someone use someones
eles shampoo and didn't ask and never fessed up to
it. If you're a recluse and don't like a whole
lot of people and noise, this is a good college
for you. But if you do like a lot of
social stuff, you can find a little group at Sweet
Briar too. Sweet Briar is only for women who want
to make their mark on the world, if its being
a stay at home mom after graduation or being a
CEO somewhere or doctor from Johns Hopkins. Each year the
college is getting harder and harder to get into. If
you're trying to find a husband, you won't see too
many men here, only some cute ones on the weekends.
There's an active lesbian/gay/bi group/club at Sweet Briar too, so
if you're that way you'll find other people openly like
that too. There's college republicans and democrats, literary magazine, yearbook,
an excellent....EXCELLENT riding and theater/dance club/group/majors. I loved going to
the productions. Anyways I've said a lot and I hope
this helps. The only real negatives are the cows and
deer roaming around everywhere and that some of the majors
are very small with only two professors...so you mighy not
get too much diversity in classes or types of opnions.
I heard of students switching majors if they didn't get
along well with a professor because they'd be forced to
take a lot of their classes with them if they
stayed in that major. For class diversity, you can always
take classes abroad or during your summers somewhere eles and
transfer the credits. Sweet Briar is great about that if
you get A and B's. If it makes you happy
to take a couple classes elsewhere...even at Randolph Macon or
other colleges in the area, then it makes Sweet Briar
happy to help you be happy and meet your needs.
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